Sleep Matters!
A Lack of sleep ...
Puts your body under stress
May trigger the release of more adrenaline, cortisol and other stress hormones
Can speed up the aging process
Can compromise your immune system
Can make you hungry for foods high in fat and carbohydrates, leading to weight gain
Can increase your risk of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer
How much sleep do we really need?
It varies from person to person and changes as we get older but on average:
Adults need 7-8 hours a night
Newborns need 14-15 hours a day
Preschoolers need 11-13 hours a day
School-aged and teens need 8.5-11 hours a night
How to enhance your sleep:
Prepare your Setting
No electronics
Dark room
Temperature control
Comfortable mattress and pillow
Eliminate bedroom clutter
Quiet room
Prepare the Body
Avoid alcohol at night
Stop drinking liquids 2-3 hours before bedtime
Limit caffeine and sugar
Avoid stimulating activities before bedtime
Regular bedtimes and wake times
Exercise at least 30 min. a day.
Don’t go to bed hungry or right after a big meal.
Avoid naps after 3:00 pm.
Prepare your Mind
Read
Take a warm bath Listen to soothing music Meditate
Use Aromatherapy Journal
If you continue to struggle with sleeping try using a sleep diary to get to the root of the problem!
Sample Sleep Diary
Dr. Don Cobert, MD , author of The New Bible Cure for Sleep Disorders recommends keeping a sleep diary in order to determine your true sleep problem. He recommends completing your sleep diary each morning when you wake up and for best results, refrain from medication during this time. Keep the diary for 2-4 weeks for best results. At the end of 204 weeks, review your diary for any common themes to identify the root of the problem.
Include the following in your diary:
1. The time you went to bed and the time you woke up.
2. How long it took for you to fall asleep.
3. The times you woke up during the night and how long it took for you to get back to sleep.
4. How much caffeine you consumed during the day and the time you consumed it.
5. Anything you ate as a meal or a snack in the evening and the time you ate it.
6. Any naps you took and for how long.
7. Any medications that you took.
8. Rating of the quality of your sleep in terms of restful with no awakenings, to few awakenings, frequent awakenings, awakened but fell back to sleep, and finally, awakened and stayed awake.
9. Your level of mental alertness when you woke up in the morning. (Groggy to Refreshed)
10. Any physical, emotional, or environmental factors that disturbed your sleep (a snoring spouse, a hot room, tv noise, traffic noise, a storm, attending to the needs of a child, stress, recurrent preoccupations, worrisome thoughts, heartburn, coughing, illness, and so on)