Sleep Better Tonight!

To say I'm obsessed with sleep in a MASSIVE understatement. I listen to lectures, podcasts and read books on the subject in order to further my own wellness. I recently listened to a lecture by The Sleep Doctor, Michael Breus who spoke about how to best prepare your bedroom for the optimal sleep experience. He included many different sensory recommendations and I’ve been trying many of these ideas out in my own home!

My clients go CRAZY when I stop a session to ask about sleep since they really don't care whether or not they are sleeping well! In my mind, however, sleep is THE MOST UNDERVALUED HEALTH TOOL that we know of! An analogy that I LOVE is when Dr. Sara Gottleib compared sleep to shampoo for the brain- sleep is what cleans up the toxins that accumulate throughout the day as a result of normal brain function. Sleep is necessary for optimal performance of our brain, body and immunity and I'm all about optimization!

One aspect of getting high quality sleep is working with your body’s internal clock (circadian rhythm) to wind down in the evening as you prepare to go to bed. Dr Breus recommended people limit artificial and especially “blue light” before bed. The problem with light at night is that it suppresses melatonin - the hormone that gets your body ready for sleep. The light is basically telling your brain that its daytime and keeping you awake. ‘Blue light’ actually appears very white and is the worst offender. It is the light used in laptops, iPads, iPhones and TV screens. I also learned that the newer energy saving LED bulbs which I invested in throughout my home are even worse for sleep than regular bulbs!

I recently made several changes in order to help myself and my family with our sleep. I invested in a bunch of blue light blocker gadgets. I started wearing blue blocker glasses at around 8 pm. They cost about $10 and are an easy solution to all the LED bulbs and screens in my house. Another easy change was that I turned on my iPhone’s nighttime mode to go on from sunset to sunrise, which creates a soft amber light instead of the bright white light that is typically emitted from the phone. In my bedroom and my kids’ bedrooms, I changed out the regular LED bulb lamps and nightlight bulbs for amber ones. My kids are always on board with any “nutty” changes I make in the name of health around the house and were delighted by the new orange hued lamp! The only downside was my husband wants to hide the blue blocker glasses because of “how ridiculous” they are.

If you or someone you know does computer work or video gaming at night, is always watching TV or playing on their iphone before bed, or if you just want to work on getting more high quality sleep, consider some blue blocker gadgets!

I also love DoTerra's lavender essential oil and petal diffuser. I use it nightly to relax and enjoy. This oil was life changing! If you are interesting in learning more about how essential oils can help your family, don't hesitate to reach out!

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