5 Ways to Boost your Bedtime Routine to Optimize Sleep
In a time of collective stress, it is more important than ever to learn and practice effective self-care. The kind of self care that is going to support your body’s ability to manage and minimize stress. In my practice, now more than ever, I’m seeing an increase in cases of stress intolerance and autoimmune flare ups that are induced by chronic stress.
There are a many things we can do to help our body to not only tolerate, but also thrive during stress situations. The more practice we get calming our nervous system in a controlled environment, the more we can generalize those skills to moments of acute stress. Regularly practicing tools like grounding, controlled breathing, and meditation helps with self-regulation, resilience, and the capacity to be fully present in the moment, increasing our ability to respond to stressors while remaining calm.
One my favorite life-hacks for managing stress is addressing your morning and evening routine. If you can do anything today, develop a new bedtime routine that supports your ability to optimize sleep. Sleep is key for optimal health. It’s when our body does it’s best detoxing. When we routinely get enough quality sleep, we’re more likely to make healthy food choices, experience fewer cravings, our metabolisms are higher, the immune system works better, we reduce inflammation, AND our stress responses are more proportional to the stressors in our lives. We also see improved memory and cognition, and our decision-making skills are improved.
To optimize your sleep, I’m sharing my 5 Tips for Optimizing Sleep, which you can incorporate into a bedtime routine that works for YOU:
Set a bedtime, and aim for 8 hours of sleep - minimum!
Screens off at least an 60 minutes before lights out - the blue light from the screens inhibits are bodies from producing melatonin
Meditate - even a simple 3 minute meditation can help calm your body get it ready for sleep. This can even be done in the form of journaling - write three things you are grateful for today
Create a cool & dark room - even wear an eye mask if needed.
Use a weighted blanket - This has been a game changer for me! It helps to calm anxiety and encourages getting into that deeper sleep, quicker.
Now these are just a few of the many options you can do. I encourage you to think about what you need to support a healthy routine and incorporate that into your own. Even just starting with one of these items can go a long way in supporting optimal sleep, and thus supporting the bodies ability to manage stress and detoxify toxins.
