One of the things that I discuss with patients the most is improving sleep. This will help in basically every aspect of our lives from energy, healing, weight loss, overall health and happiness etc. yet many people don't have good information or practices to help improve it. We need to get good restful sleep to have good hormone regulation. I myself don't sleep for long periods (I average about 5-6 hours) so I have been obsessed with quality over quantity of sleep for a while now. These tips will help you get to sleep but also improve the quality of time you do sleep.
These are not necessarily in order effectiveness so start with the 1-3 that you feel you can stick with initially:
#1. Develop your sleeping ritual. You must sit down and write down step by step what your night time ritual is. ie. 10:00 Shower; 10:30 write my next day to-do list; 10:45 prepare my night time tea; 11:00 light reading 11:20 put book down and lights off etc.
#2. Sleep colder. The ideal temperature for good deep sleep is between 64-68 degrees about 4 degrees colder than what the average person goes to sleep with.
#3. End you shower with 3 minutes of cold water. This one will initially give you a boost but once you lay down significantly improved deep sleep
#4. Read prior to bed. (Much better if it is a real book) One of the biggest changes on my sleep was beginning to read fiction books with good calm stories in them for about 20 min when I laid down. This change from non-fiction to fiction helped to shut down my brain and get me to deep sleep quicker.
#5. Drink Night time tea mixed with 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of honey. This concoction along will help knock you out quicker and get you into REM sleep faster.
#6. Take a glutathione supplement prior to bed. Glutathione is your bodies "master" antioxidant, it helps reduce free radicals, optimize organ function and reduce aging effects but I've also found that taking a dose before bed gives me much better/deeper sleep.
#7. 10 minutes of meditation daily will significantly increase percentage of REM sleep to light sleep ratios. I saved this one for last because it is the one that most people will not do but it has the biggest impact on quality of sleep. After tracking my sleep for 4 months I began a meditation practice of 10 minutes first thing in the morning this alone increased my REM sleep by almost 50%. Not to mention all the other benefits meditation provides this one alone is worth the time. (If you need help with getting started you can download the app headspace or calm; Tara Brach also has some great guided meditations you could look up)
So to summarize a nightly routine that works perfect for improving sleep for the next 2 weeks I want you to do this: Meditate 10 minutes upon waking up, Shower ending with cold water, fix some non-caffeinated tea adding 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 1 of honey, drink tea while writing tomorrow todo, turn down ac to 66, take glutathione supplement, get in bed, read 15 min...Lights out and have amazing sleep!
These are not necessarily in order effectiveness so start with the 1-3 that you feel you can stick with initially:
#1. Develop your sleeping ritual. You must sit down and write down step by step what your night time ritual is. ie. 10:00 Shower; 10:30 write my next day to-do list; 10:45 prepare my night time tea; 11:00 light reading 11:20 put book down and lights off etc.
#2. Sleep colder. The ideal temperature for good deep sleep is between 64-68 degrees about 4 degrees colder than what the average person goes to sleep with.
#3. End you shower with 3 minutes of cold water. This one will initially give you a boost but once you lay down significantly improved deep sleep
#4. Read prior to bed. (Much better if it is a real book) One of the biggest changes on my sleep was beginning to read fiction books with good calm stories in them for about 20 min when I laid down. This change from non-fiction to fiction helped to shut down my brain and get me to deep sleep quicker.
#5. Drink Night time tea mixed with 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of honey. This concoction along will help knock you out quicker and get you into REM sleep faster.
#6. Take a glutathione supplement prior to bed. Glutathione is your bodies "master" antioxidant, it helps reduce free radicals, optimize organ function and reduce aging effects but I've also found that taking a dose before bed gives me much better/deeper sleep.
#7. 10 minutes of meditation daily will significantly increase percentage of REM sleep to light sleep ratios. I saved this one for last because it is the one that most people will not do but it has the biggest impact on quality of sleep. After tracking my sleep for 4 months I began a meditation practice of 10 minutes first thing in the morning this alone increased my REM sleep by almost 50%. Not to mention all the other benefits meditation provides this one alone is worth the time. (If you need help with getting started you can download the app headspace or calm; Tara Brach also has some great guided meditations you could look up)
So to summarize a nightly routine that works perfect for improving sleep for the next 2 weeks I want you to do this: Meditate 10 minutes upon waking up, Shower ending with cold water, fix some non-caffeinated tea adding 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 1 of honey, drink tea while writing tomorrow todo, turn down ac to 66, take glutathione supplement, get in bed, read 15 min...Lights out and have amazing sleep!
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