Wednesday Wellness Tool: A Recipe For Sweet Dreams

A good night's sleep is one of the best avenues to improve overall health: Quality sleep leads to clear thinking (and less accidents!), weight management, better mood, and - important from the psychological perspective - the  ability to process information, thoughts, and experiences.  

It's not hard to see how those direct health benefits could then positively affect self-esteem and relationships as well.

While the sleep research is straight forward, the experience of having difficulty sleeping on an ongoing basis is even more clear: IT. FEELS. AWFUL. It is simply harder to go about your day when you are sleep deprived. A friend who's in the field of 0-5 mental health, working largely with new moms recently pointed out, "Sleep deprivation is a form of torture." Well said. 

As a recovering insomniac myself and a person who has helped numerous people find better relationships with sleep, I feel confident about the ability to change patterns - even those that have been with you for a while. Below is a recipe with items that you can truly mix and match to increase your chance of accessing quality sleep and reaping its benefits.

Ingredients:

1. Exercise (even lightly).
2. Acupuncture or acupressure
3. Decision to cut out or reduce caffeine intake (this may include coffee, chocolate, energy drinks, and caffeinated teas), especially in the later portion of the day. 
4. Herbal teas, such as chamomile, peppermint, valerian, and kava. There are plenty of common "sleepy time" mixes in grocery and health food stores.
5. Activities that stimulate your relaxation response, such as reading, meditating, stretching, putting your legs up the wall (or other restorative yoga exercises), or progressive muscle relaxation.
6. A hot bath with or without aromatherapy oils or salts*
7. A totally darkened room (if this is not possible, try a sleep mask)*
8. Sufficient warmth, especially for your feet*
9. A comfy relaxing space other than your bed
10. Journal

Recipe

During the day: Incorporate exercise into your daily routine or at least a few times per week. Add acupuncture or acupressure once a week specifically targeting this symptom (I'm a fan of Circle Community Acupuncture, but there are tons of others as well). Experiment with reducing or eliminating caffeine, as it's a stimulant. Alcohol and other drug use can impact sleep as well.

In the evening: Drink a calming tea a couple hours before you are wanting to go to bed (not too close to bed time, because waking up to pee isn't exactly relaxing). Instead of watching tv or being online, both activities that expose you to flashing lights and other stimulating material, incorporate a calming activity, one that sends the message to your body that it is okay to relax. Draw yourself a hot bath and soak for as long as it's comfortable.

At bed time: Make sure your sleeping space is free of clutter and light. Your brain needs darkness to really get the message that it's time for sleeping. Make sure that you are warm enough, adding blankets if necessary. 

Troubleshooting: If thoughts come up, tell yourself you can think them tomorrow. Write them down in your journal if you'd like. Try a progressive muscle relaxation recording or do it yourself by mentally scanning your body, slowly, from your toes to the crown of your head, scrunching your respective muscle groups then relaxing them and thinking "relax." If none of this draws you into sleep, go to another area away from your bed for a while. You don't want to associate your bed with a losing battle. 

As you experiment with different ingredients track your sleep patterns in your journal to see what is and is not working for you. 

If sleep continues to be an struggle, especially one involving repetitive thoughts, it might be time to start counseling to address the rumination and worries. Remember, just because you have "gotten used to" getting by with minimal sleep does not mean it's helping you function as your best self!  


* These items directly stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system (your body's relaxation machine) to kick in.

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