Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is about how not to crash on weekends. Being
Speaker 1: a bit more careful about sleep during the week means
Speaker 1: you can enjoy your discretionary time on weekends without having
Speaker 1: to spend that time overcoming weekday exhaustion. Today's tip, like
Speaker 1: a few others this week, comes from my new book
Speaker 1: Tranquility by Tuesday, Nine Ways to calm the chaos and
Speaker 1: make time for what matters. This book shows how one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty people became more satisfied with their time
Speaker 1: as they followed my nine favorite time management rules. One
Speaker 1: of those rules, indeed, the first rule, is to give
Speaker 1: yourself of bedtime. Many people have a very strong sleep
Speaker 1: set point. Let's say you need seven and a half
Speaker 1: hours of sleep a day, which is a pretty common number.
Speaker 1: If you sleep six and a half hours for a
Speaker 1: few days in a row, your body is going to
Speaker 1: force you to make that time up. That's why people
Speaker 1: crash on the couch while watching TV, or fall asleep
Speaker 1: while putting their kids to bed, or sleep through alarms,
Speaker 1: or hit snooze three times or sleep in and nap
Speaker 1: on weekends. Now, there is nothing wrong with a nice
Speaker 1: nap on a weekend afternoon, but if you work a
Speaker 1: full time job, most of your potential leisure and family
Speaker 1: time is likely going to happen on weekends. Do you
Speaker 1: really want to spend this potential leisure and family time
Speaker 1: sleeping off a weekday debt? It might be nicer to
Speaker 1: go for an early morning run or bike ride with
Speaker 1: a friend and then still get to spend the whole
Speaker 1: day with your family versus sleeping in later if that's
Speaker 1: even possible, or crashing on the couch at some inopportune
Speaker 1: point if it is not. It might be better not
Speaker 1: to be groggy when your kids get up early, which
Speaker 1: then leads to you bickering with your spouse over who covers,
Speaker 1: and then both of you crashing during any little kid
Speaker 1: naps rather than getting some waking leisure time. Weekend hours
Speaker 1: can be wonderful hours. Cutting sleep short during the week
Speaker 1: means you are substituting weekend sleep hours for weekday hours. Now,
Speaker 1: that might make sense if those waking weekday hours were
Speaker 1: of higher quality than the weekend hours you are giving up,
Speaker 1: But think about it for a few minutes, and you'll
Speaker 1: see that for many people, they probably aren't. Most adults
Speaker 1: have to wake up at a set time for work
Speaker 1: or family responsibilities. What changes is the time people go
Speaker 1: to bed. We often stay up late, scrolling around online
Speaker 1: or streaming that next show. That is what we are
Speaker 1: choosing instead of being alert and well rested for the weekend.
Speaker 1: So why not put a stop to the late night
Speaker 1: scrolling or TV watching and go to bed on time?
Speaker 1: Tranquility by Tuesday. Rule number one is to give yourself
Speaker 1: a bedtime. If you get the amount of sleep you
Speaker 1: need each night, you won't enter the weekend with a
Speaker 1: sleep debt that must be paid. That means you'll be
Speaker 1: able to take full advantage of your weekend. You can
Speaker 1: exercise or do other personal pursuits in the early mornings
Speaker 1: and still have enough energy for your family. If you've
Speaker 1: got little kids who wake up early, you won't feel
Speaker 1: so desperate. You'll be able to enjoy some leisure time
Speaker 1: during their naps or when you trade off with your
Speaker 1: partner or after they go to bed, rather than simply crashing.
Speaker 1: I think that sounds like a good trade off. That's
Speaker 1: why I do my best to be in bed with
Speaker 1: the lights out by eleven pm every night. I need
Speaker 1: to wake up at six thirty in the morning most mornings,
Speaker 1: and I need about seven and a half hours of sleep.
Speaker 1: When I do that consistently, I wake up at the
Speaker 1: same time on weekends and I can enjoy some quiet
Speaker 1: reading or a long run and still make it back
Speaker 1: for kid activities and weekend family adventures. Now, I know
Speaker 1: that a bedtime doesn't exactly sound like a ton of fun.
Speaker 1: It conjures up all those power struggles from childhood. But again,
Speaker 1: since most of us need to wake up at set
Speaker 1: times on weekday mornings, think of it this way. Going
Speaker 1: to bed early is how grown ups sleep in. Now
Speaker 1: doesn't that sound indulgent? So figure out what time you
Speaker 1: need to wake up on weekdays, figure out how much
Speaker 1: you need, count back, and embrace this bedtime. If you
Speaker 1: observe it faithfully, you will no longer need to crash
Speaker 1: on weekends. You can be energized and awake to enjoy
Speaker 1: your days off in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's b the number four then Breakfast pod. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with
Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.
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