If you read this blog at all, you know me. I’m not the most adventurous person you’ll ever meet, but I’m always trying out new ways to live my life. So far on this blog I’ve tried out

Some of these have truly changed my life. The most recent change was “eating only when hungry.” That somehow transitioned to eating less in general, especially when I was moving house and kind of stressed out. That has kick-started some fat loss for me, so I’m happy about that. For the first time ever, I’ve gone through the trouble of calculating the macros that I’m eating so that I can try to duplicate them for the next several months. It’s 2:1 of protein to fat, if you want to know.

Even with the positive diet changes, though, I’m not feeling my best. I’m pretty sure that’s because I don’t sleep enough.

I’m one of those people with a tendency to just keep going until I physically fall over or fall asleep, so I often stay up late. Naturally, I don’t get a ton accomplished when I’m up that late, but it makes me feel like I’m not missing out on anything (thanks, Extraverted Intuition).

My bedtimes get pushed later and later, which leads to mornings also getting later and later. Now that I have a commute again, this actually means something—I get a worse parking spot.

Sleep deprivation makes me a little more cranky, a little less flexible, and much more distractable. That’s not how I want to live my life.

Something needs to change.

Unlike some people, who if they get up at 5am will go to sleep at 8pm because they’re tired, I just stay up because it doesn’t occur to me to go to bed. I’ve learned how to be productive in the morning, but I’m not much use after 10:30pm no matter what.

With that information I’ve identified bedtime as the key. My new bedtime is 10pm, every day. No exceptions (for now).

No matter how much I’ll hate going to bed “early,” a solid bedtime is the only way I can guarantee for myself a long-enough night of sleep. It’s something I can control, unlike the start and stop times of my job, and that is not unreasonable to do.

My rational brain can’t come up with any arguments against going to bed every night at 10pm. It’s only my irrational brain that is making a fuss about it.

This change will require re-prioritizing how I spend my free time, so it’ll be a little bit rocky at first. But I’m hoping that the refreshment that comes with a solid night of sleep will outweigh any kinks as I figure out a new daily routine.

With that said, it’s coming up on my bedtime so I’ll excuse myself to brush my teeth.

Thank you and goodnight!