Extra ways to get some zzzzzzzs
Natural sleep remedies. I could give you a list of things to try as long as your arm … or longer!
Some examples: Guided sleep meditations, lavender, l-theanine, melatonin, valerian, magnesium, a warm bath in lavender salts before bed, making sure your room is cool and dark (get rid of those glowing gadgets!), getting your face out of those glowing gadgets a reasonable time before trying to sleep (the light actually interrupts your ability to sleep well), skipping caffeine and alcohol in the evening, exercise (every hour you remain sedentary results in an extra 3 minutes it takes you to fall asleep) and so on.
And they work. Really, they do! Most of the time. Until I met sleep resistance from heck recently. Nothing I tried helped me get to sleep or stay asleep. I’d be wired and awake until 4 a.m. some nights.
I know one of my problems is my brain. It’s like a monkey on speed at times. It runs through ideas and thoughts faster than I can keep track of them and particularly as I’m trying to make it be quiet. I’ve even tried talking to it like a separate entity: Thank you, Brain, for sharing. I can use you tomorrow, but, right now, I need you to … SHUT UP! Weirdly enough, that worked some of the time. Either because it just did or because it made me more aware to not think or because it made me laugh or because it made me realize I’m crazy and if I didn’t shut up my brain and get some sleep, I would appear to be a mad scientist in another few days! Your pick; they all probably have an element of truth.
What to do when none of my natural remedies were helping me sleep recently? I researched more. Perhaps I am a (semi) mad scientist (and very, very semi scientist). When in doubt, I research.
Here are some additional things I came up with that now are helping me sleep more normally:
- Skip the mint toothpaste! I had been using a regular toothpaste during the day (I admit – I’m having a hard time losing my minty fresh addiction!) and a natural one at bedtime. I ran out; I didn’t replace it; I was using the other. Skip it, and that helps. Peppermint gives you energy; not a great idea for bedtime.
- Read boring stuff at night. I always read at bedtime. I love to read, and reading at bedtime always helped me relax, quiet my mind and get to sleep. My natural, enjoyable sleeping *pill!* I was still reading, and I didn’t recognize what went wrong. I usually have a stack of non-fiction books I’m reading — most of those related to wellness. But I always also have one, what I call “junk fiction,” book. I had so many of the others that I didn’t want to bother reading fiction. I was reading these books that give me ideas and information and more ideas and excitement over the possibilities of building better health and better lives for people … guess what happened? Yep, Brain really went into overdrive!
- Honor your body’s natural inclination to feel sleepy. I’d push off the nighttime rituals – let the dogs out, brush my teeth, wash my face, change, etc., etc. – until I was feeling seriously sleepy. Do all that, then go to bed. Yep, wide awake again. Now I get that done reasonably close to bedtime, and, when that sleepy feeling hits, I hit the sack. In addition, I don’t read then either. If my body is giving me sleep signals, I honor them at that moment the best I can. I don’t indulge my love of reading. I indulge, instead, my need for fuel — a good night’s sleep.
- And, finally, I still use lavender as my number one favorite. Lavender oil or lavender hydrosol or fresh or dried or even in an oil I can massage on my neck and temples. Lavender still helps me relax, even if it sometimes doesn’t do the whole trick. It’s like a big dose of “Ahhhhhhhh.”
I hope this helps. The bigger the bag of tricks, the better! And the larger the list of things you can try that simply can’t harm, the better. This gives you a lot of choice and chances. Sleep is critical to your health and well being so it’s important not to brush aside the need for a good night’s rest. Do everything you can to sleep well so you can live well.
What is your attitude?
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing:
the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s own attitude
in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
~ Viktor Frankl
This part of health is your choice
Part of my intent here is to help you embrace a more optimistic, positive approach to being healthy. And the biggest part of that is how you think. Mindset is so vitally connected to how well we are.
To experience the power of mindset, try this: Bring to mind someone or something that causes you to feel frustrated or angry. Really immerse yourself in this as if you’re right there in the midst of whatever you’ve chosen. Close your eyes, spend a few minutes experiencing this, then open your eyes and read on.
Notice how you feel. What’s happening in your body? Did your heart rate increase? Perhaps your blood pressure rose? Are you breathing faster? Sweating? Your head pounding? All those physical symptoms … and all you did was remember. Nothing bad happened at that moment, you just were thinking. That’s the power of your brain as it impacts your well being, and that’s part of how mindset affects you.
Apply this experiment in a way that will help you, not hurt you. Realize that rehashing a negative event or person over and over is not going to change anything. Thinking constantly about how you didn’t already get started on making positive changes to your health isn’t going to change where you are right now.
It’s tough to change this sort of thinking, but it can be done. I’d say it depends on how much you really want to change. Find something that helps remind you to shift your mindset. Eventually, it will become second nature.
Next, try being proactive, not reactive. Don’t wait for something external to drive how you feel. Create the circumstances for good. Decide how you want to go about your day or an event or being with a person, and focus on finding that element.
It’s mindlessly easy to wake up not feeling your best, grumble at the dog, yell at the other drivers on the road, and let your whole day continue on in a downward spiral.
But, you know what? If you set the intention to make a shift in your mindset toward something positive, it’s actually just as easy to wake up and find something that delights you, pat the dog and get that wagging tail reward, ignore those who don’t drive as you prefer, and have a great day.
Don’t believe me? Try it. You don’t have anything to lose, do you? (Other than telling me I was wrong, and you might enjoy that anyhow!) Let me know what happened. I’d love to hear about it.
Find paradise right where you are
“There is a paradise in and around you right now,
and to be there you don’t even have to make a move,
not even lifting your eyes from this page.”
~ Thaddeus Golas
Crossing bridges
“The bridges that you cross before you come to them
are over rivers that aren’t there.”
~ Gene Brown
