Sleep Hygiene

So you want to start waking up earlier to get ahead of your day BUT you don’t sleep well, or you go to sleep late?

No worries, I’ve got you.

Let’s work on your SLEEP HYGIENE.

The key to waking up feeling RESTED is to get good QUALITY sleep.

Ideally, if you can get at least two hours of REM sleep and two hours of DEEP sleep you will wake feeling like a rockstar.  

Although I’m an 8-hour-per-night ideal girl, there are just times in my life when I know that’s not possible.  Whether it’s work travel, which often means late nights and early mornings, jumping time zones, or just the reality of sometimes not getting able to carve out that time for sleep.

I have HACKED my sleep, figured out how to get GREAT QUALITY sleep and am so excited for you to do the same.

Feel free to implement ALL of these, or simply pick ONE now and then revisit this list each month or so and add another.  The key to making changes is to go slow and do what works for you so that it’s realistic and maintainable.

Some of these tools are FREE and some cost a bit of money so again, do what works for YOU.  

Measure your sleep.  “What gets measured gets managed.”  You want to make changes in ANYTHING in your life? The key is to track and measure it.  I’m a big proponent of sleep trackers.  When someone first recommended I measure my sleep I wasn’t on board.  With three small kids, co sleeping and breastfeeding (at the time) I didn’t want to SEE how poorly I was sleeping.  But I learned sooo much by tracking my sleep and I now KNOW exactly what I need to do to impact my sleep.  

My all time favorite sleep tracker is the OURA Ring.

Oura works and collects data even in airplane mode (which I HIGHLY suggest putting your phone in each night).

Oura tracks your:

–Deep sleep

-REM sleep

-Workouts

–Heart Rate Variability – this tells you how well your body responds to stress and is an amazing thing to pay attention to.  Watch this to see how your breathwork, ice baths, sauna sessions and meditations are impacting your daily life

-It has “TAGS” so you can add in WHAT you did that day. Overtime this helps you see what impacts YOUR sleep the most as we are all different.

-their customer service is incredible

LIGHT management – White and blue light from our screens and throughout our homes inhibits our ability to make MELATONIN that magical sleep potion that our body makes on its own.  

My husband and kids make fun of me in the evenings when I will literally go around the house shutting off the lights saying things like “Don’t you know I’m making Melatonin?!”  

Before sunrise and after sunset we are only intended to see RED LIGHT.  Think about it.  We are still genetically the same as we were as cavemen and women.  The only light we saw at that time before sunrise and after sunset was FIRE.  As much as possible surround yourself with RED LIGHT before sunrise and after sunset.  I have a Sauna Space PHOTON light that sits near our couch and literally feels like we have a delicious bonfire in our family room. If you have the ability I HIGHLY recommend grabbing one of these.

• Link: Sauna Space Discount code: HBOTUSA5

SCREENS: you can put ALL your screens on NIGHT MODE.  Mine lives in this mode all the time.  If you prefer, you can schedule your phone, iPad etc to switch to night mode at a certain time.  I suggest keeping it on night mode until at least sunrise and after sunset.  This tool is in your “settings” in your devices.

Blue light blocking glasses– these are great “insurance” for when you can’t control the light in your environment.  I use these at airports, especially for early flights and red eye flights. I use them for days that are heavy on screen usage and also if we are watching movies or anything late.  You can simply look up blue light blocking glasses on amazon and pick some.  Clear and amber are great for daytime.  The red ones are for nighttime (movies in bed etc).  Check out some of my favorites here: True Dark | True Light

Put some lamps with RED bulbs in them at night. True Light Sunset Light

We have some lights in our home with regular bulbs for daytime and then light our family room with our sauna space red light and our lamps have these red light bulbs in them.

If you are a reader this is a great book light that won’t inhibit your ability to make melatonin: Amber Book Light

Just remember- NO sun, NO light.  If the sun isn’t out, your exposure to blue and white light should be minimal.  

Go out and get some sunrise and sunset light exposure.  It’s FREE and one of the MOST powerful ways to impact your circadian rhythm.  

I also LOVE lying on my HigherDose PEMF Mat at night to mellow me out.  Our whole family loves this thing and we often have to take turns with our spot.  The PEMF mat mimics the frequency of the earth and has this MAGICAL way of calming your entire nervous system. It’s also warm which is just oh so soothing! You can read more about it here: HigherDose PEMF Mat and use code: SONNERS for an epic discount.

Feel free to message me any questions .  This is hands down one of my favorite topics and makes such a HUGE impact on your life!