In 1954, Abraham Harold Maslow gave us the Hierarchy of Needs. Next to air, food, water, excretion and homeostatic balance, the body needs to rest. Detox. Heal. Regenerate. Even before self-actualization and getting a sense of who you are, we need healthy circadian rhythms and sleep habits to make all the other pieces of life come together. Children up to age 12 should be getting the most sleep, teens need eight to ten hours per night, and adults need at least seven hours. Listen to your body though. Trust it if it needs more or less there’s nothing wrong with that, just don’t get in a habit of cutting yourself short. Sleep debts, deficiencies and disorders cause REAL problems in the long run. Cognitive and prefrontal cortex impairments (language, executive function, and creativity), disrupted communications of hormonal and neurotransmitter messages, destabilized moods, depressive states, psychosis and on and on…
For me, my sleep routine became a self care and self respect ritual. It took me a long time to value and honor my innate healing abilities, but now I look forward to it every night! Here’s some of my favorite herbal allies to slow down a humming brain and buzzing body…
Additional Sleep Routine Tips…
- Don’t wait till its too late. Don’t rush to go to bed. Take your time. Let your breathing and heart rates settle into a comfortable place. Include some self care…wash your face, brush your teeth, fav moisturizer or essential oils. I love lavender, orange and frankincense in our bedroom diffuser too. So relaxing.
- Keep your lights low after sunset. Too much light tells out body to stay awake and keep working. With a small home, we can get away with a few beeswax candles and a string of twinkle lights. Real cozy! Sometimes I even go outside and connect with the stars for a few minutes. Finding space in the dark to embrace yourself in our big beautiful Universe can be really humbling and comforting.
- Give your phone a bed time. Blue light is disrupting your circadian rhythms. BIG TIME. Keep the charger away from your nightstand too.
- Avoid eat too late. Digestion takes a lot of energy and requires active metabolic processes for a few hours before things settle down. If its too late for a full meal, have a smaller carbohydrate snack and a light beverage. Tea, warm milk, glass of water, cacao…all good choices.
- Enjoy a crossword, a book or a journal if you need a quiet activity before shutting your eyes.
- Try a meditation app, sleep stories or a sound machine if you enjoy audible experiences before bed. Explore some free binaural beats and healing frequencies (I love this comment section too) on YouTube. You may be surprised how they can help tuck you in.
- Deep breathing and light stretching are helpful too. Lots of great breath work tools out there if you want some direction…CALM app is hands down my favorite.
- If you’re tossing and turning hour after hour, get up and try a warm bath or shower. Ladies, you don’t have to get your long hair all wet either. Twist it up and let the water put you in a trance. Visualize all the anxious thoughts, body activity, mental stimulation and to-do lists…let them go. Visualize them leaving your body.
- Clean up your bedroom. Keep it tidy and stop using it as excess storage. Processing all that stuff you see is distracting you from your goal.
- Consider doing a pineal gland detox. The pineal gland is a tiny structure in the brain that produces the hormone melatonin. Most folks have some degree of calcification leaving it malfunctioning. More on this topic soon.
Any other sleep tips or questions, send em over! I’m always happy to help!
