 Your Sleep
Habits:
Your Bedtime Routine
This is probably the most important thing
I will be telling you about your sleep habits, but it’s the
most neglected and, probably, one you haven’t really thought
about.
What do you do right before you go
to bed? (Ok, this is a G-rated site, so get yer mind outta
the gutter!) Let me rephrase that. Assuming you are alone,
what do you do right before you go to bed? Who do you talk
to right before you go to bed? What do you think about
right before you go to bed?
Our goal is to get you de-stressed
and this is a BIG ONE!! When you sleep, your brain works on
the last things you filled it with before you fell asleep.
If you fill your mind with stressful things in the couple of
hours before you go to bed, those things will be with you
all night.
So, Rule #1, be careful who you
talk on the phone to after 8pm. You don’t want to talk to
anyone who is negative. Avoid the grippers, the complainers
and the moaners. Avoid anyone who is likely to pick a fight
or start up an argument. Hey, there are some people I know
who I simply will not talk to at night! No matter how
careful we are with our friend selection process, sometimes
these unpleasant types sneak through… and, sometimes, they
are your… RELATIVES! (No, not THOSE!) If you live
with negative people, avoid them before bedtime.
Bedtime should be quiet…
Peaceful.
Bedtime is not the time to have the TV
on – especially not the 11 o’clock news! The last thing you
should fill your mind with before bedtimes are all the
terrible things that happened in your city that day.
Those 11pm new shows are THE worst for sensationalizing
shootings, dog attacks, abandoned babies... Do avoid
them!
Bedtime is definitely NOT the time to "relax" by
playing video games! Those things shoot your
adrenaline levels through the roof. Studies show that
video games increase your heart rate and your blood
pressure. Hey, you may as well
drink two double cappuccinos before you go to bed.
Bedtime is not the time to have Metallica blaring. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a rock “n”
roll, chick and, I swear, I never thought I’d be saying
this… But, this is the time for some nice, soft new age
music. No, I’m not talking Yanni and Enya. Puleeeeeeez!
There’s some other stuff out there and it’s really good. A
good first CD would be Ki by Kitaro. Or get yourself one of
those “ocean sounds” CD’s. You just want something soothing
with no lyrics.
Bedtime is not the time to being
thinking about negative things. |
