Do you have trouble sleeping? I think we all struggle with it at some time in our lives. I know I have had several stretches in my life where I went through sleeping problems. I remember tossing and turning some nights then finally sleeping well when it was time to get up. That was not fun!
A shortage of sleep will affect our anxiety levels, it can cause depression, it will affect our digestive system, and create digestive problems, and we all know that is no fun. A lack of sleep can cause headaches and heart disease. Not getting enough sleep will affect our hormone levels impacting our reproductive process as well as causing weight gain. If that is not enough to encourage you to make quality sleep a priority then think about how it affects memory and concentration also, recent studies have also shown that a lack of sleep has been linked to Alzheimer's.
Our quality of sleep starts during the day; our circadian rhythm is a 24 cycle that is unique to each of us. The more that we do to regulate this cycle the better our sleep will be and our overall health. I am glad I figured out how to a get quality sleep on a regular basis.
Here are some tips to improving sleep.
Avoid hitting the snooze button, when we are asleep, and the alarm goes off it is a shock to our cardiovascular system and yes of course we can handle it but why would you want to continually add this extra stress? Make a plan to go to bed early enough to feel refreshed in the AM.
Next, let's get some early morning light and if possible, do some grounding, which is standing barefoot on the earth, or get a grounding mat if the weather does not permit bare feet. Get that first glass of water and add a sprinkle of Himalayan pink salt, and a drop of lemon essential oil to it, lemon will help your body to detox, and the salt will help restore minerals that you lost while you slept. The early morning sunlight helps to reset the circadian cycle and grounding, will help reset your body’s magnetic field.
Another great way to improve your sleep is to get regular movement into your day. You don't need to run a marathon, just start where you are and increase gradually to make it a normal daily routine. Chair yoga, walking, light stretching are all good ways to get started. Write it into your planner or on your task list. It feels great to check it off.
Are you ready to meet your new year goals and get better sleep? We are doing a resolution reset to start our year off on the right foot. We would love to have you join us. A community can help you stay on track.
A lack of quality sleep will affect every major body system and your mind, affecting your future health. Today one-third of adults for not get the recommended amount of sleep. Are you one of them?
Sleep affects every major physiological system. People who only average 5 hours a night have a 65% increase in all-cause mortality. In other words, they have a 65% higher chance of dying for any reason compared to people who get sufficient sleep. Sufficient sleep would be considered 80% of the time you get good quality 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, we cannot push the limits all week and then recover on extra weekend sleep, the damage that is done daily when we shortchange our sleep, is not repaired by weekend binges. Although the binges do feel great! :)
A shortage of sleep will affect our anxiety levels, can cause depression, it will affect our digestive system, and create digestive problems, and we all know that is no fun. A lack of sleep can cause headaches and heart disease. Not getting enough sleep will affect our hormone levels impacting our reproductive process as well as causing weight gain.
Your immune system will be affected. Just one night of four hours of sleep will create a 70% drop-in natural killer cell activity. Killer cells are just what they sound like, they go after and kill the cells that cause illness. This is a huge compromise for our immune system, so if you did not get enough sleep last night be sure to take extra precautions to stay healthy the next day.
In another study where DNA was measured in people when they got 6 hours of sleep compared to when they got 8 hours of sleep, there were 711 genes with distorted activity when they only had 6 hours of sleep. This means a lack of sleep will affect our DNA expression, which will ultimately affect our health.
1.6 billion people participate in an experiment twice a year and we call that Daylight Savings time. When we spring ahead there is a 24% increase in heart attacks and accidents and in the fall when we gain that extra hour there is a 21% decrease. Hmm, that should tell us something!
Winter is here it is a great time to focus on better health, starting with better sleep. Let's enter the New Year with energy and excitement.
Join us on January 13th for a New Year Reset, train your body to sleep well and enjoy the benefits all year long.
