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Natural Awakenings Twin Cities

10 Ways to Create a Healthy Sleeping Sanctuary

Sep 03, 2018 06:29PM ● By Maricel Camposano

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The effects of bad sleep can ruin your whole day, making you feel like your brain is full of fog and your limbs are dipped in molasses. Feeling bad the next day isn’t the only effect of bad sleep; it can damage your long-term health as well. Our bodies require that we “de-stress” and recuperate during sleep. It’s part of the amazing, self-rejuvenating process that our bodies use to repair while we sleep. Without regular recuperation, our health begins to deteriorate.

One major factor in having bad sleep is a lack of melatonin which our brains normally produce to detoxify our bodies and replenish neurotransmitters in the brain during REM sleep cycles. When our brains are exposed to daylight, we do not produce melatonin. Seems simple enough, but it’s not just visual light that causes this to happen. Electricity and radio frequencies are in the same electromagnetic spectrum with daylight, so while you are exposed to any electromagnetic frequencies, your brain actually thinks it’s still daylight and there is no need for producing melatonin. Long-term exposure to elevated levels of electricity can cause not only fatigue but also headaches, hyperactivity, nightmares, depression, eyestrain and muscle cramps.

Here are 10 ways to improve your sleep to make sure you are getting enough melatonin at night:

  1. Reduce electromagnetic fields around your bedroom by using a battery clock instead of a digital plug-in. Digital clocks have a huge electrical field around them and the light they give off makes their use exacerbate the light exposure problems that contribute to low melatonin production.
  2. Turn off the circuit breakers to the electrical lights and outlets that surround the bedroom. For most, this might seem like an extreme measure, however, once you try it, you might never want to go back to sleeping with electricity on around your bedroom.
  3. Eliminate or shield your bedroom from radio frequency signals from portable phones, cell phones and wireless devices. Switching your devices to airplane mode and turning off WiFi routers are some of the most important steps you can take to help you get a peaceful sleep.
  4. Sleep on a bed without metal in it. A natural latex mattress is a great alternative as it is comfortable and has a similar supportive feel to memory foam. As long as it’s natural latex, you won’t suffer from chemical reactions that memory foam creates as your body heats the mattress. You may find the smell of latex bothersome, but a mite proof covering will help until the latex smell dissipates.
  5. Avoid metal bed frames and nightstands. Metal objects around the bed can distort the Earth’s natural magnetic field which again can lead to disrupted sleep.
  6. Take a liposomal melatonin product an hour before bedtime. Naturally produced melatonin detoxes our brain and regulates REM sleep. Even while taking all the other steps for a good sleep, it’s never a bad idea to supplement. Because our brains need fats for fuel, combining melatonin with an oil creates an effective way to pass the melatonin through the blood-brain barrier.
  7. Turn off electronics at least two hours before bedtime. Even when you adjust the blue out of the screen color of your cell phones and tablets, it’s still best to turn these types of electronics off a couple of hours before you plan to sleep so that your melatonin production is right on time.
  8. Sleep with organic cotton sheets. Nowadays, eating organic is an accepted way to stay healthy. Why wouldn’t we want the largest organ of our body—our skin—to also be treated in the most healthful way possible? Our liver will need to detox any chemicals that are absorbed through our skin so it’s a great idea to lessen that burden as much as we can.
  9. Take a saltwater bath before bedtime. Soaking in a sea salt or Himalayan saltwater bath is not only relaxing but is known to detox unwanted frequencies from our bodies and it’s a great way to prepare for a restful sleep.
  10. Sleep with fresh air coming into the bedroom. Sleeping in indoor polluted air can further our health problems, so cracking a window in all types of weather goes a long way to keep us breathing healthy.

Carrigan Curtis is a residential designer and a licensed general contractor in the Twin Cities area. She owns Carrigan Curtis Design Build, LLC and has an educational background in green building and BioGeometry and is a certified Building Biology Advocate. For more information, call 612-282-3470 or visit CarriganCurtis.com.