Photo: Bruce Mars
By Lorraine Alexander
If you easily fall asleep without effort, your sleep is deep, and you wake up feeling rested and ready to embrace your day, consider yourself lucky.
"About 50 to 70 million Americans have sleep disorders, 1 in 3 adults (about 84 million people) do not regularly get the recommended amount of uninterrupted sleep they need to protect their health." --SleepHealth.org
The quality of our sleep is a direct reflection of our health and wellness.
When life gets complex, we tend to ignore self-care, and our sleep quality suffers. Stress causes inflammation, body aches, and physical or emotional pain. Other top stressors include finances, work deadlines, and complicated relationships. Any one of these factors can diminish sleep quality.
The purpose of sleep is to soothe and rejuvenate the body, mind, and spirit. During sleep, both the brain and body eliminate toxins. Quality sleep offers energy for daily performance, and while it enhances our mindset, quality sleep can also elevate our mood.
When life gets complex, we tend to ignore self-care, and our sleep quality suffers. Stress causes inflammation, body aches, and physical or emotional pain. Other top stressors include finances, work deadlines, and complicated relationships. Any one of these factors can diminish sleep quality.
The purpose of sleep is to soothe and rejuvenate the body, mind, and spirit. During sleep, both the brain and body eliminate toxins. Quality sleep offers energy for daily performance, and while it enhances our mindset, quality sleep can also elevate our mood.
Follow these steadfast guidelines for optimal sleep:
1) Create the perfect Zen zone
A minimalistic style in the bedroom sets the tone for quality sleep:
- Eliminate all clutter along with things work-related.
- Add a comfortable meditation/reading chair and a yoga mat.
- Purchase a soft-wake alarm clock. Examples include waking to sounds of ocean waves or to simulated sunlight.
- Select natural fibers for bedding.
- Choose calming colors in the bedroom and avoid stimulating colors.
- Add artwork that is relaxing and peaceful.
- Maintain the bedroom as tidy and clean.
2) Be food wise
Clean up your diet. Avoid heavy late-night meals, spicy food, fatty food, sugar, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, high sodium, and inflammatory processed food that interfere with sleep.
3) Adopt a 2-hour rule and wind down
Reclaim your bedroom for sleep and rejuvenation. Two hours before sleep set the mood to relax. Soften the lights, take time to read, meditate, stretch, practice gentle yoga, or listen music or relaxation audio. Since the bedroom is your place for rejuvenation, move the television, computer, video games, and iPhone to another room of your home. Use of these electronics excites the brain.
4) Optimize your natural circadian rhythm
Pay attention to the morning light filtering into the room. Natural light may interfere with your sleep. Use blackout shades as needed. Sleep cycles can vary from person to person; stick to your natural sleep cycle and be consistent with your bedtime schedule.
5) Make stress reduction a priority
We know that stress accumulates moment-to-moment. Why not manage stress throughout the day? There are many user-friendly techniques including meditation, mindfulness, positive self-talk, deep-belly breathing, exercise, and nature walks. These are tools that mitigate the accumulation of stress by moving us from a 'fight or flight' response to a healthy 'rest and digest' response.
Be a champion for stress reduction by adopting ideal sleep hygiene habits. Begin your self-care program, and feel the benefits every day.
Resource book titles:
The Stress Prescription by Elissa Epel, PhD
The Science of Sleep by Heather Darwall Smith
Article links:
"Meditation helps fight insomnia." Harvard Health
"What time should I go to bed." Cleveland Health Clinic
#sonomacountymeditation #alleghenycountymeditation #comoxvalleymeditation #nondirectivemeditation #silentmantrameditation #dasameditation #stressreduction
Resource book titles:
The Stress Prescription by Elissa Epel, PhD
The Science of Sleep by Heather Darwall Smith
Article links:
"Meditation helps fight insomnia." Harvard Health
"What time should I go to bed." Cleveland Health Clinic
#sonomacountymeditation #alleghenycountymeditation #comoxvalleymeditation #nondirectivemeditation #silentmantrameditation #dasameditation #stressreduction
DASA Meditation is an elegant, deeply effective non-directive technique taught since 1975.
Certified DASA instructors teach in the United States, Canada, and Japan.
Contact DASA Meditation to learn more.
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Certified DASA instructors teach in the United States, Canada, and Japan.
Contact DASA Meditation to learn more.
🌿 Receive monthly news.
Linked-in / Facebook
 | ABOUT Lorraine first learned to meditate at the young age of 15. Her work includes publication in the Bohemian, NorthBay Biz, the US Green Building Council, the Windsor Times, Homes & Lifestyles, and the Press Democrat. Additionally, she is the primary contributor to the DASA Meditation blog. She teaches DASA Meditation in Northern California. Contact [email protected] Connect on Linked-in |
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