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The Master List: How To Get A Great Night’s Sleep

Get ready for a HUGE breakdown on S L E E P.
In this Master List blog post, you’ll find:
  1. Suggestions for creating an environment more conducive to great sleep
  2. Supplements that have worked for me to promote great sleep
  3. Mindset tips to quiet the mind and release anxious feelings when it comes to sleep.

Here we go.

A couple days ago I was listening to Brendon Burchard’s podcast (it’s one of my favorites btw). This particular episode was regarding what is the first thing to look for if you’re feeling unmotivated! I was interested to hear what he had to say because I am always looking for motivation tips / hacks for myself or to share with my coaching clients.
Brendon says that contrary to popular belief, the 1st thing to check if you’re feeling unmotivated is to check HOW MUCH SLEEP ARE YOU GETTING!
I LOVE this because it’s so simple, yet also so often overlooked. Our lives are so busy, and we often try to stay up that extra hour to get work in, or to finish housework, or finishing a Netflix series.. whatever it may be, but getting even a hour less of sleep a night can really screw with your motivation and productivity.
All over Instagram and online, I see people promoting and coaching to have this #hustle mentality (which basically means that you go go go, sleep briefly, get back up and go go go again – often going very fast in the wrong direction, but that’s another story for another day).
And I’m like nooooo girlfriend, you need to rest your body and mind before all that hustle!
When you’re feeling unmotivated or stuck, it’s very often that you just need some damn good shut eye!

1 in 3 Americans do not get enough sleep!

Check your sleep first, and then move on to see if there’s anything else blocking your energy.

One thing I’m really good at is sleeping. 😆 For real though, sleeping well is a crucial part of our existence. If you don’t sleep well, you can’t do anything else extremely well. You can get by for a while, but sustained health, energy, happiness and success must be accompanied by great sleep. Unfortunately most people don’t even get close to adequate sleep and have to load up on fake energy (massive amounts of coffee and chemical-filled energy drinks) to make it through the day while silently destroying their best self.

I used to have terrible insomnia, accompanied by anxiety that worsened throughout the day as it got closer to bedtime.

I would lie awake for hours, and the more I worried about the lack of sleep I was getting, the worse my insomnia became.
During the day, I would get anxiety about nighttime approaching and the only thing that would calm my nerves was knowing that I had a bottle of Lunesta in my nightstand drawer.
Anytime it would hit mid-afternoon, I couldn’t help but start to think, “Oh no, I hope I can sleep tonight…I hope tonight isn’t like last night…” If you’ve struggled with sleeping issues, you know what I’m talking about! Sleep anxiety sucks!

I was determined to find a solution.

Sleeping well became my #1 priority.
I didn’t want to take prescription medication (although the Lunesta didn’t seem to be habit forming, I just know that our bodies are designed to thrive and that our bodies can overcome anything.)
I 10000% believe that insomnia, falling asleep faster, deeper sleep (whatever is it!) can be achieved naturally, AND you can fix it for life.
In this post I am sharing some some fabulous sleep remedies that I have gathered over the years to help you have perfect sleep. These are some specialty products and tips that I have used, and they work, but…

The #1 remedy I recommend is mindset work.

I believe you can reprogram your body and your subconscious mind to create everything you desire. It only takes self-discipline and courage. (I believe in YOU, and you got this!)
I believe the key to perfect sleep lies in quieting your mind. Your mind is so powerful and it can heal just about anything, or you can allow our mindset to make you F’n crazy and restless.
As on of my fave people, Gabby Bernstein would say;

Sleep is a spiritual practice ✮

It seriously is!

There are some mindset remedies below, but mostly this post is filled with specialty products to make your sleep and your bedtime routine a joy, and something you look forward to.
Over the past 10 years, I have gathered many remedies that help me sleep better – and I promise this post is not going to tell you to “turn off your phone 30 mins before bed.” YES THAT HELPS SO MUCH (but is it just me or are you so tired of hearing that in every article you read? We already know this) Actually I wrote a blog with some of those tips a few years ago – it’s good, but this one is even better.
Let’s continue.
And let’s quickly nerd out on some sleep facts, shall we?

There’s so much that determines how well or not well we will sleep.

Have you ever felt like your inability to sleep was a complete mystery?  It is being caused by stress, foods, technology, medication, or maybe even your snoring ass husband?

Well, they can all play a role in our bedtime & sleeping routine! Sry husbands. 😆

So real quick… MELATONIN. WTF IS IT?

Melatonin isn’t only something you buy in a bottle. Melatonin is the sleep hormone that is produced when it’s time for you to fall asleep.

Your melatonin levels rise throughout the night in order to keep you asleep and they start to wear off in the morning and your body becomes energized for the day. What gets your body and melatonin off track is Light exposure – lack of light and too much light at the wrong times totally screws with your hormone production. Back in the olden days, we couldn’t stay up all night watching tv or scrolling IG. When the sun went down, the lights went out, and one’s melatonin production rose.
Without melatonin, we can’t fall asleep, and unfortunately many things in our lifestyle can  of mess with it’s production making our sleep off balance.
Without melatonin production and proper sleep, you can’t function as your best self. So let’s fix that, shall we?

✮PS – If you’ve been following the daily on my instagram lately, you’ve seen me talking all about my KIT STORE. All of these products below are in my Sleep Essentials Kit.

1. The Bedroom Essentials

– Pillow

Sometimes the cause of your sleep is right under your noggin!

The correct pillow for your body can help align the spine as you sleep, but not only is the elevation and firmness of your head support important, so is matching the right type of pillow for the way you sleep.

I am so obsessed with COOP PILLOW. I have been challenged for YEARS in the pillow department. I have been on pillow rotation ever since I can remember and have bought every pillow from $5 – $200 and have tossed them all away after a few nights. What is so great is that this pillow is 100% customizable for each person. You can add or remove the filling to adjust it to your perfect alignment.

– Sheets

Invest in sheets you love! Comfort and coolness are key. Our bodies put out extra heat at night, so it’s important to choose sheets that don’t trap the heat. Do you find yourself sweating or getting hot at night? It may be time to upgrade your sheets.

Alex and I are loving these non-toxic ones by Cloudten that we found earlier this year. They are like cozy hotel sheets, but softer. I also love a good set of Bamboo sheets too.

– Temperature

Get your room right! Your bedroom may be too hot (or too cold). The ideal temp for a bedroom at night time is 67 degrees F. The mild drop in temperature helps induce sleep. I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty here, but if you really want to nerd out on brain stuff and temperature, just google it. If not, just trust me – sleep at 67 degrees.

– Mattress

You sleep on it every day, so make the investment into something great and something you love! Think about your investment as price per sleep. What are you willing to pay per night to sleep comfortably and wake up feeling refreshed?

I have my eye on the Purple Mattress & Power Base.. like omg YES need it yesterday.
(UPDATED 2021): We instead purchased the EIGHT SLEEP Mattress, and it is the best decision ever. I highly recommend as you can control the warm or coolness of each side of the bed + the mattress pairs with an app on your phone and tracks your sleep. 

2. WhasSup Supplements

NOTE: Below are options to test and experience for yourself. You do not need ALL of these. This is a master list. Comment below and let me know what works for you.

  • SleepEssence Capsules

Completely obsessed with this Young Living supplement. Not only does it help you fall asleep AND stay asleep, but it also provides immune support. Lavender + Vetiver + Valerian + Ruta Graveolens are essential oils blended with melatonin. FOR F’n REAL y’all, this stuff knocks me out (and Alex too). TRY THIS ONE ASAP.

If you’re new the blog, you may not know that I’m an essential oil groupie, and I have been using Young Living products for about 7 years now. I created a simple & quick Sleep Bundle for you to make it easy for you to see the YL products I recommend for great sleep (you can delete any products that you don’t want right now from the cart).

  • Vitamin D

Walking outside for 10 minutes each day in the morning sunlight (if you have sunlight in the morning where you live) will help boost your melatonin production for that evening, and this is like giving your body an intense wake up call and it tells yours body that NOW is the time to be awake (not at 2:00 am when you’re wanting to actually to get some shut eye)
If you’re lacking in Vitamin D it can badly affect your ability to fall asleep.
The great news is that D gets in your system asap, so even if you take your first supplement today, you’ll probably see the sleep benefits immediately.

  •  Almonds

Eat almonds throughout the day as they contain an amino acid called tryptophan which will naturally increases melatonin production. Tryptophan is an amino acid that your body does not produce naturally, but it is needed in the production of melatonin. (Tryptophan is also found in meat, which explains why people often get super lethargic after a huge thanksgiving turkey din.)

  • Tart Cherry Juice

Tart cherries actually help boost melatonin! Some studies show that having 2 servings a day can increase your sleep time. Also cherries are a total beauty food; I make cherry smoothies every week. AND I’ll admit, I had been doing this wrong for a long time – I totally thought that my smoothies were melatonin-boosting, but it’s only TART cherries that are melatonin-inducing. So be sure to check your cherries & check your labels. It needs to be pure 100% tart cherry juice – the good, potent stuff.

  • Moon Drops

Moon Drops are super freakin cool. They’re these homeopathic lozenges that really work to help you drift off to sleep. Not going to lie; I bought them because they looked cool & I Iike celestial things, plus they are homeopathic and I enjoy testing new sleep goodies.
This is what the brand has to say about their Moon Drop sleep formulation: This formulation helps quiet persistent thoughts, eases emotional stress, tones digestion, reduces sensitivity to noise and light, and soothes over-stimulated nerves. Moon Drops help you adapt to changes in sleep schedules due to travel or when going through life transitions. This natural sleep aid is non-habit forming and has no side effects. 

  • CBD Oil

CBD doesn’t make you high because it’s the non-psychoactive part of cannabis. It may help treat the causes of sleeplessness, excessive daytime sleepiness, or grogginess + a massive list of other health challenges.

My favorite is Nature’s Ultra Citrus CBD Oil (omg it tastes so nice too) I use a dropper full from time to time before bed.

  • Boost pre & pro biotics

If stress or anxiety has ever kept you awake at night, remember this: Gut Health = Brain Health. The beneficial bacteria in your gut work to produce and regulate hormones and neurotransmitters that can keep you feeling chill and relaxed, BUT if you are lacking in good bacteria, the signals to your brain to keep you calm aren’t triggering properly. An easy remedy is to take a daily probiotic. The one time you desperately need probiotic is after you’ve taken an antibiotic; you must replenish your gut asap.

Disclaimer: If you are eating perfectly plant based (high nutrient with raw foods, low – no caffeine, no alcohol, no refined sugars / salts, and no recent antibiotics), then you shouldn’t need a probiotic, but then again, if you are eating perfectly, then you’re prob not reading this because you’re sleeping like a baby. ☺️

  • Jaiogulan

Jaiogulan is one of the healthiest herbs in the world and has been used as a treatment for insomnia in ancient medicine, especially when it occurs because of excessive stress or anxiety. This is because it soothes the nerves and has anti-stress and anxiety effects on the body.
In China they call Jaiogulan “The Herb Of Immortality,” which is probably due it’s long list of health benefits and possibly the widest spectrum of health benefits of any plant known to science – it’s an adaptogenic herb (makes sense, right?!) so it can treat a variety of challenges.
You drink this as a hot tea; it has a little bit of a bitter taste, but the health benefits massively outweigh the bitterness.
I currently use this Jaiogulan.

  • Passionflower Tea / Supplement

You can use the tea or extract to promote peaceful sleep. Some even call this “Nature’s Valium.” Passionflower can be taken in powder, capsule, tea, or tincture form. It is so calming that it can effectively shut down anxiety that causes sleep deprivation. If you prefer capsules, taking about 700 mg 30 minutes before bedtime may help you sleep more soundly. I prefer drink a hot Passionflower tea or tincture form, but that’s just me. It’s a really beautiful supplement to work into your evening routine.
You can also add this to Dream Dust below 👇🏻💜

  • Dream Dust

This is an awesome blend of sleep promoting herbs and adaptogens. I am obsessed with everything Moon Juice (plus it doesn’t help that they’re all so pretty). You can mix this powder with a cup of warm, non-dairy milk an hour before bedtime. I like to mix a little packet in my Beauty Shroom Nighttime drink. Dream Dust is filled with plant based ingredients like Ashwagandha, Jujube, Polygala, Chamomile & Schisandra that promote sleeping like a baby.

3. To Do

  • Hot Shower, Bath, Steam Sauna

Heat naturally reduces tension in your body and boosts neuron activity in your brain. It reduces cortisol (stress) levels, allowing your melatonin production to increase. I don’t take hot baths as often as I would like to, but when I do, I like to add salts and lots of essential oils like Lavender, Ylang Ylang, Geranium, and Valor,  to the bath.
Pro tip: add unscented shampoo to the bath water to help emulsify the essential oils throughout the water.

  • RutaVaLa Roller

RutaVaLa is a YL essential oil blend of all the things that zen you out. Lavender + Ruta + Valerian. that the scent is very strong and you will either love it or hate it. It can either smell bitter or sweet. Apply this to the bottom of your feet, to your inner wrists, and/or chest and then breath in deeply.

  • Binaural Beat Therapy

Binaural beats therapy is sound that you (ideally) listen to with headphones. It is a form of sound wave therapy where the right and left ears listen to two slightly different frequency tones yet perceive the tone as one.There is a range of binaural beats available, each having a specific purpose. For this case, we are interested in SLEEP.

15 – 30 mins of  listening time w/headphones and to get the full effect of binaural beats therapy, you should practice it for 30 to 45 days. OR what I like to also do is play it a long youtube video of therapy at nighttime.

Psst: also there are ALL kinds of beat therapy for a multitude of conditions. For example, when Lily had a massive cough a few months back I played Binaural Beat Therapy for cough treatment for her (in addition to other natural remedies) and she stopped coughing with in 5 minutes. I was blown away tbh.

  • Sleep Mask

This sleep mask has been a game changer for me. It is the most comfortable eye mask to wear overnight; I LOVE that it is contoured so it doesn’t press down on your eyeballs. This doesn’t always stay on my head overnight, but it does the job which is help me fall asleep faster and feel more rested. When your brain senses total darkness, it produces the sleep chemical, Melatonin. (Btw this is naturally produced chemical that your body also produces helps keep your immune system strong and it’s anti-aging.)

  • Weighted Blanket

A weighted blanket is a blankets filled with pellets or balls, which give them their weight.  At night provides firm, deep pressure stimulation on the body, and in simple terms it gives you the feeling of a big hug that is reassuring and calming. Weighted blankets have been linked to calming anxiety which makes sense why they are also closely related to sleeping well. Insomnia often brings up frustration and anxiety. A majority of people who sleep with a weighted blanket find that they sleep deeper, wake up less during the middle of the night, and wake up feel more refreshed.
Be sure that your weighted blanket isn’t too heavy for you. It shouldn’t constrict your movement. Here is an estimated guide:
90 – 150 lbs:  42 x 72, 16 lb blanket
151 – 200 lbs:  48  x78, 20 lb blanket
* If you want a “gentle hug” feel from your weighted blanket, choose a lighter version like a 15 pound. That’s what I prefer! The one on my Kit Store is my fave, and there’s tons of sizes to choose from + it has 9K 5 star ratings.

  • Calm App Sleep Stories

This is the best relaxation app ever. It’s actually the #1 app for sleep & meditation. I use it twice a day. We listen to a sleep story at night and then their “daily calm” meditation in the morning. At first I thought sleep stories would be annoying, but I LOVE them. My fave sleep story is “Spring In Bloom.”

  • Rain Rain App

I’ve been using this app for years and it’s my go-to for nature sounds. I love how customizable it is.

  • Sleep Affirmation

Affirmations can help everything in your life get better; they help reprogram your subconscious mind and help you unlock what is holding you back. If it is sleeplessness that is depriving you from living a healthy life, then I recommend working on affirmations.

This episode of Affirmation Babe is for helping you sleep.

And/or work with this affirmation below each morning to help reset for the day:

When I wake up I get up! I feel refreshed and ready to take on the day. My daily routine is filled with energizing and sleep promoting habits. My bedroom is a beautiful space of comfort and relaxation. I fall asleep with ease, and I have deep refreshing sleep every night. I am grateful for my bed, my healthy body and mind.

Say this out loud multiple times a day.

Oh, and def check out this affirmation post all about Night time Affirmations.

  • Sleep Stretches

The average American spends 13 hours a day sitting, so there is no wonder you feel restless at bedtime. Gentle stretching helps focus your attention and breath on your body and not on stress from the day. Giving awareness to the body helps develop mindfulness which positively helps sleeping.
Pro Tip: Stretching also promotes beauty rest; studies show that mindful stretching reduces the signs of aging on a cellular level!

  • Sex

Yep. It can help. Doooo it. Having an orgasm releases a hormone called prolactin, which makes you feel relaxed and sleepy.
Women have an extra sexy bonus; Sex gives you an estrogen boost, enhancing your REM stage and providing you deeper sleep.
Check out my Sexy Time KIT Store here.
And my Sexy Affirmation Audio on YouTube.

✮Please share these sleeping remedies with a friend who needs this!✮

ALSO, ALWAYS CONSULT WITH YOUR DOC BEFORE TRYING NEW SUPPLEMENTS OR TRYING A NEW SELF-HELP REMEDY. XO!
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