Sleeping Beauty or Beauty Sleep?

Good-quality, restful sleep is indispensable.

I once read and always try to remember that chronic lack of sleep can’t be fully recuperated by sleeping more: your body remembers.

During sleep our bodies rebuild, detoxify and recover from the day’s stress.

It is during the deep sleep when we re-connect to our inner being.

Sleeping in complete darkness stimulates melatonin, a hormone that promotes restful sleep.

How much sleep we need varies from person to person. While for some people seven hours of sleep may be perfectly fine, others may need nine or ten. If you are very active, most experts agree that you should aim for at least eight hours of sleep. The newest research in fact concludes that you can’t get too much sleep! “After Stanford University basketball players spent five to seven weeks sleeping at least 10 hours a night (when they had been sleeping six to nine hours), their performance shot up like they’d doped”.

Don’t forget that it is necessary to stop eating two to three hours before sleep.

Taking a warm bath and drinking a cup of chamomile tea before going to bed especially after having had a stressful day are some of the techniques that work for me. Do remember to switch off you phone completely and leave all electronic devices outside of your bedroom.

For those who have issues to get to sleep I found that listening to hypnotherapy CDs – I used to use Glenn Harrold’s – helps a lot.

Otherwise you can try some the following sleep-promoting foods.

7 Sleep-Promoting Foods

1 Herbal teas. Teas have many sleep-promoting properties. Besides chamomile tea which is my favorite, passionflower hops, lemon balm and mint teas are also good sleep inducers.

2 Honey. Honey reduces alertness so a glass of chamomile tea or milk with some honey will help you relax and prepare for sleep.

3 Bananas. Bananas help promote sleep because they contain the natural muscle-relaxants.

4 Almonds. They contain contain tryptophan and magnesium which promote both sleep and muscle relaxation.

5 Cherries. A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Rochester found that cherries boosted the body’s supply of melatonin, this helping people with insomnia.

6 Miso Soup. Miso contains some amino acids that boost the production of melatonin, so bowl of miso soup to end the day is another natural way to fight insomnia.

7 Yogurt/Dairy. Calcium helps with stress reduction and stabilization of nerve fibers, therefore foods rich in calcium may promote sleep. Some yogurt or raw warmed milk is another food that is good to be taken for dinner.

You can find around the web many tips on how to improve the sleep. Here is dr. Mercola’s take on it: Secrets To A Good Night Sleep.