My 5 Curfews For A Great Sleep
You have likely heard me talk about the 4 Wheels of Great Health being Sleep, Mind, Movement and Food.
When one wheel is out of balance then it affects all the other Wheels of Good Health. It is important that we try as best we can to have a balanced life in these four areas.
One of the Wheels of Health that really affects the others is lack of sleep. If your sleep “wheel” is out of balance then it affects all the other areas of health. For example, if you have poor or little sleep, then it affects your energy the next day. Due to lack of energy, you may reach for some extra coffee’s during the day, may not eat as well as you typically do, and may not feel like working out. Then this becomes a cycle as due to too much caffeine, not tiring the body through a good workout and eating poorly, you once again have a lousy sleep the next night. This results in a vicious cycle of unhealthy eating, stress, lack of activity and once again poor sleep.
Therefore, although all “wheels” are important and we should pay attention to all of them, I find that lack of sleep affects all other areas of health. Therefore today I wanted to share what I think are the 5 Curfews of a good sleep. By Curfew, I mean the time prior to bed that we should stop doing certain things or it will affect our sleep.
1.Exercise – B.T. minus 3 hours
You would know that I am a really big promoter of exercise. In fact I try to do some form of “movement” every day even if it is light activity such as walking or hiking. However exercise in the evening or close to bed time is not a good as it activates the sympathetic nervous system and increases the heart rate which makes it difficult to get to sleep. Therefore my Curfew for exercise is no working out or strenuous physical activity within 3 hours of bedtime
2.Phone – B.T. minus 1 hour
In todays world I find most of us check our phones all hours of the day as this seems to be the norm. If you read my blog regularly you would know that first and foremost I turn off my phone or put it on “Airplane” mode all night long and actually leave it downstairs. In addition, I have my phone set to “night shift” so it eliminates the Blue-White light from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. This way all the harmful light rays that keep us awake at night are eliminated. In addition, my Curfew for shutting my phone off is 1 hour before bed time.
3.Screens – B.T minus 1 hour
Like my phone, I keep my computer set on “night shift” from 6:00 p.m. through 6:00 a.m. to reduce the harmful light exposure that affects our sleep. In addition, my Curfew for my computer or any screens is to shut them down a minimum of 1 hour prior to bedtime.
4.Coffee – B.T minus 7 hours
I am a strong connoisseur of good coffee and really enjoy my organic Americano or coffee every day. In fact I typically have 2-3 cups of java per day. Coffee however does affect our sleep negatively (unless you are genetically a fast coffee processor). Therefore, I try to not have any coffee past 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon.
5.Eating
Like exercise, I am a strong lover of eating! However I am sure you have all had the experience of eating right before bed and the havoc it plays on our sleep. Sleep is a time for the body to regenerate and rebuild energy and it difficult to do this if you body is busy processing food all night long. That is why when you eat a big meal prior to going to sleep you don’t feel well in the morning. Therefore, when I am able, I try to have my meal a minimum of 3 hours prior to bedtime. Therefore my Curfew for eating dinner is bedtime minus 3 hours.
Those are my simple “Curfews” and I would suggest that you try all 5 and see the amazing impact it has on your sleep. For further tips on 5 natural remedies for a great sleep, you can access it here:http://kevinbradyhealth.ca/5-natural-remedies-for-a-great-sleep/
Wishing you a great restful sleeps,
Kev
