Get some sleep!
Okay – one of the biggest, unspoken health fixes ever is right here. Get enough good quality sleep.
It’s that simple. But oh, how complex it can be. Why is it so important? Upwards to 70% of your body’s healing takes place at night. It is a “system-reset.” Have you ever gone to bed grumpy and woke up thinking, “how silly am I for letting myself get all worked up over something so trivial…?” There are so many factors that can influence our sleep and I’ll do my best to help you cut out as many excuses as possible. You’ve got to get good quality sleep, there are no short-cuts. So here goes.
First off, if you get less than 5 hours of sleep in one night, it will put your body in a fight/flight state for the next 24 hours. What does that mean? It means your immune system is down and you are burning up your adrenals and if you keep that up over a period of time it will inevitably result in disease. Not good.
So how much sleep do you need? Yeah, it’s different for everyone. Kids can use more, and if you are over 90 congratulations you deserve as much rest as you want. For most of us it is 6-8 hours. How do you know what is best? Experiment on yourself. I’ll admit I always thought I needed 8 hours, it was my mantra and I’d be grumpy if I was going to bed and my alarm was set sooner than 8 hours. Then I wrote a book and I had to commit to getting up super early to write – 4:30 am – and I discovered I felt better than I did with 8 hours of sleep! It was about 6.5 hours. So, too much sleep can be an issue. Also, recognize the amount of sleep you need may change with seasons changing. Listen to your body, you should on most mornings feel rested and energized.
If you have trouble falling asleep, try these few recommendations:
- Don’t exercise any time after around 4:30 pm.
- Don’t watch TV or be on a computer after 6 pm (unless you have a blue light filter).
- Get in a pre-bedtime routine. Identify calming activities to do 30 minutes or 1 hour prior to bedtime.
- If you feel you have too much on your mind, then journal. Get all that stuff out of your head. Clear your mind.
If you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep, identify if your mind is racing. Again, getting out a journal is the best thing. Write without judgment, just get everything out. Maybe you are stressed, upset, angry, just write and write and write and write it ALL out until you feel a little relief, then try to go back to bed. If your mind is not racing, then go back to identifying a calming activity. Don’t have time in your day to meditate, well, now you do! Whatever you do, DO NOT turn on the TV.
If you find yourself waking at the exact same time every night, then go see an acupuncturist. No joke! Every organ system we have has a high and low point within a 24-hour period, and oftentimes that is a sign there is something out of balance.
If you are getting 6-8 hours of sleep and you don’t feel rested, then see if it’s time for a new mattress or a new (non-snoring) spouse. Just kidding. How do you know it’s time for a new mattress? Well, if it’s older than 8 years (even ones with 10-20 year warranties) then it’s probably time. Also, if you wake up with aches and pains that go away once you start moving around for the day, then that’s another indicator.
If it is your snoring spouse, or you or they have borderline sleep apnea then change your or their diet ASAP. Seriously, the biggest item here to work around is typically gluten or a high grain diet. You will be amazed at the results and also start on an omega 3 fish oil. You and they will feel better and more likely sleep better.
If you have young kids that wake you up at night, Good luck. Been there, done that. It should pass with time. Just keep smiling and be grateful for them, they are worth it. Plus, remember when you are 90, you can get all the sleep you want.
Lastly if it’s an animal, well, I know some of you are crazy about your pets, but you seriously must ask yourself how important it is that you get good restful sleep. They can nap all day while you are grinding away. Remember that when you “feel bad” for the 3 labs and 2 cats that you feel you have to coddle while you don’t really get any good quality sleep.
There’s a lot more to this, but that should get you on the path!
Sleep well tonight!
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