Sleep Wonderful Sleep
jerome adamoShare
The beauty of getting a good night's sleep
and what it does for your body, mind and spirit. Stage one - low hanging fruit.
Good sleep is essential for our well-being. Developing good sleep habits is a crucial step in restoring healthy sleep and a healthy life.
Good sleep, good nutrition, physical activity and stress reduction techniques are key habits to living your best life in this modern world.
While we sleep our mind and body use this down time to clean up the residue from the previous day, repair damage and get us ready for the next day's adventure.
Our mind uses this time to go through the experiences of the day, categorizes their importance to our well being and either files them away for future use and reflection or tosses them out. This act of cleaning out unneeded information not only frees up space but strengthens our synaptic pathways, increasing our neuroplasticity and flexibility which improves our ability to learn, recall and remember information.
Our lymphatic and digestive systems flush the daily accumulation of toxins from our brain, blood and other organs and expels them from the body giving us a fresh start for the new day. We also use this time to repair and restore cells, organs and glands.
Let's start with the obvious barriers to getting a good night's sleep, the low hanging fruit. In most cases completing a few of the following steps is enough to get you back on a good sleep schedule.
The most common factors impeding a good night's sleep are stimulants (coffee, tea, etc), stress, lack of physical activity, poor sleep environment, late night screen time and a sporadic sleep schedule.
Good Sleep Habits
Basic steps to developing good sleep habits.
1. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule.
Try to go to bed and wake up at about the same time each day - even on weekends. This reinforces your body's internal clock and sleep cycles (circadian rhythm), which will soon become a habit.
Schedule times that allow 7-8 hours of sleep without interruption if possible.
2. Develop a relaxing bedtime routine that works for you and your particular situation.
Consistency is key here, as your mind and body get used to repeating these procedures every night before bed, just the start of the routine will eventually make you a feel a little sleepy.
Try to start your routine at least an hour before bedtime. Dim the lights and give yourself time to unwind.
Your relaxing bedtime routine might include:
- Taking a hot bath or shower. The warmth of the water will help you relax and the drop in body temperature after the bath or shower may help you feel sleepy.
- Reading a book or magazine. Sorry but this probably has to be paper. The blue light from your phone, computer and most electronic reading devices stimulates your mind and may lead to producing serotonin and we want to be producing melatonin at this point.
- Meditation and Breathing Techniques are a great way to relax the body and slow your brain waves down. Daily meditation provides many health benefits.
- Listening to soothing music. This could be relaxing music from almost any genre including singing bowls, solfeggio frequencies or whatever helps you to relax and put the cares of the day behind you.
Follow this link to a collection of useful meditations (self and guided), breathing techniques and soothing music. Healing Protocols
3. Have a good sleeping environment.
A peaceful, restful environment may help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. A comfortable mattress, pillows and bed linens are a great first step to a good sleep environment.
Sound and noises can make it hard to fall asleep, interrupt a peaceful sleep and make it hard to fall back to sleep. Ear plugs or a noise generator can usually block out enough outside noise for a peaceful sleep. Try listening to healing frequencies (solfeggio, singing bowls etc.) in the background, this may help block out the noise with an added benefit of balancing your energy centers and organ systems.
If light is an issue, wearing an eye mask or installing blackout curtains on your windows is a fairly inexpensive and quick solution.
Keeping the temperature in your bedroom on the cool side can also help you sleep better. The ideal room temperature for most people is between 60 and 67 deg F.
The importance of having a restful environment that promotes good sleep cannot be understated.
4. Turn off or remove electronic devices from your sleep environment.
Many of us have a TV in the bedroom, we may even sit in bed with our laptop getting some last minute work done or checking our email before the day ends.
The use of electronic devices can keep our mind stimulated and the blue light may signal the reduction of melatonin, a critical internal chemical responsible for our sleep/wake cycles. All of which will make it harder to fall asleep.
Studies show it's best to stop using your TV, computer or phone at least an hour before bed.
5. Get some regular exercise.
Try to exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Any physical activity will work just do it for 30 min or more.
This can be as simple as a walk (no phone) around your neighborhood or local park. A nice quiet walk can also have the added benefit of one on one time with a friend or alone time for a little self reflection.
Make sure to end your activity at least an hour or two before bedtime to let your energy level and body temperature return to normal.
If you have to schedule your activity closer to bedtime, yoga or stretching are good options and the relaxed focus may help you sleep.
6. Limit caffeine and avoid nicotine.
The mentally stimulating effects of caffeine from coffee, colas, teas etc. can take as long as 8 hours to wear off fully. Nicotine is also a stimulant, one more reason to quit.
7. Avoid alcohol before bed.
You may love your evening nightcap. It can take the edge off of a tough day and will probably help you get to sleep. The only problem is that alcohol keeps you in the lighter stages of sleep and we want our sleep to be as deep as possible. You may also find yourself waking up in the middle of the night when the sedating effects wear off. If you going to drink give your body 2 or 3 hours to process the alcohol before bed, or switch to a sleep tea, not the same but still nice. Many people enjoy the ritual of a nice cup of herbal tea before bed as a signal for our mind and body that it's time for sleep.
8. Avoid large meals and beverages late at night.
A large meal can negatively affect the quality of your sleep and could cause indigestion which can keep you awake. Drinking too many fluids at night may send you to the restroom when you should be sleeping.
9. Avoid medicines that delay or disrupt your sleep, if possible.
Some common heart, blood pressure and asthma medications, as well as some over-the-counter medication for coughs, colds, or allergies, can disrupt sleep patterns. Substitute herbal remedies without the side effects when appropriate.
10. Limit or avoid napping after 3 p.m.
A nap can definitely boost your afternoon brain power, but that late afternoon nap can make it harder to fall asleep at night. If your going to nap, try to keep it under a half hour and complete it before 3 p.m..
11. Get out in the Sun and manage your light exposure.
Daylight is one of the key elements to regulating your sleep patterns (circadian rhythm). Try to get outside in natural sunlight for at least 30 minutes each day.
Limit your light exposure after sunset, dim the lights a few hours before bed, turn off unused lights and use warm spectrum light bulbs in the rooms you spend time. This will help signal your mind to start getting ready for bed.
12. If your not tired don't go to bed.
Try doing a relaxing activity such as meditation or reading until you start to feel tired, then go to bed.
If you find yourself still awake after lying in bed for more than 20 minutes, get up and do something to unwind, the anxiety of not being able to sleep can make it even harder to fall asleep. Reading, meditation, stretching, breathing techniques anything to calm your mind and body.
The choices you make during the day and before bedtime affect your ability to fall asleep and the quality of your sleep. The previous steps include simple solutions to some of the issues we all face when trying to get a good night's sleep.
For more on sleep, herbal remedies for sleep and other life hacks visit our Healing Protocol page.
Thanks for visiting and have a happy, healthy and joyful life.