Dream On: The Importance of Good Sleep

Dream On: The Importance of Good Sleep

We love good sleep. No really, we take our sleep very seriously here at Potli. We spend 1/3 (ideally) of our lives sleeping, and it's the time our body takes to repair itself both mentally and physically. Everyone knows how important sleep is, well known benefits of good sleep include:

  • Lowered blood pressure
  • Stronger immune systems
  • Improved memory
  • Reduced stress
  • Improvement in mood
  • Reduced inflammation

As well as less intuitive benefits like:

  • Weight loss
  • Greater focus and attentiveness
  • Cancer prevention

So from our team to you, here are some helpful tips on improving the quality of your sleep. 

Help yourself get to sleep

Create the optimal external environment- Make your room as dark as possible and avoid blue lights that come from your phone and computer. Close windows if you live somewhere with street level noise, and invest in bedding or pajamas you actually look forward to using. 

Create the optimal internal environment- We love a late night snack, but try to avoid eating about 2 hours before your bedtime. According to our friends at Goop, Dr. Param Dedhia suggests avoiding fatty foods which are harder to digest. We love using a teaspoon of our CBD Honey in herbal tea like chamomile to help signal time for relaxation. 

Create a ritual to help induce sleep- like reading, journaling, meditating, taking a bath, or using calming essential oils like lavender. 

Help your body get into a routine it can rely on, which will automatically help you fall asleep when you intend to by regulating internal mechanisms a la your Circadian Rhythm.

Help yourself improve the quality of your sleep

Staying asleep can be so hard for a variety of reasons. Try to eliminate environmental reasons first by controlling for noise, temperature, and light. We love blackout shades or eye masks, and setting the temperature to high 60s for optimal sleep (though every body is different).

While we love sufficient hydration, avoid chugging water right before bed that might wake you up for a bathroom break in the middle of the night. If notifications from your phone will result in noises or lit screens, consider turning your phone off in favor of an alarm clock, silent mode, airplane mode, or flipping your phone screen-down to block excess light. Ariana Huffington even keeps her phone in a completely different room, with no chargers by her bed!

Should you find yourself awake in the middle of the night, leave the bed to preserve its status as a sanctuary for sleep. Read a book on your favorite chair or journal on your desk until you feel ready to give sleep another try.

Waking up properly- The right wake-up rituals are just as important as your wind-down rituals. A few of our favorites include welcoming sunlight, drinking room temperature water followed by hot water with lemon, journaling our intentions for the day, and turning up the feel-good music. 

While we're all tempted to snooze, doing so can disrupt the sleep patterns we've worked so hard to establish, so avoid it if you can. 

But above all, in this chaotic world we inhabit and the busy lives we lead, be kind to yourself. It's so easy to get frustrated when we sleep too little or too much. Listen to your body and what it needs, and celebrate your intentions as much as your results. 

Dream On!

 

The Drip