Natural Remedy- Unlimited Benefits
What if I told you there is a natural remedy that would help you be a great parent, have more patience, think more clearly, have a better sex life and even lose weight easier? What if I told you this remedy has no side effects and is very inexpensive? Ok, let’s admit it…you’re skeptical. You wonder what I’m selling and know that it won’t work for you.
GO THE F**K TO SLEEP!
Seriously people. Take sleep seriously. You might skip a meal every once in awhile but then you start getting the grumbles and you can feel your blood sugar drop and you stop everything and eat. Or you will crash.
“Computers, phones, light bulbs…they all attack our eyes with artificial light, tricking our body clocks into living at a perpetual high noon.
Temporal disorientation is an unintended consequence of technological innovation. As a result we’re missing out on true wakefulness and, in the process, creativity that sprouts from a brain that is properly rested. Waking up in the middle of the night? That’s totally natural and it might do us some good, according to sleep historian Roger Ekirch of Virginia Tech. “Typically people went to bed at nine or 10 o’clock. They slept for three, at most, four hours, and then they rose” sometime after midnight to do “anything and everything imaginable,” he says. Then people went back to bed until dawn to rise naturally with the morning light. That was before the gaslight proliferated in factories and homes in the early 1800s. Now, few of us know true night.”
– Alex Goldmark, “Want to be More Creative? Sleep Like the Ancients Did,” Fast Company, May 14, 2014
Coffee is not a substitute for sleep. In fact, caffeine is highly disruptive to sleep. Cut down, stop earlier, go decaf. It is a powerful drug. Use it wisely.
Ditto for sugar.
Facebook, technology, the internet, cable…all messing with your head. Highly seductive, can feel like you’re “resting” but highly disruptive to sleep. The best rule for our kids, for us, for people with brains is to turn it off an hour before bed.
Get moving, be active, play, exercise if you must…just do something to get your blood pumping.
We as a society are addicted to being busy, not having enough time and going, doing always. It may be hard to imagine what you can cut. Think about the hours of the day like your time budget. You have to make some cuts, move things away and be very intentional to have all the necessary categories covered.
If you are willing to make sleep a priority in your family here are a few hints.
- Everyone has a bedtime that budgets for a full night’s sleep.
- Tighten up the kid’s bedtime rituals. Rituals should take minutes, not hours. Start earlier, read fewer books, accept fewer distractions.
- Cut out late nights on weekends, traveling and only extend bedtime for special occasions.
- Stop pretending that there is any chance that your kids will sleep in if they stay up later.
- Tag team. Almost always one parent can handle the mornings without the other one. Take turns.
- Be honest with yourself about your use of technology. Move away from the computer, grab a book and send yourself to bed early. See just how long you can read before you fall asleep.
- Have a crisis plan. If kids are teething, going through a growth spurt, or the moons have aligned to mess up sleep again you need a way to catch up. It might mean taking a half day off of work, getting a sitter, sending the kids to grandma’s for the day, having your partner take the kids out of the house for a few hours or using a ton of TV and sleeping on the couch.
If you will make sleep a priority for a month, I promise great things.
Having trouble sleeping start here with good sleep hygiene. Actually this site is amazing for lots of good sleep advice.
http://sleepfoundation.org/ask-the-expert/sleep-hygiene
What about meds?
I think sleep is so important that I think sometimes sleep medication is necessary. I don’t like over the counter stuff much. If you are suffering more than occasional (2-3 times month) insomnia talk to your health care professional.
One final note- as with most things, there is a time and a place for professional help. If you have any suspicion that you may have a sleep disorder- snoring, restless leg, apnea, a history of depression and anxiety that isn’t responding well to treatment… go get a sleep study. We used to think that depression and anxiety caused sleep problems and now we are more likely to see that sleep issues cause depression and anxiety. Sleep apnea is a highly treatable condition that has serious health consequences. Do not put off an evaluation.
Now GO THE F**K TO SLEEP…sweet dreams.
Maureen