Me this week, if I were Mila Kunis and about a foot shorter (and with a wonky zombie eye?!)
So I've been tracking my sleep for the last week, and today he went through my log. He calculated the estimated amount of actual sleep I've gotten each night (not including times lying awake in bed) and came up with an average of 5.5 hours per night. Not good. Then you add 30 minutes to that, equaling 6 total hours.
For the next week, I only get to be in bed for 6 hours each night. That means that if I want to get out of bed at 6am, I am not allowed to get into bed until midnight. If I want to "sleep in" till 6:30am, I can't go to bed until 12:30am. This schedule is supposed to stay in place on the weekend too; BUMMER.
I'm also not allowed to snooze my alarm in the morning, which will be VERY challenging for me. I'm a serial snoozer, setting my alarm at least 30 minutes earlier than I actually want to get out of bed. Dr. D told me that serial snoozing actually negatively impacts your sleep, as your body gets conditioned to being in bed but not being asleep. Which leads to the whole purpose of this zombie exercise. This is supposed to shock my body into only sleeping when I'm in bed. No lying awake, no snoozing, nothing. Plus, I think with such little sleep each night, I'm going to be EXHAUSTED and will hopefully konk out very quickly. There are no restrictions on caffeine, which will help. But I have a feeling this week is going to be ROUGH. I already warned my coworkers that if they hear snoring, it'll be coming from my desk.
After doing the 6 hours/night for a week or so, we can begin to add time to that in 15 minute increments. We can do that up to the point that I end up spending time in bed but not sleeping. Then we reel it back 15 minutes. Hopefully this will teach my body to only sleep in that comfy bed of mine.
Who knows if this will work, but I'm almost willing to try anything. It'll take some discipline, so hopefully I can do it. It better be worth it though... I am about to become zombified! Eek!!
That sucks! And interesting factoid about serial snoozing. In the meantime I'll try to think of fun things to do at 5am. I'm guessing waking up to get to the pool by 6 isn't on your list. Glad you're in good hands. :)
ReplyDeleteI WISH I had that sort of discipline! Maybe my new sleep schedule will give me so much more free time that I'll take up morning workouts. Wellll.... maybe not. :)
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