Hi,
It's Barbara.
I'm a certified health and life coach and hopefully you've been following along.
This is actually the sixth part of a series I'm doing about caregiving and caregivers.
My personal experience with caregiving comes from caring for my late husband as he battled a rare form of cancer.
And as I've mentioned,
At the time my two sons were about aged four and six.
Caregiving though takes many forms and I'm thinking today of a mom I know who is in year eight of caring for her son with type 1 diabetes.
Perhaps you're caring for your own parents.
I think for many of us we don't choose this role.
It's foisted upon us and we find ourselves caregiving day in and day out.
It's the constant flow of caring going out the toll of the constant giving that's on my mind today.
As a health coach I see this all the time with my clients that constant giving really wears the giver down.
The theme of this talk is remembering the importance of the basics.
I want to think about going back to basics,
Really shoring yourself up.
That's going to enable you to be the strongest caregiver you can be.
When I'm talking about the basics,
One of the real basics is sleep.
Now let's focus on that mom caring for her type 1 diabetic son.
Now for her many nights are interrupted.
There's sounding alarms,
There's adjustments to be made to his pump,
There's checks to be performed.
So it is inevitable that good uninterrupted sleep is impossible.
And this may be the case for you too.
However,
I still think it's an area that we shouldn't give up on.
We should try to focus on.
We should strive for getting the most sleep and the best sleep that is possible.
I was laughing the other day with someone about something some of us take from childhood.
It's kind of this carry over feeling of resentment when maybe your mom and dad said it was time for bed and gave you a bedtime.
And it's as if the back of your mind is saying I don't have to go to bed now.
I'm an adult.
I can do whatever I like.
And many of us resist turning in.
There's always one more show to watch.
There's always one more chapter to read.
Or maybe you feel a little bit desperate to have time to yourself after the kids are in bed or you find yourself with just a little window with a quiet house.
But I'm here to suggest that you shift your thinking about sleep and choose to go to bed.
Think of it as a gift.
I wanted to go through three techniques today to get you in the mood to sleep.
And there are many more and I'm sure you've heard these before.
But again,
I want this talk to focus on going back to basics.
Now I said you may have heard these before,
But I have one that's new to me.
I was just reading an article in sleepreviewmag.
Com and according to a sleep researcher named Glen Landry,
The idea is to wear sunglasses inside for about an hour or more before you're planning to go to bed.
And what that does is it alerts your brain that it is bedtime.
You know,
The low lighting really alerts your brain.
And other than looking a little strange,
What have you got to lose by trying it?
I'd really love to hear if it works for you.
Please let me know in the reviews.
And when I studied at the Health Coach Institute,
They suggest a good one.
It's called the power down hour,
Where you turn off all your electronics for one hour before bed.
And I must admit this,
This is a difficult one for me personally.
But there's so much research backing this up.
And now with coaching,
You know,
If you worked with me privately,
You will hear me say it's all about taking tiny steps.
So if powering down for an hour seems too daunting,
Start with 15 minutes and work your way up.
Finally,
The third one is one I think is of particular relevance to caregivers.
I know it's worked for me personally.
The idea is to have a notebook by the bed.
And just before you go to bed,
You can capture all your,
You know,
Quote,
To do's all your worries,
All your appointments or tasks for the next day.
It's a way to let your brain off the hook.
Like there's no need to keep all that to do list swirling around in your in your head,
Your brain can relax because it's captured on the list.
So to recap,
Three ways to get you in the sleep state of mind,
Wearing your sunglasses at night,
Powering off your electronics,
And jotting down your to do list.
I want to end with a quote from a website called sleep is good medicine.
Com.
And it says,
Sleep can sometimes feel like self care that can wait or a reward that you need to earn.
But the opposite is true.
Did you know that while you sleep your body is busy healing and repairing itself,
Learning and actively preventing chronic diseases.
That's how help healthy sleep makes you feel refreshed and ready to take on tomorrow.
And how healthy sleep can help you lead a longer more fulfilling life.
Thanks for tuning in and I wish you good night.
Sleep tight.
