Finding Sleep
Arguably the most essential yet elusive piece of the wellness puzzle in my experience.
When lifestyle shifts like cutting caffeine, fine tuning an evening routine and blocking blue light weren’t enough to keep me sleeping through the night, I explored some further tactics.
Here are the three things I have used to optimize my sleep as best I can - outside of supplements.
@brainfmapp music app - Brain.fm is a science-first company that works with experts in the field of neuroscience and psychology to create music designed to achieve desired mental states such as focus or sleep. I have been letting the deep sleep tracks play all night long and I genuinely believe it has kept me from waking.
@insighttimer app - and if I do? I go into this app and find a sleep or other relevant meditation. Most recently, I’ve been waking around 4am but don’t yet want to rise, so I will put on a morning mediation and it will help me get another hour or so in.
@ouraring - I am all about the data and this device tracks all of it. Now that I’ve been using it several months I have a baseline established to analyze things well beyond sleep quality, like resting heart rate, heart rate variability and other contributors to my sleep quality and readiness for the day.
In addition to the above I also do take 1mg melatonin + 200mg ashwagandha prior to crawling into bed.
Recent research suggests most adults need far less than traditional dosing suggests. If you’re looking for a recommendation, PEScience just launched REM-3 which I love because the makeup of ingredients is abundantly clear (stay away from proprietary blends) and includes only the essentials for great sleep without a groggy morning...and is SUPER affordable (Code: Katie)
If you try any of these please let me know! I hope if you are struggling, one or more of these ideas can help you!
What tips can you share? Or please leave any questions in the comments!