BabyStep 17: Go To Bed!

OK, confession time:  I totally lied to you in yesterday's post.  Well, maybe not lied because that would be an intentional act.  Let's call this "speaking too soon", shall we?  See, I stated that I hadn't gotten around to doing BabyStep 17 which involves setting a specific bedtime and sticking to it.  I swore that I was going to do it last night, but it just didn't happen.  By the time I finished writing that post it was already pretty late, and I still had my Before Bed Routine do to.  I did the routine and got in bed, but by this point I was only going to get about 6 hours of sleep.  I've gone with less, but I prefer more. 

Fast forward to this morning- I slept through my alarm!  Actually, I slept through 4 of them!  I always set multiple alarms because I have a history of shutting them off in my sleep if my body is too tired.  I never remember doing it; in fact, I once had an entire conversation with my boyfriend when he tried to wake me up because he saw me turn my alarm off and go back to sleep.  He asked why I wasn't getting up, and I told him my boss had called the night before and told me I didn't need to go in that day, so naturally he let me go back to sleep.  None of that was true- I was talking in my sleep and he thought I was wide awake! I don't remember any of this, and it's safe to say I was late to work that  morning and my boss was NOT happy...

Anyway, I slept through all my alarms this morning and woke up 10 minutes before I was supposed to be walking out the door.  I usually get up at least an hour before I am supposed to leave.  Thank goodness I had done my routine the night before!  Doing this allowed me to only have to put my clothes on, feed the cats, and take care of bathroom necessities.  I wasn't scrambling around to pack food, look for my keys, etc.  Everything was where it needed to be already and I managed to get out the door right on time.  Phew!

I'm still having a little trouble figuring out how to set my bedtime.  First off, what is the recommended amount of sleep for adults these days?  8 hours?  7?  According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults should be getting between 7-9 hours per night.  Should I choose the middle ground, or play with it a little and see what works best for me?  And what do I do on days where I don't work?  What do I do on days when my work schedule strays from the norm a bit?   Stay with the bedtime, or let it vary? Am I over thinking this? Ugh. 

With my current work schedule I need to be getting up around 7:30. This means to get enough sleep I need to go to bed at 11:30.  Totally doable, but there's something about putting a number on it that seems so limiting. We'll see how this goes.