The Best Sleep You’ll Ever Have!
We just wrote a piece on some of the Benefits of Sleep when it comes to your skin thriving. Now it’s time to give you our best tips, tricks and general guidelines for what constitutes “Good Sleep”.
First thing in the morning—a good night’s sleep starts when you wake up. Wake times will ideally be stable…within 30 minutes of the same time each day. This sets up proper circadian rhythm. Once you’re up…start hydrating. Plenty of water is a necessary thing for skin…but we want to avoid drinking large amounts of water 1-2 hours before bed. Best to get most of your hydration done before 5pm.
**While you’re up in the morning—go ahead and stare at the sun for a few minutes. This early near-infrared light exposure in your eyes is so good. Heck, get some barefoot grounding in at the same time.
During the day—you’ll need to fuel your body with real food and prioritize animal-based sources. If you can get occasional sun exposure during the day, that’s also helpful. You may want to ditch your sunglasses too. Blocking UV light during the day leaves your skin unprepared to handle it. This increases UV damage and leaves more work for your body while you sleep.
We should also mention that a workout, walk or any form of physical movement throughout the day is going to leave your body needing quality sleep. Set the stage and you’ll be rewarded.
Supplementation—Our diet may not be enough and there are some proven supplements to support your circadian rhythm.
L- Theanine
Magnesium glycinate
CBD—like what’s in our Elixir
Glycine
A product I have used for years as a sleep aid was developed by Dr. Kirk Parsley. Sleep Remedy is an amazing formulation and has really helped me through some rather stressful/sleep-deprived times.
Your Wind Down Routine—Just like the morning, we need to have a solid process for optimizing sleep. Going from a stressful day straight to sleep is challenging let’s block off an hour or so before bed to get some intentional separation from ‘fight or flight’ mode.
Journalling, stretching and reading (not on a screen) are fantastic ways to calm the mind before bed. Meditation and prayer are always a good idea—aren’t you grateful to be alive.
Step AWAY from the Light—Get blue light out of your world at least two hours before bed. This is HUGE and hard to do in today’s world. The best tool I’ve found for mitigating blue light are glasses from Swanwick.
Blue light tells your brain the time is noon—this blunts/blocks the release of critical hormones to guide us into optimal sleep. Once you are in bed, a sleep mask is also a great idea if you can’t get rid of all the little lights in your room. Definitely travel with a sleep mask!
Just Chill—The ideal temperature in your room for optimal sleep appears to be 60-68°F. Moving a little air in your room is always fantastic. Most fans also offer a little bit of white noise.
There are also some super fancy mattress chilling pads out there these days. You can get one that has two zones so that you and your partner can sleep at different temperatures. Wear light clothing, if at all. Cotton and natural fibers for bed linens and clothing.
