How are you sleeping these days? You can use more sleep, you say? Good, because Day 22 of the Just For Today Challenge – 31 Days To A Better You it’s time to get more quality sleep.

I know what you’re thinking – FINALLY a reason to sleep in

It’s not so much a reason to sleep in however, but a reason to go to bed earlier! Ahh, there’s the rub. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge for you to just to lie in bed longer in the morning, now would it?

You need to get more quality sleep by going to bed earlier than your normal time and ensuring that you are getting more than 8 hours per sleep per night. That’s today’s real Challenge.

Feeling sluggish lately? Getting enough sleep will help you concentrate on your tasks more.

How stressed are you? One of the best ways to reduce your stress is to get enough quality sleep each night. It gives your body a chance to recuperate from the stressful “fight or flight” reactions when you are stressed out.

Are you happy with your energy level? You need to get enough sleep each night so that you have the energy necessary to perform your everyday tasks. We can’t have you falling asleep at the wheel or the computer, now can we? I don’t need to tell you how dangerous a lack of sleep can be. Especially, as that deficit grows over time as you try to fit more and more into your day, thus sacrificing your precious sleep. Thinking that you will make it up the deficit of sleep on the weekends won’t work either. Your body will make it known that you need sleep, one way or another.

Are you wanting to lose some weight? Surprisingly, getting enough sleep can help you there, too. Recent news articles have shown that getting enough sleep at night can help you shed some pounds. You don’t eat while you’re sleeping, plus you are giving your body a break from food so that it can digest what’s already there.

Now that we know how important getting enough sleep is, how can we get more sleep? For those of us who do not have any medical reasons for insomnia, there are some things that you can do to ensure that you get a good night’s sleep:

• Go to bed earlier than your normal time.
• Ensure that you have a regular “sleep time” ritual that you follow each night, allowing your body and mind to recognize that it’s time for bed.
• Don’t eat a heavy meal or drink any alcohol right before you go to bed.
• Having any caffeine a few hours before bed time will mean can affect you so much that you won’t be able to sleep.
• Make sure that your bedroom is full of distractions, has low light and is warm enough or cool enough for you to sleep in.
• Stop worrying. Worry does nothing to help your situation. Most of what you worry about will won’t come true anyways. Have faith.
• Get enough exercise so that you are physically tired.
• Turn off the TV and sleep. Don’t lie in bed watching TV or have it running in the background while you are trying to sleep. I’m particularly bad for this as I like the background noise when I’m trying to sleep.

Are you with me? We’re going to go to bed earlier tonight so that we are getting roughly 8 hours of sleep tonight.

Let me know how you feel tomorrow about getting more sleep by leaving a comment. I’m looking forward to completing this Challenge tonight :-) 

For a list of all of the Challenges, see the Just For Today Challenge page.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to my feed to have all the future articles delivered to your feed reader. Thanks!

Print PDF

Tagged as: Just For Today Challenge, Sleep