How are you sleeping?

How are you sleeping?

Do you wake up refreshed, renewed and re-energized every morning? Or, have you been feeling extra tired lately?

Do you wake up refreshed, renewed and re-energized every morning?

Or, have you been feeling extra tired lately? 

Do you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking easily in the morning?  

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are not alone.  

Most adults need 7-9 hours per night for optimal health. Yet, in our fast-paced environment, many of us forgo sleep and overextend ourselves to catch up on work and other responsibilities. 

The result is that 1/3 Americans suffer from a sleep disorder and we have an energy crisis:  

• We are overly dependent on our phones and electronic devices 

• We have forgotten how to rest, not just sleep 

• We seek fuel for our bodies in energies that are not healthy 

• We eat high glycemic foods 

• We use stimulants such as caffeine and sugar to provide temporary energy 

• We confuse rest with stimulating recreation 

Sleep is critical for our optimal health and wellbeing. Critical activities that occur during sleep: 

• Internal organs rest and recover 

• Hormones that help regulate appetite control, stress, growth, metabolism, and other bodily functions are released

• Memory consolidation, allowing for formation and storage of new memories 

• Increased energy to make better lifestyle choices (cooking, exercise, self-care, etc.)

• Strengthened immune system 

• Heightened alertness, focus, and creativity 

• Improved mood by reducing anxiety, irritability, and mental exhaustion 

• Increased libido 

You can improve the quality of your sleep by focusing on your nutrition, sleep etiquette and daily rhythms.

Nutrition:

• Eat a variety of whole foods  

• Limit sugar and caffeine intake 

• Reduce alcohol consumption close to bedtime  

• Experiment with light evening meals  

• Crowd out late-night snacking with yoga, journaling, reading, or connecting with a loved one

• Avoid late-night beverages 

Sleep Etiquette:

• Create a peaceful bedroom with calm colors, no clutter, and minimal light and noise

• Invest in an aromatherapy diffuser 

• Soak in a hot bath  

• Read fiction to relax the mind  

• Legs up the wall yoga pose

• Meditate  

• Don’t fall asleep on the couch  

• Keep electronics outside of your bedroom

• Reduce blue device light which impairs the product of melatonin more than any other wavelength 

• Write worries down before going to bed 

• End the evening with a gratitude practice 

Daily Rhythms:

• Start your day with positive focus 

• Incorporate moments of rest throughout the day 

• Institute device-free time 

• Take power naps for 15-20 minutes after lunch and before 3pm 

• Exercise or move daily  

• Create a bedtime routine to wind down  

• Experiment with restorative evening activities  

• Eat earlier and drink less alcohol  

• Track your sleep habits  

• Reduce late night excessive thoughts or worries 

Ending the day with gratitude and appreciation is a wonderful way to reflect on the blessings of your day, give thanks for people and circumstances, and also to change our thoughts before we go to sleep. 

If you’d like to improve your optimal health, please schedule a free coaching consultation call.  

What if your FEARS aren’t real?

What if your FEARS aren’t real?

“Your life is the expression of the limit of your thoughts.” - Prem Sadasivananda, Empower Your Life

I’ve been thinking a lot about one of our biggest distractors, something that steals joy from our lives — and that is FEAR!  I re-watched a TED Talk by Tim Ferris on facing our fears and leveraging Stoicism as a philosophy to help us live better lives.  I didn’t know who Tim Ferris was at the time, but his story really inspired me because of the way he approached his fearful thoughts.  

He created a template to list his fears, examine what could happen, identify the mitigation plan to reduce the risk, and then he did another analysis on the upside potential. What could happen, what would he give up if he continued to embrace the status quo?  

Our monkey brain spends a lot of time on worst case scenarios that paralyze us with fear and inaction.   If we could logically examine those fears, have plans in place that reduce the perceived risk, and then push through to visualize the benefits of going through with the plans, then we would be much more likely to do the very things that scare us the most.  

I have learned that facing those things that scare us the most is where we should typically be running towards.  I heard again that we are born with only two fears. The first is the fear of loud noises and the second is the fear of falling.  Seems like two good things to be hard-wired with to protect ourselves from physical harm. The other fears we have are accumulated and learned over time.  Isn’t that incredible?  As a result of our parents, education, friends, media, etc., we learn to be afraid of other things, and are trained to seek comfort instead. 

I did this exercise myself after I watched the TED Talk and it was life-changing.  I have that exercise documented and go back to it often when I am fearful of doing something new.  I can look back and recognize that none of my fears came true, and instead by choosing to take action instead of being paralyzed by my fears, I was able to grow and have amazing experiences instead. 

I do this exercise with all of my coaching clients.  It’s an eye-opener to write down our fears on paper and then to write what we would be giving up on if we chose to stay afraid. 

Here’s how to do this exercise yourself:

1. Write down all of your fears — get everything down on paper

2. Answer “what if the complete opposite of this fear was the truth instead?”  — what would that look like?

3. How could you mitigate the risk or associated with this fear?

4. What would you be giving up on if you choose to stay fearful and not take action?

My hope is that this exercise exposes some illogical thinking and that you do some amazing new things instead!  We have such a limited time here, this world needs what you have to offer. 

Taylor Swift, inspiration and creation

Taylor Swift, inspiration and creation

2020 has not been the year that many of us expected when we made plans for the Roaring 20s or the Best Decade ever.  It’s been a challenging year for most, and much harder for others who have suffered illness and loss.  And yet Taylor Swift just released what I, and actual music critics, think is her best album yet.  

It’s easy to think of celebrities and artists as special or different from the rest of us, however, 2020 has not spared anyone.  Like many of us, her year didn’t start off as expected.  She said in interviews, “Most of the things I had planned this summer didn’t end up happening.”  She had to reschedule her Lover Fest shows promoting her last album, and she missed headlining this year’s Glastonbury Festival because the concert was cancelled.  

If she spent time in suffering, it couldn’t have been for long because she began working on this album in April, and released it in July.   She turned her focus, her attention, and her energy to what she does best - she wrote great songs.  “In isolation my imagination has run wild and this album is the result.” 

I am inspired that she could experience the same grief and disappointment that many of us have experienced this year and still release her album Folklore in 4 months.  I am impressed that she did all of this in isolation without the benefit of the standard process it takes to create an album. 

She is not the only one who created during challenging times.  During the plague of 1606 in London, William Shakespeare wrote King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra while in quarantine.  I know that Taylor Swift and William Shakespeare were not homeschooling their children while they were creating, however, it still made me think about my own year and whether I was living and creating fully.  It’s easy to distract ourselves and seek comfort, but what if in that distraction we were missing a huge opportunity that would be more fulfilling? 

• What if we each decided to live our own lives with the same intention, inspiration and wonder?  

• What if we didn’t wait to do the things that we’ve been putting off? 

• What if we sought progress over perfection?  

• What if we created, built, and experienced things NOW because we see each day as a gift?   

• And, what if we didn’t wait for the perfect time to fully live our lives?  

“Before this year I probably would’ve overthought when I release this music at the ‘perfect’ time, “But the times we’re living in keep reminding me that nothing is guaranteed.  My gut is telling me that if you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world.” - Taylor Swift 

What if 2020 is meant to be the year that we grow, transform, and reach our highest potential? What will be your masterpiece this year?