7 things to consider for Simply Sleeping Well
Do you wake up unrested? Or do you struggle calming yourself and getting to sleep? Do you wake up in the night?
As a mom that has had littles and as many as 3 under 4 at once, I just assumed this to be a right of passage. Simply sleeping well was not on the top of the list with everything else going on.
Mom: lady who gives everything she has, doesn’t sleep, doesn’t clean herself up, gets to eat half a meal, has bags under her eyes, may stay in her PJ’s all day. This sounds awful, who would willingly want to do that!
Now there are stages and seasons where all this is true, like newborns or sick kids, but are you like me where you just get disgusted with waking up every morning, even when you’ve had 6-8 hours of sleep and still feel like you got ZERO actual restorative rest?
Even if you are out of the kids at home stage, there are times when we sleep but we don’t get any rest or restoration from that sleep. If this goes on, over time it wears down our body so it is less likely to fight off germs, so we may get sick easier and not heal as quickly.
I’ve compiled a list of just 7 things to consider for simply sleeping well, that I have personally changed in our home or put into practice. Please take note I said practice, this means we are working on it every day and somedays that practice doesn’t go like we want it to, but don’t quit, keep going and try again. Hopefully you can grab onto a few of these and see some improvement in your sleep.
- Lighting
Ditch the LED bulbs in your bedroom. Try to find incandescent, which is a softer light. LED exposure occurs all day. We are exposed from our phones, computers, tablets, TV’s. This light fires up your brain and they are now finding extended exposure can damage eyes.
With this knowledge it’s recommended to STOP all screens at least 1-2 hours before bed so your brain can start shutting down. This means we ditched having a TV in our bedroom years ago.
2. Bedroom set up
Is your pillow and mattress appropriate for you? Do you feel relaxed in bed? I’ve struggled to find a pillow for years. From an alignment perspective I’ve found that no pillow or a small flatter head support is actually suppose to be better. I’m still experimenting with this, my neck just gives me fits, but there are some other solutions for that too.
Clutter! Ditch the unneeded and unwanted items in the bedroom. The bedroom is for 2 things, sleep and I’ll let you guess the other. We can’t rest when there is chaos, and clutter causes chaos in the brain. Is your clutter overwhelming? Start simple with just 5-10 min a day to get it in order.
Weighted blankets can help calm nerves and get you settled in for the night, I found one at Home Goods, for a reasonable price. My husband calls it the death blanket, I feel like it’s a nice hug.
3. Food
It’s best to not eat heavily after 6, try not eating at all. Why? Because then when you are getting ready for bed your body is not still working hard to digest. Plus our liver and detoxifying organs can’t restore themselves as well if we eat late.
Dark cherry juice can help the body naturally produce melatonin, which is a hormone needed to get into deeper sleep. Be careful that it’s JUST the juice and it might be too much sugar content for some.
To assist in the detoxing process you can have a warm glass of lemon water prior to bed. I warm up water for about 1 min and squeeze ½ a lemon in. This is also great in the morning 1st thing to help get the bowels moving.
4. Natural or Home Remedies
Simply sleeping well starts with simply helping our body to wind down and feel better. If your mind is racing you can also use herbs and essential oils to help calm.
Teas like chamomile, lavender, passion flower, vetiver all possess great relaxing properties. You can find companies that have night time tea blends already made.
Magnesium lotion or salts help to relax muscles. Salts you can combine with any of the above oils (1 cup salts and 10-15 drops essential oils) and soak in a warm bath or use ¼ cup of the mix in a small tub to just soak your feet. Maybe enjoy your cup of tea while soaking your feet and reading a good book.
The lotion is awesome because I can combine with a drop or 2 of my oils and since I carry tension in my neck I will rub it in there and on my feet. This method has worked great for my kids at night, plus gives them a little one on one time and foot rub before bed.
We like the Ancient Mineral brand for magnesium
5. Being aware of EMF’s (electromagnetic field)
No this isn’t asking you to put on your aluminum foil hat! We’ve learned that our increased exposure to this low radiation through our days over time is causing damage. It use to be just our microwaves and those that worked in the radiology field, but now we are around it all the time through our computers, our phones that go right next to our heads!
So simply put you need to get the cell phone out of your bedroom, turn off your wi-fi in your house at night. You can google more how this constant exposure over time can affect your DNA and contribute to chronic illnesses and some forms of cancer.
At a minimum put the phone on airplane mode if you need it for an alarm, but we just bought a regular alarm that has a sunrise light.
6. Get some comfy pajamas
This one is easy and can be fun, get a few pairs of pajamas and only use them for sleep. Get fabrics that are soothing and feel good on your skin. Mom, are you like me where you just felt it was easier to stay in what you slept in because why get the extra clothes dirty if you aren’t going anywhere and you are just keeping house?
I tell my kids, that getting into pajamas helps to signal your body we are getting ready for bed, it’s a mental thing. Then when we get up we get out of them to signal our body we are waking up and getting geared up for the day.
You don’t have to buy expensive stuff, I’ve found some of the comfiest ones at Wal-mart and Target.
7. Stretch
Taking a few minutes to relax our tired bodies. This can help your muscles to release and brain to wind down.
Windshield wiper legs can help release the hips and low back. You can see how this works here.
Figure 4 stretch helps release a muscle in your buttock called the piriformis. We sit A LOT and when that piriformis gets too tight it can possibly lead to sciatic nerve pain down the back of the leg. You can see how to do it here.
Laying face up over a towel roll along your spine with your arms at your side. This stretches the chest muscles out that get contracted all day with hunching over things. Check out this set up.
Upper trap, neck stretching, for those of us that wear our shoulders as earrings! Check out this video.
Most of these tips don’t require you to go out and buy anything. Try the freebie options 1st and progress to some teas and oils. Simply sleeping well will help you serve your people better. We are just like toddlers, when we are tired or hungry we can get rather cranky with those around us and we just don’t feel good.
You need to take the time to care for your amazing body so it can work to its full potential.
These are simple things to try, but obviously these may not work for some. You may have other issues causing sleep problems, so I would encourage you to visit with your trusted health care provider for possibly lab work or discuss other causes.
Lack of restorative sleep WILL CAUSE DIS-EASE over time. So maybe start saying no to some evening activities if you need to and establish a good routine for yourself and your kids that trains your body and brain to get ready for rest.
Post your routine somewhere so everyone knows what is expected or laminate it so they can mark it off as they follow through with it.
I’ve created a sample here of what I personally run through and what I ask my kids to do. You can use it if you want.
A friend told me also to start praying over myself before I go to bed specifically for the rest I need. So I pray for each of you that God will provide you the sleep you need and that it is restful and restorative.
Stay well Mama!
1 Comment
You are right not getting good sleep can make you more prone to those anxious feelings. I hope you see some benefit from the self-care of stretching. Thanks for reading.