The Ultimate Guide To A Beautiful Night’s Sleep

When I talk with with clients about their biggest health challenges, the one thing I hear more than anything else is SLEEP! They are either having trouble falling asleep and then staying asleep, or they wake up feeling unrested.  Sadly, for many it’s impacting their daily life, work productivity, their health, emotions –  stress and anger increase and depression sets in!

Perhaps you can relate to this on some level. Most of us have experienced sleep challenges at least once in our life. We have felt increased stress, anxiety and other emotions without a full night’s sleep. We know what it feels like to be tired, irritable and suffer from brain fog.

Did you know more than 20% of adults struggle with some sort of sleep issue? That’s over 70 million Americans alone not getting enough sleep!

If this you, you are not alone my friend. And I’m here to tell you I’ve been there and at times still am. Both when I was a new mom with a baby waking me up every hour to feed. And now as my Stella’s seizures  are mostly nocturnal my sleep is far from perfect. But we can all get better sleep. It’s absolutely possible – pinky swear! And that’s why i’ve put together this simple sleep guide for you.

 

Good quality sleep = good healthy, mind body and spirit.

 

Practicing good sleep habits which promote high-quality rest allow our bodies to recover from the days events and any sickness. Good quality sleep = good healthy, mind body and spirit.

The number of hours you should sleep depends on you. Your age, gender, lifestyle, current health, and simply how you feel. What does 7 hours feel like? How about 8? Or even 9? My personal goal is to be in bed by 9pm. I like to wind down with an evening meditation – this helps me fall into a blissful sleep. Hopefully Stella has no seizures and then I’m golden with 8-9 hours sleep. Often, I’m making up from nights when I’m up all night with Stella on her bad nights. So creating a healthy nighttime routine to enhance my sleep is imperative.

Below you’ll find 5 beneficial resources to support you build – (and hopefully sustain!) healthy sleep practices. Pour yourself a cuppa, put your feet up and soak in all the goodies I’m about to share.

The Ultimate Guide to a Beautiful Night’s Sleep

Using Foods To Help You Sleep

Yup, you know i’m a huge proponent of what you put in your mouth fuels your entire mind, body and spirit. But did you know there is a direct connection between food and your circadian rhythms?

  • How late you drink caffeinated beverages will affect your sleep.
  • Sugar consumption right before bed over stimulates your brain, instead nibble of a handful of walnuts or almonds
  • Alcohol consumption – try to limit and if possible remove alcohol at night, especially if your schedule is full the following day.
  • Eat balanced meals containing complex carbs and plant protein. This will promote healthy serotonin levels for optimal melatonin production. (Melatonin is a hormone in your body that plays a crucial role in sleep.) Be sure to consume whole grains, plant protein, and healthy fats throughout the day.

Using Essential oils for sleep

You already know i’m a huge advocate for living a toxic free life. Essential oils are a fantastic way to encourage restful sleep. Even when I’m traveling I pack a mini kit of all my must have oils. Travel takes a toll on our bodies, even more so if you cross time zones. It can wreck havoc on your circadian rhythm. Essential oils are incredibly beneficial at supporting both our physical and emotional health. At home I keep a diffuser in each of our rooms, and depending on my mood and the time of the day I switch out the oils to support any emotional, or health needs and to purify the air we breathe.

  • Lavender: my go-to oil! Is a proven stress and anxiety reliever, plus it smells heavenly.
  • Rose: my current perfume of choice. I have beautiful memories of this oil from my childhood. I love that it’s effective in controlling anxiety and depression.
  • Frankincense: When all else fails I turn to this oil. Something magical happens when I breathe this oil in. I’m a fan of combining it with lavender in my diffuser at night. During meditation I use the Frankincense touch roller which I can roll directly on my forehead.
  • Serenity: a beautiful blend of calming essential oils
  • Breathe: believe it or not. If your airways tend to get stuffed up, this can affect your sleep too. I like to add a drop of breathe to my diffuser blends to keep the air fresh and far from stuffy. I also add a drop of coconut oil and rub on my chest. I rub this oil both on my husbands chest and back to help support his snoring.
  • Cedarwood and Lavender as a combination are a beautiful combo to diffuse. Be sure to start your diffuser an hour before heading to bed so the air in your bedroom is full of these magical soothing oils.

Be sure to check out my “crash course to using essential oils for sleep and emotional support”. Find my top oils for immune support here and you can read why I’m obsessed with essential oils here.

Practicing Mindfulness as a way to prep our body for sleep

  • Take a Goddess Bath with your favourite soothing essential oils and 1-5 cups of unscented epsom salts
  • Meditate before bed. Try falling asleep with one of my meditation playlists
  • Unwind with a cup of herbal tea. Try adding a drop of Roman Chamomile and Lavender to a cup of hot (not boiling water)
  • Journal. Write down what amazing things happened in your day. I like to focus on positive and uplifting thoughts before bed rather than allowing stress to manifest itself into my dreams
  • Read a book
  • Ditch screen time as much as possible for winding down. Allow your eyes to rest – switch to night time mode if your phone has that as an option
  • Make sure you’ve accomplished 3 self-love tasks on your Self-Love menu. Be sure to download it here.

Be sure to share your favourite sleep tips. I’d love you to pin them on Pinterest or share on Facebook. Post your night time routine on Instagram (tag me @Amandavs and #Amandavs and #healthyissexy) I’d love to see how you prep your mind, body and spirit for beautiful sleep.

Share our little secret with your friends and family. Healthy is sexy!  Be sure to subscribe to my monthly newsletter to receive health tips, recipes, motivation mantras and so much more direct to your inbox.

XO Amanda