How to Get Quality Sleep

© Elizabeth Zuluaga // 2021 Chiropractor Branding Photoshoot – Seattle Branding Photographer

So my sleep, it was terrible.

I knew I needed more sleep because I need to heal. I was in this pain cycle and one of the things that I really wanted to do was to get rid of my pain. And I know that pain, if you’re not rested and relaxed and your body’s not restoring and repairing itself, then it’s hard to get better and get out of pain.

So I took a really deep dove into figuring out why I wasn’t sleeping properly and what I could do to get better sleep without having to go to bed at, like eight p.m. and get up at eight a.m. because I didn’t have time for 12 hours of sleep.

So what I did was, I figure it out several ways to, you know, get really good sleep in seven or eight hours, and this is what I want to share with you.

So first method is the three to one method. If you are doing like really heavy exercise three hours before you go to bed, that elevates your heart rate too much. So if you’re going to do exercise before bed, at least keep it like, you know, low kind of walk around the block or some yoga or something, but no heavy exercise three hours before bed and then two hours before bed.

You really want to make sure that you’re finished eating. So no dessert, no snacks, no extra glass of milk before bed to help you go to sleep, whatever it is, but just water two hours before bed and then one hour before bed. And this one’s a hard one.

I’m OK if achieve a little bit and only do it 30 minutes before bed. But this one is getting an e fast, meaning you want to get rid of all of your electronics at least 30 to 60 minutes before bed. 60 is better, OK? And that way you’re not looking at any screens and getting dark blue light into your eyes that really tells your brain to turn on, so get rid of any electronics.

All right, so those are the that’s the first chunk that you need to do, and that’s going to be really helpful in helping you get a better quality sleep so that you can your body can repair itself. And then another thing, if you think this is funny, this is to try and block out the light.

So now we’ve got light everywhere, right? We’ve got light seeping in from the windows. We’ve got light on all of the gadgets in our bedroom. It’s everywhere. So if you can either have light walking shades or blinds, which is awesome, and if you don’t have that, just take literally. I cover like this and it’s going to be easy that way. And that way that light is entering into your brain and telling you it’s time to wake up, and that’s how we’re built.

So getting rid of that, you can also do things like making sure that your room is cooling up. You need your body to not get too warm. Otherwise, that turns your body on waking you up so you want to keep it in a nice, cool room, whatever that it feels like to you. And then you can also put a heavy blanket on to that kind of keeps you more comfortable. If you’re into that, you don’t have to buy a fancy one.

And then also, I like to put, you know, when I was really having a hard time sleeping. I also used essential oils, so I have this diffuser in my room. You can have one that helps you breathe. You can have lavender. That’s a nice scent. Something that you resonate with that will help you sleep better as well.

So test those out. It’s pretty easy to do as well and and make sure that you also try to keep your bedtime the same every night. And then when you wake up the same every morning and that’s going to get you into a good habit as well.

And for you overachievers, if you feel like your mind’s still racing, go ahead and start just journaling. Just get it all out on maybe one page of paper. You’re good to go. You can also do a meditation. And then I also like to pray every night before I went back.

Related Posts