Making sure the kids get a good night’s sleep can get exhausting. Parents always prioritise their little one’s… and so do we! Caring for our kids is always the top of our list and our sleep tends to fall right to the bottom, sometimes falling off the list completely. However, caring for a healthy sleep is a crucial step towards health and happiness for exhausted families. This week we decided to focus on parents and teamed up with The Cheeky Yoga Club to bring you a video and blog on 5 easy steps you can apply to your day-to-day routine to improve your sleep!
About Kat Achtelik and Cheeky Yoga Club.
Kat is a creator of The Cheeky Yoga Club. She is a writer as well as a meditation and yoga teacher with a love for exploring physical, emotional, and mental health (with a sprinkle of spirituality). Her self-discovery, growth and healing journey started back in 2011 and now she is proudly helping people around the world to improve their mental health through simple practices.
To learn more about The Cheeky Yoga Club visit their website or email Kat at hello.cheekyyogaclub@gmail.com even if it’s just to say hello! You can also visit her Instagram or YouTube channel for more fun videos!
Why is sleep so important?
Think about sleep as charging your phone at night, without charging it, it just won’t work. Sleep helps us restore our bodies, maintain a healthy weight, improve concentration and productivity. It can also help to maximise athletic performance and boost your immune system. Getting a good sleep can have a great impact on our day to day life and wellbeing.
5 easy steps towards a better sleep.
We know parents are extremely busy and often don’t have too much time to invest into themselves. That’s why Kat from the Cheeky Yoga Club prepared a list crafted for our busy schedules. There are some slight changes we can make to our evenings which deliver amazing results! Watch the video and read below for more information on each point!
Step 1: Stop drinking stimulants after 3pm.
For parents it’s cutting out the coffee, tea and energy drinks. Juices, sugary drinks and pop also apply to this rule. A lot of these drinks contain caffeine which stays in the body for up to 10 hours! An evening brew is very tempting, but you can replace that with camomile tea which will relax your body and make falling asleep easier. Sugar consumption can result in shorter and disrupted sleep having an effect on your day and mood. Avoiding stimulants will definitely improve your sleep and day-to-day life.
Step 2: No blue light at least 2h before bedtime.
Mobile phones are the main sleep disruptor these days. The current year has seen a great increase in addiction to mobile phones, we ourselves know how difficult it is to put the phone down in the evenings. We can promise you that turning off all devices at least 2 hours before bed will have a fantastic effect on the quality of your sleep. You can spend this time reading books, listening to podcasts or music instead! Avoid doing anything over stimulating in that time. If you’re struggling to make the 2 hours try at least 30 minutes, that is enough time to help you unwind before sleep.
Step 3: Simple stretches to help better sleep.
You can also use the 30 minutes to do some simple stretches which will help to release stress and unwind. Watch the video where Kat takes you through these simple stretches step by step!
Step 4: Check your bed and bedroom.
Make sure your mattress is the correct density, your bedding is breathable and your pillows have the correct support. You can also look out for companies with the right certifications to avoid chemicals and toxins in the bedding. All of our bedding is Oeko-Tex® certified making it toxic free and safe for the skin, keep an eye out for similar certifications in your bedding as well.
It’s also important that you pay attention to your bedroom as a whole. We spend a lot of time in our bedrooms, therefore it’s important to make sure the room is organised, calm and relaxing. For some great tips and help on how to improve your bedroom to achieve a better nights sleep visit the blog ‘The Ultimate Guide To Make Your Bedroom a Relaxing Oasis’ written by Andrea Lozoya from Porch.
Step 5: Legs up the wall!
Many of us work at desks, especially since we’re working from home we often find ourselves sitting for a long period of time. This means that all of the blood in our body is working against gravity. Laying down with your feet up the wall will help to calm your body and give it a break from sitting and standing, it’s also a great excuse to lay down and take a little rest.
We hope these tips help you improve your sleep. Whether you can apply all of them or even just one, we can assure you that improving the quality your sleep will have a great impact on your day-to-day life!
Let us know if you tried any of the above tips and how It influenced your sleeping routine! If you have any questions, please email Kat at hello.cheekyyogaclub@gmail.com, she will love to chat to you! You can contact us on hello@happylinencompany.co.uk or message us via our social media platforms by typing in @happylinenco.
You can also visit The Cheeky Yoga Club YouTube, Instagram or Website for more content, yoga classes, tips and more!
