Hi friends!
I hope you are doing well! I am doing well. One of my goals this year to continue to improve my own wellness was to become a 'morning person.' I already get up relatively early and now I am working on waking up at 5am, and solidifying a solid morning routine.
Thus bringing me to another piece of the total wellness picture I've been painting for you in our health and consistency blog series.
Drumroll please! The next pillar of wellness is sleep. Achieving quality sleep is a huge portion of your wellness. If you have trouble sleeping, you know how distressing this can be, and how hard it is to achieve a healthy life with a lackluster sleep routine.
I don't need to tell you how important sleep is, do I? Maybe I should share a few things just in case. Here they are:
40% of adults with insomnia may have a diagnosable mental health condition. (Link to study)
50% of people who watch TV before bed get less than seven hours of sleep.
Noise may disrupt sleep and increase production of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol, as well as increase heart rate and blood pressure.
54% of people report that stress and anxiety is what is disrupting their sleep the most.
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) makes women at least two times as likely to report insomnia-like symptoms before and during their period.
Now you're saying to yourself, "Megan, great, I already know sleep is important. How the heck do I improve it?" Well I've got you!
Here are 5 tips to improve your sleep today:
No naps longer than 10 minutes per day. I know this is hard, but you're decreasing your sleep pressure every time you nap. If you're a parent, remember when your kiddo was dropping a nap and they'd fall asleep in the car ride home on the way to your house to do their new naptime, and you'd cry because now it meant they weren't going to take a 2 hour nap like they should? Just me? Oh. Well, regardless, that's a perfect illustration of the concept of sleep pressure. No naps means lots of pressure to sleep in the nighttime, which is when you really want to be sleepy anyways!
Reduce and time your caffeine intake. No caffeine within 6-8 hours of bedtime. And only consume less than 5 cups of coffee per day. Seriously. Caffeine's half life is on average 4-6 hours, but also can be anywhere from 2-12 hours.
Make sure your room is comfortable, clean, dark and quiet. I cover every light in my room with electrical tape, that's how disruptive sleep is to melatonin production. And melatonin is the sleepy hormone.
Quit using your bed for anything other than sleep and sex. No more TV in bed. No reading in bed. No folding laundry. No homework. NOTHING. Just sleep and sex. You want to train your brain that bed is where we go when we feel sleepy.
Move up your wake up time. And consequently your bedtime as well. Melatonin production starts the moment it gets dark outside, and stops when the sun rises. So you need to reset your circardian rhythm by getting early morning sunshine or bright lights. And you need to then get evening daylight, because it's softer and tells your brain that it's time to start melatonin production.
So, there you have it! Change some things in your routine and get the sleep you deserve!
If you need accountability and more assistance with improving your sleep, send me an email or click the link here if you'd like to schedule a free consultation and work with me to achieve total wellness for yourself!
Take exquisite care of yourselves,
Megan
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