Okay, let’s be honest. Our mood affects our energy. Our energy can affect our mood. All of this affects what we end up doing with our days. So now it’s time for us to take a proactive approach to these things. Yes, there will be elements outside our control, but there are still many things we can do to help out in the long run.
Your Assignment this week doesn’t require much time, but really gets at two basic needs in our life.
Hydration & Sleep
Assignment #1
Drink ~64 ounces of water a day, and limit intake of soda, coffee, and caffeine. Most people simply don’t drink enough water and our in mild to medium stages of dehydration. This can lead to headaches, a negatively impacted mood, fatigue, low endurance, elevated heart rate, and constipation, and much worse. If we want to do everything else in this whole “Summer School’ program, not to mention many more important things in life, we can’t start off already in the hole. We need to be hydrated. We need to drink water.
There are many schools of thought on exactly how much, but an 8 glasses of 8 ounces is a nice starting point. If you’re physically active (which I hope you’ll be beginning next week if you’re not already), you should be drinking even more. If you’re in a really hot environment, this is also true. In the summer I can drink anywhere from 80-100 ounces a day depending on how active I am.
Oh, and I really do mean water. Far too many of us have replaced this basic water need with sodas, juices, and coffees. While an occasional Pepsi or Starbucks is fine, too much of it is a bad thing. We need water, not all the chemicals, calories, and caffeine.
Ideally, I’d love for you to cut out ALL caffeine and sodas this week. I know many might really be addicted, so here’s the challenge instead.
Limit your coffee, soda, or juice to no more than one a day. Oh yeah, and that’s only one coffee, soda, or juice–not one of each. Do it for this week at least. Better yet, try it for all six weeks of this Summer School. See if you can make coffee, soda, and juice a treat you do only once or twice a week or better yet–only once or twice a month.
Remember, this is for your health, for your mood, and for your state!
Assignment #2
No TV, computer, iPads, or iPhones, cell phones, etc 1 hour before bed.
We need sleep.
Anyone want to disagree with me?
I thought not.
Here’s the problem (and this is a big problem for me as will which is one of the reasons I’m including it here): We have way too much stimulus right before bed.
We watch TV.
We play on Facebook.
We play Angry Birds on our iPhone.
We read a book on our iPads.
We make one more call to our friends on our cell phones.
We do everything, but begin the bedtime process.
I’ve spent a bunch of time recently with friends and family members who have young kids. I’m always amazed by the bedtime process that tends to begin an hour before the actual bedtime. There is a bath, the brushing of teeth, a story, and songs or prayers. The kids can begin to unwind from their day.
While our own parents may no longer tuck us in, we need a similar unwinding.
So here’s the challenge. Pick a bedtime. Seriously, do it. No really–decide when you want to go to bed. If you don’t, you’re sleeping schedule will eventually flip and you’ll be just be awake at night (not a good thing).
Now that you have a bedtime, unwind one hour before it. Turn all the electronics off (the brightness of their lights messes with your body’s internal clock and keeps you up later). Now do something else for that hour.
Read, write, reflect.
Spend some time getting ready for bed.
If you make that last hour a little less chaotic and overloaded with electronics, you may find it is actually easier to go to sleep which will increase the amount of sleep you get each night.
Don’t worry, facebook and your DVR will still be there in the morning, and you’ll be even more refreshed when you see them next.
That’s it. Drink Water and Get Ready for Bed. Do it.
Please share your success and your challenges with it on the discussion section of my facebook page. Let’s see if we can collectively work to better ourselves.