A key to health and well-being is getting a good night's sleep.
Getting a good night's sleep means having a really healthy bedtime routine,
Making sure in the evening that you're well rested and you create a bridge experience between your normal everyday work life,
Family life,
Social life into time for sleep.
So I want to go over just very simply five tips for sleep hygiene as they call it to get a proper sleep.
Number one is your room,
Your sleep environment.
Take a look,
Make sure it's dark,
It's a good temperature,
They're normal,
A little cool.
You want to make sure your bed is not too soft.
A lot of people in the West tend to have very soft beds which could be problematic for the back.
How's your pillow?
Making sure the room gets dark.
Second is create a consistent bedtime and the truth is most people stay up too late.
You want to give yourself enough time to sleep at least seven hours while also waking up early.
Third is turn off your electronic devices anywhere from one to two hours before time for bed.
That doesn't mean you need to necessarily turn it off.
It means you don't want to be looking at any screens close to bedtime.
That blue light keeps the brain thinking it's the daylight.
It suppresses melatonin,
That key hormone that helps us sleep.
So turning off those electronics.
And then another thing,
The fourth point is food.
When to eat.
The recommendation is to not eat dinner within three hours of bed.
So give yourself space,
Eat a little earlier if you're used to eating late.
And some people need like a little bit of a light snack.
A light snack is fine,
Say an hour before bed.
What we'd want is just not to have any heavy meals.
So creating that space between your dinner and time for sleep.
The fifth tip is to create this really relaxing routine that might include say a warm shower or bath and then most importantly a little light stretching and a relaxing meditation.
Some people also like to do a little bit of reading before bed.
I'm a big fan of some reading.
Just make sure it's nothing too heavy,
Not a thriller that's gonna keep you too engaged or something a little scary that keeps the mind a little bit high-wired.
So then once again just to reiterate the five points,
Five tips for healthy sleep.
Create a nice sleep environment that's dark,
Good mattress,
Good pillow,
Good temperature.
Get a consistent bedtime routine and my recommendation is most people should go to sleep a little earlier.
You want to be in bed for say eight to nine hours every evening looking to get at least seven hours sleep.
You want to turn off looking at your electronics.
You want to eat three hours before bed and create a nice light stretching meditation routine for time for sleep.
Thanks for joining.
