How are you sleeping lately?
You know--if there were a company that offered a pill that provided as many benefits as 8+ hours of sleep each night, it would likely be the world’s most successful company!!
Sleep is pretty magical for our brain, hormones, immune system, memory and nervous system. If you've ever had a tired toddler, you know that lack of sleep makes life pretty challenging.
For many of us, we have the best of intentions, but don’t always get the deep, restful sleep that we enjoyed in our younger years.
If you are having a hard time sleeping, here are some of our top tips to help you sleep deeply:
1. Have a nighttime routine. Teach your body this habit so that it naturally winds down.
2. Keep your room cool at night. Melatonin is the body’s natural sleep hormone and a powerful antioxidant, and its production increases while sleeping in a cooler environment.
3. Try a weighted blanket. This calms down the nervous system, and helps you to relax and release anxiety and tension.
4. Avoid the blue light from electronics and tv before bed. As you have probably heard, blue lights interfere with your circadian rhythm, and make your body think it is daytime.
5. Maintain the same bedtime every night. We’ll be honest–this one can be tough, especially on a Saturday night, but it is helpful to keep your routine consistent.
6. Avoid alcohol before bed. Although alcohol reduces the time it takes you to fall asleep, it can prevent REM sleep.
7. Hang black-out curtains in your room to reduce lights. Any light that creeps in can disrupt your sleep, son consider black-out curtains if you haven't tried them.
8. Take a warm bath with salts that contain magnesium before bed. Magnesium may also help your body produce melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep.
9. Try reading fiction before bed to release the memories from the day. While there may or may not be evidence to support this one, give it a shot! The Louise Penny Inspector Gamache novels are really fun for this!
10. Consider a cooling pad to keep your body cool at night, an example is the Chilipad. Now these are pricey, and aren’t necessarily 100% reliable, but we wouldn’t go without one! Our recommendation is to get a Chilipad and set it to 61 degrees. Deep sleep ensues.
So the next time you find yourself grabbing an extra cup of coffee in the morning, come back to the list and give one or two of these a try!
What do you do to get a great night’s sleep?