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Want to have less wrinkles?
Want to have better sex?
Want to reduce under eye bags?
Want to lose weight?
Want to reduce blood pressure?
Want to increase your life span?
Then SLEEP!
I thought about telling you about all the statistics and dangers of sleeping less than 7 hours each night. (And if you ever want to see the research on poor sleep, please reach out to me and I can send you more information.) But instead I want to talk about the day-to-day implications of sleep.
Let me start off by telling you I grew up with less than ideal sleep habits. In fact, from an early age of about 10, I was waking up between 3:30am – 5:00am to go to skating practice or do my paper route before school. Flash forward to adult life where I owned an indoor cycling studio and was lucky to get 6 hours of sleep each night while teaching 10+ fitness classes a week. The irony is that I thought I was living a healthy lifestyle. I ate clean, worked out every day and enjoyed what I did. But I was missing one critical component to my health and wellness – SLEEP! I’m embarrassed to admit this but I used to say “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”!! I couldn’t have been more wrong!
It took a pandemic for me to realize this. I look back and realize how detrimental my sleeping habits were to my body. I wasn’t living to my best abilities despite all the effort I was putting in. After learning how important sleep was to my health and well-being, I chose to befriend sleep rather than make it the enemy.
If you find you lack the energy or desire for a little bedroom playtime, ask yourself how many hours of sleep you are getting every night.
If you wake up with puffy eyes or dark circles under your eyes,ask yourself how many hours of sleep you are getting every night.
If you can’t seem to lose those stubborn pounds no matter what you eat, ask yourself how many hours of sleep you are getting every night.
If you have been told your blood pressure is rising,ask yourself how many hours of sleep you get every night.
If you feel stuck or lacking creativity or inspiration lately,ask yourself how many hours of sleep you get every night.
If you answered less than 7 hours, shift your focus and make sleep a priority. You will see that in time, with a consistent 7-9 hours of sleep every night, you will feel sexier, look sexier and bring back your goddess gifts you were born with!
Remember, the best way to ensure you are getting quality sleep is by taking care of yourself, getting movement, plenty of water and whole foods, and putting all screens away at least 1 hour before bed.
If you find yourself struggling to stick to your sleep goals, implement the honesty + incentive = success formula. Tell a friend you will give him/her a spa day or money (you choose the number, but make it significant), if you fail to get 7 hours of sleep every night for the next month.
Think I’m crazy? Not getting sufficient sleep can lead to medical problems such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, hormone dysfunctions, increased risk of cancer, and immune dysfunction.
Nap anyone??