What Eight and a Half Hours of Consistent Sleep Taught Me
Motivation
Being a student and someone fortunate enough to be able to work remotely part-time, my schedule changed with the pandemic. Like most are finding, I’m able to work and study more than I did before, as I don’t have to waste two hours of my day commuting and parking. I found myself wanting to get done with work/studying earlier in the day and exercise at the end of my work/study to burn off stress and help me sleep. Which meant I needed to either start working or studying every day at 7 am instead of 8 am. However, I did not want this reality to change my morning routine.
The Morning Routine
Come 4:30 am, my $10 alarm from a local convenience store that I’ve had for the last 15 years blares wildly until I turn it off. The simple, yet reliable digital clock has never failed to wake me from a deep slumber. I’m yet to find a noise that’s more agitating than my loud beep beep beep alarm clock. Five minutes usually go by until I gather my thoughts and get out of bed to get dressed and wash up. Usually making it out the door with my 2-year-old German Shepheard by 4:50 am for a nice and brisk walk that is usually blanketed in a Zen darkness and snow most of my year. This is the start of what I call my morning meditation. The neighborhood is fast asleep, spare a few early morning joggers and walkers like me, it’s just my dog and me with the world all to ourselves. As my brisk walk pumps blood to my brain, the cool air through my nostrils reinvigorates all my senses. This is my me time, my Zen time, just my thoughts and I, no computer screen, no people, no distractions.
I return to my house to make my fresh morning breakfast for my dog and me. With my parents still fast asleep, I make my eggs, bacon, toast, and my morning latte (today I had a white chocolate and raspberry latte) with my favorite manual home espresso machine, the Profitec Pro 500. Sitting at my kitchen table, with no screens or distractions I sit and enjoy my breakfast. Enjoying a meal with no distractions is a small thing that makes life, living. To me this is a continuation of my Zen meditation, while most would be scrolling the news on their phone or watching TV, I sit with my thoughts and enjoy the fruits of my labor. The breakfast experience sets up a solid foundation for the rest of my day.
After cleaning up the kitchen and then a few other miscellaneous tasks, I brush my teeth and am ready for the day. Refreshed both physically and mentally I walk to my desk at 7 am, ready for the productive day.
Increase in Productivity and Creativity
Up until 8 am the house is still relatively quiet in the house, so I can jump right in and have laser focus to the start of my day. Jumping right in I can quickly write emails with a laser focus and clear my inbox and either start studying or working at the beginning of my day. This is in contrast to starting work later on where I would slowly get into the work/study day, I might open up YouTube to start my day and watch a video or two and slowly get into my day. With this laser focus, I’m able to jump in my day in a highly productive manner, which allows me to tackle the hardest most thought intensive tasks of the day. Because of this early start to the day, 10 am comes in a blink of an eye, and lunch zips in at 12:30 pm.
While I acknowledge I have an orderly Zen morning routine that contributes to productivity, the early start combined with the consistent 8 hours of sleep greatly improves my ability to focus. I emphasize consistency as if it’s not consistent, the level of focus diminishes. I have also found if I don’t go to bed and get up at the same times throughout the week, I lose focus as well, for example, 9 pm-5 am one day, instead of 8 pm-4:30 am. I’m not a doctor but I believe this has to do with our circadian rhythm, so the trick is to keep the time and amount consistent.
When I return to work at 1 pm after lunch, since my day is halfway over, the last few hours of work more productive than if I would have started work later in the morning. I’m re-energized by the fact that my work/study day is almost over, and I feel the pressure of the short amount of time left in my day to complete the tasks that I have left for the day. Where normally I would have felt tired from lunch and had been wishing for the work/study day to be over. While I’m working/studying the same number of hours, I trick my brain with the early and long morning into thinking the day is moving faster than normal.
With my work/study times being more productive I find more fulfillment in my day and can sleep soundly at 8 pm. Walking up at 4:30 am gives me more focus throughout the day, but also makes me exhausted by the time 8 pm comes around. This leads to entering REM sleep quickly and few, if any interruptions during the night. There are two things to highlight, one is that I go to bed and get up at the same times throughout the week, secondly being an early riser gives me intense focus at the “cost” of being exhausted by the time I lay down to go to sleep. Aside from the intense focus, I find myself having fewer memory problems, less physical stress, and an overall happier person. This new sleeping routine I have found has been critical to my mental health during the current pandemic. Working and living in the same place, with the same people, among other life and family stresses, has been taxing on my mental health. This new routine I attribute to being critical to my well-being during present times. I encourage anyone reading this, who finds themselves in the same situation to establish a routine, which will have a variety of benefits in current times and beyond.
Aside from work and study, I find this laser has done wonders for my motivation and creativity. A happier, focused, and the fulfilling state does wonders for the writing process. When the brain is fed, happy, and healthy, words and thoughts flow from my fingers like a roaring river. The most creative times in my day I find are before 8 am, and on the weekends after I have slept in, walked, relaxed, and had a big weekend breakfast. From what I just told you, these times seem to be the opposite and contradicting. However, they are indeed the same state, the brain is well fed (with food and sleep), I have a sense of fulfillment from the day or workweek prior, and my Zen walks have reenergized my brain. I encourage you to think of what makes your brain happy and healthy, where and when is your happy place?
Acknowledgement of Exercise
While my sleeping and daily routines play a large part in my productivity, as someone with a science background, I would be cheating myself and the person reading this if I did not tell you about my exercise routine. My exercise routine is a considerable influence on my focus and productivity. This is not a fitness article, and I’m not here to lecture people on how to get fit or to tell you that I’m a super athlete and you should be one too. My exercise routine is something I do for me and makes my body and mind healthy and happy. This might work for you it might not and that’s ok. Due to lower back issues, my development of an exercise routine pushed me to focus on core strength, this in combination with my love for cardio has resulted in me biking on my exercise bike three times a week, for 60 minutes at a time, at resistance level three (usually I bike at a constant resistance as opposed to a variable), which result in me traveling about 15 miles and burning 350 calories. Two other days of the week I go for a mile and a half run which takes about 13 minutes and burns about 300 calories.
While I’m not a super athlete and, despite my healthy diet, I probably eat more calories than a burn exercising and walking. I’m a healthy and fit person, and my weight has been consistent for many years now. I’m am a fairly young person, with a very fast metabolism, but this weekly workout routine makes me feel good both physically and mentally. So, this routine works for my body and lifestyle, and the important point is that you find a routine that works for you. While I will be training for a 50 mile bike ride over the next couple of months, you should find a routine that works for you and your body. I always exercise at the end of my workday, which burns off stress and gives me a rush of endorphins. By the end of the workout again I feel fulfillment, and this undoubtedly helps me sleep at night. Aside from sleep, this is a considerable variable that I must acknowledge.
Find Your Cup of Tea
My daily routine may or may not work for you and your life. I’m not a medical expert or a fitness guru, and I’m not telling you what to do. What I would recommend is that you find “your cup of tea”. Especially in current times, you should find healthy habits in your life that improve your health and your life. Habits ranging from sleep, eating, exercises, and work you should find things that make your mind and body happy. I hope this reflection of my life helps you help your brain find its solace. Mental health is equally as important as physical health, so I hope we are all able to make a happy time, no matter what is going on in our lives.
