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Advice?

Butterfly121

Butterfly121

Member
Advice needed....in trying to establish healthy habits...how important do y'all think a set bedtime and morning routine are to your overall health/setting yourself up for a successful day? I've never really been one to be disciplined enough to make myself get to bed early/rise early. During the workweek, I have the bad habit of staying up way too late to "just get one more thing (work or school stuff) done".
 
Butterfly121 said:
Advice needed....in trying to establish healthy habits...how important do y'all think a set bedtime and morning routine are to your overall health/setting yourself up for a successful day? I've never really been one to be disciplined enough to make myself get to bed early/rise early. During the workweek, I have the bad habit of staying up way too late to "just get one more thing (work or school stuff) done".
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Hey there Butterfly. I have the same bad habits. I tend to only get 5-6 hours of sleep during the week and know I need to do better. I'm going to be watching the replies on this one as well!
 
I have a very hard time with sleep - I am currently taking melatonin and benedryl (same med that is in the PM meds, but when they package as a sleep aid, it costs double), per my doctor to help with some insomnia. I usually have issues due to fibromyalgia, but right now I have the added issue of some extremely stressful personal situations adding to it. I will continue the melatonin, but will likely end the benedryl in a few weeks. Also trying to have better bedtime routines, like no electronics in bed, no TV on in the room after 10pm.
 
I do my best to get eight hours every night. For me that means being in bed by 8:30 since I have to get up at 4:30 to take a daughter to the bus stop. (She attends a magnet program high school an hour away from our home.) I found if I don’t get hours the next day is harder for me.

For me, routine is important when it comes to when and what I eat. Each week, I pretty much eat the same things (meals I prepared on the weekend). It keeps me on track and helps me build healthy habits. Hopefully one day I won’t have to think about it so much and it will just come naturally....but until then I’ll keep steady with my routines.
 
eladams2015 said:
I have a very hard time with sleep - I am currently taking melatonin and benedryl (same med that is in the PM meds, but when they package as a sleep aid, it costs double), per my doctor to help with some insomnia. I usually have issues due to fibromyalgia, but right now I have the added issue of some extremely stressful personal situations adding to it. I will continue the melatonin, but will likely end the benedryl in a few weeks. Also trying to have better bedtime routines, like no electronics in bed, no TV on in the room after 10pm.
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You might want to try lavender oil...couldn’t hurt to give it a try.
 
Butterfly121 said:
Advice needed....in trying to establish healthy habits...how important do y'all think a set bedtime and morning routine are to your overall health/setting yourself up for a successful day? I've never really been one to be disciplined enough to make myself get to bed early/rise early. During the workweek, I have the bad habit of staying up way too late to "just get one more thing (work or school stuff) done".
Click to expand...
A successful routine is critical for my healthy habits. It took a lot of work to figure out what worked best for me. I was always the person who stayed up late and would hit snooze three or four times in the morning before falling out of bed and stumbling in the dark to get ready because my eyes seemed to be allergic to the lights, lol. But when I knew I had to start making time for exercise, things had to change to accommodate it. I realized I will not guarantee my workout gets completed it I leave it for the evenings. I refuse to workout on my lunch break because I get way too sweaty to be comfortable going back to work and also, after surgery it should take at least 30 min to eat your meal so that cut that time down drastically. So that left mornings. Well, for me to wake up and be a human first thing in the morning, I NEED at least 7 hours of sleep. So making myself go to bed between 8-9pm every night so I can wake up at 4am to start my workout was hard, but not impossible. I now get up at 4, spend 30 min drinking a protein shake, and then get on the treadmill for 30-60 min. Doing it first thing in the morning when I don't have anything better to do (because I got in my 7 hours of sleep and can't fall back asleep if I tried), ensures that it gets done. Now, I only have the 4 am wake up on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursdays. Tuesday and Friday are my days of rest. Saturday and Sunday I don't have to set an alarm but I stick to the same routine. Wake up, drink protein shake, workout, then go about my day. Now I don't even think about it. As soon as I wake up, my muscle memory takes over and I am on the treadmill before I know it.

I am the same with my meals. I always have the same breakfast that is put into containers and ready to be pulled out of the fridge and eaten without any further preparation. My lunches vary from week to week, but throughout a week, it will be the same. Again, meal prep and have them in containers so it is easy to grab and I don't have to think about options that aren't healthy for me. My dinners are the thing that vary each night but I plan for those the week before so I know exactly what I am eating every night of the week.

Everyone is different but schedules and routine make things so much easier for myself. I know I am hitting the goals I want to hit and if I am not, then I can easily identify why I'm not.
 
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