Night Owl for Life!

Electronics were banned from the bedroom for this whole week. If you read the rules of this project, you know that I can’t give up anything that directly affects my fiancé without his consent. Well, he agreed to it.

First off, I have been sleeping well this week. Second, we will not stick with this.

The biggest and only challenge has been bedtime. We’re used to watching a rerun or two before falling asleep. To get around the no-electronics rule, we both still stayed up to watch TV…we just watched in the living room instead and stayed up WAY too late as a result. I self-imposed an 11pm curfew, but ended up doing crossword puzzles in bed…alone. My fiancé had major trouble falling asleep without TV, and slept on the couch a lot. I DID convince him to come to bed early one night, if I let him use his Kindle Fire with headphones (he gave up). Just like the Kindle, things have slowly been migrating back into the bedroom. I ordered that the alarm clock (he insisted on) be hidden under the bed where it’s little light wouldn’t shine. And after 5 days of making a zombie trek across the hallway to hit “snooze” and stumble back to bed, I caved & twice brought my phone back into the bedroom…but only to hit snooze at arm’s reach. (No Facebook, no texting, no Words With Friends).

Because I slept better this week, I woke up refreshed and got to work early each day. Just kidding. That didn’t even happen a little. Despite sleeping a little better, I was still a Crankasaurus Rex, hit snooze several times, skipped breakfast, and got to work around 9am. Not quite the result I was hoping for.

When I gave up pop for a week, I realized my “addiction” wasn’t nearly as severe as I’d suspected. This week has shown me how horrible my bedtime routine really is. While I’m willing to make some gradual changes, I’m not ready to give up this bad habit quite yet – You may have noticed I posted this after 11pm. J

Sleep Tight

I slept well last night! Plus, I followed the advice of research I read & made sure to give myself some sunlight as soon as I woke up. (Thanks for installing the new curtain rods & tie-backs, honey!) HOWEVER, When it comes to bedtime maturity, I am a toddler. I fight sleep kicking & screaming. Sure, we banished electronics from the bedroom. But instead, we stayed up until ONE THIRTY AM playing on our laptops. (and I still haven’t finished all of the internets!) I am an idiot.

Solution: In addition to the bedroom ban, I’m self-imposing an 11pm screen curfew for the remainder of the week. Books, crossword puzzles, and snuggling are all still allowed J

Ben, last night in bed: So is the lamp allowed?

Me: Yes, that’s electric, not electronic.

Ben: Define electronics. You mean screens? Solid-state devices? Things with transistors? You should specify that on your blog.

Me: (laughing) I don’t think the two people who read my blog will care if it has a transistor.

Ben: I read your blog! Nate reads your blog! He knows the difference. He’s a smart cookie.

Me: Goodnight.

Update: Despite the Girl Scout Cookies and unhealthy habits which have snuck back into my dietary repertoire, the healthy habits from the past three “weeks without” seem to have stuck! I made vegetarian chili in the crock pot, baked this quinoa breakfast casserole, and roasted another tray of balsamic vegetables. Yum!

Good night

They say it creates artificial stress. They say it suppresses melatonin. They also say it interferes with your circadian rhythm. And I’m guilty of doing it every night. This week, I’m going without electronics in the bedroom.

I watch TV. I check Facebook. I play games on my phone until I can’t keep my eyes open. This week, I’m following the advice I’ve heard a thousand times & turning OFF the electronics in the bedroom. We’ve already removed the touch-screen computer, which is usually playing Futurama or Star Trek at bedtime. The glowing red alarm clock has been unplugged. Phones and laptops have been banned from the bedroom. Tonight, I’m going to town with some black electric tape and covering up everything which can’t be removed (like the carbon monoxide detector). My alarm will be set in the next room, so I'll have to wake up to turn it off.

I’m hoping I’ll sleep better this week and be less cranky in the morning. Goodnight!