It’s not as easy as closing your eyes sometimes. Many of our clients come to understand that sleep is a powerful healing opportunity for their bodies, but they just can’t seem to get themselves to fall asleep. They toss and they turn, and eventually, morning arrives, which doesn’t come with enjoyment now that they are even more exhausted than they were when they climbed into bed. Like most foundational health components, sleep is not understood by many people and therefore, many people just aren’t good at it. Here’s what you should know about sleep so that when you close your eyes at night, you enjoy a good night’s rest.
The first thing to know is that a good night’s rest begins in the morning when you wake up! Most people will ingest a few cups of coffee, along with a carbohydrate-dense breakfast treat (cereal, toast, muffin, doughnuts, etc.) and within a few hours, they’ll begin to crash and crave a pick-me-up. This often leads to a second faux breakfast of more coffee and carbs. The challenge is that, even though your adrenal glands are crashing and feeling sluggish, the coffee jitters last about 12 hours!! Just because you’re tired doesn’t mean you’re not wired. If you drink a cup at 12 PM or later, your body will not be able to get into a more restful state until about 12 AM or later. Further, the carbs will create the kind of hormonal swing all day that makes your body feel like it’s running for its life (fight-or-flight state), and these hormones race through our bodies and challenge our emotional state, leading to even more comfort foods and drinks. The body just cannot feel rested when under this type of stress.
Instead, start your day with a glass of lemon water. Have a cup of coffee, maybe two, but be sure to eat a more nutrient-dense breakfast with adequate amounts of high-quality protein. This will help balance your hormones and keep you from feeling like you need to amp yourself up as the day goes on. It’s typically best to curb coffee after 12PM. Water is recommended throughout the day to help with cravings and satiate your biological needs.
The challenges don’t stop in the afternoon, either. If you’re like most people, your emotional wellbeing is a rollercoaster, going up and down as you do your best to handle tasks, assignments, and projects throughout the day. So, many people skip lunch, or eat another carb-dense meal, and chase it with juice, energy drinks, and sugary treats to keep their energy up. This only results in eventual blood sugar crashing and the cravings continue. By the time you get home you’re too tired to cook a decent meal, you settle for “faster” foods and begin to drown yourself out with social drinking, social media, news, and bright screen entertainment. Unfortunately, by this time, your body has so much kinetic and emotional stress racing through it that relaxing is the very last thing anyone is thinking about.
Now, when you’re ready to call it a night, the stress of the day, which began in the morning, is too high for you to feel comfortable and relax. Many folks will watch tv until they fall asleep. But bright screens themselves stimulate the “wake” hormone and when you do fall asleep it’s most likely from sheer exhaustion. This will only impede on deep restful sleep, induce the tossing and turning dance throughout the night, and when you wake up the only one thing on their mind…coffee!! This is how the vicious cycle gains momentum.
If you can manage to avoid excessive coffee and lack-luster food choices throughout your day, and even take a few walks or workouts to break up your workday, once you walk in the door after a long day the real magic then lies in your evening ritual. At this point, continue to manage yourself with healthy meals and plenty of water. Enjoy some screen time, but know that come about 9:30 PM your body biologically needs to begin winding down. This has everything to with the day and night cycles that govern our hormones. Because our physical and phycological repair cycles will begin their process at about 10 PM, if you’re still eating, drinking, and absorbing screen light, your body becomes “tricked” and even “forced” into thinking it’s time to “get up!”
To avoid unnecessary exhaustion, it’s critical that we commit ourselves to eating our last meal around sunset (7 PM is a good cut-off), turning off ALL screens by about 9-9:30 PM, and even helping ourselves relax by breathing and stretching for a few minutes. You can also read (non-suspenseful) or even take a nice warm bath to induce a state of relaxation. By doing so, your body will begin producing the need “sleep” hormones that allow for a deeper, more healing sleep. Just jumping into bed is like grabbing bacon right off the fryer and biting into it. We need to rest our body (about 10-20 minutes) using restful rituals to ensure that when we close our eyes, we fall asleep.
It may take several days, even weeks, to balance your body’s hormones so that you get a better night’s rest. The longer you’ve been stimulating yourself with caffeine, carbs, and stressful lifestyle activities, the longer it will take for the body to reset. But eventually, you’ll notice your sleep improving. If you pay attention to your day-to-day lifestyle activities and core values, you’ll see where you can weave a little grace into your rhythm. It’s easy to assume that you’re just a night owl or that you have some major issue with sleep. But really, you’re just learning how to sleep again. Stay committed and you’ll feel the benefits of good sleep soon enough. Sweet dreams.