Tag Archives: sleep

V is for Very, Very Sleepy – Very, Very Valuable adVice

Posted on June 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

I’m so tired, I haven’t slept a wink.  I’m so tired – good lyrics for a song, but not a good way to face a new day!  Sleep enables the body to recharge and repair.  Sleep is needed to keep your body healthy.  It regulates hormones and affects the immune system.  And when you’re well rested, you look alive and vital, and therefore you need sleep to maintain your natural beauty.

What can you do to get a good night’s sleep?  Here are 10 tips for getting a great night’s sleep -

1. Make sleep a priority.  Go to sleep when you are tired.  Turn out the lights and close your eyes.  If  15 minutes go by and you’re still wide awake, get up and get out of your bedroom.  When you’re tired again, come back, shut the lights and go to sleep.

2.  Use your bedroom for sleep or for sex only.  Don’t let your body get accustomed to working or even reading in bed.

3.  Set your internal rhythm time by going to bed at approximately the same time every day, even on the weekends.

4. Eat lightly and don’t eat 2 hours before going to sleep.

5.  Avoid caffeine and other stimulants like alcohol and nicotine before going to bed.

6.  Exercise in the morning rather than at night.

7. Choose comfortable bedding.  Find mattresses and pillows that suit you.  Try some soft, try some firm and find out which works best for you.

8.  Naps are great (see previous post - N is for Napping) – but limit the amount and length of daytime sleeping if it’s interfering with nighttime sleeping.

9.   Keep a window open to allow fresh air to circulate, but keep heat and light out of your bedroom.

10.  Go to sleep before midnight.  Research shows that the sleep you get before midnight is more beneficial and deeper than what you get after midnight.

If all else fails, you can occasionally turn to natural remedies to help you get that valuable sleep we all need to stay young and look beautiful.  A little bit of warm milk (not too much so you’re up in the bathroom all night) has calming tryptophan to relax you.  Lavender essential oil sprinkled on your pillow or a pillow made out of lavender over your eyes will shut out the light and lull you to sleep.  Herbal remedies such as Kava Kava and valerian work well, and so does melatonin, the sleep-regulating  hormone we lose as  we age.

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Anti-aging, Healthy Senior Women, Mind-Body-Spirit, natural beauty, Natural Health

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N is for Napping – Nighty Night at Noon????

Posted on June 10, 2012 | 2 Comments

Are Naps Necessary?

Are you ready for a nooner?  An afternoon delight?  No, No – I don’t mean that — I mean a quick cat nap to refresh and revive yourself and give you enough energy to get through the rest of the day!!!!!

So many of us are multi-tasking and fast-tracking and jump-starting from early morning to late at night, and we get exhausted and sick and tired, just from overdoing and not enough sleep.  If you find yourself on the fast track to burnout, why not try a nap at noon to give you the energy and vitality you need to get through the day?

A power nap, or a short cat nap, is a better solution to sleepiness than a cup of coffee.  Research has shown that these short 20-minute sleep periods can not only make you more alert when you wake up, but also can improve your ability to learn or perform motor skills.  Longer naps have their benefits also – sleeping for 30 to 60 minutes can increase memory and enhance creativity.  It’s also great for people needing to make important decisions or studying for tests.  When you nap for an even longer period of time, like  more than an hour, and you get into deep REM sleep, this can help aid in making new connections in the brain and solving creative problems.

Here are five benefits of closing your eyes and snoozing during the day:

1.  Napping can help boost your creativity.

2.  Napping can improve your memory and slow down the aging process.

3.  Napping can reduce the amount of unwanted stress in your life and keep you young and healthy longer.

4.  Napping can give you the energy you need to exercise, essential to your natural health.

5.  Napping can increase your alertness and productivity.

So, stop thinking of napping as being a lazy thing to do.  A lot of famous people have been power nappers – Bill Clinton, Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci – and all those wonderful cats and kittens we love – they all nap!  So get yourself into a napping routine – shut off the lights, turn off the computer, get yourself comfortable and warm – and snooZZZZZZZZZZZZZe!

For more tips on sleep – see previous Post S is for Sleep – Some Timely Tips for Sound Snoozing

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Posted in Anti-aging, Mind-Body-Spirit, Natural Health

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F is for Fabulous Fighters oF Fatigue

Posted on February 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

Fight Fatigue for Natural Health

Tick tock, Tick Tock – gotta stop staring at the clock and get some sleep?  There are some fabulous natural fatigue fighters you can try to put you to sleep like a baby.

As we get older the amount of the hormone Melatonin, made in the pineal gland, and which regulates your biological clock, gets smaller and smaller until we have to reach for a supplement.  You only need a little to help your body know when it’s time to shut your eyes and start to snore!

Kava Kava is a South American herb that is readily available now in health food stores as an extract.  I recommend taking much less than what they say on the label – a few drops (8 – 10) in a small glass of water is enough to give you 8 hour’s sleep.  Kava Kava works miraculously as far as I’m concerned, but you cannot fight it and try to stay awake.  You need to take it an hour before you want to sleep and then get ready to let it do its magic – get into bed, close your eyes, and let it happen.  No distractions, no lights – otherwise, kava kava miraculously will help you stay awake.

Valerian can take the place of Valium and I’d recommend giving it a try. Valerian can be purchased as a pill or in the form of tea or tincture which you dissolve in a little warm water (about a teaspoon) and take before bedtime.

So stay away from harsh pharmaceuticals like Ambien and try some natural remedies for your natural health!  Sweet dreams! ZZZZZZZZZZZ

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Posted in Healthy Senior Women, Mind-Body-Spirit, Natural Health

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F is for Fatigue – Fight it with natural Fixes

Posted on February 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

Fight Fatigue for Natural Health and Beauty

It’s 4 AM and you’re counting sheep and counting flowers on the wall, and you want to sleep cause you know how tired you’ll be in the morning.  What’s a naturally beautiful woman gonna do???

First of all, you’re going to drink more water – but not right before you go to sleep.   The very first sign of fatigue is dehydration when you wake up.  Your body needs a lot of water to keep it going and keep it flowing, so drink water the very first thing when you open your eyes – and keep on drinking it all day.

Make a to do list right before you go to sleep.  That will help you to stay asleep instead of waking up in the middle of the night worrying about what you need to do tomorrow.

Get some exercise during the day.  Research has shown that just a short and brisk ten-minute walk can help reduce fatigue.  A short walk  can amp up your energy levels and keep you going for the rest of the day.

Reduce the amount of sugar in your diet as it will spike your energy and then let you down, making your whole body work harder to keep up the with ups and downs that will exhaust you.  A balanced diet, full of healthy proteins, carbs and fats will keep you going at a steady level, and allow you to calm down and relax and be ready to rest and sleep.

There are some essential oils like lavender  that you can sprinkle on your pillow to make you sleepy.  Or you can make a lavender and chamomile eye pillow to really put you to sleep (see L is for Lavender – Make your own Lavender Dream Pillow).

Stay tuned for some Fabulous Fixes for Fatigue!

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Posted in homemade beauty products, Mind-Body-Spirit, Natural Health

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V is for Valerian, Valium and the Value of Sleep

Posted on January 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been having a hard time sleeping lately.  And when I don’t sleep, my whole life seems to go crazy.  I get irritable, I don’t look good, I drag myself around – and who wants any of that?  Not I!  Sleep is vital to our overall well-being and natural health.  It enables the body to rest and recharge and repair itself, and sleep is also needed for important physiological processes such as hormone regulation, which affects immune function and overall health.  And when you’re well rested, you look alive and vital, and therefore you need sleep to maintain your natural beauty.

But even the most health and beauty conscious of us toss and turn occasionally.  And that will never do!  I’m not a big fan of pharmaceutical drugs as you can probably tell, so I don’t use things like Ambien or Valium.  I think the side effects and risks of dependence are far too great a consequence to my natural health.

So when I’m troubled and I can’t sleep, I turn to the natural ways of getting a good night’s sleep – lavender essential oil, warm milk (not too much so you’re not in the bathroom all night), kava kava, melatonin, and valerian.

Melatonin is the hormone secreted by the pineal glad, which regulates the biological clock, but as we age our bodies produce less and less of this.    Instead of the high dose melatonin that was on the market years ago and made you feel like you had a hangover the next day, you can get low dose melatonin and use it to supplement what’s necessary for a good night’s sleep.

Valerian root has been used  for centuries to reduce anxiety and tension, and as an aid for sleeplessness.  Valerian works to relax you and reduce stress, which will help you to sleep better and longer.

Kava kava is a South American herb which, in small doses, is a very effective sleep enhancer when used correctly.  Simply put a few drops of Kava extract into a bit of water and an hour later, be prepared and ready to sleep.   Get into bed, close your eyes and relax, and next thing you know, you will be enjoying the deep and restorative sleep we need for our natural health!

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