Day 8: Get More Sleep
One week down in the 30-day Challenge! How are you feeling? From some of the comments and some things I’ve heard from people that I personally know (as in, know in real life), clothes are getting looser and people are feeling better in general. Being healthier and being sexier…does it get better than that? How about you?
Challenge Reminders
Just a couple reminders as we venture into week #2 of the challenge here:
- We will be posting on Mon, Wed, and Fri for the rest of the challenge (not daily).
- Make sure you report your results from Friday’s workout challenge or what you did instead of the posted workouts.
- Only one more week of Phase 1 where we got rid of all of the dietary stressors to let your body detox.
Keep up the great work y’all!
Week #2 Addition: Caffeine Is Back!
I like you all and I knew that giving up your caffeine was probably the toughest part of the first week. So I drove down to Atlanta, walked up to Mike’s door, and confronted him about it. I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. After a tense couple minutes of discussion, we had to resort to fisticuffs. The result was similar to this video (I’m the light-colored cat).
Okay, really, from the start, we both knew that caffeine is somewhere around “neutral” in terms of how it affects your body, compared to wheat and sugar. We wanted to urge you to go completely cold turkey for a week to prove that you can live without caffeine and to give your caffeine sensitivity a rest. You left the black gold behind and now know how well (or unwell) you function without it. It’s your call now how to use this knowledge.
So how should you handle this? Here are some tips for keeping your caffeine consumption on the healthy side, taken from my post on caffeine and health.
- Stick with it a little longer – That’s right…do it even though we aren’t making it part of the Challenge. How’s that for putting the ball in your court? I’m planning to have no caffeine until my Jan 23rd track meet. Can you last longer than that?
- Drink 50% less than before – A week off from caffeine is long enough to reset your sensitivity. You won’t need as much as before to make your head explode.
- No caffeine after 11am – You have to give your body time to metabolize the caffeine before you decide to hit the sack. Be done with your joe as early as possible.
- Note effects on your sleep – After about 3-4 days off of caffeine, I notice that I start sleeping better and waking up more rested. You might have noticed the same thing this past week. Note how you’re feeling after a few days back on the caffeine and determine if it’s affecting you positively or negatively.
- Cycle it – You don’t have to have it every day even when you do have it. Routinely cycling on and off will allow your body to maintain more sensitivity to it. Many like to use it only on serious workout days for the added boost, so maybe that is your plan going forward.
Sleeping And Health
Today, we’re going to take a look at how sleeping affects your health
Sleep is right up there with nutrition in terms of importance. It’s a time for your body to reset, retune, and repair. In fact, I find that sleep, exercise, and nutrition are intertwined. The more/better I sleep, the easier I find it to eat well. The harder I exercise, the better I sleep and the better I sleep, the harder I can exercise. Funny that healthy habits reinforce each other, eh?
How much sleep do you need? 7.5 to 9 hours per night. And that’s just to keep from going further into sleep debt. Most of us actually need more than that if we want to overcome the sleep debt that we’ve racked up by years of burning the candles at both ends. Since most of us have a set endpoint for waking up, courtesy of the alarm clock that screams “Get up and get to work!”, that means you have to go to bed earlier.
Task For The Day: Create A Bedtime Routine
Today, you’re going to create a bedtime routine that you will try to follow most of the rest of the Challenge and beyond. A bedtime routine signals to your brain that it’s time to start winding down and get ready for sleep. Here’s an example of mine…I do something similar to this most every weeknight:
- 9-9:15 pm – Computer off, brush teeth, clean up and shut off lights around the house
- 9:15-9:30 pm – Get workout clothes, laptop, etc ready for the next day. Set alarm (for between 6:30 and 7).
- 9:30-10pm – Read.
- 10 or before – Lights out!
You can see that gives me about 8.5-9 hours of sleep nightly. Sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. But for the most part, I’m sleeping more than 8 hours. So what’s your bedtime routine going to be? (Or what is it, if you already have one?)
One thing to note: the computer and TV need to be off at least 30 minutes before you intend to fall asleep and preferably about an hour before (I don’t always succeed here.) The blue spectrum light put off by the screens interferes with the production of melatonin and keeps you awake. Alarm clocks with blue displays are also bad news. I usually tuck any alarm clocks out of sight just to make the room darker.
Further Reading
The Promise Of Sleep
Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival
Childhood Obesity and Sleep
Table of contents for 30-Day Challenge
- Day 1: Elimination and Detox Phase Starts Now
- Day 2: Planning Your Daily Meals
- Day 3: Managing Time for What is Important
- Day 4: Spicing It Up And Healthy Snacking
- Day 5: Bodyweight Exercises Workout Challenge
- Day 8: Get More Sleep
- Day 10: The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
- Day 12: Finding Quality Food
- Day 15 – Phase II – Reintroduce, Rotate and Reflect
- Day 17: Healthy Eating Out
- How to Set Up the Simple Home Gym Fitness Program
- Day 22: Healthy Dessert Recipes
- Day 24: Reduce Stress and Simplify Your Life
- Day 26: Personal Goal Setting
- Day 30: Phase III – Adjust and Maintain
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24 Reader Comments
Feel free to leave a comment below... and as always please keep it in good taste. Comment spamming ONLY to promote your website is NOT allowed. So please use your real name in the field below otherwise it may be edited or removed. Constructive discussion is always welcome, personal attacks or useless bickering is not. Not all comments may be answered directly by editors/writers.
Thanks for the post. Ahhh, sleep. I really needed that mention of a bedtime routine. Mine has been rotting in front of my laptop until my face starts falling off, then scurrying off to bed. This sounds much more sensible.
Thanks!
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Reading for 30 minutes before bed is the best way to tire the eyes and doze off. I can go from feeling alert and wide awake to totally knocked out with some reading in a dark room with a small torch.
As for caffeine I havent quit but for about 6 months I have limited my intake to one fresh organic coffee in the morning with breakfast, nothing after. It has made a profound difference to my sleep and general wellbeing.
Thanks for the post very sound, simple advice as usual……..
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Mike OD Reply:
Just for the record, I am not a little kitty….and I am drinking my small Americano this AM.
Great job everyone. Sleep is key of course. If I’m on the computer too late, I find that I could keep working well into the wee hours. Setting a hard cutoff point/time is essential in my lifestyle. That and being consistent with it, as we all know how one real late night can mess up the next few days. I also feel crappier/more fatigued the next day in response to the later I stay up (no matter how many hours of sleep I get), so I know hormonal responses are different past a certain hour.
Time to get some books from the library…as cutting off cable this month I need some other down time leisure activity.
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Honestly can’t tell much difference in the way I feel and I attribute that to following good nutritional eating habits I developed. However, I have noticed myself eating more nuts than usual!
I gave up coffee in the morning after retiring and started drinking green tea. I never dreamed I could give up coffee in the morning but having found the taste of tea I like, it worked for me. This is not to say that I don’t enjoy a good cup of coffee every once in a while when I go out for a nice dinner. Just in time to have coffee back in our challenge since I have to attend a birthday party this Saturday, so no cake but I can have a cup of coffee.
I don’t have a bed time routine but try to get to bed by 10:00 PM every night and no matter what time I go to bed, I just wake up naturally between 6 and 7 AM. When I first retired, I woke up around 5:30 every morning because my body was used to getting up around that time. I am definitely a morning person so the earlier I rise, the better.
Turning off TV and computer a hour before going to sleep sounds like good advice so I will try reading before I go to bed this week.
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Hi, I am glad the coffee is in again. ( and the light cat won !!), dont consider to be addicted to coffee , since I was missing it but no headache or similar…
I only have one weak coffee in the morning, but I love it and enjoy sipping it slowly waiting for it to kick in;)
I have always slept little , and my body functions on 4-6 hr of sleep. Now I am trying to get 6 hrs , but more is impossible for me, unless I am ill. I can see that I am much better with 6hrs than 4-5 hrs.
Here in Spain the eating time is: big breakfast 9:30-10:30 am, big lunch: 2-3 pm and v light dinner at 9-10 pm ( 10-11pm in summer), usually a soup or salad with fish.
I have tried to have dinner earlier even at 8:30 pm , but is not accepted at home, so by 9pm I have the dinner ready and the table is set.
Dont have sleeping hour , I watch TV till I feel sleepy , so this is going to change with the challenge.
I have lost weight indeed and I knew it as my clothes are much looser, went to my Dr this morning for an ear inflammation problem and he told me I looked thinner, so I couldnt resist it when arrived home and took the “scale” out , I am down 4.2 kg (9.2 lbs)!!!! More than when I did 6WC , where I lost only 6 lbs???
I am delighted and glad to eat this way for ever , since I am eating real food and dont feel deprived of anything. I shall study when I add dairy and cold meat back, see how it is affecting me:
Day 7:
B- 2eggs, bacon, fresh tomato and spinach omelette
L- left over chicken + cauliflower
D- home made veggie broth + 1 small green tomato ( yummy) not hungry as the luch was huge.
Work out: 1 1/2 hr walk (5 miles)
The TV and computer shall be off by 10:30-11:00 pm latest tonight.
Thanking you again for setting this challenge step by step , it makes it much easier.
Have a nice day all
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glad the caffeine is back in – I’ve been suffering from tension headaches the past week, and couldn’t tell if it was caffeine related (doubt it, because I only have 1 large cup in the mornings), weather related (ah, the beautiful OH valley – and the pseudo snowstorm we had last week), or another problem I’ve been dealing with – serotonin levels and number of carbs consumed. So, I’ll add my coffee back today (and a little more than usual, because the heat’s out in the office and no tea to be found) – and hopefully I won’ t have a repeat of last week.
I used to be a horrible sleeper – it was easy to get to sleep, but I woke up anywhere from 2-4 times a night. Once I started cutting the sugar/grains out and experimenting with IF, that changed. I’m now a pretty deep sleeper for the first 6 hours, then hit or miss for the remaining 1-2 hours. My problem is getting to bed, but I’m working on that…
As far as eating, I reported on another challenge that I’m actually bloated after the week of detox – I’m hoping that will subside this week. On a side note, I’m tracking calories just to see where I’m falling. I HATE HATE HATE counting calories (having done it for years) – but it’s been awhile since I’ve done it, so I’m thinking it might be a worthwhile exercise. Hmmm, exercise…gotta make time for that this week, too –
Hope everyone has a fantastic week!
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Keeping on top of the challenge for now. I am glad to have the coffee back and sipping a large americano right now. As the other poster noted, I also found myself snacking on many more nuts than before. Sort of replaced all the other pastries and candy lying around the office. Now I just need to control the amounts, as it is way too easy to eat half a canister of those things.
Getting enough sleep is always a challenge for me, but I have gotten much better at it recently. I have always noted a direct correlation between how many hours of sleep I get, and how healthy I eat. Less sleep will invite crazy cravings for junk food. I believe I’ve lost a little weight in the last week, but I’ll keep the scale away until the end of the challenge.
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This challenge has been interesting and fun. I asked my husband to support me through this for the month. In turn he is doing the challenge too. So far the lack of sugar is difficult- a jelly donut would be awesome right now. But the reason I started this was to kick the sugar habit.
I did approx a round per minute on the beginner weekend challenge. My husband was much faster but did not count rounds.
The eight hours of sleep is awesome, we were close to it any way but it really makes a difference.
Thank you for the posts the ideas and support are great.
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I feel I don’t need the coffee back..I actually drink coffee because of the milk..I usually drink milk with a little coffe…But I feel a lot better since I started avoiding the dairy products.
I have difficulty going to bed early because I always want to do something more,read something more..I ususally fall asleep aroung 11:30-12…And I have to get up at arounf 6am…I feel very sleepy in the morning..But I will try to go to bed at 10 this evening.
I want to ask if it’s possible and good for the body to adjust to sleeping 6 or less hours?One of my friends is trying to teach her body to sleep less..What do you think about that?
I feel great when I sleep for 9hours and I’ve been thinking about sleeping more so you’ve just encouraged me more.. tnx
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I am fine without caffeine and plan to continue for now.
My sleep has always been adequate in duration but I never get sleepy until after 11-12 at night. I wake up whenever I am rested, usually 8.5 to 9 hours later. I can’t fall asleep earlier unless I set an alarm and get up earlier to be tired by 10 or so, and I hate using an alarm clock. I am hoping that stopping tv/computer earlier will help me fall asleep earlier now.
Mike, I am interested in you cable dropping experiment. I keep saying I want to do that but fear intense boredom at times and missing out on the documentaries and other rare educational programs I enjoy. Unfortunately I will watch junk just to pass time when I am bored, which is the main reason I need to cut the cable.
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Mike OD Reply:
@Rodney – check out http://www.hulu.com and http://www.fancast.com. I still watch a few shows online, but they are the ones I want to watch (not just because it is on the TV). It works out much better with less commercials and distractions to just channel surf, so all in all I don’t spend a ton of time watching….just here and there. Most TV networks are moving to put their shows available online nowadays, and you can even download/stream movies online as well (amazon is one place that does that).
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Can you really fall asleep within an hour of using a lcd screen? I recall a study that showed that one could not achieve REM-level sleep any earlier than a couple hours after lcd usage.
Perhaps your results have been slightly different, one study certainly isn’t conclusive, though I notice I cannot even fall asleep within an hour of computer use, let alone achieve stage 5 REM.
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Mikey, sometimes I get to doing stuff on the computer and just have to force myself to put it away. I just remind myself that everything on the ‘net will be there tomorrow.
Chris – ZTF, I agree. Some nights I lay down wide awake, figuring on reading a good couple chapters and before I know it, I can’t keep my eyes open.
lel, I’m the same way. No matter what time I go to bed, I’m usually awake by 8. Sometimes on weekends I can doze back off for another hour or so, but usually, I’m up.
Thania, you must be one of the rare people that actually do very well on about 6 hours of sleep. In “The Promise Of Sleep” (linked above), Dr. Dement actually talked about the very rare people that are like that. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t. Awesome work with the weight loss!
MOD, it was just a dramatization of the events that transpired. Geez!
Jean, that’s great that your husband joined in. It’s great to have strong support from your spouse.
Alexandra, I’m with you. The longer I go without caffeine, the less I need it. I do like it for the boost before/during a track meet or if I’m getting up to do early a.m. workouts before work, but otherwise, I’m going to try to cut back to weekends like I used to do.
Rodney, I don’t have cable either. I don’t even own a TV, which always seems to raise eyebrows. I either watch DVDs or TV online (both rare) or do without. I rarely watched TV, so I figured there was no sense in paying for cable. Gave the TV away.
wd, I’m not sure. I can fall asleep, but no clue about REM sleep. How do you actually measure if you’re hitting REM?
Cheers
Scott
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I have to confess. When I saw the Challenge you guys were doing, and my husband and I had discussed taking Paleo all the way (not a hybrid w/ dairy), I was almost hoping some part of it didn’t work…but…alas: energy is so steady it’s driving me nuts, clothes fit exactly like I want them to (skinfolds are creeping down), I’m never hungry, am enjoying the increase in veggies tremendously, and my blog’s on fire w/ my clients and fellow crossfitters from the paleo recipes I’m throwing out there. I had expected my training to suffer – not sure why – but it’s actually better. I don’t crash as quickly in the middle of a hard WOD and today I got my first hybrid muscle up (box)! Sweet!
I thought the breakthrough for me with the two main changes being grains and dairy was going to be the complete elimination of grains, but I truly believe it’s no dairy that’s created this new “feeling”. Again, sweet!
Re: sleep – I suck at a pattern, but I’m also one of those people where anywhere anytime, if you give me a pillow and tell me to sleep, I’ll be in REM within minutes. I don’t get 8 hrs for sure – bed by 11, up by 4:30/5:00, so I’m with Thania, I work better on that. I’ve tried to force more sleep, but I wake up achey and feel more lethargic. I agree with one of the people above who said they can read themselves to sleep – that does work for me if for some reason I can’t get there.
It’s fun having this little community of people to check in on and see what everyone else is doing, struggling with…while misery loves company (Caffeine withdrawl maybe), success loves it too (jeans fit!).
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Day 8:
B- coffee ( smelt as good but didnt taste as good!!) ( not hungry)
L- 3 hamburgers + mixed salad
D- zucchini cream soup ( tasted just as good w/o cream) + meat jerky
work out:
2 sets x12 of:
Dumbell side bends
Back extention
Push ups
Lying abduction
Forward lunges
(aprox 30 min)
Went to bed 11:15pm right after TV (fail) , slept deep but woke up at 1am ish and 3:00 am bc of turst, that meat jerky too much salt. However no problem to fall sleep immediately! Well try to do better today..
Sam way to go,
Have a nice day all
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@skudes, yes that was a + for me on college days, however when I have a flu or a cold specially if fever is envolved , I can sleep 20 hrs out of 24!! I just cant keep awake, just enough to take the medicine and eat or drink a bit and then ZZZZZZ…
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Thania,
That zucchini soups sounds good – would you mind sharing the recipe?
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I’ve been sticking pretty well to the challenge…not getting enough work outs in, but trying my best. I do feel my clothes fitting a bit looser, more energy ect…but the weirdest thing I notice is that I am peeing less frequently despite the fact that I am drinking much more water!
I used to be up and down at work all day and even at night would wake up 1-4 times to use the restroom. Last night I slept straight through the night without getting up at all…this is pretty amazing to me as it really helps me with today’s step in the challenge of getting more sleep.
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I’ll admit that I’m a little disappointed. I expected removing grains, sugar and dairy (I’m a cheese addict) would make huge differences in my life and might even result in rapid weight loss.
Not really.
The only difference I’ve noticed is that I passed up cake, cupcakes, chocolate from a very pushy date (“Are you sure you don’t want even just a tiny, tiny bit? It tastes really good!”) and fresh-baked cookies. I might have lost a little around the middle, but I can’t confirm that with a scale until the challenge ends, and if I have, it’s not much.
Now, I used to eat really cleanly except for mid-afternoon sugar binges (peanut butter cups or fresh-baked cookies or the like most days), but I still expected more change… *sigh*
I don’t drink caffeinated beverages anyway (racing heart at two glasses of soda) and always strive for 8 hours.
Anyone else in my boat?
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Mike OD Reply:
@Melody – #1 would be to understand that there really is no “rapid weight loss” to happen, unless you want to count doing a carb/glycogen depletion (and water that goes with it). So many things push “quick weight loss” in the mainstream, when the reality is “long term weight loss” is mostly slow and steady (such as 1-2lbs a week depending on how much you have to lose, as it can be more). But that is the permanent weight loss which is more important (as most bragging about quick weight loss just always gain it right back…Oprah is a prime example). Establishing a lifetime plan of healthy eating that is sustainable is the way to get it done and keep it off. Keep up the great work so far and I know you will not be dissapointed in the long run! Also you can up your workouts a tad to help out (such as a bit more intensity during a weight/interval session or a bit more activity afterwards such as walking).
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@Sam
Zucchini cream soup:
1lb of zucchini
1 onion
1 oz nuts ( almond, walnut ot cashew)
100ml full cream
2-3 tbs olive oil
thyme
salt and pepper
700ml chicken or vegetable stock
In a pan fry the chopped onion in olive oil until golden then add chopped zuccchini and sautee for 2-3 min.
Add the rest of ingredients except cream, bring to boil then lower the heat and cook for 30 min.
Let it cool a bit then make the cream with an electric arm or food processor , adjust salt and pepper , add the full cream.
It can be served hot or cold ,
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Thanks Thania!
Spain’s beautiful, right? Always wanted to visit.
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@Melody – I am in a similar boat….I suspected I was eating too much – not sure why I would on the challenge, since I usually eat only meats, vegetables and fruits on a regular basis. Anyways, the pants are feeling a bit looser this week (although I haven’t put my jeans back on that were so tight last weekend). Haven’t weighed, so I’m not sure where I’m at weight-wise.
I’m guessing that since I predominantly eat this way anyway – there’s very little water to lose….that might be your case too if you eat cleanly except for the afternoon snack. It might also have to do with how much you weigh (if you’re close to your goal weight, it’ll come of slower) and body structure. It might just take another week or so to kick in – giving your body time to adjust. I wish I had more concrete answers – but I’m learning there really aren’t any – at least for me.
Good luck!
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Paula Reply:
@Melody
It’s interesting reading the range of experiences here. I am feeling much the same way. I ate very cleanly before, but with this program ditched dairy (missed my yummy organic home-made cultured butter), grains (used to only eat brown rice, and once in awhile ww toast), the spoon of sugar I had in coffee in am, and also eggs…I think I might have a problem with eggs, so this was the opportunity to try. I didn’t completely ditch the caffeine, had one cup of lemongrass/green tea in the morning, which at first was completely unsatisfying, but now I’m actually looking forward to it; haven’t reintroduced coffee. Anyhow, my energy levels are horrible, I feel exhausted, drained and dragged out. No problem sleeping 8-10 hours! I think I’ve actually gained weight, according to feel of the pants, but pretty sure this is due to snacking on too many nuts…Last time I found a good deal on raw nuts, bought a few big bags, and gained 10lbs. I’ve been using nuts for breakfasts, and snacks, perhaps going a bit overboard. I’m going to try using them for breakfast, and snacking more on veg. As for exercise, I get out x-c and downhill skiing fairly regularly, but there have been two days I’ve missed exercise, will have to try doing something indoors on occasions I can’t get out, I like the advice of ramping up the workouts.
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Mike OD Reply:
@Paula – If your energy levels are bad, that is probably a sign of low blood sugar (which many with insulin resistance issues may have). Try a piece of fruit to see if that gives you the boost you need, as being tired is of course not the goal. As for the nuts, yes they do pack a BIG calorie load especially when you are not keeping track. Try to not snack as much (as mindless snacking is not as good as mindful eating of 3 meals) or choose other options like celery/apples to fill you up. More calories will of course not lead to weight loss unless you are really active enough to effectively use those additional calories. Keep up the great work!
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Great info on sleep and good tips!
While I love my coffee, I have found that I need 9-9.5 hours of sleep a night to be optimal. Most need more sleep than they think!
Keep up the great work!
rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
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[...] sleep, including the fact that Dan John recommends more sleep for weight loss. Here’s some good advice on getting more [...]
Sleep is most essential factor in each person. On average, people need around eight hours sleep a night but it’s depending on that person’s age. If we are regularly short of sleep, then our concentration and our effectiveness suffer and our energy levels decline and can increase stress, we loose our concentration, we start to make mistakes. As our energy declines, we become less proactive. This means that a situation that is already difficult and stressful can become worse. Make sure you get enough sleep. If you have become used to being tired all the time, you will be surprised by how intelligent and energetic you will feel once you start sleeping normally.
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Day #8 of the detox: was thinking a cup of coffee sounded good this evening (5:00 ish) so indulged. Just one. It is now 3:29 a.m., and I am still wide awake. So much for the “get adequate sleep” thing!
Was awake most of the night LAST night. . . um. . . “eliminating”. . . . insides are finally getting back to being happy with me I think.
Sweets have been the hardest to give up, but have found dates and grapes to be my new friends. (I’m vegan almost a year now, so there wasn’t a lot for me to give up but grains and sugar, which I limited anyway), but funny how you think you want something the minute you know you’re not supposed to.
Over all, things are going fine. Dropping some weight, I can tell already. And have more stamina during my workouts! Hmmmm. . . . ??? Am thinking I may be on my way to becoming a raw foodist!!!!! After second thought. . . maybe I’ll wait on that decision.
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