Sleep is an absolute game changer. If you have ever been through a time in your life when you feel like you are exercising regularly, eating good, and just can't seem to make any progress, chances are you are not recovering properly. Sleep is the body's reset button and in technical terms it is when all the magic happens.
Also, when you don't sleep enough it can mess up your hormones. It can turn on the hormones that tell you to eat more and turn off the ones that tell you to stop. When you're tired what types of foods do you crave? My guess is it does not involve vegetables and lean proteins.
I went on our local NBC station WAFF 48 and shared a few tips on how to get better sleep. Here is a clip if you would like to watch it:
To make it easier for people to remember, I like to look at from the viewpoint of the 5 senses, plus I threw in a bonus tip at the end. Here are the tips if you prefer reading over watching video:
Sight/Touch- these two senses combine as a powerful one-two punch. You basically want your bedroom to be like a cave, dark and cold. As little light as possible and the temperate between 65-68 degrees. Also, a pre-bedtime shower or bath before going into some nice, warm, clean sheets in a cold room is amazing.
Sound- white noise or a fan is perfect here. You want to avoid any stimulating music or sounds that might come from a radio or TV. I mention a specific/ridiculous example in the video clip.
Smell- diffusing the smell of lavender sets a relaxing and sleep inducing mood, so it is great for sleep
Taste- the main idea is to avoid caffeine and alcohol near bed time. A tip on caffeine- if you don't have trouble getting to sleep, but you rarely dream at night the caffeine could be messing with your sleep cycles. Try to avoid caffeine within 9 hours of bed time.
And alcohol can be great to get you to sleep, but is not great about keeping you asleep. Much poorer sleep quality. Studies have shown that drinking chamomile tea can be beneficial because it can have a mild tranquilizer effect on people. And who doesn't want to be tranquilized like Mr. T on the A Team?
Bonus- One that is an extremely effective tip is to do a brain dump before bed. Get a pen and some paper and write down all the random stuff you need to get out of your head. Kids' activities, work assignments, errands, etc... that you need to do that next day. You want to get it all out so you don't have that terrible moment when you wake up in the middle of the night worrying you will forget to put the trash out in the morning.
I am always open for learning what other people do for their sleep routine. So I would appreciate if you could please share any sleep tips you have!