Holistic Secrets For Your Best Sleep (Even As A New Mom!)
One of the simplest yet most VITAL aspects of our health that is often overlooked: S L E E P! How many of you actually get at least 8 hours of quality sleep every night? Ever have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? Or suffer from headaches, anxiety, depression, or hormone imbalances? I most definitely struggled (still do sometimes) with these issues!! Especially being a nurse, it can be SO tough to actually get the sleep you need. Or as a college student, I remember the joke going around that went something like: sleep, studying, and social life….you can only pick two (that felt so true!) Well, friend, I am here to share with you ALL THE SECRETS on how to optimize your sleep in the most holistic way possible, and WHY you should prioritize sleep!
First, why is sleep so important?
It’s actually vital for so many functions in our body! Sleep helps our brains work properly. It helps with our memories, decision making, controlling emotions, problem solving, and attention span. Sleep is also involved in healing our bodies physically (literally…studies have shown that sleep disruption can prolong wound healing). It contributes to our body’s detox process, metabolism, immunity, and the healing of heart and blood vessels.
Sleep deprivation has been linked to obesity, heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and suicide.
Basically, sleep touches pretty much every aspect of our health!
Our circadian rhythm plays a HUGE role in the quality of our sleep!
Anyone remember learning about circadian rhythms in school? Our circadian rhythm is a natural, internal biological process that regulates our sleep/wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. We were created to be awake when the sun is up, and to start feeling sleepy as it goes down. When we take in sunlight through our retinas in the morning, it triggers the production of all kinds of key hormones in our bodies by stimulating our hypothalamus. Our metabolic function plays a key role in our circadian rhythms, and our metabolism is most active in the middle of the day when the sun is strongest. However, in today’s world, we spend SO LITTLE time outside in the natural light! And we have more exposure to artificial light than ever! (Does anyone else get annoyed having screens in front of them on the treadmill at the gym or while you’re tryna pump gas??)
Artificial light (such as from our phones, lap tops, iPads, etc) emits something called blue light. Blue light exposure can inhibit the release of melatonin, increase alertness, and reset our circadian rhythm. Blue light effects melatonin more than any other wavelength does, but florescent bulbs and LED light have the same effect. That’s why looking at your phone first thing in the morning seems to help you go from sleepy to awake in a matter of minutes. Screens can also increase our cortisol levels, increasing stress on our bodies. Stress in turn can make it even harder for us to fall asleep!
SO how can you naturally support quality sleep?
Since sleep affects virtually every aspect of our health, there’s lots of things you can incorporate into your daily routine to get you sleeping soundly and waking up actually feeling refreshed! (without the coffee ;))
Stress Management
Take some time to really evaluate your stress level. How much stress do you experience on the daily? What do you normally do to cope with it? One of my FAVORITE things to incorporate into my health routine is mindfulness practices. Studies show that mindfulness practices, such as meditation and yoga, can actually increase your resistance to stress! There are tons of free resources out there for mindfulness (including my FREE guided meditation you can find here!) Explore a bit and find something that works for you, then practice before bed. Whether it’s journaling, a calming yoga sequence, a guided meditation, gratitude practice, or another form of mindfulness that you enjoy, it will help quiet your mind and center your body, helping you be ready for sleep.
2. Herbal tea and essential oils
Plants are a wonderful and safe alternative to sleeping pills, and often are more effective! Lavender, chamomile, and valerian root are all great herbs to promote sleep.
Here’s some of my go-to recipes:
Essential Oils:
Grounding Blend: 3 drops frankincense, 1 drop lavender, 2 drops clary sage
Joy Blend: 2 drops orange, 2 drops lemongrass, 2 drops grapefruit
De-stress Blend: 3 drops lavender, 2 drops ylang ylang, 1 drop roman chamomile
Herbal Tea Blends:
Digestion Blend: 2 parts chamomile, 1 part dandelion, 2 parts peppermint, 1 part lavender
Anti-stress Blend: 3 parts lavender, 2 parts lemon balm, 1 part chamomile
Sleep Blend: 3 parts lavender, 3 parts valerian root, 2 parts chamomile
I offer specialized herbal and essential oil blends in my wellness consultations!
3. Light exposure
Limiting exposure to harmful blue light, especially when the sun goes down, will help promote melatonin production. As the sun sets, start dimming the lights, lighting candles around your home (beeswax is my fav!) and turn on Himalayan salt lamps to create a relaxing atmosphere. Bonus: beeswax candles and Himalayan salt lamps help with detoxifying the air :)
Blue blocking glasses help to protect against, you guessed it, blue light!
Switching your screens to “night mode” also helps protect against blue light. It basically makes your screen look more orange, and it’s way easier on your eyes! I did this to all my screens and have it in place 24/7, not just at night. I noticed it cut back on my headaches!
Minimizing screen time altogether about an hour or two before bed is best. Put down your phone and pick up a book!
Magnesium
Magnesium is an essential mineral that is important for healthy nerve and muscle function, supports the immune system, helps balance hormones, and promotes quality sleep (plus so much more!) Taking a daily magnesium supplement before bed, epsom salt baths, or magnesium lotion are all great ways to get a good night’s sleep. There’s lots of different magnesium supplements out there, but I prefer magnesium L-threonate, because in that form it is able to cross the blood brain barrier, making it much more effective.
Create your bedtime routine
Creating habits can actually create new pathways in your brain. Practicing the same sleep rituals every night will not only make it easier for you to wind down for the night, but it will actually make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep! Practice makes perfect. But, if you’re like me, your schedule may not look the same every day. When I was working as a school nurse, I was able to go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning, so I was able to practice a well established bedtime ritual. And let me tell you, it felt GREAT! Now, I work shift work at the hospital and my bedtime routine is most definitely not the same every night. I may not be able to incorporate every practice every night, but I do make an effort to keep my routine on the nights I’m not working. Even doing one or two of these steps is better than none!
A few closing thoughts…
I never realized just how impactful sleep was for my health until I prioritized it! Truly. It changed so much for me, in every aspect of my health: hormone balance, mood swings, anxiety, energy levels, digestion, skin health, immunity….seriously! I look back longingly on those “golden days” of sleep for me before I went back to shift work.
Another thing I love about implementing a sleep ritual, apart from the obvious physical and mental health benefits, is that it helps us to foster a culture of slowing down. To go against the constant message of “go-go-go” that we hear so often and is so damaging to our health. And definitely a part of that is due to my enneagram 4, striving to be counter-cultural and to stand out and be different, but also I know it has to do with actually living out and practicing what I KNOW is better for our health.
Just like everything in our health journeys, it takes time! And ya don’t need to do everything all at once (I don’t even think that would be possible or healthy!) So just start by cutting back your bed time an hour earlier, or a half hour earlier, so you can find some time to read in bed, do a quick 5 minute yoga sequence or guided mediation, or to simply put your phone away. You can do it and your body will THANK you for it! And as always, keep me updated! I’d love to hear how your journey is going!
Bonus: Sleep tips for new moms
1. If you can, nap with your babe! Even if it’s just “rest” time where you read instead of clean
2. Ditch the clock and stop looking at the time during night wakes.
3. Don’t compare with other moms and babies. Everyone is different! Some choose to sleep train, others choose not to, some babies are just heavier sleepers…..the last thing you need is a comparison trap to make you feel worse. Put up those blinders and just focus on you and your baby.
4. Add adaptogens into your daily supplements. Herbs like ashwagandha can help support your body systems while you’re running on low sleep.
5. Even if your baby’s bedtime is 6, 7, 8, 9 pm…..some nights it’s better to go to bed when your babe does! Trust me, time to yourself or with your partner are super important too. But every once in a while it’s so worth it to get that early bedtime and extra hours of sleep.