Excerpt from Your Sleep Sweet Spot
So, How do you start your path to better sleep?
Easier than you think. With Rituals You Control. There is no shortage of books, services, articles, and general advice on improving sleep. Most of this sleep information is repetitive. No wonder people get frustrated and give up. Too many people are still suffering from some type of sleep issue. The purpose of the actual ritual and routine section is to take what does work from what currently exists and add what is missing from current sleep advice.
For instance, this book talks about the sleep cycles that are not considered normal, unlike most others that suggest that you go to sleep at 10 pm and wake up at 6 am full of energy every day. This simply isn’t realistic or even healthy for most people. However, sleep advice takes this human-made standard (early to sleep early to rise) as the only and best sleep schedule for everyone. We know this is not so. Sleep research is still evolving.
The bad news is: It’s going to take time for sleep experts to include sleep routines that address the millions of natural night owls, shift sleepers, day people who need more sleep than the standard eight hours. We are worthy of a sleep routine that accounts for individual differences.
The good news is: I've already started with Your Sleep Sweet Spot.
We need to change the current sleep culture with more urgency because people are suffering thinking they are doing something wrong because they need more sleep or to sleep different hours because of the belief by the research community that the above are so are.
I suggest that although we do need a predictable routine, being rigid about it is counterproductive. We need to work with what we have: an ever-changing world, individual differences, other health conditions, different types of work, technological advancements, global interconnection, unforeseen events, and other cultural factors that make going to sleep at the same time every night unrealistic.
So what can you do to make any new ways of thinking about sleep work for you? The basic technique for your sleep sweet spot will include:
1. Making sleep a priority in your life because of its importance.
2. Use mindfulness as an integral part of your everyday life.
3. Remind yourself to breathe on purpose. Practice conscious breathing as part of your rituals and mindfulness.
4. Include healthy foods and supplements that work with your body, age, and specific needs.
5. Move in healthy days. You may call it exercise, workouts, or simply healthy daily physical tune-ups. And add a dash of gratitude every time you can and ideally regularly and gently increase the frequency of thankfulness.
Equally important
1. Don’t give up
2. Remember your sweet sleep spot is yours and yours only
3. Try to think differently from what we’ve been told about most of the sleep information out there or tweak it to work for you
4. Try some of what I suggest and consider that maybe, just maybe, what happens in our sleep isn’t just physical. It is mental, emotional, and spiritual. Yes spiritual!
5. Consider taking this whole good sleep project as a “holistic” enjoyable process that will improve every area of your life.
6. Again, don’t give up; you deserve good restorative sleep.
In order to have health, we need homeostasis[1]/balance. A life of extremes is not sustainable.
[1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-homeostasis/ Your Sleep Sweet Spot.
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Wishing You Wholeness
Diana Navarro, Empath, with Non-24
~M.S.in Industrial/Organizational Psychology,
~Certified Sleep Science Coach,
~Interior Designer, Dip.Int.Des.
~Certified in Content Management
~Feng Shui Consultant
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