- Avoid or limit the use of caffeine. This is important, especially late in the day for reasons explained earlier in this section. However, even though excess caffeine is not recommended, if you are exhausted from lack of sleep, make sure you have a wheat grass shot or caffeine in some form before you get behind the wheel.
- Avoid eating right before bedtime. If the body is too busy working on digesting food at bedtime, deep sleep and other much needed healing processes (like brain detoxification) are disrupted.
- Avoid or limit the regular use of alcohol. Even though alcohol can help you fall asleep faster, it compromises sleep throughout the night. Most often, you will wake up in the middle of the night with the inability to fall back asleep, depriving you of much needed rest.
- Studies show that exercising regularly can improve sleeping patterns over time due to the calories exerted and the reduction of anxiety and stress. Try to work out mornings or afternoons, as opposed to evenings, due to increased energy levels post-workout that may keep you from falling asleep on time. Getting a good night’s sleep will also improve the quality and duration of the next day’s workout, while a poor night’s sleep hinders performance.
- Shed the excess pounds! An estimated 18 million Americans have sleep apnea, which is seen mostly in overweight people. “As the person gains weight, especially in the trunk and neck area, the risk of sleep-disordered breathing increases due to compromised respiratory function,” says Margaret Moline, PhD, and Lauren Broch, PhD, two sleep specialists at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center.
- Manage stress. How often do we carry the day’s worries home and into bed with us? This causes us to replay the same self-defeating though patterns like a broken record, producing distress and anxiety. Worrying does no good anyway, and there are tools to help us recognize this fact. However, without a good night’s sleep we are far less equipped to handle these matters of concern, and nothing can be done while we are sleeping anyway!
- Practice meditation. Meditation is an amazing tool to help you remain present, happy, content, and at peace. Not only will you fall asleep easier, but with enough practice the benefits of meditation will positively influence your thought patterns, behaviors, and relationships.
- Balance your intestinal flora. The overpopulation of bad bacteria can induce congestion, gastrointestinal upset, bloating, gas, energy loss, and more serious issues like autoimmune diseases, IBS, Crohn’s Disease, colitis, and many others, resulting in discomfort, pain, and additional sleep loss.
- Be aware of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) Be extra vigilant in your bedroom! Electrical appliances produce toxic EMFs that create potentially harmful amounts of radiation. All clocks, cell phones, cordless phones, computers and other electrical devices should be at least 6 feet from where you sleep, or preferably in another room altogether. Besides generating anxiety and disrupting your sleep, EMFs can cause a range of health problems and side effects. For years, scientists have conducted research linking EMF radiation to serious diseases like brain cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and others.
- Balancing hormone levels is essential. When you eliminate synthetic estrogenic compounds through proper cleansing, and institute healthy lifestyle practices like consuming a pH balanced anti-inflammatory diet, regular exercise, mindfulness, and proper supplementation, your hormones begin to stabilize and balance. Cells can then communicate efficiently. Then you can enjoy a restful night’s sleep once again!
- Create a bedtime routine. Parents know very well about the value of bedtime routines for their children. Should adults be any different? Having a regular bedtime routine helps regulate your internal clock, allowing you to drift asleep with ease.
- Supplementing with melatonin is an option. Refrain from taking melatonin every day or in high doses, as your body can develop a tolerance, which disrupts your body’s own melatonin production. Try 1mg to start. Eventually the idea would be to produce adequate levels of melatonin naturally through proper diet, supplementation, and lifestyle practices. Cherry extract is an even better option to get adequate melatonin.
- Take calcium and magnesium before you sleep. Calcium instigates the production of tryptophan, which increases serotonin, which then creates melatonin after dark. That would explain why grandma always suggested warm milk to get to sleep. However, pasteurized dairy (especially conventional), is very acid forming, and contains a cheaper form of calcium, as well as hormones, antibiotics, puss, pesticides and toxic substances. A plant based calcium supplement is a better choice, along with magnesium to promote a restful night’s sleep. Almond milk or raw milk products are also options. However, still take a magnesium supplement at the same time. Magnesium works synergistically with calcium, and both minerals have their own individual benefits for sleep. Magnesium lowers cortisol levels, relaxes the muscles, and helps manufacture GABA, a calming neurotransmitter, all helping to promote better sleep.
- Sleep in complete darkness. This is important for maintaining proper sleeping cycles or circadian rhythms. Darkness is also essential for your body’s production of melatonin, which is responsible for telling your body when it is time to sleep. Serotonin, a hormone and neurotransmitter, is also produced, mostly during sleeping hours, and is much needed during the day. Serotonin is known as the happiness hormone and controls mood, appetite, memory, and aging.
- Maintaining the ideal bedroom temperature. This allows for a more restful night’s sleep. The temperature should be no more than 68- 70 degrees F to promote better sleeping patterns, although some studies show that the optimal bedroom’ temperature should be between 60 to 68 degrees F. When you sleep, your body’s internal temperature drops to its lowest level, generally about four hours after you fall asleep. Scientists believe a cooler bedroom may therefore be most conducive to sleeping, since it mimics your body’s natural temperature drop.
- Vitamin D ‘hormone’ is essential for a good night’s sleep! At least 70 percent of Americans and up to a billion people worldwide have vitamin D deficiencies. Black Americans are more susceptible to low levels of this vital vitamin, mostly due to their darker skin pigments (UVA-UVB rays have a harder time penetrating the skin, impeding vitamin D synthesis). D hormone deficiencies are responsible for sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, REM related apnea, unexplained awakenings, light sleep and inappropriate body movements during sleep. All of these disorders inhibit the body’s self-healing processes enacted during sleep.
As you see, poor sleeping patterns not only diminish the quality of your health, but also jeopardize your family’s safety from fatigue-related accidents. On an individual basis, lack of sleep leaves you feeling lethargic, looking less attractive, aging prematurely, and throws off your body’s delicate pH balance, thereby increasing acidity and inflammation. It also creates hormone imbalances, weight gain, and leaves you vulnerable to numerous additional preventable health conditions. Therefore, aim to make healthy choices and incorporate some of the tips mentioned above in order to attain a good night’s sleep!
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/obesity-and-sleep