Wellness Wednesday: Sleeping

One of our favorite topics: precious sleep! It’s such an important part of your life. Sleeping is what allows your body to rest, rejuvenate, and recoup from your busy day. Many recommend at least 8 hours a night (but keep in mind this number may vary by person and lifestyle). You should awake each morning restored and feeling anew. Sleep should be right near the top of your daily “to do” list next to making healthy eating choices and getting exercise. The combination of these three elements in balance are sure to improve your quality of life.

But let’s say that sleep does not come easy for you. Maybe your mind is always racing right before bed or your feet get cold and that wakes you up. Whatever the reason, before you start jumping to conclusions, why not try some of these easy techniques to see if you can lure yourself into a more rewarding sleep pattern. Do you have your teddy bear ready? Okay, let’s go!

Sleep in complete darkness or as close to it as possible. If there is even the tiniest bit of light in the room it can disrupt your circadian rhythm and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and seratonin. There also should be as little light in the bathroom as possible if you get up in the middle of the night. Whatever you do, you should keep the light off when you go to the bathroom at night. As soon as you turn on that light you will for that night immediately cease all production of the important sleep aid melatonin.

Listen to relaxing music or nature sounds. For some, just having relaxing, soothing music in the background or a CD playing nature sounds helps to relax them so they can fall asleep. These CD’s can be found in a lot of local stores and online too. They are inexpensive to purchase and can do wonders for your quality of sleep.

No TV right before bed. It would be even better to get the TV out of the bedroom completely. It is too stimulating to the brain and it will take longer to fall asleep. Television before bed is also disruptive of pineal gland function.

Wear socks to bed. Your feet often feel cold before the rest of your body due to the fact that they have the poorest circulation. A study has shown that wearing socks can reduce night wakings.

Do some light reading, like something spiritual or religious. This will help to relax. Don’t read anything stimulating, such as a mystery or suspense novel, as this may have the opposite effect. In addition, if you are really enjoying a suspenseful book, you might wind up unintentionally reading for hours, instead of going to sleep.

Journaling. If you often lay in bed with your mind racing, it might be helpful keep a journal and write down your thoughts before bed. This way they are out of your head and on paper, freeing your mind to be more relaxed and get you to sleep.

Get to bed as early as possible. Our systems, particularly the adrenals, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. In addition, your gallbladder dumps toxins during this same period. If you are awake, the toxins back up into the liver which then secondarily back up into your entire system and cause further disruption of your health. Prior to the widespread use of electricity, people would go to bed shortly after sundown, as most animals do (unless they are nocturnal), and which nature intended for humans as well.

Remove the clock from view. It will only add to your worry when constantly staring at it… 2 a.m. …3 a.m. … 4:30 a.m. … If you have to use an alarm clock keep it at least 3 feet away from you. Also consider adjusting the volume of your alarm clock to be lower, as it is very stressful to the body to be awakened suddenly.

Keep your bed for sleeping. If you are used to watching TV or doing work in bed, you may find it harder to relax and to think of the bed as a place to sleep. Watch TV in your living room, do your work in your study. Have separate places for doing various tasks, and then make sure you respect the nature of the bedroom.

Put your work away at least one hour (but preferably two or more) before bed. This will give your mind a chance to unwind so you can go to sleep feeling calm, not hyped up or anxious about tomorrow’s deadlines.

Exercise regularly. Exercising for at least 30 minutes everyday can help you fall asleep. However, don’t exercise too close to bedtime or it may keep you awake. Studies show exercising in the morning is the best if you can do it.

Establish a bedtime routine. This could include meditation, deep breathing, using aromatherapy or essential oils. Whatever works for you (so you may have to do some experimenting up front). The key is to find something that makes you feel relaxed, then repeat it each night to help you release the day’s tensions.

With that we welcome you to take a moment and think about the things you can do to improve your sleeping habits, and then how you can put them into action… Sweet dreams!

Resources:
33 Secrets to a Good Night’s Sleep http://www.mercola.com/article/sleep.htm

By rawfoodnation Tags: sleep, wellness
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