Day 19- Add Better Sleep

Women listen up. If you are getting only five hours of sleep a night you are 250% more likely to get diabetes. Research shows that women who get seven or eight hours of sleep are less likely to get diabetes. So, let's find a way to get at least seven hours of sleep every night.

A well regulated appetite will allow you to get better sleep. Snacking before bedtime will not. Also less sleep=more weight.

Stay away from prescription sleeping pills. These drugs disrupt your natural metabolism and can lead to unwanted side effects, including the very real possibility of addiction.

Be aware of your sleep habits. Keep a journal. Just keeping track of how many hours you sleep or don't sleep and how you spend the last few hours of the day can help you make important changes. Even keep track of whether or not you had alcohol.

Stress--again. Find a way to reduce your stress so that you can get a restful night of sleep. Meditate if it helps.

Time to wind down naturally.

• Limit coffee/tea consumption to one or two cups before noon and none after that. Limit alcohol to one or two with dinner and none later.
• Stop work related activities two hours before bedtime. This includes computer use, reading files, making calls, texting, and checking(responding to) e-mail. 
• Turn off the TV and computer and put on some quiet music. Changing your TV/computer habits might be one of the most important ways to ensure a peaceful night's sleep. 
• If you're in the habit of staying up past midnight and yet get up at dawn, it's time to reset your inner clock. Give yourself all the necessary bedtime cues much earlier: put on your pjs, brush your teeth, and pretend it's bed time a couple hours earlier.
• Find evening activities that are calming; read a book, write in your journal, or just listen to quiet music. This might be a good time for yoga or meditation.
• Get into bed close your eyes and begin breathing consciously. Count each exhale backward from 100. 
• Exercise revs up your metabolism, so do it early in the day, not in the evening. Take a warm bath in the evening to detox or destress and relax. Sip a glass of warm milk thirty minutes before going to bed. 
• If you wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, get out of bed for a while and putter around your house. DON'T turn on the TV or computer. 

I did learn myself this winter that if you are a diabetic, Melatonin is NOT the supplement you should take. It sometimes has the opposite effect on those of us with autoimmune diseases.Yes, diabetes is an autoimmune disease.

Take some action to ensure you are getting a good seven to eight hours of sleep.
TTFN