"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" Is Code For "I'm Ignoring My Mental Health"
Sleep hygiene is my "one size fits all" solution to mental health. Feeling run down? Improve your quality of sleep. Anxious? Quiet the mind at night. Low self-worth? Lean into self-care before bed.
Ahhh, sleep… beautiful, peaceful sleep. What’s your relationship like with rest? Are you an avid night owl and require just a few hours of shut eye before waking up feeling energized and prepared for the day? Are you a hibernating bear who needs a minimum of eight hours of sleep to feel rejuvenated? Or are you somewhere in-between, and can’t quite seem to “nail down” your natural sleep cycle?
I’ll share a common misconception about sleep: we humans are not capable of sustaining life without proper rest. No amount of caffeine or guided meditations can clear your mind from the thick haze of burn out.
Sleep hygiene is an art form. It took me YEARS to master a bedtime routine that equated to a full night’s worth of restful sleep, yet it has been the most rewarding change I’ve ever implemented in my own healing journey. I rely on sleep to balance my emotions, mental health, and energy levels.
Let’s chat about some barriers to sleep hygiene:
Blue light and screen time: the infamous blue light we absorb from our beloved screens actually flood the brain with cortisol, the stress hormone, and create physical sensations of anxiety like increased heart rate, elevated body temperatures, etc., which all negatively impact sleep. Blue light also negatively impacts our body’s natural production of melatonin, which signals to your body and mind it is time for sleep.
Processed foods and digestion: researched demonstrates correlation between the consumption of processed sugars and carbohydrates, in addition to saturated fats, and sleep quality. With regard to digestion, as your body produces melatonin and naturally prepares for sleep, it will slow unnecessary functions—like digestion—making it harder for your body to digest food consumed before bed.
Alcohol consumption: you might think you need a glass of red wine to “wind down” at night, but alcohol actually decreases overall quality of sleep. That drink or two might help you fall asleep faster, but you’ll likely wake up more frequently throughout the night, or your body will struggle to fall into a natural deep sleep.
Work and career: those “last few emails” and that “busy season” are disrupting your body’s natural sleep cycle. Working late into the night will expose you to more blue light and send your nervous system into an activated stress response, which will cause to you feel like you’re running on fumes during those last few hours before bed.
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