11 Weeks to a More Organized Life & Home: Week 4 (Get 8 Hours of Sleep)

I had hoped to have this post up much earlier than this. How funny that my goal for this week is to get 8 hours of sleep and I am down to the wire of getting to sleep in time. Plus, I didn’t exercise today. I simply ran out of time. I’m not going to beat myself up about it though. I’m going to try to get a good night’s sleep and start fresh tomorrow. Which brings me to this week’s goal.

You may have noticed that none of the goals I have set so far have related to housekeeping. The reason? How can I expect to get my house in order if I’m not even taking care of myself?

Too often I am up too late and then have to get up early. 6 hours of sleep does not a fully functioning Jackie make. :-)

I have always said that I am a day person. 8:00 a.m. to 8 p.m. are my optimum hours. In college I used to say that if a paper wasn’t finished by 10:00 p.m. then it would have to wait until the next day because I needed my sleep.

My mom has always said that if I didn’t get enough sleep and was stressed, I would often get sick. She said that in Kindergarten I would take a nap in the afternoons when I got home and then still go to bed by 8:00 p.m. I have always required a lot of sleep.

However, since becoming a mom I have stayed up late more often because that is the only time when it is quiet in the house. Yet, I still need plenty of sleep so that I am able to function during the day. I think I need to be better at managing my days so that I don’t have to stay up late to get everything done.

My goal for this week will be as follows: Get 8 hours of sleep per night. This means that on school nights I need to be in bed by 10:00 p.m. and up at 6:00 a.m. Weekends will be a little more flexible. Maybe I will even get more than 8 hours some nights.

Now, I am sure there will be times when I am up late during the upcoming holiday season. Likewise, if one of the kids is sick, I may not get anywhere near 8 hours of sleep. Life happens.

In addition to my goal of getting 8 hours of sleep per night, I am going to try to introduce one more goal this week. It is something that I will build upon the rest of the year.

I often have trouble drinking enough water. During pregnancy and while breastfeeding getting enough fluids is critical. However, I have never met a goal of drinking 64 ounces of water per day. I believe the reason is that I try to start drinking 8 glasses right away. Baby steps are the approach that seems to be working best for me.

I have debated about how to work this goal into this 11 week series. I thought about spending a week on it, but then decided that I would spend the rest of the year building up to drinking 64 ounces of water per day.

I will start by drinking 1 (8 ounce) glass of water each day this week. Next week I will drink 2 glasses and so on. I think adding 1 glass of water per week will be the best way to ensure that I will succeed.

Well, I better get to bed if I am going to make my goal of getting 8 hours of sleep. How much sleep do you get each night?

If you would like to print out my week 4 checklist please click the picture below.

 

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/7PZBVFPZZ3LES35AUYE374EUZU Becky

    I also need at least 8 hours of sleep. Any less than 7 (and more than 10) and I feel sick. My dilemia is that I am a night person. I can not fall asleep before 12am. I have made that work to my advantage by sleeping in until 8pm or 9pm (we homeschool so school starts at 10am.) But many nights at 12am, I am still awake, so my goal is to have both kids in bed and asleep by 11pm, so I can have wind down. The hardest part is I watch my nephew until 10pm most nights, so my kids don’t go to bed until after that, then we have to clean the destructive mess my nephew (he’s 1) left. My brain doesn’t let me sleep knowing that the house is such a mess. Since I run an in home daycare I could be inspected by the state any day Mon.-Fri. and so to avoid violations bathroom and kitchen have to be sterilized (I use vinegar and hot water, not the bleach they recomend) daily. It can be a bit stressful.
    But I feel so much better being asleep by 12 / 12:30 and up around 9.

    • http://blessingsoverflowing.blogspot.com/ Jackie

      Thanks for sharing what works for you, Becky. I don’t have the luxury of sleeping in that late, but however we are able to get 8 hours is the goal. I can understand having to stay up later if you are still watching your nephew so late. I am sure you are glad you are homeschooling so you don’t have to get up early. Take care.