Up and At ‘Em

Hope you’re enjoying a great Saturday. I was up early this morning to go to a hot yoga class and have plans to get lunch with my mom and run some errands. This is my last weekend on break from school, and I want to enjoy the downtime while I still have it. Let’s pretend I don’t have work assignments or a paper due next Friday already…

I’m looking forward to a fun day with my mom and then a friend’s birthday party this evening. Because I’m one of those people who needs a snack before going out to brunch, here’s a little green monster-esque food porn for you (1/2 frozen banana + spinach + 1/2 c almond milk+ ice). I will never get sick of green smoothies.

Speaking of early wake-ups, over the holidays and through the first week of January, I was not sleeping well at all (travel, funerals, stress…). I also happened to be working on a piece for work about why sleep is so important!

One of the reasons I listed was that lack of sleep has been linked to obesity. However, this intriguing study suggests that skipping a night of sleep is equivalent to losing about 135 calories. Though researchers don’t encourage sleep deprivation as a weight-loss tool, it’s certainly thought-provoking when contrasted to the 50-calorie positive daily energy storage associated with obesity.

I guess that explains my lost semester of sophomore year of college, where I was only able to sleep about once every three nights—no wonder I lost weight. That was not fun. I would not wish insomnia on anyone.

Luckily, my sleep cycle seems to be normal again after a few weird weeks. You’d better believe I’ve been making up for lost time!