A Good Night Sleep
I do love to sleep, but only when my body is begging for this rest. I am like the energizer bunny and I am up and doing some kind of physical activity all the time. But if I had it my way, I’d never sleep. Seriously! I could get so much more done if I never go to bed. There’s just too much I want to get done! But unfortunately, we all need to sleep. Apparently, it’s important…So they say.
Seriously though, we all need to get 7-8 hours a night. Why? For one, it helps your body recover from your workouts and those hard training days. It balances your hormone levels and rejuvenates your brain which is very crucial to get in fantastic shape.
I have a plan that you can try out if you cannot get sleep, night after night and just end up tossing and turning. It will seem like common sense but if you are not doing it, it will never help you sleep. Try it out and let me know how it works for you. But you have to commit to it for at least 1 week. Like any new forming habit it will take some time to get it going. Trying this out every day and see what it feels like to actually get a great night’s sleep!
1) Did you know that it takes anywhere from 5-9 hours for caffeine to completely leave your body? Try not to drink any caffeine after 2 pm. This time will vary depending on when you go to bed, so plan accordingly.
2) Keep it cool dude! Yup, lowering the temperature in your bedroom while you try to sleep will help you a lot more than sweating while you are trying to sleep. It is super easy to cover your self up if you get too cold. So try to keep the A/C between 65-70 degrees.
3) Turn off all electronics an hour before bed. The consensus is that the blue light that LED screens give off can slow or stop the production of melatonin. If you did not know, melatonin is the hormone that signals our brain that it’s time for bed. No texting, Twitter, Facebook, TV, etc. This may be a hard one, but it’s very important.
4) Chamomile, Decaf Tea is great and you can sip it while you are reading a book before bedtime. You do read books, right?
5) I bought a BLACKOUT! I am so happy that I did it. It made my room pitch black. Having any type of light can disrupt your sleep pattern no matter how much light it is.
6) Have you ever meditated? When you lay down in bed, take nice and slow deep breaths. Pay attention to your breathing as you close your eyes in peace. Try and breath through your diaphragm like Freedivers do to increase their time underwater.
7) Be thankful for your day, be thankful for all that you have still. It does not matter how your day went, you need to always end the day positively. It is up to us to change the way we are thinking at the moment. This will also dictate how restful our sleep is.
8) Night night Termite!
