Have you been feeling stressed out lately?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to “Sleep Like a Baby”? You’ve seen what it looks like and maybe even know what it feels like, especially if you’ve held a sleeping infant in your arms. It's that feeling of total surrender and trust, as the little one nods off into a state of complete slumber.
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| Cal and niece Nora - 2013 |
What kind of sleep are you getting? Is it restless or restful?
With recent changes to my sleep schedule, I'm getting to bed an hour earlier and getting up earlier. It's giving me more time to write before the rest of my day kicks in. I’m a morning person and more words are getting on the page, but it's taking a bit of practice to get my mind to slow down ahead of time in order to get to sleep. To help this along, I’ve done a little exploring on the subject and discovered that getting a good night’s sleep is more important than I’d ever imagined like:
Quality Sleep is Life Changing.
According to Medline Plus, a good night’s sleep can help you:
⦁ Feel rested and energetic the next day.
⦁ Learn information, get insight, and form memories.
⦁ Give your heart and vascular system a rest.
⦁ Release more growth hormone, which helps children grow. It also boosts muscle mass and the repair of cells and tissues in children and adults.
⦁ Keep from getting sick or help you get better when you are sick, by creating more cytokines (hormones that help the immune system fight various infections).
Fostering a Good Night's Sleep
Sources recommend things like:
⦁ Going to bed and waking up the same time each day.
⦁ Exercise during the day, but not too close to bedtime.
⦁ Less caffeine.
⦁ A cool room to sleep in.
⦁ A good quality mattress.
Monitor Your Sleep
Maybe by keeping a daily sleeping journal - write down what’s going on in your life, as well as, how well you’ve slept. If you’re a visual person, like me, you might find a smart band like Xiaomi Mi Band or a Fitbit Charge 4 beneficial. Recently I purchased a Xiaomi Mi Band 5. It monitors my heart rate throughout the day, as well as, gives me a read out on how I’m doing with their 3 stages of sleep: Light, Deep and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. With some of the suggestions mentioned above and using the resources below, I’m getting better quality sleep and higher scores on my new smart watch. If you, need help with getting a better night’s sleep, then join me in my quest to “Sleep Like a Baby” by checking out the resources below. Maybe you've already getting quality sleep or have been working on it. If so, I'd appreciate knowing what's worked for you.
