Is It Time For A Sleep Revolution?
It sounds too good to be true. Is it possible that you can improve your health, heat up your sex life, and be more affective in your career just by getting more sleep? Arianna Huffington says, "Yes!".
The Media Mogul and Sleep
Huffington was a chronic overachiever. She started up the renowned news site, The Huffington Post, wrote numerous books, all while raising a family. It sounds like she had it all, but there is only so much time during the day. Something had to give. That thing was sleep.
Huffington learned the importance of slowing down the hard way. The straw that broke the camel's back occurred one morning after a morning television show. She felt a chill and when she went to get a sweater she collapsed, hitting her head on the corner of her desk and breaking her cheekbone.
In the weeks that followed her collapse, Huffington underwent extensive testing. It turns out the only thing she was suffering from was burnout and the solution for that was sleep.
The Sleep Revolution
What does a media mogul know about sleep? It turns out she knows a lot. Once an overachiever, always an overachiever. Huffington set out to learn all that she could about sleep and then wrote a book about it.
She did the research and found out sleep affects nearly every part of our lives. That is reflected in the way she approached her book. She covers the history of sleep, how dreams affect us, technology, the detriment of sleep deprivation and the dawning of a new age of sleep science.
Her book, entitled The Sleep Revolution, covers sleep from how it affects our personal lives to scientific investigation to ways to integrate healthy sleep into our daily routines.
I Can Sleep When I'm Dead
One tenet of Huffington's book takes on the popular idea that "I can sleep when I'm dead." This attitude undermines the importance of sleep. In fact the opposite of this idea is true. Lack of sleep puts our lives at risk. It negatively affects our health in many ways. It influences weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's.
Improve Your Life In Just Thirty Minutes
Huffington reveals that she changed her life in just thirty minutes. Those thirty minutes were spent sleeping.
Being a high-powered woman, that was all the time she could immediately find to dedicate to sleep. As she rearranged her priorities and freed up more time for catching some z's, she was able to get an appropriate amount of sleep every night.
Unplug, Literally
Sleep habits can be changed but it needs to be done little by little. Huffington reminds us that when we are children, there is a ritual that signals it is time for sleep. We put pajamas on our children. We make sure they brush their teeth. We tuck them in with a bedtime story. Their bedrooms are dark and cozy.
As adults, we forget about the going to bed ritual. It is recommended that we do things that signal our bodies, and our minds, that we are preparing for sleep. It is suggested to incorporate those early behaviors. We can add other things. Meditation has been shown to aid in falling asleep. A nice bath can also prepare us for sleep. An herbal supplement can transition us from waking to sleep. Most important is to unplug. Move your cell phone or tablet to another room.
Having A Good Morning
The counterpart to getting a good night's sleep is to have a good morning. Huffington sets an intention for the day. Having herbal support to get your day started can keep you on track so that you don't get behind and cut into your sleep time at the end of the day.
Change Can Happen Overnight
It starts with just thirty minutes. Then it grows into a ritual. Before you know it, you are getting enough sleep and your life is changed, overnight. Change is hard. We at Nested Naturals are here for you. We know how important getting quality shut-eye is so that you can sleep, wake and thrive.
