sleep | Lifesmile Scribbler

I’ve been away, and now I’m back. And now that I’m back, I need to address some things. The first is this vicious circle of tiredness that I’ve found myself in. As I’ve described before, I find it immensely difficult to tear myself out of my pit in the mornings and I wish it was easier to jump out of bed and feel full of energy from the moment my alarm goes off. Ok, so maybe that’s a little too optimistic, but I just can’t deal with the feeling of dread when ‘that time’ comes. Surely it shouldn’t be so hard? The colder days make peeling off the warm duvet and relinquishing my cocoon even more unbearable. But I’ve really started to ask myself why? Why do I feel just as tired in the mornings as I did when I went to bed? Why do I spend my afternoons yawning at my computer screen? Why do I feel constantly lethargic and use that as an excuse not to do things?

Yesterday I was having a little relax on the sofa after work while Olly was at football and I decided to have some bread. I cut a hunky chunk of three cheese loaf and ate it. It was so good I decided to have another chunk. Now, white bread isn’t healthy, and I’m pleased to say I very rarely have it, but yesterday I had enough to feed a small army of ducks. About half an hour after the devouring I felt awful. And it really got me thinking. How much of what I put into my body is affecting how tired I feel? Affecting how good I feel FULL STOP?

I was one of those kids that did every sport under the sun. When I got older I chose the sports to focus on and exercised a lot. This meant that even if my diet wasn’t fantastic, I would still feel fine because I was active. These days, exercise takes a back seat. I also eat the things I want to eat, rather than the things I should eat. I would prefer that this wasn’t the case, but recently I’ve had other priorities. I think it’s about time that those priorities changed a bit. So, here’s the plan.

1. Become a green machine. Vegetables are far from my best friend, but I feel we need to become better acquainted. This means doing some serious juicing and getting the steamer out more often. I also need to cut down on the sugar and, in line with number 2 below, up my protein.

2. Get off my arse. Being tired means I don’t often feel like exercising, but if I don’t exercise then I’m not going to feel energetic or rejuvenated. Basically, I need to put in to get out. I’m not playing netball any more so I need to find a substitute. I’m starting something very new and exciting next week, but that’s not enough. I need to get back in the pool because I do actually love to swim (SO IT MAKES SENSE) and maybe even do some home workouts. YES Jane Fonda. Umm maybe not.

3. Early nights. The body clock needs to be in a good place for me to be in a good place.

I’m keeping it simple. I’m fed up of feeling like a lump and I know things can’t change overnight, but I do need to try harder to be good to myself. I’ll never be a preacher of ‘my body is a temple’ – depriving yourself of the things you like means depriving yourself of an element of joy – but now that I’m getting older *sob* I do need to be more careful about my health and my lifestyle. Me 8 years ago would be pretty ashamed of me today.

How I wish I was one of those ‘morning people’. Someone who springs out of bed at 06.00, does a full body workout, sings with the birds as I rustle up a 3 course breakfast, reads all the papers, and makes myself look a million dollars before leaving for work. The sad truth is that I get up about 07.40, put some cereal in a plastic bag, slap some foundation on my face and leave the house about 08.00 (ok, 08.05). I do my mascara in the car (don’t worry, the other half drives), wolf down my special k (or coco pops) at work, and promise myself I will exercise that evening. Unfortunately, said exercise does not happen often enough.

It’s fair to say I wasn’t born a morning person. My mother even used to call me sloth because I liked to hang out under the duvet for as long as possible. Even these days I stay up too late and when I do go to bed it takes me a while to get to sleep. So, come the morning, I like to spend some time with my best friend, the snooze button. Despite setting my alarm the night before, the temptation of snoozing in the morning is just too strong. The snooze button cannot exist without me pressing it. It’s like putting a bag of cool doritos in front of me and expecting me not to eat them. It Does Not Happen.

Imagine my dismay when I read this article earlier. I could be screwing up my whole day just because of my addiction to snoozing! Not ideal. The advice to battle ‘sleep inertia’ – the confused fuzzy feeling you get when your alarm has gone off for a second time – is ever so simple. Set your alarm for the time you actually need to get up, sack off the snooze button, and just get up. Easy, right? WRONG. I can almost guarantee that when I try this tomorrow it is going to feel like someone stole my last piece of chocolate orange and ate it in front of me. In other words, awful.

I guess only time will tell (no pun intended).