Part 1: SLEEP – The “Telling Month” of October
Preparing for a healthy, happy holiday season doesn’t start in November; believe it or not, it starts now, in October.
As a matter of fact, I like to call October the “telling month” because you can “tell” a lot about how successful a person might be at managing their weight throughout the holidays based on how they “run” their October.
I’ve found that those who fight the urge to let themselves go in October have a much better foundation to build on when January rolls around (you know, the month when everyone wants to get “serious” about their health).
Building a foundation of healthy best practices starts NOW, because I believe that the better you’re able to manage your health in October, the better prepared you’ll be when the big temptations arise during the holidays.
Over the next four weeks, I’m going to share with you one important (and totally doable) suggestion per week, around each health habit you’ll want to stay on top of this month (Sleep, Food, Mood, and Exercise) that I hope you carry into the holidays.
Today, we’re starting with Sleep. Let’s get started.
A little over three months ago, my partner and I moved to Vancouver, Canada.
As with any long-distance move, we had to find a new doctor, dentist, and optometrist, to name a few, as well as a new hairdresser.
After one unsatisfactory haircut, I tried another person and really like him.
He’s from Ottawa, which is located on the eastern side of Canada directly north of the state of New York.
Recently, while I was getting my hair cut, he was telling me how winters in Vancouver are “wimpy” compared to winters in Ottawa.
He said, “The snow may fall a little in Vancouver, but then it’s gone for the day.”
I told him that I’m from Southern California, so what he considers a “wimpy” winter, I’m probably going to consider intense.
I told him, “In Los Angeles, where I’ve lived all my life, we rarely see rain, let alone snow, so living here in Vancouver will be an adjustment for me when it starts to get cold and rainy for months on end.”
He came back with (what he thought) was the obvious answer to my winter concern, “Well, that’s when you just stay inside and watch a lot of Netflix.”
As he continued chopping at my hair, I smiled to let him know I heard him, but inside, all I could think was, “I don’t want to do that. I don’t want that to be me. At the same time, I can see how that’s the easy go-to. I’d better be careful of that.”
Here’s the thing:
Whether it’s a small sweet after dinner one time that slowly leads to having something every night, to finding an excuse for exercise that leads to coming up with a reason you can’t every day, to yes, turning an hour per night of Netflix into two or three, that’s how “bad” habits form, not necessarily intentionally, but subtly, one day or night at a time.
As the days continue to get shorter, it’s going to get easier and easier to grab a comfy seat on the couch and a warm blanket, and use the longer evenings to stay in and watch more TV or go online – basically, more screen time.
Let me say that this warning is just as much for me as it might be for you, because the days are going to get really short in Vancouver (not Alaska-short, but still pretty short), a much different experience than I had in California where things don’t change much.
That’s not all.
It’s going to get really cold here (for me), which will mean that I am going to find myself indoors more, but again, I don’t want to use that time for more Netflix, web surfing, or social media.
This means I need to prepare for the winter, so that I don’t lose track of the healthy journey I’m on.
My suggestion to myself (and for you, if it resonates) is: More book time, less screen time.
Shutting off the TV and opening a book not only means the chance for a better night’s sleep (since we know that blue light coming from our screens hinders sleep), but reading is an opportunity for us to slow our minds down, reduce stress, and improve memory, focus, and concentration.
So whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, a book before bed will do your mind and body good.
Plus, if you’re anything like me, you have books you bought years ago that you wanted to read (and still do), but you’ve yet to crack open those fresh, crisp pages.
October is a great time to dive into those books.
Remember, we know that better sleep and low stress also increases your ability to make better food choices, and you’re also less likely to come up with an excuse for not exercising.
This means powering down the TV (or any screen) a littler earlier and opening a good book at night can be the difference between feeling fat, frumpy, and lazy come November and December or having a healthy and happy holiday season.
Again, it starts now, in October.
Are you ready to start building a healthy foundation for the holidays?
In the next few weeks, we’ll continue to build on this, so start this practice of more book time and less screen time tonight!
You might need to remind yourself, so put a Post-It on your TV or iPad or phone, whatever screen you might be tempted to spend too long on tonight.
Next week we’ll talk about Food.
I’m doing all of this too, so let’s do it together!
It’s your turn to take care of you,
Don’t “fall” back into old habits this season…
I’m here to help.
