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.
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.
A sleep shortage will affect our immune systems. Just one night of four hours of sleep will create a 70% drop of 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.
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.
Number 1 is to 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. Get that first glass of water and add a sprinkle of Himalayan pink salt, and a drop of lemon essential oil to it, this will help your body to detox as well as the salt-restoring 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.
Ready for more tips on sleep and stress?
