Day 6: Sleep Escapes Me

Other than all the amazing benefits of the changes I am making with my diet, I am looking forward to the changes in my sleep habits as a result of changing my foods.  One of the things that the book talks about is the way food effects our hormones and how it can disrupt our sleep patterns.  And my sleep patterns are really showing the effects of years of a very poor diet.  Huh?  What we eat effects our sleep that much?  Apparently it does.

Since I was very young I have always had sleep issues.  It started in Preschool. I never napped.  Every other 4-year-old would be asleep during nap time, but I would be wide awake.  Then when I got older, in middle and high school, I had terrible insomnia.  As I mentioned my little sister and I shared a room and she would be sound asleep and I would be wide awake...until all hours of the night.  Even before Tylenol PM was invented I was taking Benadryl to try to fall asleep.

I also have two kids that don't sleep through the night, a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old that still wake up in the middle of the night. This causes my husband and I to play a rousing game of musical beds in the middle of the night.  We have slept in separate beds more nights recently than we have slept in the same bed.

Now, I don't need any tips on how to get my kids to sleep...I have read the books, I know what is supposed to happen and what we are supposed to do.  But when you are already so tired and low on sleep, you end up doing whatever you can to get your kids back to sleep so that you can go back to sleep.

Another reason why I know that I have a hard time going to sleep is because I am not as physically active as I need to be.  I am too tired to work out, but not tired enough to go to sleep at night in order to be able to get enough sleep to be able to work out.  It is a vicious cycle.  And is is perpetuated by the crappy food that I have been eating.

So I gave myself this first week to get used to the food changes, and my second week is going to be devoted to going to bed early and trying to get my sleep cycles in order.  My goal is to get to bed, as in be in bed, lights out, ready for sleep at 10 pm.  My usual bedtime is around 12 or sometimes 1.  That makes getting up for work HARD.  And I am ready to make the switch and get my sleep and help my body function to its optimal ability.

Food first, sleep second.  There is no magic formula lined out in the Whole30 plan.  This just feels like the natural process.  And thankfully I have two very good accountability partners to help keep me on track, my sister, and my best friend.  Now that I have told it to all, I know that I have to do what I say I am going to do.  It is really good motivation for me.

Tomorrow I will discuss my motivation--what drives me to want to be successful in this, and what is pushing me to stay on track.  Here is a hint: you play a part in it too!