Killing time

I love my iPhone. I wouldn’t say that it’s attached to me at the hip, but I definitely rely on it for a multitude of tasks that I never would’ve guessed just a couple of years ago.

In particular, I love that it’s turned me, a one-time technophobe fearful of all new apps and social media outlets, into a lover of all things technology. I can’t get enough of it, mainly because it helps make life easier.

However, saying all that, there’s one simple app that I’m ready to kill. It’s not really an app per se, but I hate it all the same. I hate the alarm clock on my phone. If I could, I would eliminate it, but, of course, if I deleted it from my smartphone, I would need to go back to a real-live alarm clock and I hate them even more.

Like most people, I need my alarm clock to exist, to start my day and get off to work. As I blogged recently, we purchased a new bed and that has made a ton of positive improvements in the quality of my sleep, but I’m still not getting enough sleep.

Need a few zzzzzzzzzzs!

I’m like many of the people you read about it in the news. I need more sleep. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported several years ago that 30 percent, or 40.6 million, of American adults are sleeping six or fewer hours a day. In the same vein, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society recommends that adults aged 18–60 years sleep at least 7 hours each night to promote optimal health and well-being. They point out that sleeping less than seven hours per day increases your risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Oh joy oh joy. I dare you to try to fall asleep with that thought in your head. Good luck, you’ll need it.

A complicated problem

Oh I can fall asleep simple enough. I fall asleep usually within a minute or two of putting my head on my pillow, even quicker now that we have a new firm bed.

Unfortunately, my other habits are getting the best of me. I stay up too late, try to squeeze too many things into my evenings, and then sleep-in too late on the weekends. I’m certainly not out of the ordinary. Millions of people face the same challenge.

Therapists often talk about that the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. I’m one step ahead of them. I know I have a problem and an even have an easy solution.

If only I could convince my employer. What is my solution? I’d love to start taking naps during the afternoon. I think that would solve all of my problems. Unfortunately, I don’t think my employer would appreciate that much.

Help is on the way

So for now, I’m working to fix my problems. I’m working to:

–Go to bed earlier.

–Put down my laptop and cellphone earlier in the evening. (Yes, I know have a built-in excuse when my wife asks about the progress on my novel. “Oh, I’m sorry honey, I had to go to sleep!”

–Eliminating the use of the snooze button.

–Keeping a consistent go-to-bed and wake-up time.

Oh it’s all the basic stuff we all know, and, yes, I’m sure that if I stick to my plan, my sleep will most certainly improve. In the meantime, however, I’m unfortunately going to have to give my iPhone the heave-ho . . . at least until the morning.