Hey, hey everyone...I hope you were able to find some tips in Part 1 of How to Get a Good Night Sleep Without Medicine that helped you. I know you want to hear more about it.
Now let’s dig in.
Finding your peaceful slumber is key to feeling rested in the morning, but you might still have thoughts from your day running through your mind. You may even be thinking about tomorrow after you just spent time prepping for your morning.
Now it’s time for you!!
Taking the time to focus on your self care can do wonders when helping you find your balance. It is so important!
4. Do Some Yoga or Stretching
Doing yoga and stretching really helps me to find my center. It helps me turn inward and focus on myself.
I like to use a yoga mat. This helps me get a good grip and helps me keep my balance. If you have never taken a yoga live class before, and don’t know where to start, try a yoga video.
I still use a video whenever I do a yoga or stretching activity...I like the gentle reminders of when to breath, what moves to make and how to make any adjustments, to keep getting the best stretch.
5. Meditate and Journal
This is the time to focus on you and connecting within yourself. You do not need to worry about doing it right. You just need to pause and reflect.
5 minutes!!
That’s it, of course, you can do more if it feels right for you.
Start by focusing on your breathing, then focus on your senses. It’s ok if your mind wanders, just notice how you think and feel.
Now journal...write down what thoughts or feelings you experienced as you meditated. Look back at the end of the month and see how you have changed.
6. Take a Warm Bath or Shower
Taking a warm bath or shower can help turn your mind off and move you into a state of relaxation. Make sure that your bath or shower isn’t too hot, that can cause skin irritation. It just needs to be a few degrees warmer than your body temperature.
This can trick your body into thinking that the room is cool, even if you didn’t turn down the temperature. Going into a cool room can be a signal that it is time for rest and sleep.
Plus, a nice bath or shower just feels so good. You can even think of it as washing your day off, and clearing your mind before you go to sleep.
Join my Facebook group Naturally Chic Moms for more great wellness ideas. We are a fun community of moms supporting each other on our journey to find balance.
More tips to come in Part 3...even more great ideas will be added to your toolbox.
Do you ever just lie in bed waiting for sleep to come...but it just doesn’t seem to ever get there.
Have you ever had your mind race so much that it just prevented you from drifting off into your peaceful slumber?
I have spent some restless nights trying to find sleep, but it didn’t want to find me. I am a natural kind of lady...so I like to find natural ways to find my 40 winks.
Are you ready to hear about my top ways to feel rested??? I thought so.
Have a Consistent Bedtime
How do you make sure that you are going to bed at the same time everyday?? Well, the answer is easier than you think...Set an Alarm!!
I am not talking about your alarm for waking up. I am talking about a reminder to let you know that it’s time to finish up all of the things from your day that you need to...and focus on getting to bed.
Oh, and did I mention that it is best to be consistent on the weekends too?? Your body loves consistency, so give it a try, and see if the next week is just a little easier to get into the bedtime routine.
Turn off Electronic Devices & TVs
I know this one can be tough for some of us, but the blue lights from our devices can trick our brains into thinking that it is daytime.
For any afternoon or early evening screen-time try some blue blocker glasses. They help cut out some of the blue light. I have it on my prescription lenses and it helps me out.
Avoid watching upsetting or stressful TV shows. I know I have been kept up because I caught a glimpse of a zombie. I do not like stressful TV...give me a feel good show any day. Even the news can cause restlessness, so watch those shows when your mind is running, and not when you are crawling into bed!!
Prep for Tomorrow
Take the time to get ready for tomorrow tonight. Your mind will have an easier time calming down if you aren’t laying there thinking of everything you need to do in the morning.
You can even make a checklist of your nightly prep, that way you can breeze through it.
Here are a few things to get you started:
Set out your clothes for tomorrow.
Prep tomorrow’s lunch.
Get the coffee maker ready (and turn the timer on)!!
Put any important papers/files in your work briefcase/bag.
Have your kids set out their clothes.
Are the backpacks/diaper bags all packed and ready to go (is that planner/note signed?).
Other (Do you need something special for a meeting or field trip?)
Join my Facebook group Naturally Chic Moms for more great wellness ideas. We are a fun community of moms supporting each other on our journey to find balance.
More tips to come in Part 2...start with these and more great ideas will be added to your toolbox.
I am a mom of two boys and a military wife. Our family is always in flux, as there are always weekend drills, military training, military schools and deployments. It can be stressful, always changing roles. Expectations of my role as a Mom varies so much when we are all together compared to when Dad is away, sometimes my role is part of a team and sometimes I walk in the shoes of a “single mom” with the perk of an extra income.
With deployments comes new responsibilities for me as a mom. I was having difficulty
adjusting to my new role. I was having panic attacks, night terrors and I couldn’t shut my mind off of the unknown. No one knew how the year would go. And to top it off, my oldest was going to be a Middle Schooler...eek! There were so many changes all at one time, and there was no guidebook showing me how to navigate these uncharted waters. I felt pulled in every direction, between working and home.
Then I decided I needed to take control. I began the process of getting all of the chemicals and toxins out of our home. One of the first things I looked at was the food we were eating. We had so many prepackaged meals, so we began to switch to more home cooked meals. I bought a few cookbooks and started exploring meal planning. My favorite cookbook was Magnolia Table. It is so good!! It was a slow transition, but soon we had a list of great recipes that we all liked. The boys even started requesting their favorites when I would start to plan out what the next week looked like.
Now, we have so many “fan favorites,” I can easily find recipes that everyone likes. As I continue this journey, I strive to make every meal with love and help my family to live a fresh and healthy life. I am working towards expanding my family's natural living beyond food and into the rest of our home. This is my journey, it is sometimes slow, but we are always steadily improving and putting one foot in front of the other.
