It's All About The Sleep: My Routine
Some of you may be interested in what I do to get to sleep each night. Well I've put together a list of what it takes to get me and my husband to sleep and I'm convinced some of these things will work for you too!
First of all, I'm no stranger to the devastation that poor sleep can cause. My brother has had sleep apnea since he was a child and both my parents have sleep issues. My husband is a chronic insomniac; and for the last 2 years I've had an extremely hard time staying asleep! About 15 years ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, but I have been able to decrease that problem significantly with an anti-inflammatory diet and by using some of these tips and tricks!
The Sleepy Facts
Before we go over my sleep routine, lets go over some sobering facts about sleep disturbance:
- Over 60% of depressed patients had sleep disturbances. So this begs the question: Is the depression caused by the sleep issues or vice versa?
- Low sleep quality is linked with slow motor skills, reduced memory and poor decision making.
- Sleep disturbances shorten your life! If you have sleep issues, start to make small changes TODAY.
My Sleeping Routine
OK, here are the tips and tricks we are currently implementing at our house that make up my nightly sleeping routine:
We use black-out curtains in the bedroom. We just moved to another house, so I'm thinking about getting these gorgeous black-out curtains for our bedroom.
We both use F.lux or other blue-blockers on our phones and computers.
We use soft red light from salt lamps in our bedroom.
For white noise, we use an inexpensive box fan. The fan drowns out the sounds of passing cars and the neighbor's dog.
I can't say it enough times: Magnesium, magnesium, magnesium...We both use magnesium supplements. My husband loves the Calm Magnesium powder. I have been experimenting with magnesium baths on top of magnesium citrate supplements.
Of course, we are both taking glycine right before bed. That is a miracle powder for sure!
Our newest addition to bio-hacking our sleep cycles is our Sleep Number Bed. I can't say I like the smell of the new mattress, but so far (the last 3 nights) I have had less back pain.
That's it! These things are simple, but combined together they make it easy for me and my husband to fall asleep and get a full night's rest. I challenge all of you reading this right now to take at least one of these tips or tricks and start implementing it tonight!
Need Help?
I would love to hear about what is working and not working for your sleep routines! Comment below or give me a call. Do you need some customized guidance for managing your sleep? Set up a consultation with me and we will sort out all the variables.
For additional recipes, biohacking tips and lifestyle hacks -- check out my other blog on my coaching site www.cleancoachcarly.com! I post weekly about nutrition and lifestyle topics, all backed by science. Happy Reading!
