NAMAS-GO-TO-BED - Akasha's Guide To The Best Night's Sleep You've Ever Had!

13 Aug

Look, I get it. Sometimes getting your butt to yoga class is tough. Getting excited about another kale salad can prove arduous. And drinking those 8 glasses of water a day ain't always easy! But sleep... seriously! Who doesn't love a good ol' slumber!?! So why then, is it so hard for us to put down our phones, switch off the Handmaid's Tale and get some quality zzz's?

Report after report tells us about the positive effects of sleep. It sounds so obvious, but yes, sleep makes us feel better! It improves creativity, positivity, attention, immunity and aids with weight loss amongst other things.

So to make things easy, we've put together a list of things you can do to get some sweet sweet dreams:

Schedule in a bed time and stick to it! Just like you would getting up for work, set a definitive bed time depending on your schedule the following day. A 5:30am start at the gym; time to hit the hay at 8pm... ok 9pm at the latest... I'm not ten years old!
Switch off all devices an hour before bed (hence why a bedtime schedule is important).
Create a bed time yoga flow ... oh wait, these legends have already done it for you here and here!
My new favourite thing to do before bed is to give myself a foot massage! Those little guys work hard to support me all day, so it's only fair that I show them so lovin in the evening... feels soooo good! And it's a great way to relax the body.
Invest in a magical himalayan salt lamp. Not only do they create great "mood lighting", they also (amongst a plethora of things), clear the air, neutralising electromagnetic radiation caused by ALL of our electronic devices, thus giving you a better nights sleep. Don't believe me, click here, here and here.
Buy yourself an old school alarm clock and leave all electronic devices outside of the bedroom (you'll survive I promise).
First there was the boombox, then the walkman (stick with me), then the discman (I'm getting there)... and then the there was the IPOD! Yes! Find that little guy from the bottom of your "random stuff" drawer and make friends again. Create a sleep-inducing playlist and drift off into la la land with some sweet sweet tunes, like these I prepared earlier.
Set the mood and burn some incense (steer clear of candles, we don't want to burn the house down).
Drink some nourishing camomile tea (but if you're like me and have a teeny tiny bladder, try to stop drinking two hours before bed, so that you don't have to interrupt your deep sleep for a midnight stumble to the loo).