My loyal readers have been anxious to hear the results of my 30 days of sleep experiment. Although the 30 days was officially up on May 18th, I thought I would do my best to drag out the suspense. After numerous, okay, no emails wondering how the experiment turned out, I still felt obligated to reveal the results of my study.
I created a handy little note in the Evernote app for my iPhone so that I could record my data on a daily basis. It went something like this
Day of the week, weight (first thing in the AM), # of hours of sleep, indicator of interrupted sleep
So Week 1 looked something like this (I took out the weight so you won’t judge):
SUN 7 hrs, i
MON 7 hrs, i
TUES 6.5 hrs, i
WED 7 hrs
THURS 6 hrs
FRI 8 hrs, i
SAT 8 hrs, i
That was actually a good week. Those numbers were pretty good for me in terms of sleep. But you might also have noticed that five out of seven nights included interrupted sleep. No, I don’t have a newborn baby. I have a 3 year old son who goes through phases where he climbs into Mommy and Daddy’s bed in the middle of the night leaving Mommy about 4 inches of space on the edge of the bed. Yeah, this was one of those weeks. Net weight change: 0%.
Here’s how Week 2 went:
SUN
MON
TUES
WED
THURS
FRI
SAT
And Week 3:
SUN
MON
TUES
WED
THURS
FRI
SAT
Aaaaaaaaand finally, Week 4:
SUN
MON
TUES
WED
THURS
FRI
SAT
I gave up. I didn’t give up trying to get a reasonable amount of sleep every night. But I gave up trying to hold myself accountable. My life circumstances just didn’t allow for me to devote the time to sleep that I would like. I mean, I am a mother after all.
So was the experiment a complete failure? Not at all. I learned a few things along the way.
I learned that, when I get a good night’s sleep, I’m a better person. I’m happier. I have more patience. I’m a better mom. I feel more equipped to tackle life’s daily stresses.
Does that seem obvious to you? Everyone feels better after a good night’s rest. It is obvious. But it’s a good reminder that when you feel overwhelmed, overstressed, and just not like the parent you want to be, take the night off. Put off a few things. Let the dishes pile up. Say no to your honey. Say no to a glass of wine (it worsens your quality of sleep). Turn off the TV and step away from the computer. Go to bed early even if you don’t want to. You’ll be glad you did.
And the great news is that I lost 4 pounds! Of course, the stomach virus I just got over might have had something to do with that. Now excuse me, while I unplug and try to think about getting my 7 hours tonight.
