sleep

Monday Morning Reboot

July 28, 2014 by Lisa 1 Comment

I woke up early today — 4:50 a.m. is not only early when you were still awake reading at 12:33 a.m., but it’s a little annoying. Peanut was just waking up as well. Both of us went back to bed, with the kid finally waking up at 5:30 and me at 6:15. Why am I sharing these details? Friends, I like to sleep. My circadian rhythm has never been normal — I’m a night owl who’s always desperately wanted to be an early bird. But on this Monday morning, just a few hours ago, I was partially awake and instead of going back to sleep for 3-4 hours, decided to start my day.

Yes, I’m still a little tired, but that’s part of my body adjusting and the fact I didn’t get an adequate nights sleep. I’ve not been sleeping well, period. So many people say “sleep is overrated,” but I’ll be quite honest with you, those folks have no idea what they’re talking about. Sleep is essential for so many things — I could get into all of the details here, but I’ll spare you. Besides, I’m pretty sure I’ve written about sleep somewhere on this site before and told you all about how you need sleep, blah, blah, blah.

Waking up early gave me the opportunity to shake things up a bit. I showered, wrote my morning pages, (which I’ve been slacking on) and meditated. I’ll be quite honest with you, I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. Normally, I’m fighting waking up right about now (during the summer) and would still not be a happy camper. It’s the problem of all night owls who are up until 2 or 3 a.m.

I’ve still not eaten breakfast, which is bad for my metabolism. I’m also only making coffee in my Keurig this morning, instead of my regular coffee maker, or French Press. I’m hoping the less caffeine I have will encourage me to head to bed earlier this evening. How does the Keurig help? I’m too cheap to use more than a few pods in one day.

Will this reboot on my Monday work? I’m not sure. It won’t hurt to find out.

Sleep, self-hypnosis and tech fails.

March 13, 2014 by Lisa Leave a Comment

Stressing out is part of my very Type-A nature. The older I get, the more I work to not stress and go with the flow. My routine includes meditation, self-prescribed time unplugged and exercise. It’s been a big help. However, there are days it can all go unintentionally wrong, leaving you wide awake at 1:30 a.m. wondering “What fresh hell is this?”

You see, I have a few self-hypnosis apps I use on my iPhone. They are super handy and I’ll be quite honest, I’m rarely awake past the point where you’re relaxing into the hypnotic state. Do they work? Well, I’m currently in a three week cycle of using the stress-free app and my shoulders aren’t as tense and I seem to be more relaxed, but that’s another story for another time.

As you’re prepping the app for use at night, you select how long your induction period will be (short or long), how many times you want the message to repeat, and if you want the app to let you sleep or wake you up. Well, a few nights ago, I couldn’t relax as I was trying to remember if I’d set the app to let me sleep when it was finished, or wake me up. Not wanting to open my eyes and mess up the “induction” phase, I worried over it a few more minutes and then drifted off to the soothing Scottish brogue of Andrew Johnson.

At 1:30 a.m. I woke up to Andrew telling me to wake up repeatedly. I’m not sure what he was saying, but I heard “it’s time to wake up” repeatedly. My mother wishes she’d had his skills when I was in high school. I was wide awake. There was no rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, it was “I’m up and let’s boogie” awake. I had been in bed for 1.5 hours.

Three hours later, I was pretty ticked off. Mainly at myself. Partially at the effectiveness of the wake-up command on my handy dandy app. I finally dozed off at 5:30 a.m. only for my husband to wake me up an hour later to start my day.

Thankfully, I work from home, and I decided it was important that I test the effectiveness of sleeping till noon after a sleepless night due to my misuse of self-hypnois apps. (Someone has to do the research.) Turns out that’s not a fix either. When you finally wake up, you’re cranky because you’ve missed your entire day (at least it feels that way) and have a couple of hours to accomplish something, ANYTHING, before the kids get out of school.

What’s the moral of this story? Before using your self-hypnosis apps, make sure it’s set to sleep at the end of it, or you risk messing with your sleep cycle and are off kilter all week.

Just Call Me: Sleepy Von Sleeperson

July 9, 2012 by Lisa 1 Comment

Sleepy Von Sleeperson is going to be my adopted name. Why? Because I’m not sleeping. Well, not enough. Believe me, I’ve written about sleep here along with my attempts at creating a more conducive sleeping environment.

 sleep (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

I blame hormones. My own (peri-menopause). My son (puberty). Heck, let’s go ahead and blame my husband. After all, it’s not fair if he’s not hormonal. Or maybe he’s just avoiding the hormones.

But, I don’t know what my deal is. I’ve tried sleeping and when I get to sleep, it’s so good. Like NY Cheesecake following Chicago Pizza and washed down with Bad Penny Ale good.

Obviously, my brain hates me. It’s the only logical solution. No matter what I do to convince my brain to shut off, it just keeps at it, pumping away. I blame my Type-A Personality. Except, I’m a Type-A mixed with a Scorpion sun sign, crossed with a wicked sense of perfectionism. You know what that means? I can’t let go. EVER.

(Why yes, please feel free to call me Spock. I promise not to take offense.)

Believe me, my husband wants me to let go. I think nothing would make him happier than to walk in our bedroom and find me snoring like a trucker. (You hear that honey? Meow.) However, it takes a blog conference to find me in that oddly alluring condition and I don’t have one of those for three weeks. Besides, I don’t think Amy would want me to take that opportunity away from her. She likes my trucker snores. I’m thinking I need to buy her a shirt that says “I slept with Lisa and all I got was a recording of her snoring.”

Tomorrow, I’m going to brave the 100 degree day for a long walk in the park, afterwards the angels a/k/a my husband will rejoice as I vacuum and quite possibly launder the dirty unmentionables. Follow that up with a little writing and finally a friendly Just Dance ~~smack-down~~ game with Peanut.

I figure if I follow all of that up with a great dinner and maybe a shower to wash the funk off, I’ll be tired enough to sleep.

If not, do you know where I can find 400 bloggers?

Me-Time Monday: Sleep Schedules

May 29, 2012 by Lisa 4 Comments

Sleep schedules are important. We always strive to get children on a good schedule and explain to them how good it is for them. However, when it comes to our own schedule, we’re pretty lame and don’t stick to one.

I should know, I’m one of the worst offenders.

This isn’t about quoting experts, although I could. It’s about getting back to basics. I’ve got to take better care of me. I’m dressing in the morning, putting on my face. My shoes are on and my hair is in a low-slung chic ponytail. So, last weeks post about Dressing for Work is sticking and I am seeing improvements in how I manage my day.

But when it comes to sleeping, I’m either hot or cold and that’s a bad thing.

Last night, I went to bed at 1:20am and was up at 7:10 am. I’m sitting here yawning as I type this and wishing someone would hurry up and create a coffee IV. I’m dragging and that’s not good when I’ve got a day filled with conference calls, deadlines, etc.

What’s a girl to do?

I’ve got to get myself on a schedule. Because this not sleeping and dragging the next morning is for the birds.

Photo Credit: Maryiln Cole

Sleep is essential for more physical/biological/chemical processes than I can shake a stick at. Weight loss is hindered by lack of sleep. You age more quickly if you’re not sleeping. Our bodies don’t have time to heal/repair itself when we’re not sleeping. We’re less coordinated, our brains don’t function as well.

Between lack of sleep and dehydration, we’re a mess.

The way I see it, children are taught to sleep and somewhere along the way, the ability to sleep well has been lost.

I’m going to do it like I do everything else. In steps. Now, I’ve read a ton of stuff over the years on sleep so, this is where I’m going to try and apply the knowledge I’ve stored into a realistic situation.

1. Set a bedtime. I’m still not quite sure what a good bedtime for me is, but I’m going to test 11pm for right now.

2. Turn off my laptop/TV and anything that emits a blue light at 10pm. I’m used to working right up until bedtime and do believe this is going to cause major issues.

3. No caffeine after 2pm. If you know me well, you’re laughing hysterically right now.

4. Create my to-do list to clear my head. I do this quite often so it shouldn’t be too difficult.

5. Sit and meditate/pray before bed. This is actually the easy part for me as it’s part of my nightly wind-down and bedtime routine.

6. Keep my bedroom neat and clutter free. This comes from the woman who got rid of her night stand and uses books stacked up the wall.

7. Keep my bedroom dark and cool. Check. It’s all hot flash central up in here. My husband is just thankful his lips haven’t turned blue yet.

The early bedtime hours are daunting. I know 11pm isn’t that early. But for someone who’s used to going to bed at 1am and up at 7am or earlier, it’s a little scary. Yes, I can do it and it will be so much better for me healthwise, weight wise, and for combatting the aging process.

What time do you go to bed? Do you have a sleep schedule you stick to? Share below and help a very tired gal out!

Westin in the West End: Washington, DC

August 30, 2010 by Lisa 1 Comment

Washington, DC is always a fun adventure for my family. Not only is our nation’s capitol filled with a sense of grandeur and glory but you will find museums galore and unparalleled history. For us, this was not a vacation or weekend of fun, but a trip that was filled with family matters that needed attention and a quick turn around time. A promise was made in July to our son. His birthday wish was to stay in a fancy hotel. We could have booked the Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons or St. Regis. Our choice was the Westin Grand. It’s located in the West End of DC in a quiet residential neighborhood. With both Georgetown and Dupont Circle close by, there was plenty to see and do nearby, but we weren’t in the middle of the hustle and bustle. It was perfect for an abbreviated trip where much needed downtime was sought after.

Peanut was thrilled with our choice and was on cloud nine the entire time. Upon our arrival, he inspected our room from top to bottom. He called dibs on his bed for the night and then crawled up in it, flipped the tv on and asked for some “Zen” time. Have I ever mentioned that he is 10 going on 60? After some quiet time reading, relaxing and watching a little television, we offered dinner at the hotel. That wasn’t his cup of tea. His choice? The deli next door. He said that if he was going to be in the city, he should eat like he’s in the city. Mom would have preferred something with a little more punch, however it was his night, so deli it was. After that? A little R&R over at Dusk. My husband and I each had a cocktail. Peanut? Chocolate ice cream, complete with blackberries and raspberries.

After retiring to our room, Peanut wanted a bath in the palatial bathroom. I filled the tub up so he could play and added some bubbles, courtesy of my now favorite scent in the world, White Tea by Westin(TM). He floated and soaked for nearly an hour before deciding it was bedtime. However, bedtime was him piled up in his bed, watching the Office on TV and giggling his head off. Since that was part of his agenda, Mom took a swim in the tub as well!

When we all finally went to sleep, it was the sleep of the dead. We were exhausted from our non-stop travel, but the Westin Heavenly Beds cradled us so sleep was peaceful and we were reinvigorated the next day.

My husband is a SPG member, so he collects points on all of his travels with Starwood. We were able to redeem his points for our stay and he still had points left over, which made him happy. Whenever he travels, Starwood is his first choice and now Peanut can see why: the accommodations are great, the properties have good locations and the service is good.

So is our son spoiled by all this? Perhaps a little bit. But the truth is, it’s like my husband says about his travels: “When you’re on the road, away from home, you want to go someplace where you’re confident people are going to take care of you. There’s no point in trying to skimp or cut corners.” And so we did just that.

And came away pleased.