Key Takeaways:

• Prioritize Quality Sleep: Recognize that quality sleep is essential for overall well-being, impacting mood, energy levels, and productivity. Make it a priority to improve the quality of your sleep.





• Start Small: Implement small changes in your sleep routine, such as creating a relaxing sleep environment and establishing a consistent bedtime routine. These small adjustments can lead to significant improvements over time.





• Adapt and Overcome Challenges: Be prepared to adapt to challenges that arise during your sleep journey. Whether it’s managing distractions or adjusting your routine, stay flexible and find creative solutions to overcome obstacles.





• Notice Positive Changes: Pay attention to the positive changes you experience as a result of improved sleep habits. Increased energy, better mood, and enhanced productivity are all signs of progress on your sleep journey.





• Take a Holistic Approach: Approach sleep improvement holistically by considering various factors that affect sleep, including sleep hygiene, stress levels, lifestyle habits, and physical health. Addressing these factors collectively can lead to more effective and sustainable improvements in your sleep quality.

Quotes:

• “I had no energy, and [the lack of sleep] affected my mood, it affected my activities, it affected my work. It impacted everything.”





• “It was little things. It was a lot of little tweaks, but they’ve made a big difference.”





• “Sleep doesn’t just happen by itself. It’s not in a vacuum. So many things can impact your sleep and then your sleep can impact so many other things.”





• “When you focus on it, when you’re intentional about improving the quality and the quantity of your sleep, it’s going to help you in other areas.”

Resources Mentioned

These are some of the items that we discussed using during my sleep habit makeover challenge (links to Amazon):

Daytime Sleep Helpers

• Sodastream – In an effort to cut down on my afternoon caffeine consumption, I traded in my daily Dr. Pepper Zero for seltzer (or ‘spritzies’ as we call them in our house). Sometimes I drink it plain, but most of the time I add a little bit of flavor to jazz it up.





• Water enhancer – I add this to my seltzer water to up the fun drink factor. I like Stur brand because it’s naturally sweetened, but there are no rules here.

Evening Wind Down

• Reading light – This little gadget has been invaluable for my night time routine. It’s helped get back into reading more often, and it doubles as my bookmark!





• Kindle – Some people are diehard physical book fans so if you’re one of them, skip to the next item. For everyone else, if you’re someone who falls asleep reading and drops their physical book on their face, this hurts less.





• Headband headphones – As I mentioned in the episode, I have freakishly small ears and so I have a hard time with most headphones and earbuds. These bluetooth headphones are perfect as they lay over the ears. I’ve also started using them for listening to audiobooks when I walk the dog and when I go running. They’re great because I can hear my books/music but I’m also able to hear traffic because it doesn’t block out outside noise.





• Essential Oil Diffuser – Studies have shown that certain scents can contribute to better sleep quality. I used eucalyptus and lavender essential oils in my diffuser, but different scents work for different people, so if those don’t do it for you, try something else!





• Blue light glasses – If you use devices close to bedtime, the bluelight they emit can interfere with your sleep. Using these glasses can help minimize that effect





• Downdog yoga app – Studies have shown that practicing yoga can improve sleep quality, including sleep duration and reducing the number of nighttime wakings. If you choose to include yoga in your wind-down routine, look for slow and relaxing practices such as restorative yoga or a yoga nidra (yogic sleep).





• Yoga mat – Not required but makes lying on the floor a little more comfortable.





• Bolster – A fancy word for a yoga pillow. You can use one to support different parts of your body during your practice.





• Sleepytime Tea – This is a staple in my night time routine. I put it in a BIG mug and add a touch of honey. I was surprised to learn there were so many varieties of Sleepytime!





• Bedtime Journal – During our call I mentioned I had a hard time turning off my brain at night so one of the wind-down options was a brain dump into a journal so my mind could relax knowing all the things it didn’t want me to forget were safely documented somewhere, and all those mental sticky notes could go right in the mental trash basket.

In bed/Sleeping

• White noise machine – I had this left over from when my son was a baby and we recently brought it out of retirement to help mask the cat noises that were waking up the dog during the night. There are also white noise apps that can be used as well.





• Weighted Face mask – I’ve had this for years, I think my husband bought it for me when I was having a lot of migraines because it doubles as a mini-heating pad. I find the pressure on my eyes while I’m falling a sleep very relaxing!





• Weighted blanket – Another present from my husband (I think from a Christmas or two ago?) that I hadn’t really been using but pulled it out for the challenge and have used it nightly since! Note, these types of blankets can trap in heat, so while it was great during the winter, I’ll be switching to a Cooling Weighted blanket for the warmer months





• ‘The Rabbit Who Wanted to Fall Asleep’ hypnosis audiobook – For years I had no idea how this book ended because it was so effective at putting me to sleep. I now know how it ends (I won’t spoil it for you!) but this is really helpful to have cued up for those nights when I wake up and have a hard time falling back asleep.





• Apple Watch – I use this to track my sleep, which is how I fo