Clearing Clutter to help create the perfect bedroom!

This is a previously published post that I would like to share again to coincide with my Clearing the Clutter for Sleep Event that I'm holding on Saturday. If you would like to join this free event then please sign up by clicking here!  Looking forward to seeing you there! 

In the last post, I encouraged you to look at your bedrooms and see if they could be made more sleep friendly by taking things out. This time, it's about putting things in!!

Doing these things is not going to cure insomnia overnight, but will definitely help. A lot of insomniacs dread going to bed as it brings up associations with not sleeping, with lying in bed awake, tossing and turning, in fact bed is associated with everything but sleep.
In order to start changing this mindset, it helps to make your bedroom somewhere where you want to go, a place that you want to spend time in.

In my London flat, the bedroom was the last place I decorated. My logic went along the lines of the other rooms - where I would be spending most of my waking time and where I would entertain, seemed to be the most important to get looking good. So by the time I got round to my bedroom, it had already become a dumping ground and the thought of moving all the stuff out seemed too daunting, so I kept delaying and delaying! Then when I did get round to painting - I painted it a bright and cheery yellow.

In hindsight all these things were big mistakes and I was not creating a calm, relaxing place to sleep.

Since then I have done a lot more research into sleep and especially (the horribly clinical sounding) 'sleep hygine'. It all makes sense!

Your bedroom should be a calm, relaxing place to be and my bright yellow walls were more stimulating than calming. So think about your colour scheme - is it calming or stimulating?

What is your bed like? Does your mattress need replacing? It is recommended to replace them every 10 years. It is also worth spending quite a lot on a good quality mattress that supports your back. It can seem a waste to spend a lot of money on something as simple as a mattress, but you do spend a 3rd of your life in bed, might as well be comfortable when you're there! Take your time buying a mattress, spend an afternoon or two trying out different ones, go on, lie on all the beds in Ikea!! I like a good quality sprung mattress, but if anyone has tried the tempura ones, please comment below and let us know what they are like.

How about the bedding? I like pure cotton, it feels so good! I also prefer white sheets, this may be something to do with Feng Shui that I learnt in Hong Kong, but it could be just because I like the look, the reasons are lost in the mists of time. I also have one of the 4 seasons type duvets and even in the winter have them in two separate duvet covers as I like to be able to adjust the temperature. I also have a feather duvet as I was going for luxury and the feel good factor, but again, this is a personal preference. I also sleep on an anatomical pillow. At first it was strange but now I really like it and don't feel as if I have the same support from a traditional pillow. I also have a feather pillow that I hug!

The bedroom should also be slightly cooler than the other rooms, as again this helps sleep. I know that I find it difficult to sleep in a heated room and like to have the window open.

I know some people swear by blackout blinds. I did have one when the bedroom window was East facing and the sun would come in early in the morning, but apart from that one place have not felt the need for one. What about your bedroom window, would one help you?

So look through the list and think about the different areas and if there are things you could change. You may say to yourself - but I need to have 3 pillows, but if you are not sleeping with 3, is it worth trying something different? You could be saying - I need to warm whan I sleep, but again, could this be something to change to see if you sleep better?

I used to read these articles and ignore them, but the reality has been that changing things, little by little, has improved my quality of sleep. I love going to bed, I know I'll be cosy and comfortable and that helps a lot when I'm going to sleep. Let me know what works for you - it could really helpful for another reader too.

Sweet dreams!

Tips for fasting and sleep.

I have recently taken up IF (intermittent fasting) after seeing the BBC documentary Eat, Fast and Live Longer and joined an on-line forum to help me pick up ideas and tips to cope with my 2 'fasting days' per week, where I only consume up to 500 calories a day.

To my surprise I found that on fasting days I found it difficult to sleep. After having overcome the insomnia bug I was upset by this. As it was just on the nights where I was fasting going back and redoing my sleep condensing programme was not going to help me, so I spent a few (sleepless) nights trying to work out the best approach forward. I did not want to give up on the fasting as I was interested in seeing if it helped my health but really did need to sleep. Reading some of the posts on the forum and a conversation with a friend who is also fasting, I realised I was not the only person this happened to.

Some of the usual advice for insomnia is not going to help in this situation - drinking cherry juice has been shown to improve sleep, but for a faster drinking fruit juice is a waste of calories and fruit juice can cause big spikes in sugar/insulin levels which just leave you feeling even hungrier a short while afterwards.

So here are my best tips for fasters.

1 Are you warm enough? 
Being just slightly too cold can prevent sleep - and it was something that I had noticed on the forums that some people felt cold on fasting days. This was not something that I have noticed so far, as it is still quite hot here in France and it is hard to feel cold when the temperature is in the mid 30's. For me this was the problem at night time and once I had worked out what was going on, I now add a layer on my bedclothes on fasting nights and my sleep has improved!
Try placing a lightweight blanket on top of your duvet, or wearing warmer bedclothes and bedsocks to see if this helps your sleep.

2 When are you eating?
Having a growling stomach is not conducive to sleep. I save up my calories during the day and have an evening meal and a bedtime snack, which really does help.
If you are new to fasting, see if you can reduce the meals you eat to allow for more food in the evening. Fasting is an individual process and if this does not work for you relax and try one of the other approaches. More experienced fasters may find this easier, as many people find that eating earlier in the day makes you feel hungrier throughout the day, but not waking the stomach with food helps keep the hunger pangs at bay.

3 What are you eating? 
Although restricted to 500 calories there are some foods that we can eat on a fasting day that will help promote sleep. These include bananas, turkey, dairy products, sweet potatoes, lettuce, oatmeal and almonds.
Turkey is a lean, low calorie meat that can easily be part of your 500 calories, along with a small portion of sweet potatoes. Or maybe a turkey salad?
For a bedtime snack - how about a small bowl of porridge (with low fat milk), a low fat yoghurt, or a small portion of almonds.
My favourite bedtime snack is to blitz a banana with low fat yoghurt (and a splash of water) to make a banana smoothie. If I have enough calories left over then I might add a few berries as well. Depending on exactly the quantities and brands used, this comes in at between 130/150 calories.

4 What are you drinking? 
This is a tricky one as the recommendation for fasters is to drink plenty of water, as this helps with weight loss and with stopping hunger pangs. the downside is needing to go to the toilet in the night. Experiment with when to stop drinking water - maybe an hour or so before bed.
Green tea is also recommended for its weight loss benefits but green tea does contain caffeine. Caffeine can stay in your system for several hours and the general advice is to stop consuming caffeine after 2pm to allow you a good night's sleep. Maybe you are not normally sensitive to caffeine but the affect of restricted calories may change this balance in your diet.
Also remember that caffeine is present in coke and some other soft drinks - maybe you are glugging back the diet coke to help curb your hunger? Again try stopping in the early afternoon to help improve your chances of sleep.
Try drinking other herbal teas instead, they provide warmth and comfort and are generally caffeine free. Also chamomile and valerian tea are both known for their sleep inducing properties! Valerian is also available as a supplement.
Diet soft drinks such as lemonade do not contain caffeine, or try flavoured fizzy water to keep hunger at bay.
Some posts on the forum recommend a low fat calorie hot chocolate as a bedtime drink (40 cals) I have been unable to try this out as they are not available here. My only warning would be to avoid this if you find you are more sensitive to caffeine.


For me it was the combination of an extra blanket and a bedtime banana smoothie that helped and now I sleep normally on a fast night.
Please feel free to comment below about any sleep tips you may have to help fasters sleep better!

Sweet dreams!

If you would like more help with achieving overcoming insomnia and other sleep problems then please contact me at charlotte@charlottewelply.com and we can set up a free introductory coaching session.

Disclaimer - please talk to your doctor before undertaking any type of fasting or calorie restricted diet. The intention of this blog post is to give advice around sleep and not whether you should fast or not. 

Summer sleeping

Ah Summer - long hot, sunny days and the time we all wished we had aircon!

Here are a few ideas on how to 'sleep cool' as the weather gets hotter if you have no air conditioning.

Cool Your Bedroom

- Close curtains or shutters during the day to keep the heat out of the room. External shutters are preferable as this will prevent the glass from warming up. Also try and keep the windows closed during the hottest part of the day. Open the windows in the evening when the air has cooled, try and get a breeze flowing through the house and use fans to help with this.

- Fill a spray bottle with water and squirt a few times into the air and this will help bring down the temperature.

- Freeze a plastic bottle of water during the day and at night time place it in front of a fan to blow cool air around the room.

- Is it possible to move to another room to sleep? Hot air rises, so if possible sleep on a lower floor or in a north facing room that will not heat up so much during the day

Cool Your Bed

- Use sheets made from natural fibres cotton or cotton mix and with a higher thread count. Sheets with a sateen finish or made of silk will also feel cooler.

- Lightly spray a top sheet with water so that as the water evaporates it will help cool you down. Please note the word 'lightly'!

- Turn your pillow during the night to keep your head cool.

Cool Yourself

- Wear light nightwear rather than noting as the fabric will allow perspiration to wick away.

- Keep a bottle of spray mineral water next to the bed to use on your arms and legs during the night.

- Avoid caffeine and alcohol in the evenings as these will raise your body temperatures by increasing your blood pressure.

- Stay well hydrated during the day to help stop you waking up because of thirst. However try to stop drinking fluids an hour before bed to help prevent night time toilet runs!

- Use an ice pack (the 1st aid ones) wrapped in flannel/washcloth, placed on your neck or forehead to help cool you down. Do not place directly on your skin or use for more than 10 minutes to avoid ice burn.

Hope this helps and the heatwave diminishes soon!

Sweet dreams.

To share or not to share?

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After last week's slightly tongue in cheek post about duvet stealing, this post is about ways to share a bed in comfort.

Historically people have always shared beds as beds, bedding and even extra bedrooms were expensive and prohibitive. It was only the super rich that could afford to have separate bedrooms. In the past if you were a single traveler you may well have shared a hotel bed with a total stranger. Siblings, if not whole families, would sleep together in the same bed.

There is also the simple fact is that as a general rule, humans do sleep better on their own. Everyone seems to have slightly different needs in terms of warmth, bed softness, space etc. Against this is the need to balance the need for intimacy in a relationship and studies have shown that sleeping separately can impact negatively on relationships.

So what to do if you do want to sleep in the same bed but have different needs?


Respect different body clocks
A night owl married to a morning lark is a nightmare combination for bedtimes, the good news is that the majority of the population are hummingbirds and can adapt to either. However some people do prefer early bedtimes while others would like to stay up an hour or so more. If this is your situation then have a discussion with your partner. Maybe they are not being lazy in the mornings but genuinely getting some restorative sleep? Perhaps it's not the lure of another TV show that is stopping them coming to bed with you but a real feeling that they are not tired. If you do opt for different bedtimes then make sure you have some shared bedtimes, perhaps at the weekend, to keep a level of intimacy within the relationship, as this allows for and respects different sleep needs.


Buy as large a bed as possible 
Though falling asleep wrapped in each other's arms seems the romantic thing, we actually need a lot of space when sleeping and a larger bed will help with this.
If you both like different levels of support from a mattress then it is possible to buy two different mattresses that zip together.
Although buying a new bed may seem like a huge investment, it is the place where you will spend a third of your life and can help reduce stress levels in a relationship. Is that not worth paying for?

Have two different duvets
Although I joked about this last week this is a very easy and practical solution if one person prefers warmer bedding and the other throws of heat (and the covers) during the night. It is also possible to buy different duvet weights that again zip together.

Technology
What to do if one person likes watching TV to fall asleep and the other prefers peace and quiet? As a general rule technology in the bedroom disturbs sleep rather than enhances it, so I do recommend taking out TV's and computers. How about listening to a podcast with earphones, or investing in a 'speaker pillow' that you can plug your mp3 player into. A little light than you can clip onto a book is less intrusive than a bedside light. Likewise eye masks and earplugs can help too. Discuss and compromise, one person should not be making all the sacrifices as this will cause resentment.

Pets
An area that needs discussion and agreement however pets have no understanding of respecting bed space and if they are disturbing your sleep, then they should not be allowed to sleep on the bed, hygiene issues aside, they simply take up to much space. If necessary then they can be trained to sleep on their own bed in your room.

These are just a few suggestions, I would love to hear from you any thing that you have found useful, please comment below.

Sweet dreams. 

Too hot or too cold to sleep?

A sudden dip in the temperatures across Europe and a snowfall last night and it seems like the right time to write this post.

I woke up in the middle of the night the other night and couldn't get back to sleep for a while. I then realised that I was slightly cold. I didn't feel cold in that I was shivering, or my hands and feet were like ice blocks, but just slightly cold. I pulled a blanket on top of my duvet and was asleep within 10 minutes, just that little bit of extra warmth making the difference.

There is a very narrow range for an optimum temperature in the sleep environment for humans, which is between 18 and 22°c (65 - 72°F). The body temperature dips at night to allow sleep and so being in a cooler environment helps the body achieve this. However if it is too cold, then your body is working to warm you up and therefore makes it difficult to sleep.
I was brought up in a home were central heating was sparsely used, so prefer a cooler sleep environment. I find it difficult sleeping in houses were there is 24 hour heating (which happens a lot in Europe with communal heating for a block of flats).
Of course if you were brought up or live in a warmer environment/climate you become used to higher temperatures, but when temperatures fluctuate over the year, you need to try and keep the bedroom temperature as steady as possible.

Here are some good sleep hygiene practices for the different seasons -

In Winter
- keep the thermostat cooler in the bedrooms (radiator thermostats help with this) or turn the temperature down half an hour before going to bed.
- try experimenting with layering - using different tog duvets and blankets as well as warmer bedclothes, pyjamas and bedsocks!
- when your partner has different needs, try using separate duvets or perhaps sharing a duvet and one partner having a light blanket over them as well.

In Summer
- keep the room as cool as possible during the day, closing the curtains to keep out the sun, blackout blinds etc.
- use a fan to keep the air circulating and put a container of frozen water in front of a fan
- avoid memory foam pillows as these can heat up the body.
- turn off or remove all unnecessary equipment, as these can heat up a room, even incandescent lightbulbs can heat up a room!
- if you use it, check the air-con is not too low, as too much of a drop can make it too cold to sleep.

Here in France the temperature can fluctuate between overnight lows of -12°C to overnight highs of 35°C, so over the year I employ many different techniques to try and maintain the best sleeping environment, in winter I have a fleecy undersheet, high tog duvet, blanket and sometimes a hot water bottle. This all gradually reduces to a sheet and fan in the high Summer.

If you're not sleeping too well then take a look at the temperature in your sleep environment and see if there anything you can change to get a better night's sleep.

Sweet dreams!