Sleep, sweet sleep

I've never been a good sleeper.  I love to stay up late and sleep late.  If I have to get up early, I've always liked to have a nap in the middle of the day.  This worked well at certain times in my life.  As a homeschooling mom, however, I don't have much time for naps.  My children are too young for me to really feel comfortable shutting the door to my room and having a real nap.  The best I get is a light doze in the living room, where I can hear them playing and know if they open the front or back doors.

I went on vacation with my husband.  We had a cabin with east-facing windows (no curtain) that streamed bright light into our bed early every morning.  We hiked all day.  We went to bed early.  I felt awesome.

I came home and didn't want to go back to my old schedule of staying up late every night, dragging myself out of bed each morning, and dragging myself around all day, drinking coffee and diet soda continuously.

So, I haven't.  After the children go to bed, I get in bed with my Kindle, and I'm asleep before 11 PM.  I realize that isn't early to some people, but it sure is to me.  And then I get out of bed at around 7.  I  find I'm needing to set my alarm for 6:45 to do this because I just don't wake up well.  (Probably may be an ADHD-type thing.)

The word on sleep deprivation and metabolism is pretty bleak.  I've been reading about it for years.  So what if I leave emails unanswered or chores undone?  So what if I have to make activities while the children watch and help, rather than having them all ready?  It'll be a lot easier to do anything the next day if I get enough sleep.  Also, chores can be caught up on, but sleep is extremely difficult to catch up on.  When sleep deprived, I am so much more snappy and grumpy. 

I've been feeling that my sleep deprivation has been holding me back with my weight loss, as I've really struggled to see any changes on the scale these past few months, despite modest eating and exercise changes.  I know I've built up muscle, and my clothes fit better, but it hasn't translated into any weight loss.  I did see a slight loss about a pound, coming back from vacation, which I think was due to lack of stress, increased exercise, and better sleep.  I ate plenty, including dessert (homemade cookies or brownies and S'more's trail mix!) twice a day. 

Anyway, there is no other way that I know of to help myself lose weight while remaining completely imobile, other than getting enough sleep.