The third metric...... well-being.

In the first week of this challenge to myself I want to focus on Well-Being. Its the area that I think will make the biggest difference to me personally. I (like most women) tend to put myself on the bottom of the list when there are things to get done, and that needs to change.

In the book, Thrive by Arianna Huffington, she talks a lot about sleep and the wonders it does for your brain and your body. Did you know lack of sleep can cause health issues putting you at a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis and (eek) premature aging? 

BUT, getting the right amount of sleep can lower stress, help you live longer, maintain a healthy weight, improve memory and attention span, and help fight against depression? It can also make you more creative (all according to HEALTH magazine). Sounds like a good argument for sleep.

I have always been one of those people who needs a lot of sleep. I remember, without any difficulty, the feeling of being extremely sleep deprived when my second daughter was a baby. She was one of those kids that just didn't sleep unless she was touching me. That was ok... except I couldn't sleep when she was touching me. 

Problem. 

I remember the feeling of not being able to function. I couldn't remember anything, I couldn't make decisions, you were lucky to get a coherent sentence out of my mouth. Luckily we figured it out and, almost 6 years later, we are both fine. 

In my current state of life, I probably get (on average) 6-ish hours of sleep. Not too shabby, right!?! Only I know I need more.

One of my issues is that stress keeps me up at night, or I wake very early in the morning (like 3:30 or 4)and can't sleep any longer. This wreaks havoc on my life and it takes several days to get back my missing sleep. so I think my challenge for the upcoming week is to lower stress and sleep more. I am going to aim for 8-9 hours per night. 

Lets see how we do...