Sleeping Well
This is one of the most critical elements in our lives. It can make us great or it can slow us down and make us sick. Getting a poor night sleep leaves us with a weaker immune system, impairs our memory, and increases our stress hormone cortisol. That doesn’t sound like a great path to success. Most of us work best on 7-9 hours of sleep. Some need a little more and some need a little less. Here are some tips to help change your sleep habits for the upcoming 2015 year.
Sleep in the dark.Most of us encounter some form of light during our night sleep.Get rid of your night lights and cover the light coming from your clock.If you happen to wake up to use the bathroom don’t turn on any lights.
Keep it cool in the bedroom.Optimum sleep occurs between 60-68 degrees.
Get any and all electronic devices away from your bed.This includes alarm clocks, phones, iPad, etc.
Put all of your electronic devices in airplane mode.
Do not put a TV in your bedroom.Do not watch TV directly before bed.This disrupts the center in the brain that adjusts your sleep and wake cycles and decreases the amount of melatonin (sleep hormone) that is secreted from your Pineal gland.
I have always marveled at the fact that dogs very rarely get seasonal infections, but every year many of us have multiple and recurrent infections to deal with. Granted a dog has little to no stress, but a dog also sleeps for a much larger percentage of its day than we do. Sleep has more to do with our health then we think. I hope everyone has gained some useful information and have a Happy and Healthy New Year.