You’re tired and for the most part it has to do without getting enough sleep, or does it? Think about your last vacation, it may be hard to remember, but how many times did you wake up earlier than you normally do for work despite the fact that you stayed up later the night before. Were you worn down? No, you had plenty of energy because your mind and body were excited for something new, something fun. Yet when we return to work, we go back to the same routine and we can’t figure out how, with even more sleep, we are feeling tired and sluggish. Are you a “don’t talk to me until I’ve had my morning coffee,” type of person? This isn’t because you’re not getting enough sleep, it’s because the quality of your sleep isn’t good.
Many of us actually hate sleeping in or even taking naps. Why? Ever notice that when you sleep in or take a nap you wake up somewhat grouchy or even more exhausted? It’s because our bodies don’t need that much sleep at that particular time, we are just overdoing it like we usually do with other things in our life. Our bodies want us to be active, not sleeping. Yes, we need sleep but not 8-10 hours a night like some would suggest. First, who has that kind of time available and second, who wants to sleep that much. We’ve got stuff we have to do so that we can do the stuff we want to do.
As we look into ways to improve our sleep quality rather than getting more sleep, we have to ask ourselves why the quality of our rest isn’t that great to begin with? Do you leave the television on? Do you fall asleep on the couch? Are we tossing and turning all night or even just struggling to calm our minds enough? These are all reasons our quality of sleep may not be where it should but there are healthy and easy ways to fix it. Let’s start with your daily routine. Instead of trying to get that extra 15 minutes of sleep in each morning, try waking up earlier and adding some exercise to your morning routine. This will help you wake up faster and have more energy throughout the day. It also helps you fall asleep faster as your body is ready for real rest, not the rest you’re trying to force it to have. Burning energy helps us improve our quality of rest as does things like upgrading your mattress, eliminating flickering television screens and so forth. Making these simple but important adjustments can help you improve the quality of your sleep and give you more energy throughout the day so that you can get more out of your day.
