How Sleeping Smarter Changed My Life

About a year ago, I read the book, Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson. It completely changed the quality of my sleep and my overall health. Now, I'm a huge fan of sleep. I love naps, napping in the car, napping on a Sunday afternoon, snuggling in to my cozy bed early... basically any kind of sleep. I'm a fan.

But what I didn't realize was the "kind" of sleep you get is far more important than the amount you get. Now, I'm not going to rewrite the book because you can certainly read that yourself but I'm going to share with you, some of the key things I do now to get "smarter" sleep.

As an entrepreneur, optimal sleep is crucial so that I can be a good business owner and not be too exhausted to still be a good wife and mom.

On to the tips!

Prepping for sleep

Get lots of natural sunlight. This helps keep your body's hormones balanced and reminds your body that it's time to be awake!

Use blue blocking glasses or some sort of app to keep the blue light from your screens from blazing into your eyes all day. I love the app f.lux for my mac.  And, I usually keep my phone on the night setting all day.

It gets dark at night for a reason! Using artificial light after the sun sets keeps your body from kicking into rest and sleep mode. Looking at your screens close to your bed time. Use candles and dim lights as much as possible.

Essential Oils

I love putting some essential oils in my diffuser about 1/2 hour before we go to bed. Lavender, patchouli, or a nice sleep blend from Rocky Mountain Oils always does the trick! 

CBD Oil

As I've shared before I'm a huge fan of CBD oil. I've been taking CBD since September 2018 and it has taken away my anxiousness and helped me sleep so much better! It has zero TCH and does not make you feel groggy. I highly recommend it. You can learn more about it here 

 Or you can just snag a bottle of their best selling Sleep Tincture RIGHT HERE.

My Aunt Becky has had trouble sleeping forever and here's what she has to say about it!

Look what arrived today❣️🎉 Thank you so, so much for introducing me to this liquid gold @corieclark — one sample of this and the worst sleeper in the world was sold. It honestly is the best EVER 😴😍 Love you❤️😘 @hulsawellness

Invest in bedding

You spend so much time in your bed! Invest in high quality organic sheets that help keep your body temperature down. Even better, invest in a comfortable organic mattress so you're not laying on a bed of chemicals every night.

Timing

Did you know you get the most beneficial in hormonal secretions and recovery between 10pm and 2am. Any sleep in addition to that is just icing on the cake. While I don't go to sleep at 10 every night, I've definitely stopped pulling all-nighters. Being a night owl might be fun but it's not the best as far as your health is concerned.

And the whole 8 hour concept isn't necessarily the best to live by. Your body actually goes through REM cycles which last about 90 minutes. If you wake up in the middle of one of those cycles, you'll feel exhausted no matter what. Even if it's been 10 hours! It's better to try to time your sleep as close to those rem cycles as possible. This means minimum of 4 1/2 hours, 6 hours, or 7 1/2 hours. Or if you're lucky, 9! By changing my sleep to 7 1/2 hours I was suddenly waking up more refreshed than ever. And trying to go to bed as close to the same time every night helps as well. My typical night's sleep is from 11pm-6:30am and if I ever go to bed later I push my wake-up time back as well or bump it up to the 6 hour mark.

This one shift alone, changed my life!

So tell me, what do you do to get better sleep?