Sneaky Self-Care: Sleep Support

We know that stress can have a big impact on our ability to sleep. As we are currently moving through a highly stressful and uncertain time in our world right now, I wanted to share some resources and tips to help you sleep and feel better. 

As many as 40% of adults in the U.S. experience some type of insomnia every year. When you don’t have a restful night's sleep, it can have an effect on your mood, health, longevity, family and even your job. Yoga facilitates sleep by reducing stress, anxiety, and arousal — all known causes of poor sleep. 

Researchers at Harvard Medical School looked at how a daily yoga practice might affect sleep for people with insomnia and found broad improvements to measurements of sleep quality and quantity. These findings suggest that a regular yoga practice can improve multiple areas of your life at once. For example, yoga can help improve your sleep, which in turn gives you more energy and focus during your day. (Harvard Medical School)

Here is a free short video on one of my favorite yoga practices to do before going to sleep. 

Relaxation techniques before bed have been shown to improve sleep quality and are another common technique used to treat insomnia. Creating a bedtime routine can help signal to the body and mind that all activity is done for the day and it is time to rest.

My top 3 sleep support tips are: 

1.  Exercise during the day - ​According to John Hopkins Medicine, moderate aerobic exercise increases the amount of slow wave sleep you get. Slow wave sleep refers to deep sleep, where the brain and body have a chance to rejuvenate.
2.  Warm water - Take a relaxing bath or shower, soak your feet in hot water and/or drink warm herbal tea a few hours before going to bed.​
3.  Turn off the screen at least 30 minutes before bedtime. Try reading a book, journaling, stretching, meditating or listening to relaxing music instead of looking at the screen. 

If you enjoyed these resources, check out my upcoming online course called Self-Care for Social Workers. In this course I dive deeper into sleep support tips, yoga videos, breathing practices and guided meditations for reducing stress, improving sleep and preventing burnout.  The course starts September 18th and you can read more about the course by clicking here! 

​So, whether you are struggling with insomnia or you are simply looking to improve your sleep, I hope you found these resources helpful. Please share this with anyone you know who could use a little sleep support right now and I'd love to hear how these tools are working for you by commenting below! 

May we all love the life we live...
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Warmly, 
​Becca