Sleepless Nights

Had one of these recently. You know the nights I’m talking about. You just keep tossing and turning, your mind is racing, you’re yawning, you feel tired but sleep escapes you. Ugh! I can’t think of anything worse! Of course you’re not alone. 1 out of 3 people have insomnia at some point in their lives. Now for the good news- there’s so much we can do to help prevent those sleepless nights. Here are some good sleep practices that are sure to help:

Make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary:

• Make sure your bed and pillows are comfortable. If you’re waking up with a sore neck or back it might be time to invest in a new mattress or pillows.
• Your bedroom should only be used for sleep and sex. Your body will associate your bed with the activities you do in it. If you are on your laptop while in bed your body will associate your bed with work, which makes it harder to unwind.
• Get your TV out of the bedroom! Watching TV before bed stimulates your brain making it harder to fall asleep.
• Make sure your room is dark. The darker the better! You may want to get dark curtains or try a sleep mask. Let’s be honest a sleep mask is just plain fun!

Keep a regular sleep schedule:

• Go to bed around the same time every night. Life gets crazy, I get it, but this is the best way to ensure a good nights sleep.
• Create a bedtime ritual. This should be something non-stimulating, like taking a bath or your nighttime skin care regimen. These will start to clue your body that it is getting ready for sleep.
• Stop electronics at least one hour before bed. Your mind needs time to unwind so get off your computer and your phone too!
• Write down what’s bothering you in a journal before you go to bed. Trying to unwind while your mind is racing just doesn’t work. See if you can leave these thoughts on paper to deal with tomorrow-there’s surely nothing you can do about them before that anyway.
• Wake up around the same time every day. Ok we know you want to sleep in on the weekends but during the week keep to a schedule as much as possible.

Diet & Exercise:

• Eliminate afternoon coffee. We all know that caffeine stimulates us but its affects can stay in the body and disrupt our sleep. Try cutting your daily caffeine intake in half and see if this helps. Of course eliminating caffeine is always a good idea for lady part health.
• Don’t eat 2 hours before bed. Any earlier and your body will be digesting which can keep you up.
• Exercise. Even if it’s only 30 minutes a day exercise helps us have a better quality of sleep. Make sure to get your exercise in at least 3 hours before bed.
• Stop drinking lots of liquids in the evening. You’ll keep getting up to use the bathroom and disrupting your sleep.