No More Sleep Debt!

I think I've finally paid off a sleep debt I didn't know I had. I've been sleeping about 9 hours a night for the past two months or so, and up until this last week was still waking up tired (though I did automatically wake up at the same time every morning -- but conditioning is different). But this week I've been waking up about 15-20 minutes before my alarm, even when I get to bed up to an hour later than usual, so I think I've finally paid off my sleep debt. I think the theory now is that, if I keep going to bed at the same time every night, I'll start waking up at a more natural time when my body has had enough sleep, and I can use that to figure out what my ideal sleep requirements are. I never actually took the Sleep and Dreams class at Stanford, but I did keep a sleep journal one quarter, and I seem to remember that's how it works. Anyway, it's good to be caught up and waking up refreshed.

I've also enjoyed my morning exercise. I've established a fairly good routine of doing at least half an hour of stretching, yoga, or working out, or a combination of two or three, every morning before breakfast. It helps me wake up, warm up, and feel good about starting the day. It feels really good when I can get an hour in, with maybe a jog on the weekends, but I'm pretty happy with what I can get on any given morning. I'm also intending to ride my bike to school more often, but that seems a little more difficult to actually motivate myself to do. Plus, I like the walk to the bus stop. :)

The weather has been extremely summery here -- beautiful and sunny and hot! It's kind of hard to believe it's still early March, and not June. It's supposed to cool down a bit this weekend, but we should still have lovely weather for Graham's visit. Hooray for brothers coming to visit! :)