Routine

I was stumbling through some research and I found a lot of different studies have incorporated routine into making processes easier. For instance, I have a very troubled sleeping pattern. Some nights, I stay up until 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning. Other nights, I'm out like a light bulb at 11pm. The night before my civil service exam, I was out at 8pm! There are also times where I sleep, or try to sleep, and I wake up every so often, roll around, get re-adjusted and try to fall back asleep, or nights where I am "asleep" but still thinking, so when I wake up, my mind never got it's rest.

My wake-up routine is pretty down pat. We have two different scenarios. The first being, I have to get up and attend work/meeting/appointment/ an outside obligation. My alarm will be set, and ready to go. Once the beeping starts going off, I can either not recognize it for 10 minutes and then get up or recognize it, and hit snooze (probably hit snooze about 5 more times). I always have to set my alarm way ahead of when I am planning on getting up or else, I will be late because of my relationship with the snooze button. When I have gotten sick of pressing snooze, I decide it's time to roll out of bed. The other scenario would be, I have no obligations (at least not in the morning) and I can wake up whenever I want to. I usually wake up throughout the night for moments, but once I realize there is light out I will check my clock to see the time. Usually if it's before 8 o'clock in the morning, I'm rolling over and catching some more dreams. Usually, that's like my "snooze button" for my non-alarm, I will wake up again by 10am. At this point, I will decide it is late enough and roll out of bed. (Sometimes however, I can wake up as late as 1pm or 2pm depending on how late it was the night before when I finally fell asleep).

When I leave my room, I immediately take a bathroom stop. A full night of sleep and my body will usually amount to a very full bladder! After this is done, I wash my hands and head out to the coffee machine. I'll set it up and get some coffee going, and at this point my feet will be attacked by my little lion in-training kitty. She meows and rubs up against me for as long as it takes to remind me that she is starving and needs a tablespoon of wet food. I give her a lovely breakfast and grab my cup of coffee and head back to my room where I sit on my laptop and update myself on News and Friends Updates on their Facebook (Sad, but true). At this point I can do this for about 45 minutes, (If I have somewhere to be it will be shorter depending on how long I snoozed for). I will finish 2 cups of coffee. I will then head to the bathroom, I will either shower if there is enough time, or pull my hair back appropriately until it looks nice (or perfectly sloppy), brush my teeth, do a quick wash of the face, apply some lotion, and if need be I will apply foundation and mascara. Sometimes, because I am not much of a morning person and most mornings if I have somewhere to be I don't wake up on time, I won't apply make up at all (unless it's a job interview or something I need to look nice for, in which case I will have anxiety and would have been up early enough to do my hair and make up). If I am free of obligation I will relax in a very hot shower for far too long, you know, until my fingers are prune-like and my muscles are so soft from the heat I'm like a bowl of jello. I will then brush my teeth, apply lotion. Then from there, it is time to leave or time to figure out what I will do with my day.

I generally do not eat breakfast. I go through phases where I am really hungry in the morning and will add in a little breakfast scene, but most of the time I pass by without doing so. I've read various articles regarding how unhealthy this is, but I'm not going to eat unless I am hungry, and in the morning I can be so tired I will be nauseous. I am not going to add fuel to any stomach being upset, so I guess I will have to deal with those consequences of being unhealthy.

As for my night routine, I haven't quite got it down to a science. I have recently begun exercising at 8pm. I do this because this is when the television in my living room becomes free. I read in some more research that exercise should not be done so close to bedtime, because it is stimulating to the body, however exercise is supposed to help you sleep. I have no other choice but to wait until 8pm, so I have to deal with the possible stimulation of my brain and muscles. After this I either take a bath (and don't wash my hair) or sit on the computer. I read that taking a bath is great because it makes you hot but when you get out, your temperature drops which simulates the process of sleeping. (In case you didn't know, when you sleep your body temperature drops). They explained that watching television and playing on your computer is also stimulating and should be avoided. They explained that the lighting from the screens releases chemicals in the brain to stay awake. This makes sense to me, but I am extremely addicted to technology, so I have to definitely fight the urge to endlessly roam the deep surfaces of the internet. More studies stated that relaxing and reading books before bed helps get the brain ready for the REM cycle. I agree that a book does not have a bright screen, but I have found myself not able to put a book down until it is finish, causing me not to go to bed (which I think is very stimulating). So what can I do before bed to engage my body to relax? I have a new heated forehead compress. You can use it to reduce tension headaches, but also it is supposed to be used for meditation, resting, and napping. Perhaps I should begin a cycle of meditation, like mentioned in my last post, practice the art of controlling my thoughts, control my mind, and relax my self into a nice sleeping coma. Oh, what I also found was mentioned often in all of these various articles, was creating a night time routine will also prepare your body for sleep. For example, washing your face and brushing your teeth every night triggers your mind to know it is bed time.

I would site my sources for others to gain further information but I never intended for this to be a formal researched assignment. I was just merely trying to post somethings that I've read that could be affecting my sleeping patterns, and not in any way trying to steal anyone's words or work. I cannot take credit for any of the information regarding sleep, the only thing I can claim is mine is the morning routine and anything I wrote that was a personal note for myself. I don't even know how scientifically credited any of the articles I came across were, I was just looking for ideas on how to change my bad sleeping habits. Perhaps in the future, I'll conduct a more credited piece of research regarding sleeping patterns.