Counting sheep doesn’t always work.
A restful night’s sleep is hard to come by and we all know the counting method, doesn’t work for all. With daily stressors, personal barriers, and overthinking, sleep is the one thing that always gets disrupted. It’s all about balance. Ólo creates a unique blend of products to help balance the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. When all those are aligned, a restful night’s sleep is effortless.
Now, it isn’t as easy as drinking a tea. Ólo is a lifestyle and working on the whole person involves many aspects. This will differ for each individual. Thinking of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, to obtain self-actualization, there are needs that must be met. Some needs are static, while others fluctuate or are more flexible. Sleep has a hierarchy of needs as well. Some needs are static, meaning they are constant and never change. For example, a static need in order to sleep would be a safe environment. A flexible need, meaning it fluctuates or changes over time, could be noise level. As a kid, I could sleep with the TV blasting, but now, not so much!
Write yours down and try to figure out which are static and which are flexible. Once that is figured out, adjustments could be made to help balance the sleep aspect. To the right of this paragraph are some additional suggestions around a nighttime regime.
Now, I’m going to talk a little on entrainment. Entrainment, just like many other things, is a theory, but a testable one, and in my opinion, a great tool. The theory is, you can synchronize an external rhythmic beat to an internal biological rhythmic alignment. For example, if you play slow rhythmic beats, your heartbeat will eventually synchronize with that beat. Your heartbeat will slow down, signaling to your brain and central nervous system to do the same- inducing relaxation. This is great for someone who tends to overthink before bed or may be a bit anxious.
Below are some additional articles on sleep:
Screen-time & Sleep & Screen-time
Check out Ólo’s sleep-aid products
Try to lay in your bed only when you are ready to sleep
our bodies adjust to routine. Sitting in bed for sometime doing things, trains your body and brain to be active in this setting
If you have trouble falling asleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed
Limit mental stimulation, encourage physical stimulation
working-out, PMR, or sex are great ways to tire your muscles & mind before bed
Limit stimulating food/drink, encourage food/drink that serve as sleep-aids
sugars, processed foods, caffeine, soda, alcohol, will keep you alert
decaf drinks, hot milk alternatives, tart cherry juice, almonds, walnuts, kiwi, rice will induce relaxation
Using Calming Scents
Lavender, chamomile, any warm scents like cinnamon or vanilla
Sound
Ear plugs
Sound machines, binaural beats, relaxation sounds
