My sleep study was one of the worst nights of sleep of my life. But, the doctor sent me on my way with three pieces of advice/information that will stick with me forever.

The sun was setting as I parked my car in the lot. As I walked in the front door, bright lights in the hallway flooded my eyes. It was 7:15pm on a Sunday. I entered the mediation room where the lighting was much dimmer, but still brighter than what I’m used to this time of night.

Sleep is crucial, but daytime rest also supports a healthy body. Pausing nourishes your nervous system, especially when the break allows you to escape. Lowering stress helps with sleep too.

Follow along with this audio to hone in on your ideal posture for today. It’ll help you tune in to your body’s needs and the alignment that supports your structure best.

Use your inside voice and let the outside voices fall away.

A bedtime routine helps your body wind down for sleep the same way a grocery list and meal plan prepares you for eating, a to-do list supports your work and an exercise routine keeps you in shape.

Once you sound the stress alarm bell, your body produces stress hormones to help you cope. One hormone, cortisol, is produced fresh with each stressful episode and it stays in your body until it is metabolized out. Excess cortisol disrupts sleep. Which results in daytime fatigue.

You feel tired when you want and need to be awake and you are awake during times you want to be asleep. Frustrating.

Sharing a bed with a loved one has benefits. Sleeping together can enhance your bond, your sleep, your health and your mood. It doesn’t always work out logistically. Snoring, restless legs, opposing sleep needs and bedtime routines can all hinder sound sleep.

Your brain has a program to run every night. There are consequences of cutting it short. You need enough of the five different kinds of sleep every night. Just like you need food, water, exercise, relationships, etc. every day.

Not all sleep is created equal. Just like not all components of cooking a meal are the same. Washing produce, chopping it, cooking it and serving the meal are the different (and necessary) stages that happen for a complete meal. Each stage of sleep has a purpose and role in sleep.

“There isn’t enough time for sleep”. I hear this. It’s a very real modern day barrier to getting enough sleep. It’s the number one barrier for exercise also.

There is so much to do. We are a busy species. Thankfully, research has examined this topic and can let us loose from this misconception. Sleep is worth our time.

How do you dodge a cold? “Oh, I just take this mushroom supplement when I feel a tickle in my throat and I don’t get sick.” Wow, that would be amazing! Everybody’s got their go-to illness prevention and remedy strategy. Echinachea, zinc, vitamin C, etc. Whether these are placebo effect or real, most of the time - they can’t hurt.

I realized this week that my favorite immune system related remedies are not just to avoid and get away from being sick, but also about enjoyment, rest and self-care.

Find out if I ate the cake my neighbor brought over to my house the other evening…

You don’t have to “fall behind” when the clocks change on Sunday. Anyone else show up an hour too early when you could have been sleeping in? Bummer!

Feeling groggy and “off” after the time change is to be expected.

We have been mislead. We misunderstand. But now we know...

7-9 hours is the “gold standard” recommended sleep for adults. The problem with this seemingly simple guideline is that some adults need all 9 hours. Not the bare minimum.

I often hear people say they don’t like sleeping too much because they feel groggy afterward.

What follows is often, “I don’t need a lot of sleep” or “See, too much sleep isn’t good for me”.

Too much sleep can be problematic, but only if it’s chronic over-sleep, like every single night for years.

There’s a misunderstanding of what your body is telling you with an acute episode of “too much sleep”.