Sleep plays an essential role in the Beauty Detox Lifestyle because it keeps you looking and feeling your best. We all need amazing sleep like we need excellent nutrition. Yet unfortunately, many of us do NOT get great sleep! That is why I wanted to talk about tips to help with a very important sleep issue: insomnia.
I want to remind you that sleep is important in creating your most amazing life, so I want to help you try to achieve the sleep you need, naturally. When your body is well rested, you are not only able to function better, but you will be amazed at how much more efficient you are in the tasks you perform.
So let me ask you a question. Have you found yourself having a hard time either falling asleep of staying asleep for at least 3 nights a week for three months or longer? If so, you may be struggling with insomnia. If you are not having extreme symptoms you may have a less aggressive form of insomnia know as acute insomnia.
The CDC has released information that more research needs to be done on continued public health surveillance of sleep quality, duration, behaviors, and disorders in order to monitor sleep difficulties and their health impact. This research will help provide us with more information and understanding behind, why our bodies can’t sleep [1]!
Before you jump to pop a pill I want to share with you some Beauty Detox tips that you can try to reduce and improve your insomnia. This is a great idea because you won’t have to worry about nasty side effects that can happen with supplements for sleep.
I talk a lot about beauty sleep in my latest book Radical Beauty, Which I co-authored with Deepak Chopra. Peak Beauty Sleep is Pillar 3, and we discuss in much greater depth all kinds of tips for helping to elevate the quality of your sleep long-term, ensuring you get that truly deep and rejuvenative sleep.
Trouble sleeping? You might relate to the following of these symptoms: (And if you are really struggling/dealing with this long-term, you might want to talk to your doctor about further treatments [2].)
- Difficulty falling asleep
- Difficulty staying asleep throughout the night
- Trouble getting back to sleep
- Not feeling refreshed after sleep
- Feelings of fatigue
- Struggles concentrating
- Mood swings, aggression and irritability
It is important to work to improve your sleep issues as, our bodies are governed by a biological clock, and we rely on it for the regulation of our metabolic processes, such as our hormone levels, blood sugar levels, body temperatures, metabolism, immunity, etc.
Faulty sleep patterns could impede surges of growth hormone, which we need to promote lean muscle tissue and the burning of body fat. Inadequate sleep also forces cortisol levels to rise, which can quicken fat storage, especially around the belly area!
Everything suffers if we don’t get adequate sleep! You’ll feel crabby and sloth-like during the day, and won’t have as much energy to go for your dreams. To help combat the energy slumps you will also be more apt to reach for snacks and more food— even though it is more sleep that you need, NOT more food!
There are many factors that could cause you to experience insomnia. I want to share a few simple tips off the bat, that could help ease your sleep troubles. A portion of these tips are also supported by the National Sleep Foundation as well [3].
- Eat dinner 2-4 hours before bedtime. Do your best, and eat as early as is feasible for you. Be sure your dinners are of the best food combining possible (more on that later). As a general rule, avoiding eating complex starches with heavy proteins, instead focus on foods that help burn fat. We want our digestion to be as easy as possible and not impede our sleep or rest at all!
- Avoid drinking any caffeine (a stimulant)- in the evenings. This includes coffee of course, as well as green and black teas. Remember raw cacao has some caffeine, so if you are having your raw cacao truffles or raw vegan hot chocolate for desert, just be sensible in limiting the amounts and again, have dinner as early as possible.
- A cup of warm almond milk before bedtime is very soothing, and contains magnesium and calcium, which can be helpful for falling asleep. Zzzzzzzzz!
- Read a book: I always read daily (even if it’s only time for a few pages!), whether it be new studies or new information that I can offer to you. But I make it a point when I go to sleep to take a little time to read something that is just for me. Me reading! Spiritual stuff is what I love to read at night myself, whether it’s books by Yogananda or Dr. David Hawkins, it helps put me in an extra peaceful state as I get ready for sleep time.
- Take a hot shower before bed. There is a signal to your body that it is bedtime, created by the rise in body temperature followed by the decline in the core temperature. I take one every night! And I find it immensely helpful. I like to imagine the stream of water also as white light flushing away the stress and other peoples’ energy from the day, off my body and down the drain. It soothes my muscles, which are always sore from yoga :) and makes me feel fresh and restored.
- Make sure your bedroom is cool- a warmer temperature creates a harder sleep environment. I sleep with my air filter on “turbo mode” which makes a pleasant white sound and produces cool air! As mentioned above, I also talk in more detail about this in Radical Beauty.
- Make sure you don’t have any electrical appliances plugged in in in your bedroom. One of the key themes we talked about on a recent podcast about sleep was about giving yourself enough time to relax and calm down before going to sleep. You want to be able to create separation from work and sleep. It is really important to stop using all electronics at least an hour before going to bed. In reality, I know we will all do a final check on our phones before turning in, but do try to keep it a few seconds versus starting a new search or writing an email you can surely put off until tomorrow.
Remember, all of us have trouble falling asleep sometimes- or for some of us it is a chronic problem. We live in such a fast-paced world, with so many sensory elements pulling us this way and that, it is no wonder that it difficult for us to shut everything off at the end of the day and immediately pass out!
So we must be conscious of the root causes of our sleep problems and work to correct them- rather than put a band-aid (and an unnatural and liver-harming one at that!), on the issue and resort immediately to the multiple varieties of sleep pills available to us today!
I hope the tips I shared with you today are helpful and wishing you wonderful beauty sleep.
In love and health,
Kimberly
[1] Insufficient Sleep: A Public Health Problem
[2] National Sleep Foundations – Symptoms
[3] Healthy Sleep Tips
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