Getting a good night’s sleep can be a big factor in helping you heal, so it’s really important to take steps to improve your sleep and make sure you sleep for at least 7 to 8 hours every day.

Inadequate sleep can quickly sabotage your efforts at getting healthy.

Optimising your sleep can:

• Boost your energy
• Improve your mood
• Increase anti-oxidants — melatonin is a powerful anti-oxidant
• Boost brain function — your brain detoxifies during the night. It needs quality sleep to do that. Poor sleep is linked to lagging brain function and memory, especially as you age.
• Reduce inflammation
• Help with weight loss

*Improving gut health, removing foods that you are sensitive to and detoxing will also have a big impact on your sleep.

GET ON A REGULAR SCHEDULE

Going to sleep and waking at the same time each day creates a rhythm for your body.

CREATE A SLEEP ROUTINE

This will be different for everybody, but any sort of routine that you do every day before sleep will be very useful. It can be as simple as brushing your teeth and reading a book, or more involved like self-massage, having a bath with a calming essential oil like lavender or doing some simple yoga/breathing exercises.

GET NATURAL SUNLIGHT

As light enters our eyeballs —specifically the blue light part of the spectrum (think the blue sky) — it triggers specific receptors in our eye that tells the brain: 'it’s daytime – the time to be awake, alert, active and energetic.” And the brain then initiates a whole cascade of different neurotransmitter and hormone changes that rewire your physiology into daytime/active/energy mode.

Aim for at least 20 minutes of sunshine every day, preferably in the morning.

AVOID BLUE LIGHT EXPOSURE AT NIGHT

As the sun goes down, the lack of light entering the eyes— specifically the blue light (remember, blue light tells the brain to wake up!) — tells the brain 'it’s nighttime – the time for tiredness, relaxation, rest, regeneration, and sleep.' This triggers the release of melatonin, among other things.

Unfortunately, modern lifestyles can reduce your melatonin production at night. Artificial light — particularly the blue light from smartphones and other digital devices — can trick your body into thinking it’s daytime all the time.

Reducing your blue light exposure at night helps increase your melatonin level and promote sleep. That could have far-reaching benefits beyond feeling well-rested.

Avoid computers, smart phones, tablets and television one or two hours before bed. Dim overhead lights or just use lamps with orange bulbs after dark.

App to reduce blue light on your devices: If you do have to use a computer in the evening, try installing this app to reduce blue light on your computer at night: https://justgetflux.com/

Use Amber Sunglasses: This can really help, especially if you have trouble falling asleep. Wear for 2-3 hours before bed, or when the sun sets.

Sleep Saviors

True Dark

BLUblox (Australia)

AVOID CAFFEINE AFTER 12PM

Sleep disruptions caused by caffeine can vary between individuals due to people having different sensitivity levels.

If you have difficulty sleeping, I highly recommend avoiding all caffeine (including tea) after midday.

STOP DRINKING 1-2 HOURS BEFORE BED

If you wake up to go to the toilet during the night, trying reducing the amount of water or other drinks you have for about 2 hours before bed.

REDUCE EMF IN THE BEDROOM

Electromagnetic frequencies can impair sleep. This is especially true for people who are sensitive to EMF —you might not know that you are... read more about EMF here.

Reducing EMF exposure at night can make a dramatic difference to how your sleep, even if you are not 'sensitive' to EMF.

We recommend the Wi-Fi off and keeping all of your electronic devices away from your bedroom. If you keep your phone in the bedroom, put it on airplane mode.

For very sensitive people, turning off the circuit breaker to your bedroom at night might be necessary.

CLEAR YOUR MIND

If you struggle to get to sleep because of a 'busy' mind, taking steps to clear your mind before bed can make a tremendous difference.

Keep a journal or notebook by your bed and write down your to-do list or ruminations before you go to sleep, so you can close your eyes and make it less likely for your mind to spin. Leisa calls it the 'Brain Dump'.

The bee breath exercise can be very helpful to clear the mind before bed.

1. Sit comfortably, either cross legged, on your heels or on a chair.
2. Place your index fingers on your ears. There is a cartilage between your cheek and ear. Use your index fingers on the cartilage to block your ears.
3. Take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, make a loud humming sound like a bee.
4. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
5. When finished, rest your hands on your laps and observe the sensations in the body and the quietness within. Stay here for as long as you wish.

YOGA BEFORE BED

Research shows that daily yoga can improve sleep significantly.

RELAXATION TECHNIQUES

Guided imagery, meditation or deep breathing calm your mind and help you drift into sleep. This has helped many of our clients!

Using an app like Headspace or Insight timer can be helpful if you need a place to start.

We recommend downloading your favourite relaxations so that you can turn off the Wi-Fi and avoid EMF exposure ;-)

HELPFUL SUPPLEMENTS

Here are our top favourite supplements for sleep:

Magnesium: Taking 350 to 500mg of Magnesium at night can really make a difference in the quality of your sleep. This can also help if you suffer from restless leg syndrome.

The best type of magnesium for sleep is Magnesium glycinate, as glycine is very calming. This form is also great for anxiety. It can be especially helpful to help you fall asleep, but will also improve the overall quality of your sleep.

We recommend Magnesium HP by Healthy Gut.

Melatonin: Melatonin is our sleep hormone, so supplementing can be very helpful for many people. You might need to take it for 2 weeks to start noticing the improvement in your sleep.

Melatonin can help you fall asleep and stay asleep.

Melatonin also has many other benefits:

• It has shown in research to help close the lower esophagal sphincter and help with reflux
• It's a strong anti-oxidant, especially in the brain
• It can improve brain health / detoxification
• It can improve your skin

We recommend Liposomal Melatonin by Desbio.

Herbal supplements: many herbs are well known to help with anxiety and sleep. We highly recommend BeSerene by Healthy Gut which contains many of the best herbs for sleep and anxiety.

BeSerene Instant Relief also contains GABA, which is amazing to instantly feel calmer, helping you fall asleep if you have a restless mind.

BeSerene Daily is a good long term solution to help balance your nervous system.

Binders: We have had a few clients who had tried everything to improve their sleep, yet nothing worked for them. For those clients, taking a binder before bed helped a lot. Toxins can play a big role in sleep, which is why binders can be helpful. It's also why sleep can be very disrupted during more intense detox, or when doing something such as the Big Clean Up.

We've had a lot of success with the biotoxin binder to improve sleep, but other binders will help too. Read more about binders here.

Phosphatidyl Serine: This one is especially helpful for people who struggle falling asleep because of high cortisol at night.

We recommend Phosphatidyl Serine by Seeking Health.