Today my kids enjoyed a 2 hour delayed start for school. This is to make up for having a normal school schedule yesterday, in the midst of what turned out to be about a 3-5" snowfall. All over the DC region school buses got into accidents, teen drivers got into accidents, pedestrians and other drivers got into accidents. It was a mess. So while the snow and ice are not noticeably different today, the kids got to sleep in a bit.
I on the other hand did not sleep in. I got up at 5:30am to go to the gym. My husband was going in anyway, and I figured if I didn't go early, before the kids got up, I might not get in any exercise today. But also, I realized over our recent Winter Break that sleeping in is not good for me.
On typical school days I wake at 5:30 after getting 6-7 hours of sleep. I help son #1 get breakfast and pack him a good lunch (if I didn't I don't think he would eat lunch) and he gets in some driving practice going to school with me as co-pilot. If I am working early I may get up at 5:00 am. I sometimes feel tired upon waking, but once I've had a big cup of black tea and breakfast I am ready for the day.
At the start of Winter vacation, we traveled to Ohio to see family. I was fighting off the end of a cold, and happily slept about 10 hours our first night there. I felt so much better the next day and was glad to be able to get extra rest. I continued to get 8-10 hours of sleep each night while in Ohio. When we returned home I was still in vacation mode. I did not need to get up early, and my kids were happy to sleep in until 9 or 10am (I realize that this is not typical teenager "sleeping in" but was late for them!). I was still getting about 8-9 hours of sleep a night. Waking at 8 am didn't seem too late, but somehow I felt like I was losing half the day. It took me a long time to get moving and I felt less productive all day.
It turns out there are real side effects to oversleeping. Sleeping too much has been linked to an increased risk of diabetes, obesity, headaches, depression, heart disease and even a higher risk of death. It is important to note that for some of these things, including headache, extra sleep is said to actually be a cause of the problem, but for others including heart disease there is only an association, and a direct cause has not been identified. A discussion of effects of oversleeping can be found here.
In addition to staying up later and not setting my alarm, I was drinking wine throughout my vacation. Not a lot, but more than I typically do. It turns out that alcohol intake can disrupt sleep in a number of ways. Although it may initially cause sleepiness, alcohol can interrupt sleep cycles, make you sleep less soundly and even cause wakefulness. This in turn can make you feel terrible the next morning! This article explains some of this process.
Keeping the same sleep and wake times is recommended for good sleep habits. This is obviously something I wasn't doing during my vacation. An occasional change in habits is okay, but it is better to stick to a routine. Regular exercise and healthy eating, as well as limited alcohol and caffeine use before bed can help too.
Now that I've returned back to my regular schedule I feel so much better! Even though part of me really wanted to turn off the alarm early this morning, I am so happy I got up and exercised. I've already written my first blog post in months, a sure sign of major productivity!
Happy Winter everyone!
