Enough Sleep?

One-to-One Coaching Example: No time to sleep?

Coachee: So the last action was our rest and our sleep. Correct? That one, I feel is probably my weakest point.

Coach Michael Coleman: Okay, so about how many hours a night do you sleep?

Coachee: Well, if it's a work Night, I sleep roughly six hours a night, which sounds like it should be okay, but really, seven and a half, I feel, makes me feel about the best. And so I'm about an hour and a half of that short three to four days a week.

Coach: Now, are those 12-hour shifts?

Coachee: They are.

Coach: Okay.

Coachee: So if I work for three days straight, I'm roughly working 36 hours and getting 18 hours of sleep.

Coach: Give me an idea of when you go to bed and when you wake up.

Coachee: So roughly, I go to bed about 10:00 pm, 10:15 pm

Coach: Okay.

Coachee: I try to go to bed closer to 9:45 or 09:30 pm, but that doesn't often work.

Coach: Okay.

Coachee: And then on a workday, I have to wake up at quarter to five.

Coach: Okay.

Coach: And anything where you have to wake up at quarter five will interrupt most people's sleep patterns. 

Coachee: I would agree…

Coach: Okay.

Coach: I've worked with nurses at one of the nursing colleges where I live.

That was a big issue because of how the hours were going and how difficult it was working with patients and their families coming in, not understanding the fatigue.

But what's the amount of sleep you like to have in a day? – Have you done eight hours?

Coachee: I have.

Coach: So my question is this. — There are seven days in a week. Can you get eight in on the days you're not working and then six hours on the days you are?

Coachee: It is probably possible…

From a physical health perspective, it is possible. But, from a mental health perspective, it is more complicated.

You see, my personal preference is to wake up before my family because it's my time with the house.

It’s my time to do any house business we might need, to pay bills or attend to any cleaning projects that I'm behind on.

Coach: Okay, I get that; I really do hear that you care about not just your family but also yourself.

You have a method in place already, a way that you cope with this. Also, I recognize that you’ve been able to make things happen up to now.

However, the simple truth remains that you are not getting enough sleep.

Are there any other things we need to consider?

Coachee: One more thing that complicates this is that I have cats. And I know that it sounds silly as an excuse, but I have three cats. — That does not make me the crazy cat lady, right?

Coach: I think technically, you have to have at least five before they call you that….😉

Coachee: Oh, perfect. Excellent. I have some room😂

 But they DO wake me up at 04:00 in the morning for food, and then once I'm up for food, it takes THEM a while to settle. So, it takes ME a while to settle. So, it’s interrupted sleep… 

Coach: For sure…

What about your dog?

Coachee: The dog. Well, that's the settling part.

At 4:30 am the dog says, oh, let me go upstairs, then let me go downstairs. No, oh, let me, I'm going to come upstairs again.

So, there's about a half hour of settle period. This creates some breaks in the sleep as well.

Coach: Okay, okay, so these are obviously important factors too…

Can cats be trained?

Coachee: The jury is still out on that one.

Coach: The jury is still out. 

Coachee: After more than 2000 years, we still don't really know.

Coach: Okay. And then what about the other end of the spectrum, going to bed earlier?

What about that? We haven't discussed that.

Coachee: That sounds like a more doable plan than training cats.

 Well, once I get past the hurdle of yes, I'm over 40, but I'm not yet 75, so I shouldn't need to go to bed at 09:00 pm it should work excellently. Technically, I know that I should go to bed earlier, but I’m not there yet.

Coach: Okay, well, there's another aspect to this, which I mentioned was the restorative aspect.

For example, do you have a practice as far as meditative practice, yoga kind of practice, something that you do on a semi-daily basis or a weekly basis?

The reason why I asked that is that some of the things that you're looking for are some of the benefits.

If you have a super tight schedule, as it seems, and a practice you can rely on, maybe that's another possibility of getting some of the positive effects.

So, is that something you would be willing to look into?

Coachee: Absolutely. I can do something like that two or three times a week.

Coach: Okay. Okay. Well, I think we have some great stuff to work on, and you're very serious about what you're doing.

You're honestly looking to integrate these ideas into your busy life.

I hope what we discussed today will help other people with some ideas.