Sleep 101

The way you sleep affects your entire life from the way you feel to the way you are productive (or not!)

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So today it’s time to change your sleeping habits and living your days full of energy and focus!

How much *should* you sleep?

We all know that the recommended hours of sleep are between 7 and 9 hours but it doesn’t apply to everyone.

The golden rule is to get at least 7 hours of sleep so stick within that range and you’re good to go!

*Tip*: Keep a Sleep Journal and write down how much you’ve slept and how you have felt during the day, this will help you understand how many hours your body needs to be recharged!

Have a sleeping schedule

If you need to wake up every morning at 7am try to go to bed at the same time every night to make sure you get enough sleep (according to what I previously stated).
And please, PLEASE don’t set 11239472 alarms on your phone! That is not going to help you AT ALL! Set one alarm at the time you *must* wake up and another one 10min earlier, and that’s it!

*Tip*: use the “Sleep” feature on your iPhone to track your sleep and have the “bedtime” automatically set up, or you could download an app to do it like Sleep Cycle.

Let your body know it’s time to sleep

Our body is made to live according to the natural environment and the warm lights of the sunset are a sign for the body that it’s time to rest (thanks to melatonin!)
Living constantly with shining blue lights in front of our eyes (coming from phone and tv screens) the “natural clock” in our body is pretty confused.
So try to set the lights in your house with a more warm toned color and make it cozy.

*Tip*: while working late at night use Screen Shader a great Chrome extension I’ve talked about a few months ago (ps: check the post here )

Calm your body and mind

Before bed-time try some yoga to “stretch the stress away” from your body and/or try to meditate; I assure you you’ll feel so calm and relaxed that you’ll fall asleep like a baby!
*TIP*: if it works for you try to listen to some ASMR videos, it works like a charm! (you could also listen to white noises, Calm is a great app for this!)

Let Mother Nature help you

Lavender is not only a beautiful flower but also it’s super good for your sleep!
Every night I put a few drops of essential oil in my oil diffuser, a couple hours before bedtime, it works wonders! (and it smells sooooo good!)
*TIP*: you could buy a skin-safe lavender oil and rub it on your wrists and on your pillow, it works even better!

No more long naps!

In the afternoon after a good lunch and maybe a walk in the park, it’s so hard to not lay down and take a nap! I am guilty of that!
But while short power naps are actually useful for our body, taking a long nap (for more than 30min) is really going to affect your sleep.

What do you think about these tips? If you know other good ones please share them in the comment section and if you enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends! Let’s all sleep better~

xoxo