Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to get ready for bed a while
Speaker 1: before you actually intend to go to sleep. This makes
Speaker 1: it much easier to get into bed on time. It's
Speaker 1: a truism of time management that everything takes longer than
Speaker 1: you think it will. This is doubly true with things
Speaker 1: that occur when you're tired, such as getting ready for bed,
Speaker 1: and sadly, the more tired you are, the easier it
Speaker 1: is to delay what will actually solve the problem, namely
Speaker 1: going to sleep. This problem became clear to me a
Speaker 1: few years ago when my husband was traveling a lot
Speaker 1: and my then toddler aged fourth child was popping up
Speaker 1: at five am every morning. I made sure that my
Speaker 1: eldest child was in bed with the lights out around PM. Now,
Speaker 1: theoretically this meant that I could be in bed at
Speaker 1: ten pm, and in general I do fine with seven
Speaker 1: hours of sleep, but night after night I would find
Speaker 1: it almost if possible to be asleep before ten thirty, somehow,
Speaker 1: taking out my contacts, brushing my teeth, washing my face,
Speaker 1: getting my pajamas on, and so forth. Would stretch out,
Speaker 1: probably because I'd look at my phone while setting my alarm,
Speaker 1: or look at the mess in my bedroom and start
Speaker 1: picking it up. It's hard to do anything in a
Speaker 1: focused and efficient manner when you're tired, and this includes
Speaker 1: getting ready for bed. Then I discovered that I didn't
Speaker 1: actually have to wait until right before bed to get
Speaker 1: ready for bed. I could change into my pajamas and
Speaker 1: switch my contacts for my glasses earlier in the evening.
Speaker 1: Since I was completely ready to sleep, I could walk
Speaker 1: into my bedroom at PM and read for ten minutes
Speaker 1: without feeling like I was battling the clock. The lights
Speaker 1: could go off by ten PM, and my morning self
Speaker 1: would wake up, thanking my past self's ingenuity. All would
Speaker 1: be good, well, except for the screaming toddler part. Now
Speaker 1: that I've got a newborn again, I've been reminded of
Speaker 1: the wisdom of this habit. When the baby falls asleep,
Speaker 1: it's good for me to go to sleep too. If
Speaker 1: I'm all ready for bed, this is a much quicker process. Now,
Speaker 1: maybe you don't have young kids, but anyone can fall
Speaker 1: into the trap of delaying bed because getting ready for
Speaker 1: bed sounds like a lot of effort. Turning off the
Speaker 1: TV and going upstairs takes energy. Hitting next in the
Speaker 1: Netflix queue does not. So if you feel like you
Speaker 1: have zero energy, which many of us do at night,
Speaker 1: guess which is more likely to happen. Now. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that if you're all ready for bed that watching
Speaker 1: another show won't still be tempting. But if all you
Speaker 1: have to do is slide under the covers, well, that
Speaker 1: lowers the energy requirement significantly, and on the margin, that
Speaker 1: just my tip the balance. So tonight, choose some time
Speaker 1: when you're not completely exhausted to get ready for bed.
Speaker 1: Then when the exhaustion does hit, you can go to
Speaker 1: sleep close to immediately, and with any luck, you'll wake
Speaker 1: up bright and chipper and ready to do great things
Speaker 1: before breakfast. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: 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 p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcast at iHeart Media dot com that before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.