#resolve - Day 29 Rest

It's taken me several years to realize this but quality rest is critical to most of life's endeavors. People have different needs but the simple fact is most need between 7-9 hours. Many people believe (as did I) that you can get by on 4 or 5 hours but your body has a nasty little trick for that, it simply adds weight (via stress reaction) to compensate for unrealistic energy needs. Additionally, you become less and less efficient so your productivity ceases to overcompensate the hours invested. Again, I'm not a doctor or a medical professional all of my advice is simply observational.

Part of my #resolve plan is to get plenty of rest. As with my workout plan, I find success when I plan. The other insight is to be consistent with sleep and wake schedules. When I'm on a regular work schedule this is no problem. I wake up around 4:30 and either go to the gym or work from home for a couple hours prior to going to the office. the challenge becomes on week-ends and holidays, it's so tempting to sleep in. For all of my Thanksgiving vacation I maintained the schedule. It programs my body for routines and helps me maintain a consistent rhythm. By 9:30p, I'm fading but it's very effective and I have much more energy throughout the day. I'm up late this evening watching Duke-Purdue on DVR due to a dinner I attended after my class (flexibility is also important) but at least I'm multitasking.

Results to date - 184 lbs (3 lbs lost). Thanks to a great 4 miler at the gym yesterday and a 2 miler with Mary Shannon on Sunday, I've completed 26 miles on my 100 mile goal. Lot's of work still to do but solid progress thus far. Let me know how you're doing!