Sleep Hygeine...keep it clean

The all elusive good night's sleep! It's not a one trick wonder but often something we need to work at. Sleep hygeine is such a weird term but basically like a clean house it's a constant effort. You can't clean it once and it stays that way (at least not in my house). It is, however, essential to sleep initiation aka getting to sleep!

How to clean it up! 

• Go to bed when you are sleepy. Pushing past sleepiness kicks your body into thinking you wan to stay awake so it throws out the cortisol (one of our stress hormones) to ensure that happens!
• Cut out tea/coffee/caffeinated drinks after 12pm. This may seem obvious but how many of us resort to an afternoon cuppa to get through the afternoon slump?
• Turn off the screens at least 30min before bed or at the very least put a blue light filter on. We’re very basic creatures. Our bodies respond to daylight by waking up.  The blue light emitted from our screens mimics daylight. Put a filter on it!
• Wake up at the same time everyday! Research shows that it’s not just the time we go to bed that is important but when we wake up to ensure we finish our last 90min sleep cycle. Waking before the last sleep cycle has finished can leave us feeling even more exhausted. Check out https://sleepcalculator.com/ to see when to get to bed! 
• Bed is for sleeping and sex not necessarily in that order! Ban the screens and get some snooze! 
• Bedtime routine is an oldie but a goody. It still applies. What's your bedtime routine? A little like Pavlov's dogs if we keep it consistent our body will start to get sleepy just starting the nightly routine- cup of chamomile, warm shower, teeth and zzzzzz.....
• Exercise is too often ignored in the sleep equation but if we exercise we wear out our body and mind so sleep comes more easily. If we exercise outdoors even better as we're getting plenty of daylight so darkness leads to zzzzz....
• Before bed eat lots of tryptophan rich foods. This makes sure we have enough serotonin to help us relax and also to make melatonin which helps us sleep. Chicken, lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, pumpkin, fish and seasame seeds are all loaded with typtophan goodness! 
• Eat a light meal in the evening. This means your body isn’t desperately trying to digest fatty or rich foods as well as get to sleep. You might find your liver getting jiggy with it about 3am trying to sort out all the fatty goodness or sugary fun you had before bed. All you’ll know is that you’re awake while the liver works overtime. 
• Skip the alcohol. Anyone else get ‘the red wines’? It’s waking at about 3am after a glass or 3 of alcohol. This is your liver getting extra active trying to process the alcohol. It also results in a much lighter, more disturbed sleep.

I wouldn't be doing my job is I didn't mention at least one homeopathic!
For trouble getting to sleep Coffea has been traditionally used. If you think of the buzz coffee gives you this is the kind of sleepless you are. More used for sleep initiation than waking in the middle of the night it is the constant thoughts of the day turning round, the slightly energised feel that something else needs to be done, an inability to settle...coffee is a social drug after all! 

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So much to be done but remember that even with all these things in place there may be other reasons why sleep is still elusive. Hormones, thyroid, stress, anxiety and/or depression can all cause sleep disturbance amongst other things so please get it checked out!

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Disclaimer: Homeopathy is a traditional medicine.The TGA considers Homeopathy a low risk medicine. It may be used in conjunction with other medicines. For any ongoing chronic condition, it is important to be assessed or examined by your healthcare professional or specialist. 
Information given here is in no way intended to take the place of advice from your chosen healthcare professional or specialist. Any examples given from the authors life do not indicate that the remedy in question will work for everyone in every instance. They are used solely to illustrate the use the medicine in a practical situation.
Information is generally in nature and nothing said on this website is intended as a diagnosis and should not be taken as such.
Always seek medical advice in emergencies.
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