What I'm Doing For Better Sleep

I like to sleep.

I think sleep is important and in no way am I one of those people who think “sleep is for the weak” or “you can sleep when you’re dead”.

One of the books I worked through recently was “The Sleep Revolution” by Arianna Huffington. And while I didn’t finish it completely, I have learned so much about just how important sleep is. 

Basically, stop skimping on sleep people!

In no way do I think have insomnia or any real sleep problems, but like a lot of people I go through phases of sleeping really soundly, to getting up four times a night, and then other times when it takes me a few hours to fall asleep. 

For me, there’s nothing better than waking up in the morning and going “I didn’t wake up once!"

Like many other situations in my life, I decided to pick up a few books and start reading more about sleep in hopes of making my time in bed better. 

So, today I wanted to share some of the things I’m trying to implement in my life to achieve more sleep. 

One of the biggest things for me was realizing I needed to give myself more time to slow down before bed. Instead of going from whatever it was I was doing, jumping into bed and just expecting myself to fall asleep right away. 

One of the hardest (but most important/helpful) things for me has been implementing a no technology an hour before bed rule. I can’t tell you the number of times I would either scroll through social media or watch YouTube videos up until the point I wanted to fall asleep. It doesn’t work. 

This means no laptop, no phone (and if you have a TV, none of that either). I’ve also been trying to avoid my phone first thing in the morning too. We’re all guilty of picking up our phone first thing to avoid actually getting out of bed. I’m working to knock that habit too. 

Instead of technology that last hour I’ve really been enjoying reading before bed. I just picked up two new books from the library, and I’ve found that reading makes for a much smoother transition for me. 

I would say these things have had the biggest impact so far, and it’s been very noticeable. I’m sleeping so much better almost right away. 

There are plenty of ways to wind down before bed sans technology. I really enjoy hot baths, taking the time for my skincare, brushing, flossing and all that fun stuff. 

Every now and then Michael and I will close the blinds in our bedroom on a particularly bright night (we live in the city). This helps a lot in falling asleep but I wish they would automatically open with the sunrise because that’s the best way to wake up I’ve found. 

Now, two things I do during the day that I think have also helped with my sleep: limiting my caffeine and exercising. 

A long time ago I set myself a 'one cup before noon' rule when it came to coffee (my caffeine of choice). Not only does this help me sleep better but if I’m consuming too much caffeine I can feel much more anxious, which is never good. 

And I really do find that I just feel all around better when I’m getting outside and active more often. Exercise is a great way to blow off extra energy as well as stress. 

Now I know if you have actual issues with insomnia and sleep you’re going to scoff at this list. But I wanted to make this for the average person who’s not getting great sleep but not suffering either. 

The biggest thing I’ve learned is the importance of keeping technology far way from bedtime. 

What have you done that’s helped you sleep better?

Taking a Break From Caffeine

I decided at the end of November to take a break from caffeine. I settled on a month, who knows, it sounded like a good period of time. 

After I graduated from college I took a year-long break from caffeine as a sort of detox from the copious amounts I consumed in order to keep up with everything. 

But this time around I decided on the month of December 2017.

I wanted to take a break for a few different reasons. 

I was having trouble sleeping through the night, felt really tired in the morning, hit a wall around 2 p.m. and stuff like that.

Lucky for me I decided to go off caffeine at the same time I was sick with a gnarly cold. So, whatever withdrawal symptoms I might have had, like a headache, were all masked by being sicker than a dog to start with. 

I know everyone can't align quitting caffeine with being sick. But it just so happened to work for me. 

I knew what I would miss about it wasn’t the actual caffeine but the morning ritual of making a mug of something warm and taking that back to my office to sip on while I started my morning. 

So, I decided to pick up a few herbal teas. While green and black tea have just as much caffeine as coffee, herbal tea is naturally caffeine free. Woo-hoo!

I first bought a tulsi ginger tea and a sleepy time tea. My mom always has a box of sleepy time tea at her house and I have always liked it for when you need a little something to lull you to sleep.

The sleepy time has chamomile, spearmint and lemongrass. And I love ginger anything.

A few days later I also picked up a tension tamer tea from the same brand as the sleepytime tea. It has eleuthero, peppermint, ginger and lemongrass. 

And my most recent addition is raspberry leaf tea. It doesn’t taste like raspberry (obviously, but worth mentioning because I’m not a fruity tea gal). But it’s supposed to tone your uterus, sooth cramps, and is an overall menstrual supporter. 

I’m a bit surprised it was so easy for me to go a whole month with no caffeine. I’ve taken a few days off from caffeine here or there in the past but always found myself reaching for coffee really quickly. 

I think the trick here was replacing coffee with herbal tea. That way I can get the same sensation without needing the coffee. 

And I think once I can find some vegan hot cocoa mix that will just be an added bonus for something delicious and warm to reach for. 

Who here drinks caffeine? What’s your drink of choice? And who here has given up caffeine before?

[It's January now, and I haven't had that first cup of coffee yet, I'm waiting for the perfect one to come along.]

My Body Wakes Me Up on My Period

It doesn’t always happen but it happens 99% of the time. 

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night because you had too much water, or whatever, to drink before bed? As toddlers we wet the bed every now and then as we were being potty trained, learning to recognize the signals our bodies were giving us to tell us that we needed to go to the bathroom. 

So, we wake up to go to the bathroom instead of wetting the bed, but have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and just knew that you were on the verge of leaking? (blood, I’m talking about period blood here)

Almost every month it happens, usually just one night, that heavy day of my period. 

I’ll just wake up on my own, and head on into the bathroom to empty out my cup, and it’s always super full, on the verge of leaking. And maybe it’s just me, but how freakin’ cool is that? 

And hey, there’s always that time every now and then when I don’t wake up, and leak out and all over my bed. It happens, but more often than not I wake up knowing I need to change. 

Another interesting occurrence is how I always start my period in the morning, first thing after I get out of bed and go to the bathroom. It’s always started like that. And even if I don’t look at the temperature on my thermometer before going I just “know” it’s going to come. I can feel it. 

I know I’m not alone in thinking these little quirks of having a period are absolutely fascinating. What is it about your period that interests you? I challenge you to take a moment to think about it, write it down or just say it out loud to no one in particular.