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The truth is, all of our modern conveniences like email and microwave ovens and Johnny Depp (what?) mean that we're trying to cram that many more things into our day, having the cake, eating it too, working it off and then watching Rachael Ray make a better cake than the cake you just ate, only she did it in 30 minutes or less. You totes have something in common with both Marie Antoinette and Cleopatra and it is that you all only get 24 hours in the day, only I'm willing to guess that Cleo and Marie spent a lot more of those hours asleep. In fact, I'll bet as
you're reading this, you're fighting to keep your eyes open. Even now,
I imagine that your pillow is struggling with separation anxiety
wondering "When? When is she coming home? Doesn't she love me? We used
to have such good times together! Was it something I did?" Hey, wake up! I'm talking to you!
There's a reason that I know my Starbucks barista better than I know the woman who sits in the cubicle next to me. I wake up before dawn and go to sleep somewhere around midnight, which means that caffeine is my drug of choice. Kids, work, more work, sex, social life, projects, Jon Stewart--it's easy to see why the average adult only gets about 6.5 hours of sleep (or less). You can take that statistic with a grain of salt, but I know I personally am getting closer to 6 hours than that ideal sweet spot of 8 perfect hours. However, scary findings from a scientific study indicate getting less than 8 hours of sleep totally starts to affect your mental alertness and ability to react quickly, plus, it can really increase your stress level. Also, another study found that sleepers who hit the sheets for 7-8 hours a night were more successful at maintaining their weight, while those people studied who slept for 6 or fewer hours or more than 9 hours a night tended to gain weight. And seriously, when Keith Richards is advising against sleep deprivation, you have to clue in that it must be pretty bad. Here are five easy techniques to make the most of your dream time:
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FEED ME
Working full time and having an almost 2 year old around the house means I get the same amount of sleep during the week as I do on the weekends, which equals out to not even close to 8 hours a night.
Typically I get up at 5:15 on a given weekday but sometimes the munchkin will sleep til 7 on a Saturday morning. That extra 1:45 minutes is awesome.
When I started seeing my (awesome!) new doctor last summer for my hypothyroidism, she naturally said I needed to lose some weight. Then she stunned me by NOT lecturing me about diet and exercise, but instead told me that I MUST get enough sleep if I want to lose weight. So she treated my allergy-related apnea and I started forcing myself to go to bed early enough to get a full eight hours, and in a month 10 pounds just dropped off of me without my even trying. I was shocked. SHOCKED, I say! Apparently, your brain produces seratonin and dopamine while you sleep, and those are needed to regulate your appetite and keep you from craving unhealthy things. Who knew?
I was having horrible insomnia and taking melatonin every other day has helped tremendously. If I take it every day I'm a bit groggy in the mornings, so I cut back and it's helped so much.
One thing I always find so frustrating about these "how to fall asleep" things is it always talks about how the only thing you should do in you rbedroom is sleep and have sex. I understand that, and that's all fine and good... if you have your house to yourself. I have roommates, we have to share the common space which s super tiny. I have no choice but to keep my desk, computer, TV etc. in my room. I don't watch TV right before bed because that does mess with my sleep, actually it messes more with my dreams, but I still get so frustrated by the number of times I've been told that. It just isn't possible for a good portion of the population, so please tell me what I can do given my constraints. (Uh, sorry about the rant, in case you can't tell I've had three doctors, a therapist and a bunch of articles tell me this, however none had any suggestions to help when that isn't an option. ;) )
I get about 8 to 9 hours of sleep 7 days a week. That's the advantage of being 23 and living at home with no bills. Although, I work my butt off at work and the gym.