Monday was "Move for Health Day." We celebrate this every year on May 10 at the rec centre with fun, free, active events for the people in the community. We had free fitness classes throughout the day. At other spots in Burnaby you could try out various indoor and outdoor activities, and mostly just get (or keep) moving for health.
To maintain the momentum, our lifestyles programmers designed a 20 day challenge. The idea is that it takes 20 days to develop a new, healthy habit. They challenged participants and staff to sign up. To participate, you have to pick a new healthy habit, and adopt it for 20 days. There's a big chart on the wall for names and daily check marks. All around it, there are paper hearts on which people have written (anonymously) what they plan to do for 20 days. Some say "take the stairs," or "eat vegetables," or "park farther away." One (not mine) says, "no beer." Another (also not mine) says, "no candy." Mine says, "sleep 7 hours." I have read that sleeping 7 hours makes you eat less, live longer, and have improved memory. Should be easy to do too. Andy goes to bed early so he can get up for a very early work start. I sleep well, and love sleep.
Now I have completed my 3rd night of week night 7 hour sleeping, and I have realised that I don't usually get 7 hours of sleep. It takes some planning and determination to get 7 hours sleep. I like to go to bed between 10 and 11pm, and I fall asleep pretty quickly - say 15 to 20 minutes after my head hits the pillow. I like to get up at 5:30am. To sleep 7 hours I must be asleep by 10:30 and wake at 5:30. If I delay sleep to 11, I must sleep until 6am. That it hard - not the being asleep part, but the missing being awake part. Suddenly I feel like I have a bedtime rule, like when I was a kid. Twice I have got into bed after 10:30, and reset my alarm from 5:30 to 6. I still wake at 5:30. It feels delicious to go back to sleep for 30 minutes, but I'm thinking, "I could be up reading the newspaper or playing with my computer."
I'll keep the habit up for 20 days and see what happens. Already I have a new awareness of what it means to get enough sleep. This will be an interesting challenge.
question: how is your sleep?
mompoet - looking out for the nap fairy
1 comment:
Sounds a good idea to kick-start a good habit with 20 days challenge.
I am a light sleeper and I get about 6 hours of sleep on weekdays and longer on weekends.
I like to wake early because I just love the start of each day... so much potential to be make the day fruitful, good and enjoyable.
The first time I look upon waking up is the morning sky. It just gives me a great feeling.
I think I would want to try sleeping 7 hours of sleep too because I want to live longer and definitely want to improve my weak memory power.
Thanks for sharing. Your workplace healthy challenge has just expanded internationally!
Have a great sleep each night and a wonderful day everyday!
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