Sleep Deprived? 4 Easy Steps for a Good Night's Sleep

This week we launched the 4 Self Care program with more than 110 people participating via our private Facebook Group or on their own with emailed worksheets. The first week of the program focuses on getting adequate, good quality sleep, and together we've had some great learnings in these first few days. My main takeaway is that just like babies and small children need sleep routines, we as adults do, too! Here's a simple 4 Step Plan (created with help from all the awesome 4SC peeps) to setting yourself up for a good night's sleep:

1. Make a Plan

• Decide what time you need to wake up and how many hours you need to sleep, then do the math to figure out your bedtime.
• Keep a simple sleep journal to see whether or not you're really sticking to your plan.

2. Prepare Your Brain

• Stay off the computer/TV/tablet/smartphone after dinnertime to let your brain wind down.
• Keep a notebook by your bed. Write down important thoughts that pop up so your brain isn't burdened with trying to remember them.

3. Prepare Your Body

• Take a relaxing bath (or a quick shower if you're short on time) so your body will be fresh and clean. A bath is also a great opportunity to detox with Epsom salts and/or essential oils, or you can luxuriate with bubbles :)
• Lay down on the floor in your bedroom for few yoga poses to further relax your body. Draw your knees up into your chest and rock slowly side to side to release tension in your back, then elevate your legs (up the side of your bed or up a wall) to bring calm and peacefulness to your body and mind.

4. Prepare Your Bedroom

• Set the thermostat to a cool enough temperature
• Dress your bed in fresh clean sheets
• Eliminate distractions. Leave the TV switched off (or better yet, move it to another room). Turn your phone to silent.
• Make the room dark. Address any visible LEDs and lights, like security alarm panel, the light on the iron or on your electric toothbrush, and the alarm clock. Cover or turn the devices so the light doesn't wake you up between sleep cycles.

Life is busy and things come up. You may not have time for your full sleep routine every night, but if you can get great sleep most nights of the week you're going to notice a huge improvement in how your body and mind feel.

Your energy level will be better, you'll handle stress better*, you'll be more mentally focused and sharp, and you'll be so much more productive.

Within a couple of weeks you'll feel so amazing that you'll crave going to bed early for a good night's sleep.

What's your favorite tip for a good night's sleep? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below!

XO, Zelinda

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I love you, so listen up!

Lately I've been thinking a lot about stress. Maybe partly because of our upcoming (free) 4 Self Care program, maybe partly because my kids are starting to become little people with lots of questions and I want to make sure I'm taking good care of myself so I'll be around to watch them grow.

I've been sleeping 7 - 8 hours per night for the past couple of weeks (which is a huge improvement for me), and I'm much more aware of the stress I was under now that I'm coming out from under it. Just like when I went to the beach a few weeks ago and only on the second day there did I feel my body letting go of the huge weight of stress that I'd been carrying around.

I've become convinced that we as a society have become so accustomed to our stress that we're not even aware of it. Which is really scary.

If you're like me, when you read headlines about the harmful effects of stress on the human body, you think to yourself, "Yeah, I know" and you just keep scrolling down the page. So I'm asking you to stick with me here, because I LOVE YOU and because this is IMPORTANT.

Stress is really harmful. It's really, really bad. You may think you know, but hear me out. According to an article I found on WebMD, 75-90% of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related complaints. 75-90%!

Stress can be responsible for headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, chest pain, stomach trouble, change in sex drive, trouble sleeping, diabetes, cancer, skin conditions, irritability, asthma, arthritis, depression, anxiety, and much more.

Last year the Huffington Post compiled a list of very compelling and very interesting stress-related studies. You should check it out. It REALLY drives home the point that we NEED to be monitoring and managing our stress.

As a society, we have become so focused on productivity that we deprioritize our self care.

We don't care if we're exhausted, if we've got dark circles under our eyes, or if we're on medication to manage our blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol, because we're too busy trying to work 40+ hours while also spending quality time with our kids, planning date nights, socializing with friends, doing the grocery shopping and cooking, attending kids' after-school activities, helping with homework, doing the dishes, laundry, and housekeeping, and probably more!

So I'm asking you, because I love you, to please take an honest look at your life. Take a look at how you're spending your time and whether you're taking good enough care of yourself.

Consider where you might be able to scale back your responsibilities so you can start to schedule some self care into your life. I want you to be healthy and live a long time, and I bet I'm not the only who feels that way. <3

XO, Zelinda

P.S. If you decide you'd like to make some changes and you want some support to help you get started, I'd be honored if you'd join us for our free 4 Weeks to Great Self Care program. You can find the details here.

Or if you realize that you really want to put a strong focus on managing your stress, join us for our excellent upcoming workshop, Manage Stress with Rachel Hector. You can read more about Rachel and the workshop on our Workshops page.