I hear you Moms…there are lots of reasons why we stay up late at night.
Maybe you can relate to one, many or all of these…
· We think there’s so much to do after getting the littles to bed,
· We think it’s our only time to connect with our spouse
· We think it’s our only time to relax and “decompress”.
We can ditch some of the reasons that keep us awake at night by better managing our time {click here for my ultimate guide} and by letting go of the self-judgement and {sometimes unfair} expectations we set for ourselves. In fact, these are just a couple of the ways that we can take better care of ourselves {click here more deets to make it happen}..
BUT, it really comes down to prioritizing our sleep.
Here’s the truth…
Getting enough sleep (at least 7 hours) is one of the most, if not THE MOST, important thing we can do for our health {body and mind}.
Adequate sleep keeps our immune system humming {better able to fight off infections}, our metabolism revved, and our hunger in check. It also boosts our mood and keeps our mind sharp.
And getting enough sleep just makes life more pleasant. You KNOW how you feel after a good night’s rest.
Side note: I know this might seem like a pipe dream for Moms of littles and you’re swearing at me right now. I get it, I’ve been there. Just do what you can to get some additional shut-eye. It gets better.
Here are some tips…
§ Limit food two hours before bedtime. If your body is busy digesting food, it’s harder to fall asleep and stay asleep.
§ Limit fluid intake two hours before bedtime to reduce middle of the night bathroom trips.
§ If you exercise late in the evening, see if that’s impacting your sleep and consider shifting it earlier.
§ Limit alcohol. The nightcap might make you sleepy and make it easier to go to sleep, but it’ll decrease your quality of sleep.
§ Go to bed earlier. Shocker, I know, but give it a try by backing up your bedtime by 15 minutes a night.
§ Remove tech from the bedroom or dim the background if you use your tablet to read at night {most e-reader apps have a black background and dim the text too}.
§ Sleep later in the morning. This one may not be at the top of your list, depending on your kids’ age, school schedules, work, etc.…, but I’m including as an option.
Give one or some of these strategies a try for a couple weeks. It takes time to adjust our internal body clocks.
After your “trial period”, assess what is and isn’t working for you and tweak your plan accordingly.
You’ll be glad you did.
Happy snoozing friends!
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