This Tuesday I was sick for the first time in a long time. It was clear my body was saying, “If you don’t get enough rest, I will slow you down and force rest on you.” I slept most of the day on Tuesday after going like crazy that last few weeks. I am feeling better now, but it is a lesson I have to keep learning. I think I am slower than most ?. Even with all the recovery and healing I have done in the last few years, it is still hard for me to shut it down in the evening and get great sleep. I had another reminder this week about the benefits of adequate rest. I am learning Italian with Doulingo and there as an article there about how we learn languages in our sleep. Obviously, not just in our sleep, but good sleep is the only way new learnings move from short-term to long-term memory. It is the only way the learning we do sticks. It keeps us from having to relearn and re-work. When tired we make many more mistakes in our work too. I have had so many “morning after” regrets. When I read the report the morning after I stayed up late to get it done, I wish I had gotten good rest and sent it out the next day. It creates confusion and actually makes more work for me and my team. That is also true in relationships. When I am tired, I am short with others, usually those most important to me. It is also true for fitness. If I don’t get great rest, I can’t do an intense workout, or it wipes me out afterward. And when I am fully rested, I feel great, happy!!!
Like, you, I know all this. And yet, I still have a hard time winding down and getting to bed in time to have 8 hours of good sleep. So this Friday reflections is for me. When I do get great rest, what has set me up for that? Here are a few hacks.
- Stop work and screens at least 1 hour before I want to be asleep.
- Eat Clean and stop at least two hours before bed. That means no alcohol, caffeine, or sugar, especially after 4 pm. I may sleep enough, but the quality drops off fast.
- Do something to still my mind before I go to bed. Meditation is best, but reading also can help. A Sleep Story on the Calm app at a minimum to shift from doing to relaxing.
- Leave the phone in another room.
- Breathe! Only 5 breaths were I breathe in as deeply as I can and out as slowly as I can makes a huge difference. This works if I wake up in the night too. Where I will see if I can get to 30 breaths.
- Other things that help are just to have completion in my day before getting ready for bed. Some examples are shutting down my computer when I leave work. Checking my action plan from the day and checking off what is done, dropping what doesn’t need to be done and move what still does to tomorrow. And making an action plan for tomorrow.
Reflecting now, having more space in my life would help too. Learning to say NO and that is another FR.
What is your experience with rest? Does it come easily? What works for you?
Have a restful weekend and the better week next week that it will bring.
Best,
Art
