Twelve Tips for Getting Your Best Night's Sleep, Ever!
Ah, the elusive good night’s sleep. We’re so tired! Many of us are walking around in some state of sleep deprivation. We can’t fall asleep, or when we do, we can’t stay asleep. And then when it’s time to start the day, all we want is more sleep. Damn that alarm clock!
Adequate sleep is crucial for our good health and a cornerstone of a well-nourished soul. Not only does a good night’s sleep make you feel better, think better and improve your mood, sleep benefits your heart, balances your hormones and helps control your weight. A restful sleep can banish those dark under-eye circles and brighten our skin, making us appear more youthful and vital. Sleeping well brightens everything, from our perspective to our sex lives! Sleeping well helps us feel like we’re ready to take on the world! Who wouldn’t want more of that?
Our sleep problems are so bad, the CDC refers to sleep issues as a “public health epidemic.”
Poor sleep habits are closely linked to heart disease and stroke, depression, diabetes and autoimmune disease. Even short periods of sleep deprivation drastically affect our metabolism and increase our risk for obesity. Sleepy drivers are as dangerous as alcohol-impaired drivers because sleep deprivation mimics the slow responses and impaired brain function equal to the effects of alcohol consumption. Sleeplessness always affects reaction time and decision making, affecting the quality of our work and home life. We are more short-tempered and reactionary when we’re tired.
How many other reactions and decisions are carelessly made when you’re tired?
When our sleep is disturbed, we often make poor food choices. We crave anything that will give us a boost of energy, including foods that are high in calories, sugar and carbohydrates, along with an extra-large coffee. Sleep helps regulate the hormones that affect and control appetite. When you don’t get enough sleep, the hormone ghrelin (what makes you feel hungry) rises. Lack of sleep also affects insulin, the hormone that controls your blood glucose (sugar) levels. Not helpful when we’re trying to watch our weight.
When you burn the candle at both ends, your body doesn’t get a chance to repair itself, making it harder to fight off infections and stay healthy.
Sleep helps us fight off common colds and strengthens our immune system. When we don’t get enough sleep, our blood inflammatory markers rise causing all sorts of problems. Inflammation has been cited as the root cause for heart disease, stroke, certain cancers and autoimmune diseases. Getting enough sleep helps our body ward off serious as well as common illnesses.
So how much sleep do you need to be healthy?
The National Sleep Foundation completed an extensive two-year study and published the guidelines that most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep each night, teenagers and children even more. Personally, I feel the best person to determine how much sleep you need is You!
While I’d never recommend less than seven hours a night, you can assess for yourself if you are peppy and productive on seven hours of sleep, of if your magic number more like is nine. If you are depending on caffeine to fuel your day, you should consider getting more sleep. And if you have any health issues, or are overweight, you should consider getting more sleep to help you thrive. Paying attention to your mood, energy and over-all health will help determine your best nightly sleep quota. Then it’s up to you to see that you get it nightly.
Let’s make sleep a priority, rather than something we fit in when everything else is done for the day.
Seeing how important sleep is to our overall health, we must make adequate sleep a priority just like healthy eating, exercise, a spiritual practice and other lifestyle choices. In our overly-stimulated lives, it can become harder to slow down and unwind at night. We overstress our brains by multi-tasking, especially by constantly checking our phones, social media and email, making it harder unplug from constant stimulation.
Create a nighttime ritual that sends your brain and body the signal: It’s time to settle down, slow down and relax so we can get to sleep soon.
It can be done. A good night's sleep is not as elusive as you may think.
Here are my Top Twelve Tips for getting your best sleep ever!
1) Declare your bedroom a sanctuary for sex and sleep only. Create a restful environment, not an extension of the home office, laundry room or kitchen. Keep work, chores and clutter out of the bedroom.
2) Remove the TV and other electronics (including cellphones/tablets) from the bedroom. The blue light emitted from these devices is especially disrupting to sleep cycles.
3) Unplug yourself from all electronics at least one to two hours before bedtime. Stop watching thrilling movies, disturbing evening news stories, and blaring video games at bedtime. Using these devices and many aspects of modern life alter your production of melatonin and shift your circadian rhythm. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone which is controlled by light exposure that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle (circadian rhythm). But also, more than the stimulation of the light, the over-stimulation of the brain is problematic. Late-night news is anything but relaxing. Some better alternatives to setting the stage for rest are to read a book by soft light, listen to relaxing music, prepare for the next day, or do some gentle yoga stretches. Retrain your brain to understand when it’s time for sleep by removing the usual stimulation.
4) Pay attention to what and when you eat and drink. Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and sugar consumed during the day will affect your blood sugar levels during the night, triggering wakefulness, pulling you out of the deep, restorative sleep you need. Eating dinner too late at night also disrupts your sleep as your body is busy digesting rather than resting. Conversely, being too hungry can also cause wakefulness, so if that’s the case for you consider a light snack before bed, operative word here is light. Staying hydrated is very important and I recommend drinking plenty of water during the day (half your body weight in ounces per day) but not too late in the evening to avoid having to get up to go to the bathroom during the night.
5) Watch the late afternoon pick-me-ups. If you’re having a late afternoon slump, consider these alternatives rather than a latte: eat an energy-boosting snack, take a little cat nap or get outside for some fresh air and sunshine (which helps regulate melatonin mentioned above). Reduce, or better yet eliminate completely, white foods from your diet (sugar, white flour, white rice and pasta) to prevent the slump in the first place. You don’t want your afternoon pick-me up to keep you up all night.
6) Avoid being tired but wired at bedtime. Manage your worries and stress before calling it a day. Stress mitigation is so important to your overall health, but especially so for a relaxing bedtime. Meditation, yoga, prayer or simply some deep breathing will help to lower stress and anxiety levels. Create tomorrow’s to-do list before going to bed so that you aren’t creating one in your head when the lights go out. Exercise and fresh air during the day help tire your body and prepare it for sleep later, however, try not to exercise too late in the day or the resulting invigoration will last into bedtime.
7) Make sure your bedroom is dark, cool and quiet. Even with your eyes closed, you brain can detect light. Your brain secretes more melatonin when it’s dark, producing better sleep than when there’s light in the bedroom. If you can’t make the room dark, consider an eye mask. And chill out - studies show that the best sleep occurs when the bedroom is 65 degrees – any warmer or colder makes you too uncomfortable for sound sleep. Earplugs can help quiet the noise of a snoring bed partner or rude neighbors. White noise, like a fan, is helpful to people who find silence disturbing.
8) Don’t share your bed with your pets or your kids. Yes, a little cuddle buddy is nice, but they stretch and squirm, kick, lick and scratch, purr and even snore. I’ll freely admit, this one falls into the do-as-I-say/not do-as-I-do category as my cats have free access to my bed. My excuse is that they’d be much more disruptive trying to beat down the bedroom door, but if you want a night of uninterrupted sleep, kids and pets do not belong in your bed. No judgment if you can’t follow this advice either, but I want to put it out there for consideration. Can you get the kids into their own beds? Can you get the pets into their own beds?
9) Stick to a sleep schedule even on weekends. You can’t bank sleep. Sleep isn’t like your checking account where you can carry a low balance, or overdraw the account until payday. Also, if you’re trying to determine how much sleep you need, going to bed late and sleeping in on the weekends will totally negate that information. Try keeping the same bedtime and wake-up time all week long. Your body will thank you for the consistency. That being said, a few extra hours on the weekend can be helpful if you’ve really burned the candle at both ends all week.
10) Adopt a nightly gratitude practice. Nothing nourishes your soul better than taking time for gratitude and thanks for the gifts in your daily life, and bedtime is the perfect time to reflect, recognize and acknowledge the abundance that is in your life today. Consider keeping a gratitude journal on your nightstand to record five things for which you can give thanks and be in gratitude for at the end of the day. Some days, I am just thankful the day is over, but most days there is much to honor in gratitude. This seemingly simple routine will amaze you in its benefits. What you focus upon, you create, and when you create from a place of gratitude, miracles happen.
11) Consider adding crystals and aromatherapy to your bedtime routine. I don’t consider these two things particularly new age or woo-woo, but perhaps you do, so all I ask is that you keep an open mind and give them a try before dismissing them outright. Spritzing your pillowcase with lavender, rubbing your feet with vetiver oil or diffusing a relaxing blend of essential oils next to the bed always help induce sound sleep. Taking a warm bath with Epsom salts and essential oils will relax your body, mind and spirit. And tucking a crystal, such as rose quartz, amethyst or lepidolite into your pillowcase will also help bring about relaxing, deep sleep. There is much more to cover on this topic in future blog posts, but please give this a try in the meantime.
12) And finally, don’t stress out about not sleeping. If you are having trouble falling asleep or can’t get back to sleep, don’t stress about it. Get up and do something low-key and with minimal lights until you begin to feel sleepy, like reading or listening to music. If you want to stay in bed, try progressive muscle relaxation which is a focused relaxation of your body parts, starting at the crown of your head and ending with your feet. This is a great way to unwind the tension you are holding in your body. Most importantly when sleep eluding you, focus on making relaxation your goal, not sleep. Sleep comes when we are relaxed in mind, body and spirit.
Wishing you all sweet dreams!
