Lifestyle and Sleep
Although here at Sleep like a Boss we go way beyond lifestyle, because we run lab tests by looking at your body, your hormones, food sensitivities, hair mineral test analysis and run a gut health test. And even with all of these things, lifestyle is still where it's at!
So today, I want to look at a couple of categories that we can attribute to the huge lifestyle cloud that can contribute to your sleep issues.
One of the first things that I always address with my clients is DIETor NUTRITION. Sometimes we are aware of the mistakes that we make and sometimes we are not. The most obvious things are obviously that you should reduce sugar or eat foods that have a lower release sugar characteristic, like low-glycemic foods, such as brown rice or brown pasta instead of white rice and white pasta.
Of course, avoid sugary drinks! Squash all kinds of things that have such high levels of sugar. Even desserts or a really sugary breakfast. Something like pastries or Fruit Loops in the morning is really not what's going to be healthy; rather look at proteins.
Get checked out for food sensitivities so that you don't create inflammation with what you eat!
Second is REST.
Plan on having some periods to calm down during your day. I don't necessarily mean that you need to sleep or take naps all the time. A lot of us don't take care on the stress that we have throughout the day and we leave all of it to come out at nighttime. Once you're quiet, everything is dark and your brain has nothing to do, everything just rushes towards you like an express train, and it's super hard to control it.
Make sure that throughout the day you are aware of what is triggering you. Acknowledge it. It can be that you are telling yourself “oh this has been exciting”, or “this is annoying”, and it's out of your system, instead of just pushing it down. We are all used to saying “oh, wow, it must be my fault then” or “I don't want to think about this.” It's something that we've been taught and grown up with, but it's actually totally fine to be pissed of some of the time.
Make sure that you take that time!
Some of us do it very quickly, others need a little bit of meditation. Take a walk, take time for a nice lunch, where you actually sit down. Take your knife and fork to eat and in between every bite put that knife and that fork down so that you take enough time to chew and then continue eating...
lifestyle and sleep
Third is EXERCISE.
I know we're all super, super busy, but sometimes we have to make some time for exercise and skip that extra episode on Netflix. I heard in a meme recently that watching another episode of Netflix is not a problem and that is very often 40 minutes. Those 40 minutes we could use to exercise.
I know it's painful, believe me! I took up yoga again after a six-month break and I can't even laugh today. My ribs hurt so badly... I reached for a glass from the top shelf and it was painful people!!!
Our stress gets stuck in our bodies, so we need to move it. If you don’t feel like going to a gym or studio you could just be doing a crazy dance in the mornings, by turning on the radio and having a good dance in the bathroom. It's really creates miracles!
Move your body!
Let’s not forgetSTRESS MANAGEMENT.
It can be in form of speech therapy, meeting some friends with popcorn and red wine (technically they probably don’t qualify).
Having a good night in and just being on your own and some quiet can be magical!
You will be able to find tons of resources on these 4 topics online or on my blog.
And finally, SUPPLEMENTS.
Have a look at how you're doing. Find out if you have any deficiencies in terms of minerals or vitamins and make sure you can supplement them. It's not always possible to get enough vitamins through our foods and I always have to laugh when people tell me, “well I eat really healthily, and I drink orange juice every morning”. You would need around 200 oranges to make up for the needed daily vitamin C intake!
Food alone is not going to cut it, if you want to have your ideal health,
make sure that sleep is not going to be an issue!
Another little hack is sleep hygiene (have a look at my sleep hygiene blog post). I listed a couple of tips that can help you make sure that you're ready to go to bed and have a great night's sleep.
I hope it has been helpful. If you want to dig in on more topics, have a look at myblog.
If you want to learn more about how I work with my clients, then make sure that you schedule a preliminary session, which is an official appointment, but it's free.
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