I’ve noticed a couple things recently. One is that at the moment, things tend to lead to other things in my life, particularly fumbled or unskilled things. Two days ago, I stayed up way too late scrolling instagram. Because of this, I spent yesterday operating on very little sleep, less than 6 hours. Throughout the day, I felt very flat and plenty of difficulty with both physical dexterity (like typing) and also my mental posture. These feelings were easy to mistake for burnout, but I had very strong evidence that they were sleep related, coming as they did after a period of minimal sleep. With this understanding, and not wishing to continue the cycle of sleep deprivation, I resolved from quite early on in the day to get to sleep early.

Because I was fixated on how tired I was, I declined to exercise yesterday, with the understanding that pushing myself while in a state of significant sleep deprivation would probably be a cruelty against myself. Also, by making my priority getting to sleep early, I was less attentive to my diet than I could have been otherwise. I think this had to do with a lack of mental resources, I mentally skipped forward, called the day an off day, and then was lax with my dietary choices. It didn’t help that I had brought pizza and ice cream home from a friends gathering over the weekend, it’s another reminder not to keep unhealthy foods in the house.

After work, I spent the entire afternoon relaxing, without much mental effort. This was a good choice, I think, because it let me prepare for an early bedtime. Immediately before going upstairs, I took some magnesium to help my body relax. Then I spent about an hour or so decompressing in bed before drifting off to sleep.

I was able to get about 8 hours last night, and I feel calmer and more comfortable today. I’d like to continue this track of getting enough sleep for at least the next two nights, to see how that effects my mood and behaviors.

With that in mind, I should remember that I started preparing for bed at 7:45, was in bed around 8pm, and put my phone down a little after 9pm. I want to try and do something similar the next two nights.