Make sleep a wellness priority in your life

Getting enough high-quality sleep is one of the most important parts of our wellness routine. In fact, it is as vital as eating a healthy and balanced diet and exercizing regularly. Study after study shows how insufficient sleep weakens our immune system, affects our memory, influences our productivity and focus and contributes to weight gain, hormonal imbalance, depression, heart diseases and hypertension, just to name a few. Make sleep one of the most sacred parts of your day.

Try to wind down in the last hour before you go to bed to give your mind and body a chance to relax. Train your brain by creating consistent self-care rituals which indicate time for a rest. Involve some self-care rituals into your nightly routine that make you feel centered and relaxed. As long as they are tech-free, the possibilities are endless. Listen to some soothing music, read, light a candle, give yourself a foot massage, do some relaxing yoga or meditation and focus on slow, consistent breaths to lower your heart rate and to calm your mind. Take a warm (foot-)bath, drink herbal tea, write down things that you are grateful for and dumb anxious thoughts that might come up in your journal. Keep in mind that tech and sleep don’t mix. Exposure to blue light blocks the production of melatonin, one of the most important hormones needed for the onset of sleep. Turn your bedroom into a sleep sanctuary; only use your bed for sleep and sex!