Friday, January 2, 2009

The Big Sleep

I recently posted about my sleepless nights. This morning on MSNBC, I noticed an article with tips on how to cure sleeplessness. Coincidence? We'll never know. I plan to implement a few of the suggestions:

  1. Turn off the computer and TV an hour before bedtime. I am typically on the computer and simultaneously half watching the TV, or vise versa, until right before bed.

  2. Exercise. I have a treadmill at home but use it irregularly. If I turn off the TV and computer around 9, I can then exercise for at least 30-45 minutes and still be in bed by 10.

  3. Shower at night. I'm not sure about this one since I like to wash my hair in the morning but I'm willing to give it a try. If I exercise first, the shower will probably come in handy.

  4. Eat a light dinner. This could possibly be helpful for my weight as well.


I'll give these things a try for the next month and see if it helps. I'll report back.

7 comments:

JohnnyB said...

I would think that exercise so close to bed time would keep you awake. So, going backwards from 10 pm bedtime, you need to read for a half hour (9:30) to relax after your shower (9:15), after cooldown (9:00) after exercise (8:15), after a half hour (7:45) from eating after a light dinner (7:30)which you started preparing at 7:00. So turn off the TV at 7:00 - oh, might as well just not turn it on at all when you come home from work.

Sue said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Susan said...

I probably won't exercise with the TV off so I take that one back. But I see your point on the exercise right before bed. So I'll watch TV while eating dinner, relax, exercise, cool down, shower, read and go to bed. Looks like I have resolutions with out really planning on it.

JohnnyB said...

I'm waiting for your next entry: "While You Were Sleeping".

Anonymous said...

I had always thought you weren't supposed to exercise within a few hours before bedtime, so I looked this up: http://health.msn.com/fitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100219394
I don't know how useful it is, but you could probably google and get 10 different thoughts on the matter! It might just take your body a little time to get used to it and then hopefully you'll be losing weight and sleeping great!
Gotta go now-- time to get on my treadmill. :-)

Karen

T said...

I've tried all these things, except turning off the computer and TV. Just can't get on board with that one.

Other then that, I agree with it all. I would also echo the exercise, just not that late. If you exercise late, you will more likely be energized.

Jenny said...

Interesting suggestions, Susan. I have heard that TV/computer one and I think there might be something to that. I also know a late night shower helps me to feel extra calm and helps me to sleep but, like you, I need to shower in the morning for my hair, so I get self conscious about wasting that water.