Sleep again....

 Don't eat Ravioli and then top it off with jalapeno poppers. I know it's another statement on sleep, but oh my goodness! It's important. And sometimes, I don't think we realize how it can influence our decision making. I can't pin it all on sleep I'm sure, i do have some habits that I'm working on. But it is interesting most of my worst trades happen after some event where I'm extra tired or there's extra pressure of some kind. For example after long trips, I may feel fine, but I'm probably more tired than usual or the first day after I stopped working and went full time trader - felt fine, but there was definitely some subconscious pressure going on. What do I do - too much size, too wide of stops, moving stops, not having stops, just not thinking through the trades all the way, extra egotistical for some reason, let one trade turn into a different one.  So today I had a bad trade and I did a few of these things. And I was lucky. I didn't lose money, but I may have lost some confidence in myself and my ability to keep to my rules which may hold me back for more time than would be the case otherwise. I think it just shows we can always still make mistakes.  How do we counteract this? Any ideas? Please to share your ideas.  I think one thing should be to give yourself a sleep/health score in the morning and take action accordingly - maybe don't trade, maybe stay out of certain plays, maybe just size down on everything. I have a sleep score on my preparation sheet, maybe I'll share that sometime soon. I don't always use it though - like today where I didn't sleep well and only got in front of the monitor 20 minutes before the bell. I was even aware that I should size down, but after a few decent trades I was no longer thinking about my size or the other things I should be doing in a trade.  It is weird to be arguing the point that I had a bad trade when money was made. But that is trading - making money is the goal, but it is not the best grading system for how well someone trades. I guess you could, but it would have to be over a long period of time where it could be shown that gains are consistently larger than losses. Anyway... sleep. And watch what you eat so you can sleep.  I've probably said it before, and I'll probably say it again. You know what else.... The VIX today held completely flat for about 20 minutes which I though was unusual. Maybe more on that later. Cheers!