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My Staples of Lifestyle Maintenance: Sleep

February 13, 2020 in 2020, blog, care, health, life, lifestyle maintenance, self-care, sleep, Slider, Wellbeing, wellness
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I know, ‘lifestyle maintenance’ sounds a little boring and you might be sat there thinking ‘what the heck is that’ but let me explain.

Until you take a step back and take inventory of your health, you might not realise that it’s determined by a combination of really important factors that keep us ticking over and functioning as we should be. You are most likely more aware of lifestyle illnesses and diseases such as diabetes (type 2), obesity and heart diseases and I truly believe that as important as it is to look into the cure, care and medicine behind these illnesses it’s also incredibly important to look at how we can prevent them.

One way we can begin to prevent lifestyle diseases is by looking after ourselves a little better and that’s where ‘lifestyle maintenance’ comes into it. If our houses get messy, we tidy and clean them. If our car breaks down, we get it serviced and fixed. Why don’t we treat our bodies and minds with the same respect?

There are many factors that contribute to our overall health but I thought I’d share with you over the course of four different posts, the factors that I think are crucial in maintaining our health – this is based on knowledge I’ve gained through my studies into health & nutrition and also gathered from a wide range of experts who have looked closely into what helps us live our lives to the fullest.

Today’s post focuses on sleep.

Sleep

It’s strange how maybe 3 or 4 years ago I wouldn’t have even considered sleep to be crucial in my day-to-day health and simply functioning as a human being but it doesn’t take much investigating to realise it’s actually probably one of the most important things we can do for our mental and physical well-being.

So how much sleep do we need? 

It’s advised that adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night in order to function well during the day. It’s a bit of a myth that as we age we need less sleep as even adults 65 years old or older need 7 as a minimum. Children need a little more, sometimes 10-11 hours a night.


What type of ‘sleep’ is there?

This might seem like an odd question to answer but there are actually four stages of sleep we go through during our visit to the land of nod;

Non Rapid Eye Movement- or NREM – sleep is divided into three parts; 1, 2 and 3 with each part becoming gradually ‘deeper’ into sleep. Parts 1 and 2 are the stages where we’re most easily woken (unless you’re my boyfriend who could most likely sleep through World War III if it came about).
Part 3 of NREM is the deeper stage of sleep which we’re more difficult to rouse from and if we are awoken from this stage of sleep we might feel quite dazed and disorientated.

Why is NREM sleep important?

We need to go through each stage of NREM sleep to wake up feeling well rested the next morning & each stage usually lasts for around an hour/hour and a half. If you wake up one morning feeling tired and not with it then it’s most likely because on of your NREm

The final stage of sleep is Rapid Eye Movement – or REM- sleep. This is the closest stage to being awake and it’s called ‘Rapid Eye Movement’ sleep because your eyes do literally that, they move rapidly under your eyelids, darting from side to side. During this stage of sleep is also when you have dreams as your pulse quickens and your brain activity increases.

Why is REM sleep important?

REM sleep is the stage of sleep where our brains are most stimulated especially in areas of the brain that work on making and retaining memories and learning new things.

How can I sleep better?

You might assume that it’s what you do right before bed that means you have a well-rested night’s sleep but actually there’s lots you can do even from the moment you wake up that can lead to a better night’s sleep.

Morning: 
Keep a regular schedule – Keep the peace with your body and try to stick to regular hours of sleeping/waking. It might seem a bit like you’ve reverted back to childhood by setting a ‘bedtime’ but going to sleep and waking up at the same time most days will really help.

Get some natural light – Getting some daylight as soon as possible in the morning can really help reset our internal body clocks (or circadian rhythm as it’s sometimes called)

Daytime:
Quit The Caffeine:  The Sleep Council advises that you should try to avoid caffeine 8 hours before bed but personally I try to not have any caffeine (so that’s a matcha latte for me) before 2pm. If it’s gone 2pm then no matcha for me!

Get Moving: Try to indulge in some gentle exercise during the day, exercise promotes the quality and quantity of your sleep and even if it’s just walking around your office block or taking the dog for a walk it can help us sleep better.

Evening:
Put down the phone: Evidence has shown that using our phones and other electronic devices before bedtime can keep us awake due to the blue light they emit. They also stimulate our brains a little too much during the time when we should be trying to wind them down before we sleep so have a break from your phone an hour or two before bed. Have a bath, read a book, stay away from Instagram!

Avoid the temptation of a night cap: If we can’t sleep there are times we might turn to a cheeky alcoholic beverage to send us off to sleep but despite being a sedative this can do us more bad than good. It might get us off to sleep okay but our sleep will be disrupted and we can end up feeling unrefreshed in the morning.

Night:
Give your bedroom a calm-makeover: Basically, ensure the room you sleep is set to a cool temperature, make sure it’s dark and keep it a quiet space. If you don’t have them then try to invest is some blackout blinds to help keep the light out, these are especially handy in the summer months when it can come flooding through curtains uninvited!

Get rid of rude alarm clocks: I searched high and low through the alarm clock settings on my iPhone before resorting to downloading a new tune from the iTunes store for my alarm and now I don’t dread the noise so much in the morning. Keep phone and alarm clock lights off and turn off the television before you sleep. Before we moved in together, my boyfriend would fall asleep to the television and I have no idea how he did it!

Top Tip: Something that has changed my attitude to sleep is keeping the bedroom peaceful and calm. When I worked from home I’d be tempted to have breakfast in bed and log onto my laptop, have conference calls etc but keeping the room strictly for relaxing and sleeping has really helped me to associate the bedroom with unwinding and calm. 

Credits: The Sleep Council

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My name's Lauren and this blog is my Frankenstein's monster - except a lot prettier! I love all things web design and blogging so have combined everything in one place. I post about everything from graphic and web design to organisation to mental health and wellbeing.

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Since lockdown one I’ve been on a mission to find different ways to manage my mental health and anxiety. One way to channel my thoughts and essentially get them down on paper was to journal.⁣
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I’d seen loads of amazing examples online but a lot were super pricey and for the sake of something I wanted to do once a day or maybe even once a week I wasn’t prepared to spend loads! ⁣
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Luckily, Homesense came to the rescue and I found this absolute gem there at the weekend. It’s a weekly journal so I set aside some time each Sunday night to reflect on my week.⁣
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It asks questions such as; describe this week in 3 words, highlights of the week, something that challenged me, something I’m working towards and 3 things I’m grateful for.⁣
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Hello! New photo of me as it’s been a while and Hello! New photo of me as it’s been a while and I have an annoying fringe now.
⁣ Win £50 to spend on planners and other statio ⁣
Win £50 to spend on planners and other stationary goodness! ⁣
⁣
I’ll admit it. I bloody love a planner/diary/notebook. I recently posted about my weekly gratitude journal but for the longest time now I’ve been looking for the perfect daily planner to prioritise everything that’s going on in my week and month. ⁣
⁣
Luckily, @malpaper have created their Daily Goal Setter planner. It’s got everything you need from spaces to jot down notes, set your goals and prioritise your daily tasks.⁣
⁣
The best part is they are offering you the chance to win a £50 gift card to spend on their products. This is the *dream* if you love stationary like me! ⁣
⁣
Simply copy and paste the link below into your web browser of choice & tell Mal Paper what your #1 goal is. It could be running a marathon, making more time for your self or maybe saving up for something special! ⁣
⁣
https://malpaper.com/pages/win-yourself-mal-paper-products ⁣
⁣
Competition closes on 28th Nov so get yourself over there!
⁣ Weekly or Daily Journalling ✨⁣ ⁣ Since l ⁣
Weekly or Daily Journalling ✨⁣
⁣
Since lockdown one I’ve been on a mission to find different ways to manage my mental health and anxiety. One way to channel my thoughts and essentially get them down on paper was to journal.⁣
⁣
I’d seen loads of amazing examples online but a lot were super pricey and for the sake of something I wanted to do once a day or maybe even once a week I wasn’t prepared to spend loads! ⁣
⁣
Luckily, Homesense came to the rescue and I found this absolute gem there at the weekend. It’s a weekly journal so I set aside some time each Sunday night to reflect on my week.⁣
⁣
It asks questions such as; describe this week in 3 words, highlights of the week, something that challenged me, something I’m working towards and 3 things I’m grateful for.⁣
⁣
I find doing this task on a Sunday really helps me declutter my brain and leave the old week behind as I prepare for a new week to begin on Monday morning. It’s almost like a clear out of old thoughts and worries & making some room to tackle a new week. ⁣
⁣
Have you ever tried journalling and is it something you think you’d enjoy? Let me know! ⁣
⁣
#journal #gratitude #design #blogger #lifestyle #wellness #wellbeing #happiness #challenges #thoughts #dreams
We take Auntie and Uncle duties very seriously! 🌧💕
Well, it’s November everyone! There’s a few mo Well, it’s November everyone! There’s a few more days before we go into our second lockdown here in the UK and it’s totally normal if you’re feeling everything except OK today.

It’s a weird one cos we kinda know what to expect now but it doesn’t make it any less sucky. I’m particularly not looking forward to not seeing my friends and family properly for at least 4 weeks, the mad rush of the weekly food shop again (erm please leave some loo roll for me...) and the accompanying anxiety of not knowing what will actually happen on the 2nd December.

All we can do is take it day by day and prioritise our mental and physical well-being. We’ve made it through round one and we’ll make it past round two as well. It’s about having those little things to keep you motivated and distracted during these crappy times. For me it’s Christmas and I’m counting down to having my decorations up in a few weeks time to enjoy some festive cheer! 

#art #design #quotes #lockdown #wellness #wellbeing #important #priorities #mentalhealth #happiness #happy #graphicdesign
Happy Halloween! 🕷🎃👻 There might not be Happy Halloween! 🕷🎃👻

There might not be much trick or treating or any Halloween parties this year but if you are celebrating then I hope you have an amazing time!

#halloween #trickortreat #hocuspocus #art #illustration #design #graphicdesign #quote
Happy Friday! ✨ #art #graphicdesign #illustratio Happy Friday! ✨ #art #graphicdesign #illustration #selfcare #selflove #wellbeing #wellness #design #doodle #cute
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