The fitness and wellness ‘professional’ gig is one that involves preaching a whole lot about how one lives their daily lives.

We opine on every aspect of life: sleep, food, activity choices, supplements etc.

The big question is how much can we follow the things we recommend.

So here’s how I don’t practice what I preach when it comes to sleep.

What they preach
The recommendation is sleep for anywhere between 6-8 hours. It helps if the hours are fixed say between 9 and 5 or 10 and 6.

My practice
I sleep at 9:30 pm to 10 pm every single day. It’s just how the entire household rolls. But I wake up at 4 am every single day. Most days are pleasant. But the days when sleep quality has been not so good, i wake up needing coffee. This doesn’t happen often. Once in a couple of weeks maybe.

What they preach

A dark room, no devices for an hour before going to sleep.


What I practice

I have a 7 year old who stages plays with her unicorns till 9 in the night. They go off by 9:20 pm. But i am usually listening to (not watching) some video between 8 pm and 9 pm. It’s usually me doodling or writing down some idea using pen and pencil as I listen to them. Sometimes i am wiped. So i usually pass on the storytelling duties to an old Japanese animated retelling of some Grimms brothers tales. No videos just audio. But I pass out comfortably.

What they preach

6-8 hours of sleep on a trot.

What I practice

6-6.5 hours of straight sleep usually. And an hour during the day. Maybe 1.5 hours even. I need 8 hours of sleep. And some days when i am hopped up on work, I struggle to get that afternoon sleep. And I will pay the price in terms of how much I am able to focus while I coach or my hitting my training targets.

What they preach

Magnesium, melatonin gummies etc to improve sleep quality.

What I practice

Never needed them. But if someone does, I point them in the direction. If there are more severe issues, I refer folks to therapists or the Nithra sleep clinic.

What they preach

Walk around in the morning sun, try and walk a bit in the morning and avoid using your devices for the first couple of hours of the day.

What I practice

I save my hardest bit of training for the morning. At the moment it’s 25 one arm push ups per arm completed in 20 mins. I do these best when i am freshest. I do this 5-6 times a week.

A little music is on. A couple of messages are replied to.

I drink a coffee protein shake shortly after I wake up. I am a fairly sedate responder to coffee. It perks me up but coffee does not amp me up to a counterproductive degree.

My job involves working from 5 am through 12 pm most days including a school drop. So there is no slow basking in the sun every morning :D

Takeaway

I have similar personal takes for training, nutrition, supplements and stress management. It’s not meant to be recommendations in any way! Just what i do and how far from ideal it is. But it works for me.