*The social part of the winter season begins..
The holiday season brings more of everything.
More sugar, more holiday parties, more screens, more family dynamics, more stimulation. December builds on itself, which is why this first week matters more than it seems. It is the quiet on-ramp before things get louder. And then there is the lull of inactivity until school and work start again but routines are off. That is why I think of it as an arc.
One of the things Ive seen over the past 3 years of sleep coaching (and 17 years of fitness coaching) is that sleep (and exercise) lapses in late December usually begin now. Not in some dramatic way. More in the small shifts that accumulate. The loosened routines and nights that stretch longer than they should. All totally normal, but they still shape the month.
So here is my invitation for this week:
Choose one sleep hygiene practice to keep steady this month. Your wake time. Your caffeine window. A short wind-down ritual. A single anchor now makes the rest of the month easier to navigate.
Wishing you a gentle start to the holiday arc.
Sarah
