The Importance of Sleep & Weight Loss
Date:  28 November 2013   |  Author:   Liz Grayson

Getting an adequate night of sleep is an important part of life and as well an important part of weight management.  The body needs time to restore itself.   Unfortunately in today’s fast-paced world of stress falling and staying asleep and getting a solid 7-8 hours of sleep is often difficult.  Here are some simple yet powerful tips to ensure the best sleep possible.
1.  Reduce you stress prior to the hour you go to sleep
Eliminate the use of computers, emails and other work related or other stressful things at least 3 hours before your planned time to go to sleep. . It’s okay to use them for casual, fun matters just as long as they are without stress or work related. Then at least one hour prior to sleep shut down the devices as researches tell us this light could interfere with the quality of your sleep.
2. Slow down your mind
Having an overactive mind late at night can interfere with falling asleep and getting a good night of rest.  Give your mind some time to slow down prior to going to bed.  I often find reading an article or book that is not of high interest will help me fall asleep much faster than laying in bed milling over the events of the day, thinking about what I need to do tomorrow and other stress related issues.
3 Bed is for sleep and sex
You should be eating in the kitchen or dining room or living room but not the bedroom.  Watching TV should be reserved for the living room or family room.   The  bed is a place for sleep, sex and nothing else
4  Sleep in complete darkness
Any light can disturb sleep both before and during sleep. To eliminate this ensure the room you sleep in is completely dark during the night.  What can you do?  Consider  “black-out” shades, remove the bright clock, get rid of night lights.
5. Avoid stimulants after 3PM 
Beside the caffeine in caffeine, tea (other than herbal teas) also has a high-caffeine content.  Read labels before you indulge. Be mindful of the caffeine in soda, diet soda and other low calorie or reduced calorie drinks.   It takes about 6 hours for caffeine to be fully processed and eliminated by your body. To ensure falling asleep easily stop all caffeine at least 6 hours before your planned bedtime.   Once you eliminate the caffeine late in the day some of your sleeping problems can disappear.
6. Routine is key
It’s important to follow a routine when it comes to sleep. Try going to sleep and waking up the same time each day including the weekends.
7. Relax by taking a bath
Try an Epsom salt and lavender bath as this is one of the best ways to calm your body and your mind.  While the Epsom sale relaxing the muscles – the lavender has a calming effect on the nervous system and your mind.
8. Relaxing Night Time Drinks
♥ Night Time Teas: Herbal, non caffeinated teas: Chamomile tea, mint tea, lemongrass tea, to name a few all have relaxing qualities.  These and others are easily found in most super markets today.
♥ Tart Cherry Juice … A tasty treat and double whammy: Recently when looking for an all natural remedy to fight joint pain and inflation I discovered tart cherry juice concentrate at Whole Foods.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn it actually contains a natural form of melatonin that helped me naturally get sleepy and more easily fall asleep.  For a double doze of a natural sleep to help your body and mind relax try this:  about an hour or two before bedtime add tart cherry concentrate to taste to your favorite night time tea or other non-caffeine drink. and you’ll get a double-whammy of sleep aid! 

Still having difficulty?
If you still have difficulty falling asleep after trying some or all of the above tips it may be due to being overstressed during the day which in turn can cause an imbalance in your natural cortisol cycle causing you to be more awake at night and more tired in the morning which is just the opposite of what you want.

Yoga, mediation and exercise early in the day can greatly help eliminate stressors from you life. Give it a try.

Start with the first tip above and combine some or all of the other tips as this will create powerful results to relax you and lull you to sleep like a lullaby each evening without experiencing insomnia. Start this evening; be ready to wake tomorrow morning feeling rested and ready for a more energetic and productive tomorrow.

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