Sleeping Hygiene

My close friends all know that I cannot function properly if I don’t get 8 hours of good quality sleep. I must also admit, I love my sleep. So, it is actually good that I don’t have children. I would really struggle with limited or interrupted sleep. I saw how this impacted good friends of mine when they had their little girl. They found it really hard in the beginning to cope with the broken sleep.

Sleep deprivation can hugely contribute to poor health. That’s why high-quality sleep is so vital for both healing and sustained wellness. While we are sleeping it looks from the outside as if the body is still and inactive. But in actuality, the body is pretty busy. During the night, our supply of hormones are restocked, toxins are being processed, damaged tissue is being repaired, our body generates vital white blood cells to help with our immunity, the effects of stress are being eliminated, and heavy emotions are being processed, etc.

Sleep is ultimately a gift of the pineal gland. A small ant-sized lobe near the middle of our skull in the interbrain. Following our natural body-clock, our circadian rhythm, the pineal gland secretes a neurotransmitter and hormone called melatonin. Now, melatonin suppresses the activity of other neurotransmitters and helps to calm the brain. Melatonin counters the stress hormone cortisol which is produced by our adrenal gland. As we become drowsier, the brain slowly begins to turn off our voluntary muscle functions, so we don’t move around too much and try to act out our dreams or disrupt those vital functions our body is doing while we are sleeping.

Unfortunately, we have an epidemic of sleep disorders. People have trouble falling asleep, they often experience interrupted sleep, they struggle to stay asleep and some even experience full blown insomnia.

So, why are so many people struggling with their sleep?

Well, we can thank our chosen night-time routines for starters. We are addicted to the TV .. watching the news or a crime show before bed won’t be helpful at all. This will just cause your body to produce stress hormones and high levels of cortisol will not help you fall asleep. Choosing to read a stressful work related email or playing violent video games just before bed might not be the best idea either.

There are, however, several straightforward remedies which can help. When we are well rested, we tend to be more motivated to make further healthier lifestyle changes. Like eating healthier or exercising more.

These “sleeping hygiene” suggestions I am sharing with you today might sound simple BUT they can be very powerful!!

• Choose more calming, quieter evening activities that resonate with you and help you to relax, both mentally and physically (e.g. reading a book, taking a bath, going for a light stroll outdoors, playing with a pet, folding laundry).

• Turn off all full-spectrum light for a full 1-2 hours before bedtime. This means no email, TV, or smart phone apps.

• Avoid amping up your brain. Avoid activities such as budgeting, balancing your checkbook, next-day-planning, or stressful conversations in the full hour prior to bedtime. Avoid caffeinated food or drink after 2pm (e.g. tea (even green), coffee, soda, chocolate, mate); yes, it *can* affect you that many hours later.

• Make it quiet but not too quiet. If noise is an issue in your bedroom (too little OR too much), soft foam ear plugs can be a good choice and/or the white noise of a fan.

• Mind the temperature. Rooms which are too hot or too cold tend to wake us up. In addition to waking us up to mess with the bedding, temperature extremes naturally increase our stress hormones which promotes wakefulness.

• Have a relaxing ritual at night. Herbal tea (e.g. lavender, chamomile, valerian, passionflower) can help one to relax and set the tone for sleep. A hot bath with Epsom salts may work well. Or perhaps 10 minutes of gratitude journaling or reading an inspirational or spiritual book.

• Quiet your digestion. This is a particularly powerful one that surprises many. If you are struggling with insomnia or light, restless sleep, avoid all food a full 3 hours before bed.