Sleeping Beauty

We all know that it is called beauty rest....

but do we really get enough of it?

Here are a few tips I read recently and have tried to implement for better sleep...

1) UNPLUG! ~ Apparently, electronics such as laptops, ipads and smartphones emit a blue hue that mimics daylight which stops your body from producing the sleep hormone melatonin.  So for healthy z's unplug an hour before you go to sleep.  

2) Less caffeine ~ sounds like a no brainer ... right?   Did you know that caffeine can stay in your system for 12 hours...so when you have it at 3pm it interferes with sleep.  Who knew it lasted that long?

3) Make your bed ~ a messy room and bed can make you feel stressed and restless.

4) Get up on weekends ~ Sleeping in on the weekends can throw off your sleep cycle and cause insomnia.  If you want to sleep in ... aim for just one hour past your weekday wake up time.

5) Scents ~ the smell of lavender can improve your quality of sleep.

Sounds all fine and good right?  Well what if we still can't sleep?

~ Try to stay awake ~ dim the lights and crawl into bed with a magazine or book and tell yourself to stay awake for 30 mins ~ chances are you'll be asleep within 10.

~ Get out of bed ~ tossing and turning for hours will only stress you out further.  Get up and do some deep breathing exercises and do something (just no tv or laptop) once you feel tried go lay back down and you should fall asleep more easily.  

~ Too many things swirling around in your mind ~ get up and make a to do list.  Write down everything that you are thinking and go back to bed.  It's amazing how much it clears up once you have it all on paper.

I have been really trying to make all these changes for better sleep and I think it is actually working.  I rarely drink caffeine now, I don't lay in bed with my laptop, I bought a lavender plugin, I make our bed in the morning, I've been getting up early on the weekends and even been doing a little reading before turning out the lights.

How are you sleeping?  Do you need to make some changes?  Have you made some changes?