15 January 2013 - Beauty sleep?

Last night I couldn't sleep well. I tossed and turned for about five hours until I gave up, put on my running shoes and headed out the door at 5am to run 5km. I spent the rest of the day stimulating myself with coffee, fought some serious lethargy mid-afternoon, won that fight and stayed up until midnight! The problem I have is I am a person who loves to be up early; and also loves to stay up late. I'll be up working til 3am and then get up 3hours later to get to the harvest markets. I just don't want to miss out on anything for something as trivial as sleep! I follow after my Dad I guess who holds the view that requiring sleep is a flaw in the design of human bodies and he manages to achieve an awful lot with the time that most people spend with their heads on the pillow.

Unfortunately sleep is one of those things I really need in order to be my  best self during my waking hours. When I'm tired I find I also become absent minded, demotivated, cranky and sad. But with a late night work schedule, a love of early rises and a stubborn child-like resistance to "going to bed" how am I going to create a sleep schedule that works for me? There are some decisions to be made here.

1. How many hours should I be aiming for a night? The answer I've found to this is very simple. Don't ask google. Don't ask an expert. Just ask yourself, because on this point we will all be different. I know that on 7 hours sleep I feel well rested. There are people out there that function well with 6 (jealous!) and some who need as much as 10. I'm going to start my schedule with the assumption that 7 is my magic number and if I find I need to adjust it then I will.

2. Should I get up at the same time everyday, no matter what time I've gone to bed? YES. Getting up at the same time everyday helps establish a positive daily routine, and helps you to fall asleep more easily on time at night. My favourite time to get up is about 5.30am though I often only do this about 3 times in the week because I stay up too late too often. If I want to get up at 5.30am and I want 7 hours sleep that means each night I should be falling asleep by 10.30pm, though it may take a few weeks of early rises for me to be able to naturally do so.

4. How should I pay off 'sleep debt' that accumulates when I have to work late if I can't sleep in? When I work until late and then still get up at 5.30am I am creating a 'sleep debt' that will need to be paid off the following night. How can I achieve this? By getting myself to bed earlier the following night, and still rising at my scheduled wake time the next day.

I think it will take me about a month to get used to the regularity of this routine but I think it's worth giving a try; I look forward to reporting back as to how it's going and any positive changes I notice once I'm set.