3-2-1-Go to Sleep! Here’s Why… (Part 4)

Why don’t I sleep well?

 

Trouble Falling Asleep

Daily Disturbances:

• No coffee after 1pm
• Never use your bed as an office
• Can’t fall asleep until super late = possible surge of cortisol too late in the evening and it’s keeping you awake 
• Not getting enough exercise to tire the body out

 

The Discipline of Getting to Sleep:

• “Bedtime” on the IPhone for warning reminders that you’re getting close and need to wrap the night up.
• Make sure you have the same bedtime every night.

 

Best sleep Apps:

• https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317816.php
• https://www.nosleeplessnights.com/best-sleep-tracker/
• http://www.idownloadblog.com/2017/03/06/best-sleep-tracking-apps/

Sleep Environment – Set the environment of your bedroom for successful sleep conditions:

• A dark environment is best. Having the bright white happy bedrooms are not best environments for successful sleep. Your bedroom is your cocoon, you rest there. Have the rest of your house bright white and happy.
• The best temp to set your thermostat to is 68. The temperature of your sleeping area and how comfortable you feel in it affect how well and how long you snooze. Why? When you go to sleep, your set point for body temperature — the temperature your brain is trying to achieve — goes down. Think of it as the internal thermostat. If it’s too cold or too hot, the body struggles to achieve this set point. That mild drop in body temperature induces sleep. Generally, if you are in a cooler rather than too-warm room, it is easier for that to happen. But if the room becomes uncomfortably hot or cold, you are more likely to wake up. The comfort level of your bedroom temperature also especially affects the quality of REM sleep you get.

Sleep Prep:

• Stay away from electronics at least an hour before bed. Blue light is terrible for the brain. Keeps it engaged and brain can’t turn off for the night.
• NEVER read anything in your field of expertise – the brain will be thinking too much and struggle to shut off. Rather, read a fiction book before bed, it helps relax the brain and preps it for dream cycles.
• 5-10 min mobility before bed (upper back, shoulders, jaw, head, temples) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i463R5HGdVg

 

Trouble Staying Asleep:

Wake up around 3am = possible toxic liver or insulin dropping

Super light sleeper, any little thing wakes you up = possible vitamin K deficient

Wake up super groggy = possible hypoglycemia

Wake up to urinate = possible magnesium deficiency

 

These all come back to imbalanced hormones, which hormones are highly regulated by food. Most of these challenges can be improved with proper nutrition, wellness practices and physical exercise. The long term more detailed solution here of course is stabilizing your blood sugar, healing your adrenals, and detoxing from excess estrogen.