Sleep
Movement
Sleep
How would your days change, how would you feel if you got a reasonable amount of sleep most (or even every) nights? Not just enough to get through the next day (and you'll "catch up" on the weekend) (which, by the way, doesn't actually work). Enough to feel genuinely rested.
Do you even know how much sleep that is? Next time you're on vacation or have a few days with no schedule, leave the alarm clock off (or, if that's too hard, set it for 12 hours). Notice, over the course of a few days, how many hours you sleep when left alone. For me, it's 8-9 hours. For some people it's 7, for others 10.
What would happen if you made a full night's sleep your #1 health priority? How would you have to change your life to make that happen? Would you have to quit stuffing activities into the wee hours of the dawn? Would you have to record your favorite late-night show and watch it when you get home the next day? Would you have to eat dinner earlier or later?
A few years ago I decided to try just that -- make getting a full night's sleep my #1 priority for the week. The first few days were a bit ragged; like most everyone else I have long-established habits that keep me from getting enough sleep. But by the end of the week, I was managing 7-9 hours every night.
What a difference. Can you imagine facing your day fully re-charged? Virtually everything else becomes easier.
Movement
There are things the body is well-designed for and things the body isn't well-designed for. The body is built to move. Conversely, it really stinks at holding a static position for an extended period of time. Driving. Computer work. Watching TV. Even reading a book.
When you're not moving, muscles get over-tired, blood flow from the feet and lower legs gets sluggish, joints get stiff, ligaments tighten up, tendons get tense, your digestive track has to work harder...sounds exhausting, doesn't it?
Now, by "movement" I don't mean "exercise". Not running, jumping, lifting, riding, sweating, grunting, etc. I mean movement. Standing up. Sitting down. Walking over there. Coming back here. Picking that up. Moving that other thing. Looking around. Finding something under your desk.
Doing the laundry. Cooking dinner. Making the bed. Cleaning out the car. Bathing the dog. Shooing the cat off the couch. (Bathing the cat would probably actually count as "exercise".) Putting the groceries away. Walking down the driveway to get the mail. Playing peek-a-boo with the baby. Changing a light bulb. Brushing your teeth. Taking a shower.
You get the picture.
There is a place for exercise but what too many of us are lacking even more than exercise is a day full of simple movement. What we tend to have instead is hours on our butt.
Think that's not you? I bet your phone / iPod / tablet / watch / etc. has a timer. Pick a day next week. Whenever your butt meets a sitting surface (couch, chair, car, bus, train, etc.), start the timer. When you stand up, pause the timer. Next time you sit down, start the timer again. Stand up? Pause the timer.
How much time do you think you'll find yourself on your butt? Just typing up today's session notes, writing this blog entry, and talking to my husband on the phone (he's in NY on business) has been 1:45 hours. There was 30 minutes of TV before that. That's more than 2 hours that didn't even start till 9:30 pm!
So pick one -- sleep or movement -- and make next week an experiment. How will you be different and feel different from either (or both!) of these very simple healthy habits?
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