Too many Americans and Canadians are walking around sleep deprived. One of the simplest ways to relieve stress is to learn good sleep habits.
Cutting back on sleep can be a dangerous act and “Women are twice as likely as men to have difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep. ”http://www.emedicinehealth.com/sleep_disorders_in_women/article_em.htm
Who me? Sleep deprived?
Plus women who have children and employment are more sleep deprived than those without. To that end Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post and Cindi Leive of Glamour magazine encourage women to commit to sleep more. Huffington and Leive recently gave permission to women to go to bed earlier, stay longer and have a blessed nap.
Huffington reported a wakeup call when she collapsed from exhaustion resulting in a broken cheekbone and stitches over her eye. In addition to making you more accident prone walking around sleep deprived can make you vulnerable to headaches, illness, stress in bones and muscle, weight gain and plain grouchiness. That then affects your energy to face challenges, to create harmonious relationships and to make wise decisions. When I don’t get enough sleep my head feels as if it was filled with toilet paper.
Consider that sleep deprivation is used to torture prisoners. It makes the prisoner crazy and willing to admit to anything. We need to have our brains functioning to face the challenges we’ve taken on.
Dr Michael Breus, Ph.D., author of Beauty Sleep: Look Younger, Lose Weight, and Feel Great Through Better Sleep recommends a minimum of 7.5 hours of sleep. Experiment yourself to find the correct amount for you. I need 8 to 9 hours while my husband does well on 7.5 to 8 hours. And I’m not lazy. We need to get that kind of negative self chatter out of our head if we want to function at our most powerful, creative and resilient best.
Sleep Cures:
- Go to bed at a consistent time, after brushing your teeth, washing your face and saying “I love you,” if not to a lover, to yourself.
- Develop some relaxing bedtime rituals like bubble baths, listening to soothing music, light reading, star or navel gazing.
- Exercise earlier in the day rather than revving your body into high speed at night.
- Be selective about your TV viewing—Arnold Schwarzenegger seldom sings lullabies.
- Minimize alcohol as it can disturb your stages of sleep, even creating a wake up and internal alarm bell startle in the middle of the night. Avoid that kind of Ding Dong.
- Minimize stimulants like caffeine and nicotine. Instead try some warm milk or chewing on some Tums—calcium calms.
- Remember Phyllis Diller’s advice to “Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.” Sort out your problems rather than take them into your dream world.
- If you’re lucky enough to sleep with someone, have a snuggle up against that person’s heart beat. It can warm your ticker and calm your mind. Babies know how to do this and you can relearn.
- If that lucky bed partner snores loudly, give yourself permission to sleep in separate bedrooms for sleep.
- If you have spinny thoughts in your head, breathe and focus on your feet, even rubbing your feet on the sheets. We want your excess energy moved down lower in your body. It’s called “grounding yourself.”
- Designate a WORRY CHAIR somewhere outside your bedroom to dump your daily troubles. Pick them up in the morning–if you must.
- If your troubles are large, to the point of continued sleep disturbance which may include night terrors, arrange for some counseling. You and your dear ones deserve a rested and lively YOU.
Please let me know about your experiences of sleep or fire me a question in the ”Leave a Reply” box below. I’ll be sure to respond.
Patricia Morgan is a speaker, workshop leader and author of
From Woe to WOW: How Resilient Women Succeed at Work (http://www.FromWoeToWOW.org
Contact her to help your people become stress hardy at 403-242-7796
patricia@SolutionsForResilience.com or http://www.SolutionsForResilience.com
