A good day starts from the previous night...

I mentioned last week that our body is a fantastic cleansing machine. And one of its top tools is Sleep! While we rest, our bodies get to work. So as we begin on our cleansing journey, it is critical to review our sleep to start with and then improve it.

Here a few tips (some of which I have implemented) that may help:

Rule 3-2-1: No food for 3 hours before sleep (incl no snack), no drinks for 2h (to avoid toilet visits at night), no screen for 1h before bed time. I am good with the first two, but struggle with the screen time. What I have started doing that helps is to leave for that last hour of the day some tasks at home that I don't mind doing (like washing the dishes, folding clothes, or decluttering that makes us finish the day on a productive note). Good to avoid caffeine also for several hours (I have not investigated this thoroughly enough to confirm how many hours before bed, given I don't drink coffee myself).

Avoid "junk" lights. Almost all lights around us are disruptive. We were made to sleep when it is dark. Lights disrupt the production of our sleep hormone (melatonin). You can buy blue light blocking glasses (these should be orange coloured, not the see through glasses you may wear during the day when in front of your computer). I ordered my glasses on Amazon based on ratings (they can start at around 20-30 euros and can get as fancy as your pocket can afford). If you don't want to buy a pair, it is good to dim your lights a couple of hours before sleep (and lower the blue light on your mobile device also - iphone has settings that allow this to happen automatically every day at a certain time). Make sure your bedroom is totally dark, even small cracks that allow light in from an outside lamp (or the light from an alarm clock or a tv button) may disturb your sleep.

Get exposed to natural light: ideally looking at the sun for a few minutes when you wake up and going for a walk in the morning, helps with our circadian rhythm, which then helps with our sleep. Circadian rhythm is so important and regulates a lot in our lives, but more on another post. Watching the sunset (and the angle of the sun rays) also signals our bodies that it is getting dark.

Sleep-ready room: not all bedrooms are created equal. Ours needs to be relatively fresh (open up the window briefly for fresh clean air before bed and keep the temperature at about 18 degrees Celsius or so), decluttered (no piles of anything lying around, if there is some then use the 1h no screen period to remove such piles), add some (organic cold-pressed) lavender essential oil spray in the air.

Sleep-ready you: Create a power down time, a process that tells you it is time to slowly get ready for bed. Think of relaxing music, perhaps a calming bath or Epsom salt foot bath, maybe a nice blend of natural essential oils to smell at or candle burning... Avoid physical exercise, problem solving tasks or heated arguments. And on the more geeky front, I typically put on my orange glasses at about 8.30-9pm (1st sign of "getting ready for bed), have a reminder on my phone at 10pm that I have set my bed time to 10.30 (2nd sign, at which point I brush teeth etc). Then in bed to read a few pages from my physical book (with my glasses on). I do look funny/sci-fi with my glasses on, but who cares. This is what I aim for, but don't always manage (especially if out for dinner) and that is ok, let the perfect not be the enemy of good. Important to avoid negative discussions or thoughts before bed, they can wait until the next morning (unless you had a small argument with your partner/family member, in which case better to resolve it quickly and all sleep peacefully).

When by your bed, the below can help:

• Write down the top priority items for next day and top 3 things you were grateful for (this will help you end the day with an accomplishment and on a positive note)
• Tapping (takes only a few minutes but there is evidence that tapping helps with sleep and much more). Lot of youtube videos for beginners
• Breathing and yoga exercises for a few mins to calm down the racing mind and body (there are many suggestions online, but an easy one to remember on breathing whenever you want to relax, is to close the right nostril and breathe in from the left, this activates the parasympathetic system and lunar energy). I will share a future post dedicated to breathing (it is so powerful) and exercises that promote sound sleep

Supplements: Supplements also deserve a post of their own, but on the sleep front, the following sleeping aids may help:

• I take Magnesium citrate in the morning and magnesium glycinate before bed. 
• Potassium is a good sleep combo with Magnesium, so check your levels on both.
• 1 gr (1 teaspoon) of fish or krill oil with/after dinner. Krill oil is best. I use Arctic Cod Liver Oil.
• 1 tablespoon MCT oil (the good healthy fat) after dinner/before bed.
• GABA is supposed to help with sleep, calms you down and is considered good for anti-aging. I have not tried it yet myself.
• Honey: I have read that a tea spoon of honey before bed may also help, but not in combination with supplements, I have not tried it yet.
• Warning: before taking any supplements consult a doctor (ideally a functional medicine doctor, so you choose natural ingredients) and test your levels on the most important markers. You can't find solutions to a problem you have not identified.

As for tracking devices, I have Apple Watch and Whoop, while I previously had Fitbit. Neither is perfect. Fitbit showed deep sleep while I was watching TV (and it was an action movie) and Apple Watch often shows light sleep while I am simply sitting or lying down. I use these devices for markers that are mostly accurate (like heart rate, steps taken, cardio fitness etc) and for the trend (if my restorative sleep is improving that is a good thing, even if each individual entry is not entirely correct).
I have heard good reviews on Oura ring, but not tried it (yet).  

At the end of the day, how you feel is what matters the most, so track that instead if you don't want to spend money on devices. Have a notebook next to you and in the morning rate how you slept the previous night, how refreshed do you feel. 

Sweet dreams everybody!