Gayle HSleep has become one of the most written about health variable over the past year or so. And for good reason.
Because a good night sleep is arguably one of the best things you can do for your overall health. Yes, even before exercising and eating well (those are important too, but if you get a good night sleep, you are enhancing your efforts on the other habits ).
Not to mention your productivity at work. 29% increase in your productivity just from a good night sleep!
And who doesn’t enjoy a really good night sleep? Hellloooo?? Seriously – I haven’t met a person yet who doesn’t enjoy sleeping.
So why don’t we do it more often? You know, get an actual good night sleep? If we know it’s good for us, we recognize that our performance levels will increase AND we enjoy doing it:
Why in the world do we not sleep more?
Because we are too busy.
Sure, you may have other reasons, but if you really think about things, the reason you do not sleep more is simply because you feel that you are too busy with other things going on in your life and you just don’t have the time.
(** Disclaimer – if you are the mom of children under 2 years old, you get full immunity from that statement. You don’t sleep because you have infants – I get it!)
Enough of this too busy excuse! That is the very first thing you need to change your mind about if you want to set yourself up for a good night’s rest.
You are NOT too busy to take care of yourself. You simply are not making sleep a priority.
If you just said, “No Gayle, I really am too busy”, then I encourage you to read that previous statement again and really listen to yourself. Or, you may want to reread my blog on developing your own Intentional Living Matrix and use that to do your scheduling from now on.
I have to admit – I am a pretty good sleeper. My Mom has told me that when I was a baby, I pretty much pooped, slept and ate. I guess I haven’t progressed much in life 🙂
I can sleep on airplanes, during movies, while there is a party going on in my room (this skill got me through college) – pretty much anywhere and through anything.
Sleeping is a skill I have honed for over 5 decades. But besides being a magic power I was born with, sleep is one of my most favorite things to do! Sleeping and eating, in my estimation, are pretty awesome activities.
But Rj, not so much. He’s always been a much lighter sleeper. He takes longer to fall asleep, is easily disrupted, and has a hard time falling back to sleep once awake. While he enjoys sleeping as much as I do, he just doesn’t do it quite as well as I do.
So as I do, I have used Rj as my lab testing subject. I have tried a ton of different sleeping ideas/aids/methods out on him to see what might help a non-sleeper get more/better rest.
Remember, Rj is not always open to crazy, woo woo ideas for bettering his health. I have to propose concepts that are scientific, not too weird, and easily built into an already formulated routine.
In other words, if these ideas worked for him, I’m going to bet you have a chance that they will work for you as well.
Shut Your Technology
We are addicted to technology. Emails, texts, social media sites, news outlets…we are never far from being plugged in. On our phones, on our wrists, on our computers – we have pop ups, buzzers, emails and notifications constantly keeping us up to date with news, work status, family activities, interests.
Our connections are endless! But all this technology keeps us from doing what our bodies are built to do every night – slowly move into a restful state of mind that ultimately will allow us to close our eyes and go to sleep.
The information we receive from our technology engages our mental resources. We are interested in what’s going on around us, afraid to miss out on something, worried that we didn’t get enough work done that day and/or anxious about what tomorrow may hold.
This interest, fear, worry and anxiousness also impacts our physical bodies – revving us up, getting our hearts beating faster and in some cases, leading to stomach aches, heart burn and other physical ailments brought on by high levels of stress.
Not to mention how the blue light from our electronic devices impacts our ability to sleep. This blue light can delay the release of melatonin (your sleep-inducing hormone), increase alertness, and reset the body’s circadian rhythms (your natural internal clock).
We have to tell our body and mind that it’s time to go to sleep. Like telling a child that it’s time to go to bed – we tell them, create an environment of relaxation, allow for transition time, then ultimately kiss them goodnight as their eyes droop ready for sleep.
Set a regular time when technology gets turned off and put away.
Preferably outside of your bedroom. But, if you use your phone as an alarm clock then simply enable airplane mode so you don’t get buzzed/binged/pinged or otherwise disturbed during the night.
This habit may take a little time to feel normal to you, so take it slowly! Micro-steps baby. I would recommend that you simply try to shut your technology down maybe 15 minutes earlier than you usually do for 2 weeks in a row. Every night.
If that works for you, add another 15 minutes for the next two nights.
You are training your body and mind here. Once trained, your new normal will feel just that – normal! Not to mention – you may just realize that the world can go on without you for 30 extra minutes in a day.
Proving my point – that you really are not too busy to get a good night sleep.
Drink an herbal tea an hour before you go to bed.
Drinking an herbal tea an hour before you go to bed is a great way to relax your body and mind, but there are so many other health benefits including hydration and weight loss.
But let’s start with the relaxation point. There are certain herbal teas that I always recommend to people to start with if they are new to drinking tea as a relaxant before bed.
Chamomile and Lavendar.
Both teas are easy to find in your grocery stores. Both chamomile and lavender are herbs that have been linked to relaxation and stress reduction.
But beyond the sleep aid benefits of those two herbs, creating a routine around making yourself a cup of tea (preferably caffeine free) before bed, drinking this tea (maybe while you read a book or watch one of your favorite TV shows) and then turning of your technology and climbing into bed will also help you get to sleep!
We had bedtime routines as kids – create a routine for you as an adult! Your body/mind will start to figure it out over time – herbal tea, enjoyable entertainment, technology shut down, close eyes, go to sleep. Boom.
What about that hydration and weight loss thing you mentioned earlier Gayle?
Well – a cup of herbal tea (no caffeine) is a cup of water basically. So you’ve just added 8-12 ounces of water to your daily tally. Nice.
And as for weight loss? Consider this – a cup of tea instead of a nightcap. Instead of dessert for dinner. Instead of those snacks you just can’t keep your hand off of.
You body doesn’t necessarily crave a nightcap/dessert/snacks – we simply have conditioned our bodies to assume that they will get one of those things at the end of a long day as a reward for all of our hard work.
We have mentally created our craving.
If you feed that need to have something to help you unwind, your body will be just fine! So by replacing the caloric, sugary and sleep disrupting offenders with a no calorie, no sugar, no caffeine relaxing alternative, you multiply your health benefits!
Keep a pen and paper on your bedside table for middle of the night panics.
You have been asleep for 4 hours. Your brain and body are comfortable and relaxed. You’ve managed a few REM sleep cycles to clean yourself out inside. And then..
BAM.
You are awake. You are stressed out. You are thinking about all the things you have to do tomorrow. Or maybe something you forgot to do today.
And here’s where we say, “I was awake anyway, so I figured I might as well get up and take care of my work.”
No no no!!! That’s a total line that you feed yourself to support the “I’m too busy/important” mentality.
Yes, you are awake. But no, you should not get up and take care of your work. You should close your eyes and go back to sleep is what you should do.
When we awake with feelings of anxiety and stress, we start to spin down a never ending abyss. Our brains feel like they will explode with the pressure of our thoughts. Our bodies start to pick up the stress signals and start to cramp up. Or twitch. Or simply feel uncomfortable.
So to relieve all of this pressure we get up and get things out of our head. But unfortunately, you don’t stop there, right? You’ve done it – you’ve opened your technology. You figure you’ll just knock out a few more emails so you don’t have to do them in the morning. Oh wait – is that Instagram I see? OK – maybe just a little peek.
And before you know it, the alarm is going off in the bedroom. Sleep over.
A simple piece of paper (notebook, sticky pad, random napkin) and an ordinary pen (or pencil, or crayon) will eliminate all of that anxiety and stress. How? By simply writing down what you need to do.
Remember – the brain just needs to know that you have dealt with your thoughts. It doesn’t matter to your brain whether you actually get up and take action immediately or simply write down your thoughts and save them for the morning.
Your brain is so powerful. What it thinks becomes your reality. By simply emptying those stressful thoughts out of your brain and onto a piece of paper, you’ve essentially told your brain, “Got it! All set! Thanks for reminding me!”
And with that, you know you are covered. You’ll address your notes tomorrow. After you’ve gotten a few more hours of sleep.
You are not too busy to get a full night sleep (between 7-9 hours).
You can unplug from your technology at night and by doing so, you will perform better the next day.
You do not need to react to everything that your brain kicks up during the night – you can acknowledge and then deal with these things in the morning.
Just stop with the whole “I just can’t go to bed earlier” and try a few of my suggestions for a few weeks.
If they work for Rj. I know they can work for you.
Good night! Sleep Well!
Gayle H
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