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May is Better Sleep Month. What genius came up with that!? It should be celebrated worldwide with a week off of work to help us to return to more functional sleeping patterns, don't you agree!?
Sleeping is so fundamentally important to our health and well-being, yet, it is the first (well, second to exercise) thing to go when our lives get busy!
Allowing your body to rest helps to rejuvenate your body's nutrients, stimulates healing and growth and, most importantly, it helps us maintain normal levels of cognitive thinking!
This month, aim to improve your quality of sleep!
- Eliminate stimulants
Powerbars, Redbull, coffee and even good ole' coca-cola may be to blame for you tossin' and turnin'! When we ingest artificial stimulants, it sends signals to our brain to be energized, when what we really need is some rest.
Give yourself a week without ingesting these things and let your brain quiet down long enough to listen to what your body wants. If you feel tired during the day, it's likely that you need more sleep!! - Follow the rotation of the Earth
The routine is pretty simple. The sun comes out, we awake and go about our business. When the sun goes down, we rest. It's how they did it before clocks, it's also what our natural instinct calls for.
The sun helps to stimulate a hormone in our body called Melatonin which helps regulate your sleep cycle. Getting adequate sunlight (at safe exposure levels) can help you drift into sleep with little problem and even wake up without the assistance of an alarm clock! - Organize your day
As part of your nightly routine, set out 15 minutes to make a list of things that you need to accomplish the following day. This can help to eliminate the stressors that keep you awake.
Tack on 5 more minutes to the routine to mentally wind down the things you have done that day. Try some breathing techniques or meditation to help you calm your mind and ready it to rest.
How much sleep are you getting daily?? Do you feel tired during the day? What do you do to combat your yawns?
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10 comments:
I'm very supportive of following a more natural pattern. One example is let your home become darker as it becomes darker outside. Same for noise. Follow your physiology and you will do better in most everything.
Knock on wood, sleeping has never been a problem for me. Oh, a rare night I might stay up too late. But I don't feed the fear...I know that I will sleep when I need it. I am afraid if I started worrying about it, it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I can tell you've made changes to the blog.. shorter posts and bigger font. I like it!
I second the idea of getting a break for sleeping. It should be a holiday! Thanks for the reminders about getting good rest naturally.
I am not getting enough sleep and still haven't found the cause. I do drink caffeine, but mainly in the morning.
I adore sleep so it's almost the last thing I will compromise on and thankfully I have never had any problems. I like the new look!
Dr J-- I totally agree!
Patty-- hm, interesting theory.
ashley-- :)
Jess-- hmm, do you work out within 3 hours of when you go to sleep?
Springgirl-- it's so important isn't it..and so great..ahh...thanks!
~rupal
I have never fallen asleep easily. Never. Not even when I was a kid. Still don't consistently enough.
No caffeine for me after 4 p.m. Reading helps. Ear plugs help. Little exercises I've devised to keep my thoughts at ease help. Sometimes I still get insomnia ... siiigh. And, I love sleeping.
Rupal,
I really like this post, especially the point about following the rotation of the earth. I've long thought I should have been a farmer because my sleep cycles are like plants - up with the sun and down with it too!
I'm working on reducing stimulants though it's hard because I love my daily coffee (coffeeS, rather, many of them!)
OK everyone. Just you wait.
Hit Menopause and you'll never sleep through the night again.
Invest in Sleep Aid stock. I don't know a woman my age who isn't popping some OTC magic potion.
Falling asleep is not problem for me, but waking every two hours is! Ugh!
Ah, so THAT'S why I've been getting good sleep, its national sleep month! Excellent.
I'm combating the yawns just by being in this hot climate... by the end of the day, the heat just zonks you right out!
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