Yesterday, we celebrated the ten year anniversary of our kids moving in.
Which fits in well with the sleep part of getting the basics right.
Consistent, quality sleep has been a struggle since they arrived.
Having someone wiggling around in your bed makes restful sleep more difficult, as a result I aim to front load the quality to the beginning of the night.
I do that by following a simple routine that is pretty much the same every non-training night.
An evening family stroll.
A cup of tulsi tea about 7pm.
Brush my teeth, stops me thinking about snacking.
Settle the kids or watch a bit of chill TV while focussing on slow breathing for a few minutes.
Read my book and lights out by 10.15pm and I wear a sleep eye mask.
The main thing that changes on training nights is a cool shower and focussed breathing while I read my book and lights out at 10.45pm.
My recovery according to my gadgets is always less on training nights but I’m prepared to take the hit, quite literally’ because I enjoy martial arts training so much and the classes are on at night.
Having a fixed time, within 30 minutes, sets you up to have better quality sleep.
The same is true in the mornings, I’ll go through that routine next time.
Darren “Dad” Checkley
