Can we talk for a minute about sleep?

Kitten sleeping

So, sleep is something we all need. There are some folks who may need less sleep, but the human body needs sleep to survive. Personally, I suffer from chronic insomnia. I’m in treatment for it, and that treatment helps. Make no mistake, though – I need every bit of that treatment, from CBT to medication, to make sure I get what I need.

Why is that important?

The name of this blog is Former Fit. That’s because I was formerly fit, and now I’m not. (I just had a terrible moment where I tried to put on a brand new dress and failed. That’s a post for a different day.)

Every time I’ve gained weight, every single time, I gained during a time when I wasn’t able to get the sleep I needed. That’s not a coincidence.

There are other factors at play. I have a thyroid condition. There are some genetic issues involved. I have some injuries that stop me from exercising in ways I enjoy. But the severe weight gain has all come at times when sleep stayed as far out of my reach as a Yeti.

I’m working on that. Like I mentioned, I’ve been in treatment for my chronic insomnia. I’ve also been making an effort to get to bed at a reasonable hour. My smartphone has a “go to bed” function, which chases me to bed seven hours before I hav

e to get up.

Here’s the problem, and I’m sure you have the same problem. We all have a lot of life to get in the way of our goals, right? We have homes to maintain. And we have jobs. If we work from home, the line between work and home becomes blurred more often than we’d like. I work from home more often than not, and it’s hard to turn it off and go do things around the house.

When home is your workspace, it’s hard not to feel like you should be working when you’re at home, right?

And when you’ve got a big deadline breathing down your neck, it’s all too easy to say, “Okay, just this once, I’ll push it out and stay up a little bit later.”

I find I have to do that all the time. And I can pull it out when I have to. After all, isn’t honoring my commitments more important than sticking to a sleep regimen?

The thing is, sleep is kind of a foundation for health, for all of our health. Without it, we don’t heal. So I’m making more of an effort to get the sleep I need. And I hope you will too!