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Creating a Sleep Sanctuary

Good sleep hygiene is integral to optimal health. It is equally important as nutrition and movement and other health factors. Good, restful sleep is when our bodies and mind recover. You have probably noticed this if you’ve lived long enough!

Your body may be tired from a day of physical activity – perhaps a workout or gardening or other movement such as a home improvement project but after a good night’s sleep, you feel rejuvenated. From a mental aspect, you may be worried, anxious or upset about something during the day but a good night of restful sleep allows you to awaken with a new perspective. The healing power of sleep is so miraculous that it deserves to be prioritized. On the other hand, the detrimental aspects of chronically bad sleep increases risk of chronic illness, ages us faster, makes it harder to lose weight and/or stay lean, disrupts hormones, drains our IQ and saps our energy.

Sleep should be a health priority and this week we are talking about optimizing your sleep environment (bedroom) and bedtime routine.

First, let’s talk about your bedroom and some ways to make it a sacred sleeping space.

  1. Your bedroom should be quiet and free of clutter. This lends itself to a peaceful environment. If noise in your environment is an issue beyond your control, creating white noise can be helpful. Also, if you are prone to wake up at the slightest noise, having white noise in the background can help. My grandkids call it a “sound machine” and sleep with it every night.
  2. Set the temperature to an appropriate level for you. Some like it very cool, do what makes you most comfortable.
  3. Keep your bedroom as dark as possible. Melatonin is a hormone produced by your brain that signals your body when it is time to sleep. Your dark room will maximize your melatonin production.
  4. Light, especially blue light from electronics, inhibits melatonin production and makes it harder to fall and stay asleep. It’s a good idea to put  your phone in another room, or a minimum, turn it upside down.
  5. Blackout blinds are great for limiting light and their added bonus is insulation. In the heat of the summer, they keep the sun out and in winter, they insulate to keep heat in. My blackout blinds in my bedroom are one of the best investments I’ve made.

Now let’s talk about a bedtime routine. I don’t know about you, but I can’t go from zero to 60 when I first wake up in the morning; nor can I go from 60 to zero when I go to bed. I need a wind-down time.

  1. Keeping a regular schedule as best as possible. Our bodies like regularity and over time, your body learns when it is time to wind down and does so automatically. This is funny to me because the older I get the more I see this in my life!
  2. Watch your caffeine and alcohol intake. Specifically, drink little alcohol and stop caffeine after 2pm. Both can affect your sleep.
  3. Eat a small or moderate size meal in the evening. A too-full tummy can interfere with sleep.
  4. Do a brain dump by making lists (paper or electronic) to clear your mind for relaxation. I use an iPhone app called Out of Milk for my many lists. I keep a running Costco list, errand list, to-do list, packing list, you name it, I have a list for everything. The beauty is if you carry your phone, you always have your lists with you! Plus it relieves stress by writing it down when you think of it and you have less forgotten things!
  5. Stretch, read or otherwise destress before bed. Warm water helps destress – warm bath, especially with magnesian Epsom salt is a great option. Do what you enjoy and what relaxes you.
  6. Try to shutoff electronics a half hour before bed.
  7. Lastly, go to bed before midnight. Sleep experts say that because of the way our natural circadian rhythms work, every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours after midnight. By the way, exercising regularly helps normalize circadian rhythms, tone down the sympathetic nervous system regulate endocrine function. Another reminder of how the pillars of health overlap.

How much sleep should you get?

Seven to nine hours is best with seven being the minimum. Some people have tried to “hack” their sleep to get away with much less. It can work for awhile but research demonstrates that you pay a big health and productivity price for consistently getting less than 7-9 hours.

Good night!

Some of this information is sourced from Precision Nutrition who is one of my certifying bodies in my health coaching education.

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