Simply Sleeping Well

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.

  1. 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.

Essential oils along the feet or spine or shoulders or diffusing 20-30 minutes before bed have helped me many nights to relax.  I use blends from Young Living like Stress Away, Peace and Calming, Valor.  Single oils like cedarwood, lavender, and chamomile can be used too.

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.

Laying with your legs straight up a wall for a few minutes. Ladies leg up the wall may help reduce varicose veins and it helps with circulation or swelling that comes on during the day.

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!

DIY Room and Body Spray

Look at 99% of your makeup, lotions, hair products, sprays, cleaners, candles, air fresheners and they all have perfume or fragrance in them. 

There are studies coming out that are saying fragrance causes damage to us and it’s in EVERYTHING.  I still don’t know why my dish soap needs to have dyes in it and smell good, I just need it to get the yuck off my dishes.  I know for me man made fragrances immediately causes headaches, can cause skin issues on myself and my kids.  They are saying it is also a hazard for our respiratory system similar to second hand smoke. 

This is an easy fix. DITCH anything that has fragrance or parfum on the label. Companies are catching on that people want better, healthier options so you can search on www.ewg.org.  I love Young Living stuff of course because the scents they do put in are essential oils.  Be cautious also when looking to switch because there are essential oils that are fragrant oils, so this is just another way to say fragrance. 

Don’t freak out!  You can detox from years of use of these products just naturally over time and you can do detox foods too.  That’s for another post.

You can also save money by making your own room sprays, body sprays and lotions.  I have never been successful making shampoo or conditioner, but I get plant based unscented ones and I can put my Young Loving oils that I love in.  Rosemary, cedarwood and lavender are great for your hair. 

So I’ve shared my basic spray mix that I use and you can modify it based on your needs or what room you are using it in.

DIY Body & Room Spray with essential oils

For every 2 oz

  • 1 tbsp witch hazel
  • up to 20 drops of your mixture or choice of essential oils
  • fill with distilled water
  • I stir it up every time I use it

You can use this recipe to even make an outdoor summer spray like when camping or at ball games or in the woods.

This is what I use in our home

Bugs: combo of tea tree, citronella, purification blend, lemongrass

Bathrooms, shoes or stinky areas: purification + orange

Bedrooms for calming: lavender, cedarwood, valor, frankincense

Floral Body spray: geranium, joy blend, ylang ylang

Stressed out: stress away blend + a few drops of lime, valor + northern lights black spruce

Need a wake up or to workout: combos of any citrus oil with peppermint or spearmint, you can add eucalyptus and rosemary.

Fresh and clean: lemon + bergamot + spearmint, citrus fresh blend just by itself

You can order any of these oils here.

I really encourage you to start tossing anything in your house that has fragrance or parfum on the label. Your body will thank you for this small simple change. You can research for yourself anywhere about the hazards of them and what exposure can do to upset the body. The other part is so many are very sensitive to fragrance these days when you have guest it can cause them headaches or issues immediately, I know this is the way it is for me, candles or wax burners or room sprays can bring on major headaches.

Try out a DIY spray and comment with what you used and how you like it.

DIY Foaming Face & Body Wash For Pre-Teen Son



Pre-teen and teen boys, they stink literally!  My son’s feet have been wretched for several years and every here and there I have a DIY purification spray for his shoes that we give them a good spray over.  In this season of 7th grade 2020, wearing a mask to school all day, hormones and this week starting wrestling practice his face in particular but his whole body is in need of a special mix to tackle the yuck that comes with all the before mentioned issues.

For years I have been very picky about what we are putting on our body in regards to lotions, soaps, washes, etc.  Organic and Natural products from the store and even from my favorite Young Living can be a little pricy for a family of any size especially when you are suppling for a crew of 7.  5 of these 7 people still have issues with the more will do more thought process (like overusing my expensive products or wasting) So over the years I’ve found many good DIY recipes that work great.  I can’t recall where this one came from but I’ll tell you I did not create it!  I have tweaked it some as needed and based on the time of year, I’ll explain later.

Here is the PDF version so you can just print it off.  I keep all my DIY’s in a 3 ring notebook in plastic covers just like my food recipes.   The recipe below contains links to where you can find  the ingredients (click the word highlighted in blue)

Foaming Face & Body Wash:

**Add ingredients in the order listed. Stir gently. Castile soap and honey will cause mixture to look cloudy.  Pour the mixture into your foaming soap dispenser.

1 or 2 pumps when washing as it is very concentrated. Discard contents after 1 month (I’ve kept longer and it’s been fine) or if you notice any unfavorable changes.  Mixture will separate so give a little shake before each use.

NOTE: Combination can be adjusted based on your skin.  Drier skin may need less castile/ more water and or oil.  Or in summer months we tend to be more oily and dirty, add more castile soap.

This pairs great with a body scrub 1 time a week to help exfoliate the dead skin cells.

Many of the “ingredients” like castile soap and jojoba can be used in other DIY recipes, including foaming hand soap.  The essential oils will last years, but once you get in the groove they will be used up long before that.

Really this can be used for anyone not just stinky growing boys.  In the summer sometimes I use it on my body because just being outside more, sweating, dirt build up and my arms, chest and upper back will break out.

You don’t need an expense formula from the store or an infomercial to have great looking skin!  It’s also important to remember our food and water intake makes a huge difference.  Dairy is a big culprit that contributes to acne and of course sugar.  So along with a great recipe like the one above, ditching a few foods may be beneficial.   Our rule around here is to give the food changes 2-3 weeks and see what’s going on with the body then.

Let me know if you tried this and what you thought!

Stay well- Hannah

FREE Tea-Tree-Foaming-Face-Wash-PrintableDownload

Don’t Let Stress Make You A Mess!

How can we help our bodies stress less or handle it in a healthier way?

Working for over 15 years in Physical Therapy I can say with confidence that depression and anxiety seemed to be on ever 3rd chart review! Along with this I would say more than a majority of my back patients also had depression.   Let me tell you when someone is really suffering from depression it’s SUPER difficulty to get them to want to go home and do a few stretches or simple exercises to move their body and get things feeling better.  Many are just at a point they were stuck thinking this is the way they would feel the rest of their life. Why try?

We live to run and do and push and hustle, more money, more activities, get more done from our to do list.  COVID in 2020 gave us a forced moment to pause.  Some took a deep breath and realized they were going and doing too much, they have chosen to adapt and create a slower lifestyle. Some become frightened and more overwhelmed with the possibilities of the what ifs, most of which are out of our control.  Some of us that have never experienced depression or anxiety before got a dose of that and some of those that already knew they suffered, went deeper into the black hole.

My goal with this post is to take a few steps back.  We just don’t go from blessed, healthy, happy life into this black hole of feeling and wanting nothing.  It’s our body’s last resort to restore us to wellness.  As always I hope to provide some things for you to ponder for yourself and think how you can make small changes in your household or life to help your body work and function to its full potential.

Let’s back it up to stress! We all experience stress.  Good stress is having a new baby or buying a home, your wedding day, exciting and yet a little frightening. Bad stress is a pandemic, losing your job, always going from one thing to the next, not allowing your body to have proper rest and nutrition.

Endorphins are hormones released when we are stressed, we go into fight or flight mode.  A NORMAL body response would be for the endorphins to go down and the body to come out of fight or flight mode in a short period of time.  Here the body can rest, recover and prepare for the next time it will need to respond this way.

It seems we are in a constant state of fight or flight, constantly releasing hormones to help the body battle.  This constant state of stress leads to anxiety.  Anxiety leads us to what others would view as ridiculous thoughts, we just don’t seem rational in our thought process.  I can look back at times where I’ve had some overwhelm and anxiety and just feel like that was a waste of my time, why would I even let my mind go there.  Anxiety for me leads me to rage, shame, guilt other negative emotions that God does not put on me, I have put them on myself.  God tells me I’m loved and wanted NO MATTER WHAT!  He forgives more easily than I do.

All this continued pressure on our adrenals that release hormones eventually causes them to shut or slow down.  So we are fatigued, tired, not motivated to do anything, even things that previously brought us so much joy.  The body can’t fight anymore! It goes in preservation mode, just trying to keep us alive. Our bodies are amazing!  We need to give them the care and respect intended as often as we can.

So you go to the Dr. and generally they will prescribe a medication to help your body on that hormonal or chemical level to get it functioning the way it’s intended.  I don’t want to do that, so again I’m backing up the bus and finding a more natural approach and prevention! This is not shaming anyone that chooses medication! Sometimes it is a much needed boost or stepping stone, but know it’s not the only option and many times can be used with other natural methods.

Stress not only leads to a path of depression and your adrenals shutting down, but many also have intestinal issues, ulcers and heart failure.  You’re nervous system just becomes SHOT!

We are good at giving an outward appearance that we have it all together, nothing gets to us, we can handle all of it, or maybe this is just me. Our body is constantly tense, causing headaches, causing restricted blood flow and therefore arteries are more easily clogged and over long term, heart disease and failure.  Docs are finding that maybe not just cholesterol is to blame for heart disease. Maybe this is why woman are at such a high risk for silent heart attacks?  We are silently in stressed out mode all the time.

How do we keep stress from destroying us!

Find out your root causes of stress.  Is it your job you hate, your schedule, health, finances, parenting, marriage? All these are things you can modify!

6 things to consider

  1. Break down WHY this area stresses you out.  Just take a piece of paper and write with no worry about proper sentence structure or spelling. I call this a brain dump.
  2. Take a moment to brain storm and ponder what you do have control over and what couple of small changes could you make to improve that area.  Maybe involve your family or a friend.  Put the change you want to make in front of you where you can see it daily and give yourself at least 6-9 weeks to establish a habit or routine.
  3. Consider your diet.  Are you adding stimulating foods or drinks such as pop, coffee, tea, sugar products? Can you trade out for water with lemon or reduce your intake.  A fully hydrated body has more energy and is better equip to flush out toxins.
  4. Consider your physical activity.  Parents, how much time are you sitting in a vehicle hauling kids to stuff? How much time do you sit at work? Sitting is the new smoking! For every 4 hours you sit it’s the equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes! YIKES! Take breaks to pray or just do 60 seconds of deep breathing exercises from your diaphragm.  Yoga and pilates have been fantastic for me at 38 years old.  Take relaxing walks even in 10 min intervals, it was more than before right? Find a place to walk and enjoy creation and be grateful for it and your body and your life.  You don’t need a membership to anywhere!  YouTube has TONS of videos and just work up to it, don’t’ make yourself super sore.  Yoga and Pilates have taught me to listen to my body and appreciate what it can do. Plus they are great for posture and bone and joint health.

5. Herbs and essential oils to consider.  Herbal tea has become something I look forward to in my life. You can find caffeine free chamomile tea or Yogi tea has several mixes like Stress support.

I get tense through my shoulders with my stress so I mix Young Living essential oils Roman Chamomile and Majorum with a carrier oil and apply in that area. You can diffuse oils such as lavender, bergamot, clary sage, ylang ylang, frankincense, valerian, Melissa.  You can add 5-8 drops of a mixture or one of these to a cup of bath salts and soak in the tub.  Or 2-3 drops with some lotion and massage into your feet before bed.

Make a roller to apply during the day.

Stress Away Essential oil blend from Young Living I’ve used like a perfume and just roll on my wrists and chest/neck area.  Valor Essential oil blend is another I use.

To make a roller get a 10 ml bottle with roller top add 15-20 drops total of your essential oil and fill with a carrier oil like Young Living V6, sweet almond oil or grapeseed. Swirl to mix before you use.

6. Supplements to consider– NOW I’m only speaking from my personal experience here and what our Naturopath Dr. has recommend for us.  Please take the time to research or visit with your provider if needed. 
For me the stress over time has affected the function of my liver, which will not flush out like it is suppose to.  My main symptom is rage! So I’ve taken NAC over the last year to assist my liver while also adding in foods like Dandelion tea, beets or beet root powder in shakes.  When I feel myself overwhelmed or stressed Free and Wanderer Plus is a great Chinese herb that assists me fairly quickly.  I find Nature’s Sunshine to be a reputable company as well and they have a supplement called AnxiousLess that has a dose of magnesium and zinc, also helpful for me.

Vitamins B and C assist in helping support the adrenals of your body and since these are water soluble vitamins, your body just throws out (through the urine) what is excess you don’t need. During very stressful seasons I have been know to take high doses of vitamin C.

Stress will knock out your immune system, nervous system, digestive system! So when I know stress can’t be avoided for a season I’ve learned I have to support my body during that time with my supplements, proper nutrition, my essential oils and some form of physical activity that is relaxing.

We as a population would really benefit from taking inventory of our bodies daily! What hurts, what is tight, have I pooped today, am I overly tired, what is my body craving.  Just as it’s important to be still and listen for the voice of God during our time of worship, prayer and reflection.  To have a good relationship with our body we need to be still and listen to it. To be very frank your body is much like an uncleaned toilet in your home, if you ignore it and don’t clean it up and care for it that poop will pile up and cause a stinking mess that you will then be forced to deal with and usually at the most inconvenient time.

Click here to Download your FREE Daily Body Inventory check list

Stay well!
Hannah

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Why Essential Oils?

Keeping a family healthy is a rough job. Taking care of the planet the best way I can based on where we live is a process where I’m constantly learning.

I cloth diapered my last 3 kids, doing what I could from the home front after switching to full-time mom at home, to be a better steward of our planet’s resources and our personal finances. This led me to new Facebook groups, Googling and Pinterest where I questioned what I was putting on my children and its safety including lotion, shampoo, diaper cream. I wanted to try some alternatives and save money. Keeping those 2 priorities in mind that meant no buying at the health foods stores because their price was higher and I lived over an hour away from the closest one. So I DIY’ed the heck out of personal care products for my kids, myself and my cleaning products for my home.

A recurring ingredient I needed was essential oils. Now my over analyzing brain went to work on researching a company. My final decision was Young Living. I will not argue that there are not other good reputable companies out there, this was the best decision for our family based on how often we purchase, how the company gets their products and other items the company has available like supplements. Plus there were so many recipes out there for my DIY stuff that used the Young Living blends.

Essential oils are super concentrated powerful parts of plants that help protect and keep the plant themselves healthy. They are in liquid form as opposed to herbs which are dried parts of the plants we make teas and supplements from. They work perfect to put in my DIY face wash, lotions, room sprays, cleaner and more so I get the benefit of that plant being used. I recommend a good reference book to help you figure out what plants are best for your needs.

I’m in a rural community so what I was now using and being a Mom of 5 small kids people wanted to know more and try it out and I had them come over to learn how to make their own. Over the last few years it’s turned into a passion of mine to help educate on safer alternatives from what we use to just take for granted as “safe” off the shelves in our stores.

My purpose now for my Oil Groupies Members, my small community and even this web page is to support people with education on how to care for their body so they feel more empowered when it comes to their health choices. I do this through classes, courses, groups, blog posts, one on one meetings where the discussions lead to expanding your knowledge about your body! When you know better, you can do better and then be better.

If you want to get started with essential oils in your life I recommend one of Young Living’s Premium Starter kits (I started with the dew drop one with oils). They are the most cost effective way to go and the bonus of you following my link is that I will help you learn how to get started and to put them to use. I will also send you my personalized welcome kit. This is the other part of why I choose Young Living is there is help and assistance EVERYWHERE!

Follow this link to Young Living and in less than 10 min your kit will be on the way to your home. Just select wholesale member so you get 24% off and requires, no monthly fees or orders or selling!

Follow me on FB: Grace and Wellness to search through all the info and my DIY recipes I’ve found over the years for everyday Mom life.

On Instagram @hjthompson81 search through my highlights section

Essential Oils and this whole journey of healthier living options have taught me how to stay well. I wish the same for you.