One way or sleeping less and doing more.

It seems the days are alternating with respect to weather. While yesterday was a sunny and hot, today is cold and dry; perfect for a Sunday! I don't really know if it's as a result of the weather but I slept alot than usual making me skip my routine of jogging and skipping a rope for 15 minutes every morning. I feel too tired right now and I also feel like my day isn't complete. This makes me remember an article I read by @Champion on read.cash yesterday about sleep and exercise.

I have always been a person who needs to sleep more than the average person before I will be able to function of sleep, I mean everybody loves sleep but mine was a bit inclined to the extreme. I could sleep for 10 to 12 hours on free days and on normal days, I used to do 10 or 8 if I don't sleep much. However I came to realize when I entered the university that I couldn't continue like this. If I continue with my sleeping habits, I wouldn't be very productive and since the course I am studying is very demanding, with countless hours of lectures and alot of reading to do, I was left with no choice. At first, I had no idea how to go about it and fail anytime I tried sleeping less, I'd end up sleeping on top of my textbooks and even lectures. It was annoying because it was something I wanted to change but it just wasn't working. If little time was dedicated to attending lectures during the day then it might have been possible, but having up to 10 hours dedicated to lectures every week day leaves one no option but to use the night as one's study time, so things had to change.

On the day I read an elaborate material on sleep and exercise, my Cardiovascular physiology lecturer happened to discuss something on it in his next lecture(I think I have mentioned something about this in some article though😂). He was fine of telling us stories about when he was a medical student like us and how he managed sleeping and studying. He used to sleep alot just like me(so he said), but ever since he discovered that exercise is not only good for the body, but can also supplement sleep. This means that if you used to sleep for 8 hours in a day to function normally, you can cut it down to 6 or 5 hours in a day and then you engage in rigorous exercise for 15 to 20 minutes. Preferably, a person can exercise before he sleeps(that's what I do). In school, my sleeping hours are from 8pm to 12pm(4 hours). What I do just before bedtime is to get my boots, then go jogging for at least 15 minutes, I ensure that I sweat alot and become fatigued, then I take my bath and then go off to bed. The physiological basis behind this is that during rigorous exercises, the body releases endorphins. These endorphins are chemicals that has a similar function serotonin with respect of keeping a person awake. Since your muscles become fatigued when you exercise, you woupd want to sleep. All these coupled with the vasodilation(dilation of blood vessels to release more heat) due to increased heartbeats makes you feel cool inside. When you take a bath and sleep, the quality of the sleep you get in four hours will equal that a person who doesn't exercise gets in 8 hours.. besides sleep is more about the quality than the quantity. You will then able to function normally even with little amount of sleep.

I have been trying this ever since I came to know about it and honestly, it has helped me a great deal. If you're a person who has a busy schedule and finds it diffi ult to get sufficient sleep but has to cope with the task at hand, this method may come in handy for you, making you more productive hence raising you achievement level. You can thank me later. 😂😜

I used to think that I can't stop my sleeping habit but in life, you get put in a, situation where things have to change whether you like it or not, it forces us to look for solutions wherever they are. If we're lucky enough, we find them and become better versions of ourselves.

Thanks for reading.

Yours Layly,

❤❤❤❤😁