Problems with sleep..

For as long as I can remember i've always had trouble sleeping, Over the years i've learnt a few tips which I find useful myself to help me achieve a couple more hours a night.

Firstly, Try and set yourself a regular bedtime, I found this hard at first, working in a restaurant I find it so difficult to switch off, especially after a busy night, so now I try and aim for a bedtime around half past 11 on a week night (Although this seems late to some people, I work weird shifts, so while your all finishing work between 5 and 6pm, I'm only then starting my shift!). A weekend is usually a little later, usually around 12 to half past  if i've had a late finish. The good thing about setting yourself a set time is that once you've been doing it for a few weeks your body starts to get used to it and you feel ready to go to bed at your set time.

secondly, Try not to nap in the daytime, this is a big thing for me, even though I finish later in the evening, I still try and aim to be up between 9 and half past (Otherwise I would never get anything done!), so if the evening before's shift has been busy I find myself feeling tired throughout the day. Thus making me want to nap, I try not to do so now, I have finally learnt over the years that a couple hours sleep in the day does not make it any easier to sleep at night, in fact in my case, incredibly hard. If I do really feel I need a nap I do so for no longer than 30-45 minutes.

Try and tire yourself out in the daytime. I rarely have time at the weekends to do any form of exercise (in between split shifts and uni work, and of course that sunday roast!!) So between monday to friday I try and do some, even if it is just a walk along the beach. I find the fresh air really does help you sleep that evening.

Don't use your phone for 30 minutes prior to going to bed. I never really believed this one to work, after countless searches on 'how to sleep better' or 'how to sleep for longer' so many articles suggested this. I tried it for a couple of weeks, at first it didn't make much difference, but now I swear by it. I think it is to do with the lights and various other things, but try this for a couple of weeks and you should see a difference.

A big part of not sleeping well is having to get up in the mornings, If I don't feel i've had enough sleep I used to always try and push it so I got that extra 5 minutes in bed, which actually only made you feel worse than better. But here is a few things I have learnt that has helped me get up in the morning.

The first one is not a surprise but don't have your alarm on your bedside table. If it's next to you you can easily hit the snooze button, but if it's on the authorised of the room you have to get out of bed to turn it off (even if you don't want too).

I find that one of the best things to keep me up in the morning is having a glass of cold water as soon as you wake up, as you sleep you don't have a chance to hydrate yourself throughout the night, a glass of cold water (even better with a slice of lemon) really wakes me up and makes me feel refreshed.

and finally...

Don't close your curtain's all the way. This honestly is the best thing I changed to help me get up in the morning. When the light shines through your curtain your body automatically knows it's time to get up, and it makes you feel a lot less tired too! 

Are there anyways that help you sleep? Let me know.


x

Dublin

I've just been to Dublin and I absolutely loved it. I have been before so I know the places to go and the different things you can go and see.

We first went to the Guinness factory;

I did do it last year so I knew what to expect, but it was just as good as it was last time. It was only €18 admission, which has gone up since last year, but overall I don't think that is a bad price, you do get to enjoy a pint of Guinness  with that swell, which you can either pour yourself and learn how to pour a proper pint of Guinness or get it up stairs from the Gravity bar. 

There are several different floors, as you go through them, they go through the ingredients used, you get to try a sample of Guinness and they teach you how you should drink it.

The last floor is the best, it's the gravity bar, the walls are all glass and because it's so high up you can see out through the whole of Dublin, and there are little notes on the walls telling you about different buildings you can see, and what they are.


On another day while I was in Dublin, we visited a sea side town call Howth, it was lovely, just like being at home because I live in a sea side town now. You can walk all along the pier and the views are beautiful..

As you can see from the pictures, Howth was absolutely lovely, I would visit again. We ended the day with some cocktails in a little pub looking out along the coast, such a lovely relaxing day!

We did try to get to the Jameson factory but we hadn't booked online as the next tour wasn't for a couple of hours and it would mean we wouldn't have the chance to do the other things we wanted to do.

Other places visited;

Hard rock Cafe - Dublin Centre - We had drinks and some lunch here, the food was really nice.

Wrights bar and cafe - Swords - A lovely place for food and drinks, they always have a DJ on through out the week, so if you are staying in the area its a must.

Empire - Swords - The place for cocktails - Between 7 and 10pm cocktails are 2 for €10. Which is a really good price because drinks can be expensive in Dublin. Apparently the food is good here too, although I didn't get a chance to try it.

Sorry i've not posted much lately, there's been so much going on with uni and then going away, but I will post a lot more now i'm back. 

Also let me know if there is any other places I should visit next time I go!

x

Introduction

Hi guys!

This is going to be a little introduction so you can see what you can expect from me in term of blog posts.

Firstly, this blog is going to become my weight loss diary, after struggling for many years with my weight and after many fad diets, I have set myself a challenge! I am determined to get the weight off. I have given myself a year to get down to 11 stone. I started dieting on January the 2nd, which means i've been doing it just over a month, and i've lost a stone and 2 lbs so far. 

Before i'd started dieting I'd come to terms with the idea that i'd always be overweight and just kept eating and drinking what I wanted too. It wasn't until I found myself finding excuses, as to why I couldn't go for nights out with my friends, or why I didn't want to do many other things. The reason was because I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed because I never had any nice clothes to wear, I would get out of breath after walking up a flight of stairs, it just couldn't carry on. So i made an oath to myself, I would finally loose this weight and be happy that I could finally do all the things I wanted to when I get down to my goal weight. 

The problem with me is I'm lazy with food. It's so much easier to just grab something and eat it, or put something in the microwave. But I am lucky, I do love fruit and vegetables, I love fish and I can cook quite well. So now I don't buy crisps or chocolate or anything bad for me which I would eat that would stop me from loosing weight. I always make sure I have things in reach that if I am hungry I can snack on, Things like peppers and different types of fruit. 

This blog is going to be a place where I can track my weight loss, I can write healthy recipes and a place I can express myself. 

I hope you enjoy it, and I hope that other people can get the motivation they might need to do something similar to what i am doing.

Thanks for reading

x