This tip is all about sleep. I know everyone says sleep is important, but they don’t tell you how to get the amount of sleep you need. So I’m going to tell you exactly how.
Step One – You need to figure out what your ‘sweet spot’ number of hours to sleep is. For me, it’s seven hours. If I have seven hours. I’m a happy, happy, happy girl. What’s your ideal number?
Step Two – Figure out what time you need to get up in the morning and then go backward X number of hours from there.
That’s where it all begins. So given that I get up at 6 am, to get my seven hours of sleep, I need to go to bed at 11 pm. I can’t just decide at 10:55 that I’ve got to go to bed to get my hours in – there’s too much to do. This is where we need to have a plan.
Step Three – Figure out how long it takes you to get organized for the next day, to do your bedtime regime, and to have a little wind-down time.
Say you need 20 minutes for each area. So that means if I want to be in bed at 11 pm, at 10 pm my alarm goes off. All the screens get shut off. I take 20 minutes to get organized for the next day, pack my lunch and get my stuff ready.
I spend another 20 minutes doing my bedtime regime, getting cleaned up, all that kind of stuff. Then I spend 20 minutes reading, praying, meditating, journaling, or whatever I need to do to help me wind down from my day.
If it seems like too much to do every day then do it at least three days this week.
Three days this week, figure out your sweet spot of hours to get to sleep, figure out what time you have to get up, go backward from there and then take an extra hour.
Tell people in your family what you’re going to do and commit to it at least three days a week.
That’s my challenge for you. When you sleep better, everything else is better. Your emotional wellness is numero uno priority.
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I hope you are finding the resources that you need.
In case you need a couple more, this booklet from the World Health Organization is put together in a really easy-to-digest form.
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