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Day 126: New Habit - Create and Use a Sleep Ritual

A woman sleeping peacefully with a sleep mask on her face, as part of her sleep ritual. She is lying in bed with a fluffy tabby cat curled up next to her. The room is cozy, with soft lighting, a comfortable bed, and a few decorative items like a nightstand with a lamp and a few books. The woman has long hair spread out on the pillow, and the cat looks content and relaxed.

Welcome back to my daily journal!

Today's lesson from PN is a new habit where we create and use a sleep ritual. It's all about understanding three important facts about sleep. First, good sleep is essential for a healthy, strong, and fit body. Second, good sleep doesn’t just happen magically. Third, you can usually get better sleep by making it a priority and building good sleep habits.

They talked about how we often try to go from being wide awake to sleeping immediately after a busy day. The key to a smooth transition is a sleep ritual—a set of behaviors signaling to the brain that it's time to calm down and prepare for sleep. This is crucial because while I can’t control the exact amount or quality of sleep, I can control my sleep behaviors.

What is a sleep ritual?

A sleep ritual helps me transition from being awake to falling asleep. It tells my brain to stop thinking about the to-do list and focus on winding down. This is especially important when dealing with small children, pets, sleep apnea, shift work, or other sleep disruptors. 

Level One vs Level Two Sleep Rituals

As always, I should work with my Owner's Manual and nutritional level. For Level 1 (me), keep it simple and doable. Start with a basic sleep ritual, even if it’s only 10–15 minutes at first. Don't worry about the outcome; just focus on bedtime preparation and creating a good sleep environment consistently. For Level 2, challenge myself. Build a solid sleep ritual first, then try to get one more hour of sleep than I normally do, consistently, every night.

What to Do Today

View good sleep as an outcome of sleep-promoting behaviors. Do a sleep ritual tonight, starting 30–60 minutes before bedtime. If I only have 10–15 minutes, that’s still more than zero. Try to do just a little bit better. Start small. Set an alarm to go to sleep. Set a reminder to go off 2 hours before my scheduled bedtime. By 1 hour before bed, I should be moving in that direction and I added in a soothing cup of herbal tea. Update my daily progress log tomorrow.

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Workout and Vermicomposting

Today was also a workout day, and I think this is my second favorite set of exercises out of the three, with Friday's being my first. I need to get heavier weights and have been looking at adjustable ones. The Bowflex adjustable weights seem reasonably priced and has , so I'll try those first because they also seem to have the smallest increments in terms of weights at 2.5 lbs vs the 5 lbs that a lot of the other ones seem to have.

Today was the first day feeding the worms in my vermicomposter. I’m measuring all the food into 1/4 lb bags and freezing it, as I have 1/2 lb of worms. They can eat half their body weight in food daily, so I’m feeding them every other day for the first week to understand how much food vs. bedding they consume. Everything I’ve read says not to overfeed them.

Looking Ahead

I'm excited to see how the sleep ritual impacts my rest and overall well-being. Incorporating better sleep habits and gradually improving my sleep quality should enhance my daily performance. I'll continue to monitor the worms' feeding habits and adjust as needed to ensure a healthy vermicomposting system.

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