6:30 am...Gross!

When I was serving a mission we had a schedule that all missionaries in our mission were required to follow. It looked a little bit like this:

6:30 - Get up and exercise
7:00 - Shower/eat breakfast
8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Studies
1:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. - Serve
9:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. - Plan for the next day/go to bed.

Now the when I went to bed at 10:30, and got up at 6:30, I had 8 hours of sleep. Now as a college student I average like 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night. So at that time I should have had plenty of sleep.

If only that were so.

I was always so tired! Partly we worked really hard all the time, and we built up a lot of fatigue. So when that alarm went off at 6:30, we both felt a little like this:

What's that sound?

Ugh...my body is dying...

Won't someone do something about that noise?!?!?

Target Identified

Needless to say, we weren't keen on getting out of bed. Even though we did, because we wanted to follow the schedule, our exercises weren't always very effective. I've learned that when I'm tired I react in an interesting way. If I'm a little exhausted I don't want to work out, just don't have the energy. But when I've had four hours of sleep, that's when I'm ready to tackle a triathlon. I have my theories, but I'm pretty sure that my rational mind dies when I get less than 5 hours of sleep...

Now that I'm at home and I don't have a specific schedule that I'm required to follow I exercise at very different times. Often I exercise in the late morning...or the late afternoon...or late at night. I've learned that I need to be awake and focused in order to go workout. I'm not that way when I've just gotten out of bed.

While it is probably more effective to start your day exercising, and people say it gives you more exercise for the day etc., but really, if that doesn't work for you, don't feel like you have to exercise then. When you can do it, and when you are happiest doing it is the best time to do it. Just as long as you do it.

-Shayla

SLENDER