Sleep is coming for you......

The morning your alarm goes off and you just want to roll over, or the first yawn you take when you get started on school, or maybe even you find your hormones are all over the place. There is one problem that could be at the root of this groggy epidemic: sleep deprivation. Sleep is one of the most essential things we need in order to stay healthy, be alert, maintain hormones, and cultivate imagination otherwise we feel tired or uninspired. There are a few other things that I believe are also essential but I'll talk about those in a different post, so let's just get back to sleep. For starters, people of different ages need different amounts of sleep, which I'm sure you've heard about but how much is the question. It makes the most sense that young kids and teenagers need a good bit of sleep in order to develop their brains and focus on day to day activities so 10-12 hours is ideal and quite necessary. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that maybe a good bit of you are not getting as much sleep as you need, and I know it's hard to get that much sleep with busy schedules and life happening. Listen here though, you're not going to be able to get through your everyday life without enough sleep! I don't know if I can stress this enough so just remember how good (or bad) it feels to get a good nights sleep or a horrible nights sleep. As for adults sleep is still very important but their brains are fully developed so they can make it with a few hours less than we do, say 7-9 hours. I can tell you though that it's just as hard for adults as it is for us to try and get through the day with a lack of sleep or a bad nights sleep. It will catch up to all of us at some point whether through us getting sick, having memory loss, having a lack of focus, or even just being grouchy all the time. I've covered the downfalls of sleep so far, so I'll now discuss the benefits of a good nights sleep and how to get one most nights.


The great benefits of sleep include:

Stamina- being able to keep up with your tasks and energy

Improved mood- having a happier disposition

Whole body health- your body will gladly thank you for giving it the rest it needs to recover from the day

Boost of creativity- your mind will give you some great new ideas in those dreams of yours

Maintaining a good weight- you would be surprised how much your body uses sleep to control its weight gain and weight loss

Some wonderful benefits don't you think? Now here's how to get a good nights sleep:

GET AWAY FROM THE BLUE LIGHTS- blue light messes with your brain and tricks it into thinking that it's still day time and cuts off your melatonin release (stay away from it at least one hour before bedtime)

Don't consume any kind of caffeine MANY hours before bedtime- this will just keep you awake for hours at night

Enjoy a cup of chamomile or sleepy time tea- this has the opposite affect of caffeine and will relax you instead (make sure it's all herbal tea)

Use a lavender or rose lotion on your hands or body- this also can relax you

Put down that exciting adventure book you're reading- it will just rev you up no matter how good it may be

Do your nightly prayers or meditate- thinking about God always calms me

Bonus: taking a teaspoon of honey before bed actually helps a lot of people stay asleep at night

This about concludes my post on sleep for today so I encourage you to try and maintain your sleep so that you will be a happier, healthier peacock!