The Smarter Sleeper

Being new in town I have had to adapt to a new schedule. I wake up around 4 A.M. and travel around 30 miles to work every day during the week to be in the office at 5 and on the air at 6 for the morning show. This past week was expecially tough, i thought i had adapted to the daylight savings time change rather well but my brain apparently thought differently.  I turned up at the office at 6 a.m.... An hour late.... Blog idea! I did some research about sleep and how to have a healthy nights sleep and i found the following (great stuff)

 Sleeping takes up one third of our lives... Normally.  The goal is 8 hours of sleep every night, which i attempt to do but 8 hours of sleep for me means a 8 p.m. bedtime. 8 hours of sleep may seem like its too much or in most cases not enough, which was apparently what my body thought.  Also what does your body do while its asleep?

Sleep is the time the body shuts off and gains energy, no one will argue that. But if you notice feeling exhausted right when you wake up, fall asleep while watching tv or riding passenger in the car. Those are signs of insufficient sleep.  The good news is that there are lots of tips to getting better sleep.

Setting a routine is a good way to get better energy building sleep for instance.  Go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning.  having said that i really should consider going to bed at an earlier time.  Going to bed later than the night before can cause being late for work.  Its never a good impression to show up an hour late.

Another tip is to not drink coffee or drinks with high amounts of caffeine throughout the day.  This one i did know about but i still drink coffee all day, close to a gallon atleast during week days, which im sure is horrible for my health.  Coffee is okay in the morning but the afternoon latte with a triple shot of expresso will potentially get you wired.   This will put the body in go mode, and hurts the sleep process later in the evening.  You will feel tired and groggy, your eyes will be heavy but your brain is not going to let you sleep.

According to the Courier & Press there is now "a nap for that" and its called the jawbone up wristband. Put the wristband on and it connects to your smartphone and monitors what your body is doing while its in deep sleep.  Some people like to get up and walk around at night, sometimes they don't remember doing this and they wind up standing in the kitchen the next morning wondering why all the Girl Scout cookies are gone... Jawbone Up monitors this too because it keeps track of movement.  Not only is it good for sleeping and, well  sleep walking, it goes with you during the day too, monitoring how many steps you take.  Check out     www.jawbone.com/up    for more info on this ground breaking sleep monitor. 

So reminding the readers that if you're having trouble sleeping or having a hard time getting up in the morning, believe me... i've been there. Just follow the tips above and see if this helps any.