Day 3: Get some!! {Zzzzzzz’s that is}

Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together. – Thomas Dekker

Oh sweet sleep, how sorry I am that I never appreciated how special you are.  Please accept my sincerest apologies for being so ungrateful.  {“Don’t Know What You Got Till It’s Gone” by Cinderella (the band, not the princess) keeps playing in my head.} In case you have no idea who I’m talking about, or you do and just want an earworm from the late ’80s, this is for you! Enjoy.

Sleep is INCREDIBLY important.  It ranks right up there with exercise and eating well in the healthy habits department.  However, it also ranks up there with things most of us suck at. (Hence, Day 3).  Not only are we sleeping less, our quality of sleep is going down, down, down.  So we need to figure out two things here: how we are going to get more sleep and how we are going to get better sleep.

Let’s address the more first…since most of us are good at simple math, we will do the easiest first.  The National Sleep Foundation says adults need between 7 and 9 hours each night.  So the first thing to do is look at what time you need to get up, then subtract 7,8 or 9 hours (whichever you think would best serve you) from that.  Easy, right?!  I’ll give you my example: I get up at 6am during the summer months and I’d like to get at least 8 hours of sleep so counting back 8 hours from 6am means I need to be asleep (not just in bed, but actually asleep) by 10pm.  Take some time (pun intended) to figure out what time you need to be going to sleep.

The second step is a little more involved.  How do we get more quality out of our sleep sessions? A little forward thinking (and a little habit changing) should do the trick.  First, about an hour before your calculated sleep time, you need to start preparing yourself for sleep.  There are several things you can do to trigger your body that it’s time.  Highest priority should be getting off the computer, the phone, the iPad…basically any electronic device needs to go to nite-nite an hour before you do. (I know, I know. I can hear your collective {gasp} Sorry!) Studies have shown the lights from these devices interfere with our natural circadian rhythm.  Ideally, you should keep these devices out of your bedroom at night.  (Preview: we will focus on this habit on another day).

Other suggestions for adding quality to your sleep sesh:

  • No caffeine after 2 pm.
  • Exercise daily, but not within 4 hours of your sleep time.
  • Stick to the same sleep schedule every day, even on weekends.
  • Don’t go to sleep hungry (or stuffed).
  • Limit late afternoon naps (I no longer remember naps {tears}).
  • No alcohol within 3 hours of going to sleep. (Again, I hear your {gasp}).
  • Keep your room cool AND dark.
  • I personally like to diffuse calming essential oils an hour before sleep.

This is important stuff. The majority of people are chronically sleep deprived and aren’t paying attention to how this affects their overall health.  Take today (and the rest of this month) and get your sleep back on track!  Oh, and don’t forget to make that bed when you wake up. {wink, wink}

Light and Love,

♥ k

***Disclaimer: this post was late today because I couldn’t finish it before my sleep time last night, so I had to finish it this morning. Trying to take my own advice over here!***

Day 2: Your mom was right…Make Your Bed!

“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.”-Navy Seal Admiral William H. McCraven

 

It so simple you might be thinking Really?! Making my bed? That’s high enough on the priority list to make Day 2?! Yes!! Absolutely.  For two reasons.  First: it’s easy and requires very little effort (#win).  You basically just have to stand up, turn around and rearrange some covers and pillows.  It takes mere minutes and you can still be half asleep. Easy peasy lemon squeezy as my five year old (who makes her bed every most days) likes to say.  The fact that it’s so easy leads to {the more important} reason number two: one small seemingly insignificant act creates a ripple effect throughout your entire day.  Every time you walk into your bedroom you will see two things: an accomplished task AND a tidy bed.  (I think of it like I do the kitchen sink. If there are no dishes in the sink then the kitchen feels clean). That neatly made bed may just encourage you to pick up the laundry on the floor or carry the hamper to the laundry room. Or {gasp} put that pile of clean laundry away!  It may even ripple out to other rooms in your house.  Yes please!!

The cue is easy for this habit.  All you have to do is wake up!  Then create the routine of pulling the covers up and straighten the bed before doing anything else. (Ideally you should be the last person out of the bed to keep everyone happy). The reward for this habit is the best!  Nothing feels better than getting into a well made bed at night. So if you do it first thing in the morning you’ve eliminated another thing you DON’T want to do at the end of the day when you’re tired and just want to go to bed.  You’re welcome!

Don’t forget to continue drinking water today!!

Light and Love,

k

DAY 1: Drink! Drink! Drink!

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – John C. Maxwell

Welcome to DAY 1 of the Healthy Habits Overhaul!  I’m so glad you’re here.  For the next 31 days I will be sharing a daily challenge that I’m hoping you (as well as myself) will turn into a habit.  We will either be adding something brand new, upgrading an existing habit or deleting something that is no longer serving our highest health.  My hope is that you will try each challenge for at least the day it’s posted. (Or swap with another day that week, if the timing of it is off for you).  Ideally, I’d like for you to continue each challenge through the rest of the month, so that at the end of these 31 days you will have compiled an arsenal of healthy habits and be ready to take control of your health.

It should come as no surprise that the first challenge is WATER!! Water is life.  We can’t live without it.  We know this, but a lot of us (ahem, looking at myself here) don’t drink nearly enough of it.  In the spirit of transparency, this has always been one of my biggest obstacles in the past… another reason it’s #1 on the list.  A year ago, most days, the only water I got was what I made my coffee with .  I basically drank coffee until it was time to switch to wine with maybe a LaCroix thrown in there somewhere so I could tell myself I’d had some water.  I’m sure (ahem,  hoping)that a lot of you can relate.  But we are going to change that in the next 31 days!! Yessssss!

I could list a ton of benefits of drinking water, but no one needs convincing. (But in case you do, this is for you).  We all know it’s good for our skin, that it flushes toxins out of our body AND helps with hangovers. I will say that I never knew being well hydrated could boost your immune system.  I mean it makes total sense, but it was never something I considered when my doctor asked me how much water I drank. Speaking of how much, lets all take a minute to figure out how much water we individually need each day. Most experts say about half your body weight in ounces is ideal, but this really depends on your activity level and how much water you’re getting from your food.  I weigh {somewhere around} 150 pounds, half of that is 75.  So I aim for 75 ounces each day, more when I’m outside a lot and/or exercising. Figure out a good goal for you and go with it.  (You could always go with good ole standby of 8 glasses/day, which equals 64 ounces).

Now, if  you read my post from yesterday (Anatomy of a Habit) you know that we need to create a cue or a trigger to help this habit take root.   Think about what might help trigger you to drink something.  For me, a cute water bottle is key!  I have a 25 ounce stainless steel bottle that I love. Not only is it pretty, but I know if I fill it up three times I’ve met my 75 ounce goal for the day.  {Score}  Another cue that I use is keeping a 16 ounce water bottle by my bed at night.  Before I eat or drink anything in the morning, I make sure I have emptied this water bottle. We’ve gone at least 7 and maybe up to 10 hours (if you’re a lucky duck) without drinking anything, so as soon as you pee, its essential to start hydrating!! Another tip:  I know several people who drink 16 ounces of water before they eat any snacks or meals.  I think this is a great idea because sometimes we think we’re hungry when really we are dehydrated.  Doing this can also keep us from overeating because we’ve put something in our tummies before we start munching! Yay!

So cheers *clinking my water bottle to yours* to water and all it’s wonderful benefits!  I know in 31 days you’re gonna thank me!

Light and Love,

♥ k

 

Anatomy of a Habit

“We are what we repeatedly do.” – Aristotle

We are creatures of habit.  Our daily habits are directed by our beliefs: we are what we think and what we do. Daily. A large part of what we do every day isn’t as a result of a conscious decision. It’s a habit. 40 percent, in fact. (Our brains likes this because it makes the job of being the brain sooo much easier).  Where you are in life today is largely a result of actions you don’t even think about anymore.  Let that sink in a minute…

Now, the good news is we CAN take control of our life by changing our habits.  Depending on who you ask, a habit can take anywhere from 21-66 days to take root in the brain. So we’ve got three weeks to three months to make it a no-brainer (pun intended, of course).

A group of researchers at MIT discovered the process which is the basis for every habit’s formation. If we are going to change our habits, we have to understand how they get created.  Every habit is formed by a three step process:

1. Cue.  The trigger that tells your brain which habit to use.

2. Routine. The behavior (or emotion) that gets triggered.

3. Reward.  How the brain decides if the process is worth it.

An example:  You get finally get the kids to bed *sigh* and want to release the day’s stress (cue).  You grab bottle of wine (routine).  You feel calm and relaxed (reward).

The cue and the reward are the big pushers in this process.  So if we want to change the routine we are going to make sure the new habit gives our brain the same reward feeling. Otherwise, the brain will see it as too hard and instead reinforce the old habit we are wanting to change.  NOT what we want. If the reward is to feel calm and relaxed, we’ve got to think of something else that can give us that feeling when we are stressed at the end of our day.  Maybe we can exchange the bottle of wine for reading a book (something fiction, please) or watching something on Netflix.  Over time, our brains will start to replace the routine of grabbing that bottle of wine with grabbing the latest must-have novel.  This is what I like to call an UPGRADE to an existing habit.

The same concept works when we are trying to ADD a habit “from scratch”. We’ve got to figure out the cue, routine and reward for the habit in order to make sure it cements in our brains.  Willpower is needed to DELETE a habit. It might be the hardest of all in the Add-Delete-Upgrade scenario, but it is possible  Willpower is a muscle, not a skill.  The more we exercise our willpower the easier it becomes to use it (just like our actual muscles, willpower gets stronger).

Like I said at the beginning of this (looooong) post, our beliefs direct our habits.  We first need to believe we can make the changes we want, then we will create action, which results in making the changes a reality!

If you want to know more about habits, check out the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

I’m so looking forward to starting the 31 day Healthy Habit Overhaul tomorrow!! I’ll be posting over on Instagram every day with the daily habit as well as how I’m making it happen in my own life  See ya there!

Light and Love,

k