Open Up Your Sleep Routine
As I have been sharing in my last two posts, sleep is the foundation for doing ANYTHING well …. work, relationships, health, and just plain living.
With March being Sleep Awareness Month, my focus has been on how sleep is impacted by what you do throughout the day, not just at bedtime. For a refresher on how you can positively impact your sleep with the right morning and afternoon routine, check out Mornings Matter and Ground Down to Wind Down.
Today, I share with you some of the top behavioral tips to do in the evening to help you slumber well overnight:
Turn down the light - Bright light, especially fluorescent light and light from screens, sends a signal to your brain to stop making melatonin. This is the hormone that helps you fall asleep. Use table lamps and other low light for your lighting needs and blue light-blocking glasses if you absolutely must be on a screen.
Control the substances - While alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco may help relax you to fall asleep, they disrupt your deep sleep and REM sleep. These sleep stages are the most important of the four sleep stages. Instead, consider reading a book to relax. For more information on sleep stages, click here.
3. Cool it down – Keep your bedroom about 3 degrees cooler than the rest of your home. Your body temperature naturally drops when you sleep. A cooler bedroom helps expedite that process. Click here for even more health benefits of sleeping in cooler temperatures and how to create a cooler sleeping space.
4. Slip into sleep with stretches – Many of us spend a lot of our day in our sympathetic nervous system. This is our fight-or-flight response. It is hard to fall asleep when you are fighting or flighting. Stretching helps get you into your parasympathetic nervous system which is about rest and digestion. That is much more conducive for sleeping.
As always, these Express Desk Stretch videos are helpful to do any time of the day. This week’s video is especially helpful for bedtime.
Click here for this week’s video
Inquiry Question: What is one nighttime habit you can change to sleep better? How will you make that happen?
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