Optimize your sleep

It’s about sleep quality as much as sleep quantity.

Written by Allison Mädl | December 19, 2018

Lunch Hour Lesson #7: Deep sleep benefits all body systems in a powerful way.

Last week I mentioned how I believe that sleeping is a productive activity, but talked mostly about how not getting enough sleep can be damaging to our health.

This week I’d like to bring up the positive things that getting enough sleep does for you, and also give some suggestions to improve sleep quality.

We lose excess weight when we sleep more.

You’ll find that your mood improves and you get along better with others.

The liver enters its detoxification stage around 3am. When we eat dinner no later than 8pm, and then allow at least 2 hours between dinner and bedtime, this allows the body to go to sleep with the hard work of digestion already accomplished. It is free to perform the just as important process of detoxification through the night.

Some ways to improve sleep quality and enhance the benefits of sleep:
  • Look into the sky each day with no glasses or contacts. (Not directly at the sun, obviously.)
  • Get some light exercise, like walking, every day.
  • Reduce blue light for at least 1 hour before bedtime. These are the lights from your phone, tablet, and computer screens.
  • Use night mode to remove the blue light from your device screens before bed, and/or use blue blocker glasses.
  • If reading a print book or magazine before bed, use a red or warm colored light to illuminate your space.
  • Turn off your wifi router while sleeping.
  • Make your bedroom so dark that you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Invest in blackout curtains if necessary. Also, no electronic lights should be visible in your bedroom at all – even the little blue power light on your TV can disrupt your sleep.
  • Put electronics in your room on power strips with a switch and power down each night.
  • Use a battery powered alarm clock or put phone on airplane mode.
  • Go to bed at the same time each night.
Weekend Tip
Choose one of the following to implement:
  • put your phone and computer in night mode after sunset
  • turn off your wifi router at night
  • put your cell phone on airplane mode while you sleep 🙂

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