Lack of sleep is my kryptonite. Without a good night’s sleep, my world falls apart pretty quickly. My resolve is weaker, I have no energy and I am generally not a great deal of fun to be around, especially after a prolonged period of late nights.

Imagine this …..

It’s Sunday. You have high hopes for the week ahead. You are going to eat healthily, move more and be organised. This is the week that you are going to get serious and kick some butt!

Sunday night rolls around and you get sucked into watching the Sunday night movie, a re-run you have seen a dozen times before, while surfing the net, checking out Facebook, playing Candy Crush or whatever the latest games is, and before you know it, it’s 11pm.

You get up and straighten up the kitchen, pick up the kid’s/partner’s stuff AGAIN, kick the dog/cat outside, brush your teeth and fall into bed somewhere just shy of midnight.

The alarm screams at you at 6am so that you can go for a walk / run (insert exercise of choice here) before work and pack a healthy lunch and snacks for the day, except you hit the snooze button a few too many times instead.

The next time you come to, it’s 730am, you launch out of bed in a mad panic, no time for exercise, breakfast is a cup of coffee (or nothing), feed the pets and chase the kids / partner into the car and head off to work.

The day is then a blur. No breakfast means you are climbing the walls by 10am and raiding the office biscuit bin or having a second helping of birthday cake at yet another ‘special morning tea’.

Then there is more coffee, lunch is from the nearest takeaway, and by the afternoon you are working your way through the never-ending supply of fundraising chocolates.

After the afternoon routine you return home exhausted and start grazing from the pantry or fridge, order takeaway for dinner, or perhaps throw something quick together that while it fills the hole, could be a lot better nutritionally speaking.

After dinner you collapse onto to the lounge, exhausted and stare at the TV, again, until 11pm……..

Imagine instead going to bed at 10pm, waking up with the alarm at 6am, feeling refreshed, going for a walk before packing a healthy lunch and snacks for the day.

After your shower you have time for a healthy breakfast giving you energy to get through the day without gnawing on your desk or making the local soccer team (enter fundraiser of choice) a whole lot of money, and when you return home you have the energy to prepare a healthy nutritious meal for you and the family.
What a contrast these two days are – by switching off the TV/iPad/phone/tablet and going to bed just that little bit earlier and getting quality rest, you have managed to exercise, eat healthily, enjoyed less stress and more energy and most importantly, kicked butt!

Our parents said it to us, and we say it to our kids – get a good night’s sleep and you will feel better in the morning.

Give it a try – you might just be surprised.

photo credits: “Excited” –  Ruby –   Hangover – Fairetta Quinua Crisp split – Another Sunday, another brunch day via photopin (license)