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Tobbe goes to sleep


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Tobbe goes to sleep

 

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I did a lot last challenge. I did not take many evenings off. And it's been a lot of fun doing all the things. But it has 100% been at the expense of my sleep. Many a nights I've been sitting in the couch, trying to get things done on the computer, but been so tired everything has taken 10 times longer than it should have. Yesterday I was trying to summarize the points for my last challenge, but was too tired to even do basic math... 

 

One goal last challenge that didn't go as well as I had hoped was the goal of sleeping outdoors. I did get a few nights in, but not as many as I had hoped for.

 

So the goal for this challenge is to sleep more. I want to see if that can actually make me more productive the hours I'm awake. I'm curious to see if I can notice an increase in energy, and if I feel better overall. As a secondary goal to that I also want to sleep outdoors. At least one night in my tent, and a few nights without tent as well.

 

Of course I have other things I want to do as well. And plenty of things I have to do. And I'll report in on those as well. But the main goal is going to be the sleep. I'm eating in a way that feels good for my body and mind, I move in ways I enjoy and that my body seems happy with. So, really, the major thing missing in my general wish for a healthy lifestyle is my sleep. 

 

Now, how do I make "I want to sleep more", or "I need to improve my sleep" into proper goals that can actually be measured? Some common suggestions are:

 

  • "Go to bed 10 minutes earlier", yeah, if I had a set time I usually go to bed, that would be easy to measure. But now it's anywhere between 11 and 2 am, so if I go to bed at midnight, is that earlier or later? I don't know.
  • "Sleep 15 minutes longer". I sleep anywhere between 4 and 9 hours. Generally around 5-6 Mon through Fri and 8 - 9 on the weekends, but this past weekend I got less than 6 hours both nights, so it varies a lot. So if I sleep 7 hours one night, is that 15 minutes longer? No idea... Longer than what?
  • "Don't go to bed later than 10 pm". When we have friends over, or when we're at our parent's or with friends I can't just say "time to go to bed, goodnight!" So, not really realistic.

 

I'll figure something out. It will probably incorporate some of the ideas above in some way, but we'll see. If you have any other ideas, please share! :) 

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10 hours ago, Tobbe said:

so if I go to bed at midnight, is that earlier or later? I don't know

 

Relatable!!!! Curious what will end up working for you :)

 

10 hours ago, Tobbe said:

When we have friends over, or when we're at our parent's or with friends

 

I have this thing where I sometimes save snacking/desserts for fam and friends. That works bc I don't have many family gatherings, nor a lot of friend meet-ups.  Would that exception to the rule confirm it for you? 

 

(EDIT: so what I meant was: staying up when there are visitors, other rules apply. Then when there aren't, you look back to the last day where there weren't any visitors and you go to bed at 10 PM/15 minutes earlier than that day/etc. Example:

 

Monday: go to bed at 2 AM

Tuesday: friends over

Wednesday: go to bed at 1:45 AM

Thursday: family gathering

Friday: go to bed at 1:30 AM

Saturday: friends over

Sunday: oops I stayed up until 4

Monday: go to bed at 11 PM because dead tired

Tuesday: go to bed at 10:45 PM etc.)

 

Or maybe "lie down with eyes closed 15 minutes longer than last night". Download a simple time logging app, push button and lie down with eyes closed. Stop timer when done. Boom! Trackable data.

 

As long as you aren't doing stuff, particularly stuff with a screen in front of you,

 

even when you are thinking about random stuff, your body IS getting a break if you lie horizontally, breathe & keep your eyes closed. That's how I survived 4:30 AM mornings when I often wasn't tired at 8:30 PM :) I told myself: "okay fine. Don't sleep. But let your body rest at least!"

 

(Sometimes, when I gave myself the leeway to not-sleep I ended up falling asleep faster. Damned rebellious mind needing reverse psychology to work haha)

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Level ☆ human [uncategorizable]
STR 2 | DEX 3 | CON 3 | STA 3 | WIS 6 | CHA 6

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10 hours ago, analoggirl said:

Relatable!!!! Curious what will end up working for you :)

 

Me too!

 

10 hours ago, analoggirl said:

I have this thing where I sometimes save snacking/desserts for fam and friends. That works bc I don't have many family gatherings, nor a lot of friend meet-ups.  Would that exception to the rule confirm it for you? 

 

(EDIT: so what I meant was: staying up when there are visitors, other rules apply. Then when there aren't, you look back to the last day where there weren't any visitors and you go to bed at 10 PM/15 minutes earlier than that day/etc. Example:

 

Monday: go to bed at 2 AM

Tuesday: friends over

Wednesday: go to bed at 1:45 AM

Thursday: family gathering

Friday: go to bed at 1:30 AM

Saturday: friends over

Sunday: oops I stayed up until 4

Monday: go to bed at 11 PM because dead tired

Tuesday: go to bed at 10:45 PM etc.)

 

Thanks for the edit and example 👍

I don't think I can do 15 minutes earlier every day. By the time this challenge is over that will have accumulated to several hours earlier 🙂 But I like the idea of just ignoring "special" days. Just continue the day after as if nothing happened.

 

10 hours ago, analoggirl said:

Or maybe "lie down with eyes closed 15 minutes longer than last night". Download a simple time logging app, push button and lie down with eyes closed. Stop timer when done. Boom! Trackable data.

 

As long as you aren't doing stuff, particularly stuff with a screen in front of you,

 

even when you are thinking about random stuff, your body IS getting a break if you lie horizontally, breathe & keep your eyes closed. That's how I survived 4:30 AM mornings when I often wasn't tired at 8:30 PM :) I told myself: "okay fine. Don't sleep. But let your body rest at least!"

 

(Sometimes, when I gave myself the leeway to not-sleep I ended up falling asleep faster. Damned rebellious mind needing reverse psychology to work haha)

 

I've never had a problem falling asleep, and I've always slept pretty well all night once I've gone to bed (except for when I was sick, but let's ignore that for now). I like the point you made about not having a screen in front of me. That's something I'm going to experiment with -- not using my phone in bed. Sometimes I scroll through Instagram for way too long before going to bed, or before getting up in the morning.

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43 minutes ago, Tobbe said:

that will have accumulated to several hours earlier 🙂

 

Not if you go to sleep at random times and keep "the last non-special day" as your starting point :D

 

11 hours ago, Tobbe said:

But now it's anywhere between 11 and 2 am,

 

11 hours ago, analoggirl said:

Friday: go to bed at 1:30 AM

Saturday: friends over

Sunday: oops I stayed up until 4

Monday: go to bed at 11 PM because dead tired

Tuesday: go to bed at 10:45 PM etc.)

 

Like so :D

 

Maybe making a "decision tree" might be helpful too. like...

 

>Did I go to bed at 10 PM yesterday? yes/no. If yes, proceed. If not, 15 minutes earlier tonight. 

 

>It's 'tonight' now. Am I in bed by 10 PM? Yes/no.  If yes, good job, me! If not, what else can I do... Oh! I slept only 6 hours last night. I'll sleep 15 minutes later today.

 

Also, I found that what helps me more than anything is, if I am setting alarms, I try to follow the time this site tells me I should wake up. Dunno if it works for other people too but that's really been a game changer for me, making sure I sleep full cycles.

 

Spoiler

 

So when you click the "I plan to fall asleep at..." button, it'll tell you "this is the time you'll have slept full cycles if you'd dropdown fast asleep at that point". I usually go for about 15 minutes for the time it takes you to put away your mobile, make sure you are comfy in bed and the time it takes for you to fall asleep.

 

If I'm taking longer than usual to fall asleep, I'll check the site again and reset my alarm. (When I have that freedom)

 

So e.g., I set my alarm for 6:20 AM because I told it that I would fall asleep at 10:50 PM. I twist and turn and it's suddenly 11:45 PM.

 

I get up, tell the site imma try to fall asleep at 00:00 and it gives me the following options:

 

1:30 AM or 3:00 AM or 4:30 AM or 6:00 AM or 7:30 AM or 9:00 AM

 

---> 7:30 AM is too late for me. It sucks that I have to wake up 20 minutes EARLIER to wake up after a full sleeping cycle, but I've learnt that that really makes me function a lot better than "sleeping half an hour more" so I get up, set my alarm for 6 AM, and go to bed.

 

It's a hassle but when I'm having trouble feeling rested, this does seem to help.

 

 

Hope my explanation makes sense. :D It's worth experimenting with, I think.

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Level ☆ human [uncategorizable]
STR 2 | DEX 3 | CON 3 | STA 3 | WIS 6 | CHA 6

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1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

How about taking a cue from IE and make a point in honouring your tiredness cues?

 

For real my first reaction to that was "I could never do that! I'd sleep all day - every day!" Then I just started laughing 🤣 

 

Of course you're right. I should just go to bed when tired and wake up naturally without an alarm every morning. And I'm super privileged in that I could actually do that most days (except for when I have to get the kids off to school).

 

But, that wouldn't give me any data to track for this challenge! 😱

 

Maybe what I really need to work on is getting a better routine to mentally prepare myself to go to bed.

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23 minutes ago, analoggirl said:

Also, I found that what helps me more than anything is, if I am setting alarms, I try to follow the time this site tells me I should wake up. Dunno if it works for other people too but that's really been a game changer for me, making sure I sleep full cycles.

 

Thanks! Now that you mention it, my smartwatch actually has a feature where you can set an alarm, and then it will wake you up close to that time, when it detects you're in the right part of your sleep cycle. Haven't used that feature much - I usually use my phone as my alarm. But it could definitely be another thing to experiment with.

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On 6/16/2020 at 6:17 PM, Tobbe said:

I'll figure something out

 

I know you will! You're quite resourceful. It's always good to see you.

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Who am I? -- My NF Character

Current Challenge: WolfDreamer Returns (For Real This Time)

Past Challenges: 

Spoiler

Winter is ComingWolfen Strengthens His Heart, Body, Mind, and Spirit, Wolfen Becomes One of the PeopleWolfen Strengthens His ChakrasWolfen Welcomes Summer and Gets Primal, Soulcon and Spartan, Wolfen Develops Mental ToughnessWolfen Joins the Wander SocietySoulcon, Spartan, School, and Stranger ThingsWolfen Becomes a Warrior EliteWolfen Goes Here and There and Back AgainWolfen Becomes a Soulcon Warrior EliteWolfen Returns to His RootsWolfen Wanders in Soul, Spirit, and BodyWolfen Owns the DayWolfen Searches for His Wild Heart, Wolfen Runs for His LifeWolfen Hits the TrailsWolfen Becomes an Explorer and Joins the ResistanceWolfen Goes Back to the SourceWolfen Begins the Hero's JourneyWolfDreamer Returns to the People,  WolfDreamer Pushes BackWolfDreamer PrioritizesBurpees, Books, and BrainworkBurpees, Books, Brainwork, and BodyworkWolfDreamer Masters the Four ElementsWolfDreamer Continues to Master the Four ElementsWolfDreamer Returns to SpartaWolfDreamer Returns to Middle EarthWolfDreamer Continues His Middle Earth AdventureWolfDreamer and the FallWolfDreamer Forges His Own PathWolfDreamer Has HopeWolfDreamer Returns to Middle EarthWolfDreamer Reads Harder, Breathes Harder, and Journals MoreWolfDreamer Embraces His Wild PoetThe Mad Poet Becomes SupernaturalWolfDreamer, The Mad Poet, Becomes SuperhumanWolfDreamer ElevatesWolfDreamer Becomes IronBornWolfDreamer Wakes the White WolfThe Mad Poet Recovers by Keeping it SimpleWolfDreamer Clears His Mind to Find His Wild HeartWolfDreamer ResetsWolfDreamer Strives to Become an Eminently Qualified Peaceful WarriorWolfDreamer Springs Forward

I'd rather sing one wild song and burst my heart with it, than live a thousand years watching my digestion and being afraid of the wet.” -- Jack London

“I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love.” -- Leo Tolstoy

"I feel love rising in my chest again
Rising like a burning sun into the day..." -- Gungor, "Hurricane"

"...wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 2 Corinthians 3:17b

 

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Time for a proper challenge status update.

 

I said to myself I'd just stay up as long as I wanted during zero-week, and then focus more on getting to bed starting Monday, week 1. And it was a great success -- during zero-week 😆

Monday night I didn't get to bed until 3:30 am, and got up again at 8 😴 I had so much fun working on my programming stuff for this open source project I've been contributing to.

 

I've been thinking about how I want to approach this challenge, and I think I'm going to leave it pretty open-ended. I keep active because I know it's good for me. I eat in a way that makes me feel good mentally and physically. I also want to get to a place where I prioritize sleep because I know it's good for me. I won't get there by forcing myself to be in bed by a specific time. So thanks for the link @mom2sjm but this time I don't think the Dare Bee version will work for me. In general I don't want to live by black and white rules. So for this challenge all I'm going to do is try to pay attention to how well I sleep, when I sleep, how much I sleep, and how it makes me feel.

 

Now, random updates from The Life of Tobbe

 

I went shopping yesterday and I hit the jackpot!

 

20200622_200030.jpg.113640d93b1fa09da4bc11a9a74902b7.jpg

 

8 lbs (a bit less than 4 kg) organic bananas for like $4. Sweet deal! I've frozen a bunch of them, and for lunch today I made banana pancakes following this recipe

https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/banana-oatmeal-pancakes/

I skipped the cinnamon and used regular milk instead of almond milk. They turned out great! Had them with cottage cheese and raspberries. If you have some bananas laying around, do give that recipe a try!

 

Also found a new crispbread that I had to try

 

20200622_205639.jpg.c47c1d80c8c90f93171cebf71d843f4b.jpg

 

They're regular whole grain rye crispbread that they've added some fava bean meal and dried sweet potato to. Tried one yesterday with mashed avocado and a fried egg. But nah, I was a bit disappointed. I'll have to try some other toppings, but for the avo and eggs I prefer regular cripsbread (or a nice whole grain toast of course :)) Happy to have tried it though.

 

Today I went climbing with a friend from work

 

20200623_175513.jpg.2ecec8cf90072791b3fff5509e90f5d8.jpg

 

Beautiful day! And we had a great time. It was the first time for me climbing outside, but definitely not the last. Loved it! And tying this together with the topic of the challenge I've been tired today, and mentally I've probably not been at the top of my game, but physically the lack of sleep didn't seem to affect me as much. I'm pretty happy with the problems I managed to climb 🧗‍♂️

 

 

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I know everyone has given you suggestions about sleep but heres my 2 cents.

 

I would do the "honouring your tiredness cues" and keep a journal that records time going to bed, waking up and  your feelings before bed and when you woke up. You can also record throughout the day when you feel tire (but maybe can't commit to a nap or sleep). That way maybe you can see a pattern. 

 

Ohhh banana win! A friend at my barn has been unloading grocery trucks and the store got a full extra load of bananas and they had to get rid of it so she brought as many bananas as we would like. I took 3 bunches home. I would of took way more if I had a separate freezer.

 

 

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{Chase the wind and touch the sky; I will fly}

 

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