The power of sleep!

Last week, I went three days in a row of 5 hours or less of sleep. Not good.

I wholly believe in the restorative power of sleep, a good, restful sleep.

I was turning to coffee (and putting creamer in it, yikes... I don't usually do that so much) and SWEETS  like dark chocolate over and over this past week.

It didn't make me feel good, but those little bursts of caffeine, pleasure and sugar felt so momentarily good, I kept turning to them.

This weekend, Chris and I went to his folks cabin in the Adirondacks, where it was cool and quiet and relaxing. Each night, I slept more than 10 hours. I was fully in a deep and restful sleep, catching up on my lost hours.

No coffee so far today. We did have coconut ice cream because it is so hot out. But I am making a concerted effort to push the sweets and coffee reliance away from me. It will not help me maintain my weight!

I still feel like I need one more good night of sleep before I am back to normal.

The success of my life and health truly relies on the fact that I try to get a good, deep sleep for 7 - 8 hours a night. I wake up eager and ready for each day, not dreading it and looking to outside stimulants or pleasures to get me up.

I often hear/see in paleo contexts that one of their main guidelines is too get restorative sleep (whatever that may mean for you) ... it is a rule right up there with eating non-processed foods and avoiding wheat!

This week/weekend, the reasons for that rule came flooding into view!

Hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying their summer so far... mine has been crazy but fun!

Namaste!