Are you finding yourself lacking quality sleep? 

Getting to sleep too late? 

Stuck on your electronics? Or bingewatching at night? 

Quality sleep is one of the most important ways we can care for ourselves, our bodies and our minds. 

Today, I wanted to offer some helpful tips to remember about why quality sleep is so important, as well as to share a guided meditation to help you drift off to sleep. Along, with some other helpful things to remember and try. 

During the night we digest, cleanse and heal all the necessary organs and functioning of the body. Our mind has time to process and reset and aside from the beauty sleep and looking our best, quality sleep allows us to wake up inspired and ready to move. 

If you’re anything like me, sometimes you may forget the importance of sleep and why it really matters. It actually affects every major organ we have. I love being creative at night, but every time I remind myself of what our bodies do at night, I find it much easier to shut everything down. 

Did you know at different times of night, different organs are working to rest and heal?

⏰11PM-1AM Gallbladder. The gallbladder is a small organ that helps to aid digestion.

⏰ 1-3AM Liver. This is when our liver is working to cleanse our blood. It’s during this time frame that our body begins to prepare the energy we will have for our day. Sleep deprivation alters liver metabolism and fat content. Making sure we’re asleep during this time-frame reduces the risk for serious medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Helps maintain body weight and regulate hormones.

⏰ 3-5AM Lungs. This is a time where we mostly breathe more slowly and regularly giving our lungs and body time to heal. In our dream state, we tend to breathe more heavily again. 

⏰ 5-7AM Large Intestine. The Large intestine is responsible for absorbing water and salts from the material that has not been digested as food, and get rid of any waste products left over. 

All these processes help us to wake up feeling well-rested and ready to take on our day. 

Note: If you find yourself coughing, struggling to stay fall or stay asleep, snoring or constantly getting up to use the bathroom. You may want to seek out help or visit a sleep clinic to see what is going on. I’ve had friends do this and have found our they have sleep apnea. Also, once we get a diagnosis and understand what’s going on, we can also look at the psychosomatic factors and perceptions. 

What ‘s going on in your mind:

Another thing that can really affect our sleep is our thoughts. When we’re worried, in a state of distress, fear or anxiety, we aren’t regualting our nervous system. Our fight or flight is turned on and firing as if we need to survive right now. The more specific we get about what’s actually causing us distress, the easier it is to clear and strategize. Journaling before bed can be helpful.

Knowing what you are energzied about for the following day. Laying out your clothes and feeling organized and having a clean room can help.

When we feel a part of our life is out of control, focus on what is in your control right now.

I also have courses and 1:1 coaching helping to clear anything that may be affecting you. 

I’ll share a sleep meditation for you at the end of this blog. Meditation, breath work, body work, acupuncture, music can all be helpful as well.  

Mindful of devices:

Whether you have a hard stop time to turn off your screens or you want to start mitigating some of the affects, here are some helpful tips. 

Turn on your warm or nightshift mode or you can use f.lux (https://justgetflux.com/) to adjust the blue light. You can also check out blue blocker glasses on amazon that are really helpful. Not watching anything that raises your blood pressure or causes stress prior to bed is helpful. Ideally, you’ll turn everything off an hour or two before bed and use the time to read, journal, meditate or for some self-care. 

Move your body:

Preferably earlier in the day. Our body temperature tends to decrease to prepare our bodies for sleep at night. When we exercise and raise our heart rate and body temperature later in the day it can alter our quality of sleep. 

Food:

Avoiding caffeine (especially in the evening), sugar, fatty and heavily processed foods. Anything that takes longer to digest will affect the quality of healing we receive as the body is working to digest, rather that to heal. 

Intermittent Fasting: I personally like to stop eating around 6 or 7PM most nights of the week. I may choose a night to go out for a later dinner and then wait longer the following morning before eating. Again, this is giving your body lots of time to digest. Approximately 12-14 hour intervals are best. 

Sleep aids:

There are lots of supplements, foods, oils and technological devices that can assist with sleep. 

I love the super affordable, delicious and easy to use Purium Apothe Cherry. This assists with quality sleep, reduces free radicals and inflammation is a great for the skin. 

It contains a wide variety of unique antioxidants and phytochemicals to help balance circadian rhythms, support healthy joint function and promote healthy uric acid metabolism.

This is an organic bottle of pure tart cherry juice that you mix in a small glass of water about an hour before bedtime. I’ve noticed a big difference with it. 

I even have a 25% discount code for you. Click here.

Lavendar and Cammomile. You can drink tea, use essential oils or take a warm luxurious bath with oils. 

Technological Devices: 

I have a Q Link plugged in my bathroom. 

I like an air filter. Some people prefer one with a humidifier. 

There are plenty of devices to help track sleep, like the Oura ring. This may be helpful in the beginning, but personally I like to turn off my wifi at night and have all my devices out of my room. 

I use my iphone on airplane mode for the alarm but you can also opt for a battery operated one. 

Leaving laptops, ipads and tvs outside of the bedroom can help as well. I took my tv out of my bedroom about 8 years ago and I noticed a big difference. (Read more about digital detox here)

I also had an amazing feng shui expert come in and we moved my bed so it was facing a different direction and I was surprised how much of a difference that actually made. 

I’ve shared a previous blog with a kundalini meditation that is still helpful as well as today I want to share a guided journey with you that you can download here. 

Hope this helps you drift off to sleep with ease and reminds you of the importance of quality sleep. 

Here’s to a restful night’s sleep.

Xx,

Laurin