Sleep.  We often have a love - hate relationship with it.  It’s so vital to our wellbeing, but why is it so elusive to so many?.  If you’re struggling with Hashimoto’s, your probably experiencing chronic fatigue coupled with the inability to get a good nights sleep.  It can be a frustrating Catch 22.

Sleep is when your body regenerates and repairs itself.  It isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity.  Your sleep cycle impacts your hormones, energy levels and how well you can recover from illness.

Our health suffers from lack of sleep and many signs are subtle.  When we’re fatigued we make poor choices, have less willpower, suffer from dis-regulated hormones, increase our risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease and many other conditions.  Lack of sleep also affects the structure of our brain, can impact mood and anxiety levels and affects our quality of life.

Without good or adequate sleep, our immune system is less resilient.  Chronic lack of sleep creates low grade inflammation, contributes to aging faster and is associated with greater risk of death for those getting less than 7-8 hours per night.

Getting adequate sleep is a vital part of your healing journey.  Just like all other lifestyle modifications, it may take some practice before you see significant changes or improvements.  But, your efforts will reward you with greater energy, more focused thinkings, better hormonal balance and renewed spark for life.  It may even be the key to why you can’t lose those stubborn pounds.

Don’t short change your recovery by overlooking this important aspect of restoring your health.  Get some extra ZZZZZZZZZZs tonight.

• Strive to get to bed by 10 p.m. every night.  The hours between 10 p.m. - 2 a.m. is when your body is doing the majority of it’s repair work.  You may need help figuring out how to make this work for you.  Restore Health Now is here to help you figure out this piece of your puzzle and get you on track to better sleep.
• Sleep in a cool room.
• Make your room as dark as possible.  Use room darkening shades or buy a sleep mask.  Melatonin, your sleep hormone, is produced in dark.  Any sources of light at night will interfere with the production of this hormone and can cause disruptions in your sleep.
• Make sure there are no blue lights in your bedroom.  TV, cell phones, laptops, iPads, alarm clocks with blue light.  The blue light is what tricks our brain into thinking it’s still daylight, preventing adequate production of melatonin.
• Stop drinking caffeine after 2-3 p.m.  You may need to cut out caffeine entirely if you’re not sleeping well.
• Don’t sleep with your cell phone next to the bed.  If you must use it for an alarm clock, make sure you set it to airplane mode before going to bed.
• Unplug Wi-Fi routers before going to bed.
• Stop using cell phones and other electronics 2 hours before going to sleep.
• Avoid bright LED lights for reading before bed.  Opt for an incandescent or red or orange light to read by.
• Take a warm bath before bed.  Add Epsom salts and/or a soothing essential oil to help relax your body.
• Don’t eat two hours prior to sleep.  Digestion can interfere with good sleep.  It’s best not to eat after 7 p.m.
• Avoid exercise four hours before bed.