Old Fart Routine
I’ve officially become an old fart, but last night’s insomnia made it clear that my octogenarian ways are for the better.
James and I determined a few weeks ago that we need more discipline in our lives. We have a tendency to stay up until comical hours of the night and wake up much too late… but neither of us ever get enough sleep. That worked great in college, but has proved to be an unhealthy choice as parents. Especially since (I know slap my hand with a ruler) we incorporated our kids into our nocturnal lifestyle as well.
We started with modifying the kids’ routine and have been putting them to bed at what we feel is an early bedtime. Okay, so 8:00-8:30 may seem late to you, but that’s a small miracle in comparison to the midnight bedtime ritual they were on (*hanging head in embarrassment*). That did wonders for both of our girls, and they weren’t waking up ridiculously early, either. Both sleep better at night, probably because they’re not over-exhausted. Imagine that.
But that didn’t solve the problem of our own adolescent you-can’t-make-me-go-to-bed issues.
As you have most likely already figured out, I’m a shitty sleeper. I have insomnia most nights of the week, and I wake up feeling like a dead person most days. If I were smart, I’d have figured out long ago that going to bed at 2:00 a.m. probably contributed to my inability to fall asleep. But I plead stupidity in the sleep department.
However, since I returned home from Oklahoma about a week ago, we have been trying something very different. We’ve been going to bed by about 10:00 p.m. and have been getting up “early”… which for us is somewhere in the 7:00 hour.
In addition, we’ve been picking up our endless clutter every single night so that we wake up to a clean house.
And you know what?
It’s been really working for us. Incredibly well, in fact. Going to bed early, waking up at a decent time, and keeping our household under control has pretty much cured my insomnia. Sure, some nights it still takes me an hour to fall asleep, but that’s a remarkable improvement from the four-hour wait for snooze-land that I was suffering before.
We kept up our old fart routine for a week. But then, there was last night.
We went to bed a little too late, kept each other up for an extra hour (*cough*), and my restlessness and sleep problems returned like crappy magic.
However, although it was insanely tempting to let James get up with the kids while I caught up on my zzzzz’s, I decided my time would be better spent getting up at a healthy hour and resuming my early bedtime tonight.
I’m trying to be a somewhat mature adult. This is a big step for us. I haven’t had this sort of discipline since I was teaching a year ago.
Send positive sleep vibes my way… and I’ll keep you posted on how this routine works for me.
Current Mood:
Cool
Tags: Sleep
June 28th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
good luck keeping up a routine. my kids have started going to bed around 8 (shower for the older one at 7:30) and i try to get to bed at 10. usually i make it to bed at 11. i get up around 7- or 6, depending on how forgiving my daughter is. i miss the days when i could go to bed at 11, and sleep until 11…. *sigh* i miss being young.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:57 am
The old fart routine works very well for me. We get up at 5, which is sometimes painful, but if I don’t work out first thing in the morning, then it’s less likely that I’ll work out. Plus, there’s other stuff I get done in the morning. It’s when I have the most energy. Plus, if I sleep in, I feel like shit, and still don’t get anything done.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Seriously, this is the EXACT same problem that is happening at my house, except Chance goes to bed at 9 on the dot. I, on the other hand, can stay up until 2 because Archer will sleep in with me until 11. I have been trying my hardest to be in bed by 11, and most nights I am able to, but sometimes Arch won’t go to sleep that early.