Declaimer: I am not a medical doctor. All information shared in this post is based on personal experience and research. If you have a serious sleep related issue, please seek medical help.
Getting good sleep is something our family values quite highly. We often ask each other how our sleep was when we greet each other in the mornings. Good deep sleep does more good for the body than many people realize. So let’s jump right in and look at some ways that we can all get good sleep naturally.
But First, do you already get good sleep?
Maybe you feel like you already get good sleep, but being that you clicked on this post, I am thinking you may need some help. Or maybe you have a loved one that needs help. So here’s a little quiz to see how well you’re really sleeping.
- Do you feel energized, renewed, and ready for the day when you first get up in the morning?
- Do you sleep between the hours of 11 pm and 1 am?
- Do you have to take sleeping pills or medication in order to get to sleep?
- Do you have to consume large quantities of alcohol to get to sleep?
- Do you have to take naps during the middle of the day in order to get through the rest of the day?
- Do you have to consume caffeine in the morning before you feel like you can get going?
If you answered “yes’ to the first two questions and “no” to the last four, you are doing great! But if you answered any of the questions differently, I encourage you to read on.
Let’s compare Good sleep to a Play
There are two things that create a really good play. The first is how the stage is set, from lighting to props to backgrounds. The stage creates the atmosphere for the whole play. The second is the story built around good characters. From my research, it seems like a lot of information on sleep focuses on setting the stage, but not on the characters. And so I will quickly mention a few important ways to set the stage, but then move on to the characters that matter so much.
Set the stage
- Avoid blue light after sundown using F.lux.
- Avoid screen time just before bed by journaling and reading a book instead.
- Aim to sleep between 10 pm and 6 am ( 11 pm – 1 am being the most important).
- Unplug everything you can before bed.
- Keep it dark and cool.
- Get up with the sun.
- Get outside in the sun and barefoot on grass in the morning as soon as possible, when possible.
- Get regular exercise doing something you enjoy.
- Avoid caffeine after 3pm.
- Avoid alcohol.
- Enjoy some warm peppermint or chamomile tea with a little stevia about an hour before bed.
- Have your last meal/snacks/drinks (other than water) of the day 3 hours before bedtime.
- See a good chiropractor to take care of any physical issues.
- Garden, garden, garden.
- Most importantly, pray.
The Characters For Deep Sleep
Every night we go through 3 – 4 cycles of sleep. The deep sleep stage is needed for physical repair and the REM sleep stage (dreaming stage) is needed for mental repair. Both periods are longest during the first two cycles. Our bodies actually go into a state of “paralysis” during REM in order to make repairs. Vitamin D3, K2, and B vitamins are essential for making sure the body goes through that stage properly. The best source of vitamin D3 is sunshine. And the best sources for vitamin K2 and B vitamins are healthy gut bacteria.
A healthy gut for good sleep
If good bacteria in the gut are responsible for many of the keys vitamins needed for good sleep, then we would all do well to keep our guts healthy. We do that by eating whole foods, clean foods, organic/non-GMO foods. Getting most of our carbs from vegetables, legumes, and sourdough bread if you can handle it also helps the gut. And it’s important to stay away from heavily processed foods, sugars, excess alcohol, and seed oils (especially hydrogenated ones).
Get out in the garden!
Perhaps the best way to boost those good sleep characters is to get out in the garden! You get the sunshine and you get some soil organisms that help your good bacteria in the gut. All your beneficial bacteria are going to love you for digging into that dirt. And the extra nutrition you get from eating your own fresh food can only help. Not to mention the benefit of exercise! Okay, so I had to mention it.
Resources:
- D3/K2:
- D3/K2 – Best source is sunshine.
- Supplement for adults – NOW D3 and K2
- Supplement for children – Joy Spring D3 and K2
- B Vitamins:
- Support your gut with clean whole foods.
- Supplement for adults – Life Extension B Complex
- Supplement for children – Joy Spring B Complex
- Magnesium:
- Supplement for adults – Double Wood Magnesium Glycinate
- Videos:
- DON’T STRESS . . . the characters don’t perform well under pressure.
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Find more healthy living posts here. And be sure to leave a comment or question below if you like. Thanks for joining me on this joyful journey!
Blessings,
Carrie
If you made it all the way down to the comment section, thank you for sticking with me. I hope your sleep is wonderful in the nights ahead.