2016
I want to talk about sleep before I get any further on heath/wellness related topics. There are several articles posted daily about sleep; new studies; etc, but one fact remains clear to me: sabotaging your “beauty rest” can be hurting and harmful to your health and happiness. Putting sleep on my priority list is the main culprit of why I became: healthy, happy, optimistic, more driven, focused, persistent, energetic, more intelligent…youthful. I’ve always felt like an amazing individual, but as I got “older”, I felt the repercussions and saw my, fun optimistic self, turn into a "Zombie-Robot".
You have to work to provide for yourself and the family; make quality time for family and friends; do the laundry; go grocery shopping; etc…the list goes on, but if you write a daily priority list, you may not feel as overwhelmed and able to prioritize getting to bed at a decent hour. Now, I chose to get less sleep and I chose the quality of life I was/wanted to live. I realized I needed to change my habits and routine, to in-turn, live the life I REALLY wanted to live. If you decide something is important, you will find a way to make “it” a priority. Remember, excuses are SO easy to make- blaming “things” and other people are also SO easy to do.
It’s all on you; create the life you want, because it’s one hundred percent possible. If you want to be a BOSS at everything you do, get quality sleep. Im going to talk about sleep in general as I do know that, ’Insomnia’; babies/kids; late nights/ swing shifts at work; anything else that “prevents” you from getting the sleep your body NEEDS, plays a role. Even if there is something that is preventing you from getting quality sleep, find ways to MAKE IT HAPPEN. If you say that you are “not a morning person”, then you won’t become a morning person.
It’s all about what you say to yourself. I used to stay up till almost 2am and claim that I wasn’t a morning person, but could that be because I didn’t go to bed till 2am? If you go to bed early, you can recharge your brain and body to “become a morning person” - whatever you want your body and mind to do, you can train it to do that; we’re powerful beings, remember that.
Firstly, why do we even need sleep? According to the Business Insider, “certain cleaning mechanisms in the brain work better when we shut the brain down. Just like how dump trucks take to the city streets during the pre-dawn hours because there's less traffic, our brain's cleaners also work best when there's less going on…We've known that our brains consolidate memories during sleep and perform other important functions. There are also benefits to the body during sleep — resting allows our muscles, bones, and organs to repair themselves. It also keeps our immune system healthy." Charles Czeisler, a sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School, goes on to talk about the "first direct experimental evidence at the molecular level" for why we need to sleep.
The Huffington Post states, “Everything from your happiness to how well you age depends on your brain. When you’re sleep deprived, your cognitive functioning plummets to a less-than-ideal level, making it hard to go about your day. That poses a serious threat to your mood, your memory and more."
When I lived in Fargo, I put sleep last on my list. I had three jobs (nannied during the day and then served or bartended in the evening. If I wasn’t working in the evening, I was at the music venue working on my freelance videography), and didn’t find my sleep important. If I show you a picture (I will soon) of what I looked like in the middle of college and after college you will see how sleep played a role on my body and appearance- now you can imagine how my brain and emotional health were looking, as well.
I was running on low energy, but I replaced my low energy with lots of coffee and RedBull/Monster. I craved pizza, mac n cheese, fries, potato chips…I rarely touched vegetables. I was not spending time with myself or listening to what my body really needed. My health was declining because I was getting little sleep and I was also an emotional mess because I wasn’t able to get in the right state of mind.
Now I get anywhere from 7 to 10 hours of sleep- I wake up full of energy and ready to take on the day. If I do consume caffeine, it’s usually a Bulletproof coffee or AlphaBrain (a future post I will provide recipes for perfect night and day cocktails/smoothies), but no longer do I rely on caffeine to control my energy levels and the day ahead. Having mental clarity and control over every aspect of my life has made me feel like…I should run for the next presidential election!
I want you to get quality sleep and feel energized when you wake up.
Here are some simple ways to start, that will help change your sleeping habits (if you’re not getting the quality sleep you’ve been yearning for or just want even BETTER sleep):
1. Don’t consume caffeine atleast 4 hours before you head to bed.
2. Make sure the temperature in the bedroom is not too hot or too “chilly” (you will feel what temperature is most comfortable is best for you).
3. Once the sun sets and it gets darker out, find sunglasses or glasses that will block blue light (I don’t do this as much as I should). Here are some specifically made for blue light blocking; blue light blockers.
4. I recently started using Luke Pechmann Lifestyle body oil on my face. It’s Argan oil with essential oils; it feels soothing and puts you in a relaxed state.
5. Grab some bedtime tea and magnesium. This is what I use right now. I bio-hack, so this may change.
6. Journal about your day/anything under candle light :) I do this (also, not as much as I should) to clear my thoughts and turn of my brain, so I can focus on relaxing and sleeping.
7. Make sure your bedroom is blocked from any light that may sneak in. Living in LA, it’s always kind of light out, so yes, light still sneaks in the bedroom!
8. Turn on some Binaural Beats (Youtube video provided below) or any kind or relaxing sound, to calm your mind and body. You can keep it on all night or put a sleep timer on.
9. Breath! Breath in slowly, breath out slowly. Ohmmmmmmmm.