So my husband of almost 29 years booked us a long weekend at Miraval Health and Wellness Resort this weekend...a place I have wanted to go to since moving to AZ over 20 years ago. Why didn't we go before you might be asking...2 main reasons...1. It is kind of expensive and 2. I always thought I'd go when I was skinny (not healthy mind you but skinny). He is supportive of my weight loss surgery and he booked it as a 50th birthday celebration, and as a way to learn some tools that might help through this life changing journey I'm on to have successful weight loss with surgery. This is the first of a few posts to share what I learned.

The first class we did was called Better Sleep. I know my sleep struggles are neither unique nor are they as severe as some, but when I have a bad stretch it really screws up a lot of things. I was reminded that sleep is the ONLY time the body is in repair mode. It is doing all the maintenance stuff it needs to do to keep me going. Even one night of too little sleep messes up the body's ability to repair itself.

The RN who taught the class (you can access her Better Sleep Blog at the Miraval site here: http://www.miravalresorts.com/blog/post.cfm/6-myths-facts-on-adequate-sleep ) gave us what a "perfect day" designed to promote sleep would look like. Yep I said DAY. Many of the things we do all day long, including first thing in the morning can interfere with a good nights sleep

So here goes:

1. Get up within 1/2 hour of the same time every day...even weekends. The body likes to know what is going on. Having wildly differing wake up times keeps it guessing too much so it tends to make you feel sleepy because it is worried that you wont give it enough.

2. Get some AM Sunshine. The color of light in early morning sunshine shuts off the body's natural melatonin production which is good because melatonin is a hormone that regulates the body's clock.

3. Get some AM Exercise. This is not to short those of you who like to exercise in the afternoon, but most people get an energy boost from exercise so it makes sense to time it early in the day....even better if you can combine numbers 2 and 3.

4. Confine caffeine to the morning. Double steep your tea to reduce the amount of caffeine you get from it (steep for 1 minute, throw that away and then steep to desired strength).

5. Carve out some time daily to drop your "hyper-aroused state" which is totally NOT a sexual thing . When we try to multi task, the body can interpret that as a danger...which engages the fight or flight response...which triggers cortisol...which is the stress hormone...which in an overabundance can do bad things .

Some ways to do this:

• Set aside one hour in the AM and one hour in the PM when you will NOT MULTITASK. You will focus on one thing at a time for that period.
  
• Use a calming "breath walk". Breath in through your nose for four steps, then release the breath for six steps and repeat... can be used when you are walking down the hall to another office, walking to your car...
  

6. Stay hydrated....I didn't write down why and now I can't remember....but I underlined it so it must be important

7. Stop eating 2-3 hours before bed time. Food energizes body functions which is not what you want when trying to wind down.

I had a hard time with this next part....Bed is for sleeping and sex only! I LOVE to read in bed before turning out the light....have done it since I learned how to read. When I asked her about it after the lecture, she said to try the other things first...but to realize that reading may be too stimulating and if the other things don't work I may have to change that habit.

Tomorrow I'll post about creating a night time ritual....something I'm trying for the first time tonight...so I'll let you know how it goes! Beth