What the health: part 18 - How to stay healthy continued ...

This is part 18 of ‘What the health’ series. You can find earlier parts here – part1, part2, part3, part4,  part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8,  part 9, part 10, part 11, part12, part13, part14, part15, part16, part 17

3. Sleep (3)

How do you ensure a good night’s sleep -

• Shutdown your computer, cell phone, and TV at least an hour before you go to bed. No gadgets on the bedside.


• Save your bedroom for sleep, rather than work, dining or entertainment.


• Create a bedtime ritual. It's not the time to tackle big issues. Instead, take a warm bath, meditate, or read.


• Stick to a schedule, waking up and retiring at the same time every day, even on weekends.


• Avoid eating heavy meals and alcohol close to bedtime, which may cause heartburn and make it hard to fall asleep. And steer clear of soda, tea, coffee, and chocolate after 2 p.m. Caffeine can stay in your system for 5 to 6 hours. I stopped drinking coffee completely for the last 2 years.


• Turn out the lights. Darkness cues your body to release the natural sleep hormone melatonin, while light suppresses it.

I do have sleep issues - I am oversensitive to sounds, any small sound wakes me up and if I wake up in the middle of the night I have a hard time going back to sleep again (mostly thoughts keep in awake). So the thing that helped me the most with my sleep issues is the app InsightTimer - it has loads of guided sleep meditations/ hypnosis. I absolutely love it, Glenn Harrold’s meditations are my most favorite. Whenever I am having trouble sleeping I play his sleep hypnosis and sleep like a baby… no more sleeping pills for me.

to be continued...

Dress: Esprit

Sweater: Nordstrom Rack

Tights: DSW

Shoes: Steve Madden