Sleep Better and Create your Sleep Sanctuary

Misty Williams is the creator of Healing Rosie which is an online resource for women who want to get to the bottom of their health concerns. In her recent podcast, she describes her healing journey after surgery. Based on her trials and tribulations, she decided to create this site to share her insights with other women: www.healingrosie.com

Here are some of the salient points from her podcast:

• We live in a toxic world and we cannot digest, repair and restore our bodies without proper sleep.
• Finding your chronotype is important. Most of us fall into the common chronotype of 10pm to 6am for optimal sleep time. The minority are in the early onset sleep (8–9pm) or delayed onset sleep (1am). 
• Deep sleep happens in the first half of your night so it’s important not to miss this time window. Melatonin and caffeine can also impact us in different ways so Misty recommends genetic testing to learn about our own biology and how the body responds to environmental parameters.
• All cells are governed by light and electromagnetism and these tell the body what to do when. If there is disruption and dissonance around that, the body cannot compensate. 
• No amount of healthy eating or supplements will help with poor sleep so get the basics right.

Here are some key tips from Misty’s ‘How to create the sleep sanctuary’ pdf:

• Change your bedside bulbs to amber or red light bulbs to minimize blue spectrum light.
• Wear blue-blocking glasses (you can buy these on Amazon) to minimize blue light, especially after 7PM!
• A sleep-enhancing diffuser with oils like cedarwood, lavender, vanilla, geranium and jasmine is a great add-on for promoting sleep.
• There is sleep frequency-based music you can get online – Misty is promoting Wholetones music (to be honest, sleep frequency sounds have not done much for me but it may be worth a try if sounds do not bother you).
• Sleep in the DARK! Use room-darkening curtains and remove or place electrical tape over any remaining light.
• Sleep in a non-toxic room: test for mold, use HEPA filters for air ducts and use organic PJs and sheets.
• Use cold to sleep better: Keep room temperature lower than 72 degrees (I keep mine at 65 degrees), consider cold baths (around 60 degrees or lower) – I’ve shivered in a cold bathtub for about 30 minutes multiple times and let me tell you – it does make a difference. The only reason why I haven’t kept up with it is due to the ‘high discomfort’ factor – LOL!
• And for women, consider hormone support if faced with night sweats/hot flashes – talk to your clinician about this option for dealing with menopause.

See the link below to register for free pdf resources and podcasts:

www.bestsleepsummit.com 

And check out our Sleep section for more evidence-based therapies.