If you have been reading along, you may remember a post “How to Drag Your Ass Out of Bed”. If not, that link will take you to it. That post was dedicated to finding ways to get up early and get out of bed to get your run in. So, this post may sound counterintuitive, but bear with me. (Pun intended.)
I was having a discussion with a colleague who is trying to revive her running and exercise habit and basically concluded that the only time she had to exercise was before work in the early morning. She said that she absolutely knew that if she planned to exercise in the evening, life would get in the way and she would skip it. I applaud her for being so honest with herself and because she is so honest, there is a good chance she will come up with a plan that will work for her.
At this point I asked, “What prevents you from getting it done each morning then?” She replied, “I’m so tired when the alarm goes off, I usually get to bed around 11:30 or midnight and then to exercise I need to set the clock for 5 am.” This got me thinking. I know that it’s ideal to try and get 7 or 8 hours of sleep, but it is probably not realistic for normal people with jobs and families. We are not professional athletes that can focus on eating, sleeping, and training. But, it highlighted a part of the equation that I missed for the first post.
To get out of bed, you need to get IN to bed. What I mean by this is, you need to have the discipline to turn off the TV, stop surfing the web, or put down that book. Once the kids are in bed and things have started to quiet down around the house, you need to shut it down too. Now I understand that this is “me” time, and you look forward to it all day, but working out is “me” time as well. And getting sleep is important, not just for your health, but in order to drag you ass out of bed when the alarm goes off.
If you can get to bed by 10:30 instead of midnight, you just increased your sleep time from 5 hours to 6.5 hours, that’s 30%! That is a pretty darn good payoff for a little effort. And that 30% increase in sleep should pay dividends in a huge way when you get up and go for a run or hit the gym. Not only will your fitness improve, you’ll be getting more rest, and more energy from the workout! That’s exponential gains that will make a huge improvement in how you feel throughout the day.
Study after study concludes, that when you go to bed at the same time every day, the quality of your sleep improves due to your bodies adaptation to the consistency. When you look at sleep as part of the process, it changes the way you think about it. We get to be lazy to be supercharged! So, what are you waiting for? Get your ass IN to bed!
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Ouch! This one hit me where it hurts. The one area I have struggled with since I began my fitness journey 3 years ago is getting enough sleep. I usually go to bed between 11:30 and midnight. I can tell the difference when I do go to bed earlier. Gotta make this happen consistently! Thanks Joe!
Yeah Ron, I struggle with this too. My wife is a night owl and I’m not. So to spend time together, I sometimes give up some sleep. But boy do I feel a difference on those nights where I go to bed early! I’m a work in progress…
Hi Joe.
To date my biggest problem ( going to bed )
And It’s two fold.
Firstly, I never get to bed early due to,,,, and let me just be honest with myself
right here and now, “plain stupidity”, as I know that nothing really stops me from going to be bed at let say 22:00 every night.
Secondly, I never go to bed at the same time, ever.
Because of this I am to date still very lethargic when I wake up in the morning, and I know it’s because my body is being continuously put off balance by not having a set sleeping routine each night.
I can make up excuse as to why I’m not getting this aspect of “proper rest periods” not sorted out but then I’d be lying to myself,,,,, there is actually no excuse.
Again as with most things in life, it’s breaking those bad habits or just your current set of habits and starting from scratch to build a new.
Im greatful this topic has been brought to the table for discussion as the act of getting into a stable sleeping routine seems to be such an easy thing to conquer and implement, but I don’t think it is, and I think a lot of people still struggle in this department.
I’m going to invest in one of those old dressing table mechanical wind-up clocks with the two steel bells positioned at the top of the clock “you know the one I’m referring to hey” It makes a hell of a noise when it goes off, maybe this is what i should use in the evening to announce that it’s time for Herman to go to bed and sleep.
Thanks for this blog Joe.
Kind regards
Herman.
Herman, frankly, this is one area that I struggle with myself. My wife is a night owl, and it seems that 9pm is when “our” time begins. It is very hard for me to cut that off and go to bed. It’s not her fault, if I said “Hey hon, I’m going to hit the hay early.” She’d support that, I just don’t want to give up that time with her! None of us are perfect, this is all a process! All of that being said, I need to get my ass in to bed at 10pm every night!!!