One of my very most favorite things about my career is hearing life stories. We know that stories make the biggest impact in our brains, help us remember important truths and teach us lessons. The story of people’s lives and how they succeed at hard things has kept me working in fitness for a long time. We all have a story and most of us have a fitness story. We’ve had successes doing certain workouts (hello kickboxing!) or eating a certain way (I still remember my first detox😳), but it’s the long-term stories that make the biggest impact. When we hear a success story that people have lived through the ups and downs of life, we are encouraged that it can work for us. This is the reason that we all love renovation shows, before and after photos, group fitness and coaching, even self-help books. When we see other people’s successes, we can start to have hope that we can live well, too.

Here’s the story I’ve heard thousands of times: “I was doing really well, and then ________________ happened, and I quit _______________. Then _______________ happened and the next thing I know, I’m 20 (or more) pounds overweight and can’t get back on track.” Maybe you’ve told this story to yourself or your best girlfriends so many times, that you just can’t say it anymore. So you stop talking about how you’re feeling tired and stressed and uncomfortable because you don’t want to be a drag, so you put on a smile and keep eating and drinking and portraying that all is well. Even though we can all see that it is not well.

Our bodies have a funny way of letting other people know we’re in trouble. We can’t hide our behaviors for long before they start to show on our skin, in our hair and eyes, on our hips and abs, in our productivity and intimacy. We see it long before anyone else does (and for a good reason —> so we can do something quickly about it!) but usually we don’t want to see it and hope that no one else can, either. But we all do. We see the damage that life does to people and there are simple things that we can do to change it. They are the simplest of things, but they can feel like the hardest, most difficult actions because they require our attention on and awareness of ourselves.

You know all the things that need to happen in order to feel your best and when you have a plan and a goal, you typically do them. And then your thing happens and you stop being your best. But it’s usually not a catastrophic event, it’s just a little wrinkle. And then that wrinkle becomes a fold, and the fold becomes a roll and then the roll becomes something just uncomfortable enough that you realize you’ve let yourself go. Not unlike parenting toddlers; you have to stop the them before they get good at manipulation, otherwise, you’ll have to deal with much bigger problems for much longer than necessary.

We have to recognize the wrinkles and take action right away.

When something happens in our lives, we start a stress response that includes less sleep, more worry and then more stress. We work on our to do list, neglect sleep, exercise and nutrition, and get under more pressure because we aren’t doing all the things. 

This makes us more tired and less self-controlled. We don’t tell anyone because we’re shamed into thinking we’re bad at being an adult so we soothe with food, alcohol and more work. We continue for a few days (or years) until we can’t stand ourselves then we vow to cut our nose off to spite our face and work harder. 

Instead try this:

• Schedule down time right away, even if that means missing some things. Recover your sleep by following a routine that works for you (more stories on that here if you’re interested).

• Prioritize eating, exercise and sleep. No matter what. (Maybe you have to change other schedules). Everyone feels the need to tighten the reigns when we’ve let them slack, and you’re probably no different. And although these choices may seem like a luxury or an impossibility, they are frankly, very simple choices. Protect them as the valuable health tools that they are.

• Reset your resolve when you’re rested. Write down your story about changing; what, why, when and how. Remember that you’re worth the investment.

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, experiencing sleep deprivation is a leading cause of obesity. Losing out on sleep sets off a cascade of hormones that make us feel hungry even when we’re not and less satisfied when we do eat. Also, once we eat, sleep deprivation causes insulin levels to go higher than normal, which typically leads to more eating. From these two factors alone, you can understand why we all feel the way we do when we’re tired. Not to mention how much poorer our decision making process is when we’re unrested. So, while we may be able to caffeine our way through the day, we are not helping ourselves unless we regain our rest.

I know this can seem pollyannaish and we aren’t going to fix this sleepy problem overnight, but it is fixable so long as we believe it’s important. It’s going to require some changes to our schedules and commitments. And maybe, in certain spaces in life, that is more doable. But I’d like to plant the seed that fixing personal habits like sleep could change your outlook on life, and therefore your actions. And then, you’ll be telling us stories about the interesting and triumphant adventures you’ve lived.