I hate being sleepy in the daytime! I know that I can’t nap because I won’t be able to go to sleep. I know that I can’t drink coffee, because I know that will keep me awake too. What’s the solution to daytime sleepiness?

Getting quality sleep is essential in combatting daytime sleepiness. It’s about getting into a rhythm of sleep where you generally go to sleep and rise about the same time. I’m currently challenging myself to rise earlier. By rising earlier, I’m forced to go to sleep earlier at night.

Eventually, I hope to get into a rhythm and become more productive.

If you are experiencing chronic and constant daytime sleepiness you should seek a physician’s advice.

Personally, I expect some daytime sleepiness until I can get into a normal sleep routine or habit.

I set myself up for a perfect night of sleep, yet I had trouble falling asleep. I had great ambitions of rising earlier today. I had planned on getting up at 5:40am. Instead, I rose at 6:10am.

Having Trouble Falling Asleep Sucks When You Want To Sleep

Ok, maybe I did something I shouldn’t have done. We had an extended birthday party for my son and I drank to glasses of Pepsi and had a big piece of cake. My last glass of soda was a little after 7:00pm and I went to bed right around 10:00pm.

Another thing that is not helping is the rest of my family isn’t quite on board with rising early like I am. Therefore, they are up later and I can hear everything that is going on. Perhaps I need to look into earplugs. I worry about that because then I may not hear the alarm going off. I would also be paranoid about not hearing a potential intruder at night. I know what you’re probably saying: “It’s a wonder you sleep at night!”

I can’t stand it when I have trouble falling asleep. I was extremely tired getting into bed. Oh well, I guess be more aware of what I’m eating and drinking prior to saying good night.

On the brightside, I did rise early again!

Are you getting enough quality sleep? This post is an offering of tips that have helped me enjoy quality sleep.

Quality Sleep Defined

These are tips that have worked for me personally to achieve quality sleep.

I’m sure you’ve heard that 7-8 hours of quality sleep is what you need each night. Quality sleep is getting 7-8 hours of uninterrupted deep sleep.

My Tips on Getting Quality Sleep

Quality Sleep Tip #1: Exercise

Whenever I am exercising I typically fall into a regular sleeping pattern. It’s much easier for me to fall asleep and I generally end up with a better quality of sleep as a result. Try to avoid exercising a few hours prior to your sleep time.

Quality Sleep Tip #2: Limit Caffeine Intake

This is hard for me to do, but I’m slowly cutting out caffeine. If you have to have caffeine during the day make sure to cut yourself off 4-5 hours prior to going to sleep.

Quality Sleep Tip #3: Avoid Snacking Before Bedtime

Snacking before going to bed will raise blood sugar levels making it hard to fall asleep. When you come down from the sugar rush you can actually wake up totally screwing you for the balance of your sleep!

Quality Sleep Tip #4: Avoid Napping

Do your best to avoid napping during the day. Once you have fallen into a regular sleeping pattern you shouldn’t need a nap during the day.

Quality Sleep Tip #5: Sleep in a Dark and Cool Room

The slightest amount of light can disrupt your circadium rhythm. If you have to get up to use the restroom try to avoid turning on the light. Your body will stop producing melatonin immediately if you are awake and lights are on. When our kids were babies, I would be so in trouble the next day at work if I had to get up and the lights were on. Occasionally, if one of them wakes up puking we have to turn on the lights to clean it up and I become a total zombie at work. Personally, I like a cool room to sleep in. I sleep much more comfortably when I have to warm up to a cool room versus trying to cool off to a warm room.

Quality Sleep Tip #6: Avoid Watching TV Before Bed

Television stimulates the brain and fills your heads full of thoughts that have to be processed before you fall asleep.

These tips help me get a better quality sleep each night. I’m much more productive during the day when I have had quality sleep at night.

Leave a comment and let me know your methods for producing quality sleep.

I was exhausted going to bed last night! I went to sleep at 9:45pm and got up at 6:05am. Getting up was a bit easier this morning. I fell asleep very quickly, even with my wife reading with the light on.

The Power of Sleep

There is definitely much power in sleep. I am alert in the morning after a good night of sleep and much more productive. Personally, I’m a complete zombie during the day if I do not get much quality sleep. Yesterday was pretty rough for me, but I knew I had to stay the course to get the habit to stick.

The Challenge of Habit

There’s always a challenge when breaking old habits and building new ones. When you mix things up and try to better yourself, you will win in the end. I’ve realized through exercising and going to the gym on a regular basis that if I do the same workout routines over and over eventually my body gets used to it and my gains or improvements slowly subside.  With sleep, I have to steadily challenge myself and try knew methods to get better quality of sleep and to ultimately rise early.

My goal is to feel more productive and to have more time to be more productive.

Time is money. Time while well rested is more money.

Day 1 is starting off decently. I already realize the great benefit in rising early. It’s funny how each time I do this it feels like the first time. It was nice to wake up and smell the fresh coffee that was already brewed that I had set on autopilot the night before.

I went to bed around 11:30pm last night and got up around 6:15am this morning after two snooze pushes.

It’s amazing how easy it can be to use excuses and just go back to sleep. I had plenty of excuses I could have used this time around, but I stayed strong and here I am typing this at 6:45am.

Birthday

Today is my son’s birthday! He is turning 4 and VERY excited for this day. In my kickoff post I wrote about all the reasons why I love to be self-employed.

This is one of them.

To be able to be here and see my son enjoy his birthday is priceless. Actually, it does come as a price. I have to stop working to watch that happen. Before today, I would have slept until about 8:30 or 9:00. I would have moved around the house slowly doing what I usually do in the mornings. I would have finally sat down in front of the computer at 9:30 – 9:45.

Stray Dog

When we got home from the grocery store last night I noticed a note on our door. Our neighbor wrote that he found a pup wandering around and was pretty sure it was ours. He left it in the back with a pail of water.

We were pretty certain that we had left our dog inside before we left, so we were a bit curious as to what dog was back there. I went through the gate and searched all around, but did not see a dog. I assumed that our neighbor found out who the owner of the dog was and came to get it.

We went inside and had dinner and turned on the t.v. Out of nowhere a dog, which looked strikingly like our own dog was standing on the back deck and our dog went ballistic. I jumped up and went around the house through the gate to retrieve the dog. My wife thought it was strange that I had not seen it before. She asked if I looked under our deck. I thought hard and stuttered and stammered. “Well, DID you??”, she asked. I guess I didn’t.

So, fast forward to now… We kept the dog overnight, gave her a bath and fed her. This was an unexpected event that consumed a few hours of my time. I posted a craigslist ad and added a few entries in some ‘lost pets’ sites. Additionally, the poor dog was up part of the night whining probably wanting to go home.

*** UPDATE *** – The owner of the Goldie called this morning! She’s coming to get her later today.

Homecoming

Last night my 7 year old son got home from spending the weekend with his best friend and their family on his friend’s grandpa’s farm in Oklahoma. We had expected him home earlier, but the family was held up a few hours before leaving to come home. Once he was home and tucked in bed and our 3, almost 4 year old was finally sedated from all the excitement, we went to bed.

I had PLENTY of excuses I could have used to stay in bed, but here I am! It’s now 7:00am and I am all ready to attack this day and get PRODUCTIVE!

Rising early is kind of like making a deposit of money into a savings account. I am allocating extra time to my day to get things done or to account for other events in the day. If I can keep up the goal I have for myself this week I will be adding an additional 10-13 hours to my work week!

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” – Ben Franklin

I’ve always been more productive when waking up earlier. I’m going to put BF to the test by actually measuring production, profits and my own personal health while getting up earlier.

For the next two weeks I plan to record how much I am getting done, how much money I make and how I’m doing healthwise. I’ll share my results along the way.

I always thrive when I’m challenged. When you are self-employed it’s vital that you challenge your self to make sure you stay on track and keep money rolling through the door. At the same time you have to take care of yourself.

What I know I will gain from this experiment is productive time. I call it productive time because I tend to be more alert in the morning which lends itself to focus. When I’m focused I get more done. When I get more done I feel better about what I’m doing and the productivity increases.

I basically see it as a chain reaction. When I get more done, I’ll obviously make more money. When I make more money I’ll feel better about going to the gym and spending time taking care of myself vs. trying to work more to earn money.

I will start by getting up at 6am. This is about 2 1/2 hours early than I’ve been getting up lately.

Here we go! Day 1 starts in 12 hours. I’ll let you know how it goes.