Daylight Savings Time Sleep Tips

Daylight Savings Time Sleep Tips

Every year it seems that just as start enjoying the blue light that peers in through my windows when rousing from sleep each morning, spring forward comes along and shifts all that glory to the evening!

It’s like the groundhog and the shadow, except every year its the same story - weeks and weeks of morning darkness is tossed upon me as I wait for the sun to make its way close to this part of the Earth in the morning once again.

Aside from my personal, minuscule window related troubles, fatal car accidents in the United States spike by 6% during the workweek following the "spring forward" to daylight saving time…

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Lift Your Spirit With a Gratitude List

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The world is a brighter place when you're in gratitude, not just because it looks rosier, but because you become a light shining on your community. In this video I'll share how I got into a gratitude practice even though it seemed helpful in theory yet insignificant at first consideration. Before the four minutes is up you'll have the opportunity to integrate this habit into your life. Easy peasy.

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Treat Yourself to a Forearm and Hand Massage

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Massage your own forearms, hands and wrists along with me to increase blood flow, relax your muscles - and your entire being. Plus, learn the names of various landmarks and muscles. I'll guide you through my favorite self-massage techniques to use for relaxation before bed or any time of day when you need to reduce stress and care for your body.

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Sleep Better When Traveling

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Here are a handful of ideas on how to sleep better when you are away from home. To make it fun, they are organized around the five senses.

By addressing each one, you help your body and mind feel safe, secure and comfortable in new environments.

We can't change that fact that we are more alert when traveling, but we can control certain aspects of our environment and routines to get the sleep we need.

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Locating the Extensors of the Wrist and Fingers

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Identify these four muscles on yourself to connect with your body and movement. These muscles extend the wrist (carpi) and one extends the fingers (digi). They help you open doors, type on a keyboard, hold your smartphone, swing a tennis racket, drive a car and so much more!

Here are the four muscles in this video:
Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus
Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis
Extensor Carpi Ulnaris
Extensor Digitorum

Get out some markers and follow along with me as I draw these muscles on my own forearm and show you the bony landmarks on my skeleton, Andy.

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Flexors of the Wrists and Fingers

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Identify these five muscles on yourself to connect with your body and movement. These muscles flex the wrist (carpi) and some can flex the fingers (digi). They help you open doors, type on a keyboard, hold your smartphone, swing a tennis racket, drive a car and so much more!

Here are the four muscles in this video:

Flexor Carpi Radialis
Palmaris Longus
Flexor Carpi Ulnaris
Flexor Digitorum Superficialis
Flexor Digitorum Profundus

Get out some markers and follow along with me as I draw these muscles on my own forearm and show you the bony landmarks on my skeleton, Andy.

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Why Sleep Timing Matters

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Why Sleep Timing Matters

There's one single piece of advice that's universal amongst all sleep experts and researchers. It's to have a consistent bedtime and rising time. This can seem impossible in a culture where we essentially have control over the sun (our indoor lighting). Why does that matter? I'll share a few examples and you'll hopefully have a good laugh at how annoying it is for the human body to change up the schedule too often.

Early Dinner - Early Bedtime

Early Dinner - Early Bedtime

One way to ensure an early enough bedtime (to get the sleep you need) is to eat earlier in the evening. Getting enough sleep is a non-negotiable, essential component to wellness. Our bodies perform tasks while we are asleep that are not possible when awake, so it’s important to allow for these events to happen.

Motherhood Dance Poem

Someday I won’t trip over so many things on the floor.
But, those cute little shoes won’t be there anymore.
Someday the kitchen will be clean for hours all day.
But, I won’t share my meals with your sweet face.
Someday the hours will pass with nothing to do.
I’ll sit here and be missing you.
One day I will sink into my couch for as long as a I can.
Yet, I won’t be able to touch your small hands.
I’ll dance around in the open space.
But, I’ll miss the indulgence of your frequent embrace.
I am so smushed but also set free.
The contractions of motherhood are a heart beat.
Ride the waves, the yin and the yang.
The intense moments pass again and again.
And again and again and again and again.
Rainbows emerge and laughter trickles across the land.
As you and I sway in this dance.