Save 20% off your first order at Sakara Life with discount code: ATOMICBLONDESAKARA

Who’s tired? I know I struggle daily with getting enough sleep.

I have a busy household and I work from home. I also have a very demanding kitty who likes to launch herself at my head if I do not provide treats the second she wants one. In addition, there is still a global pandemic wreaking havoc. Depressing and stressful news bombards us from all sides, from social media to television. 

So, how do we mitigate this situation that many of us find ourselves in? We can’t move to a cabin in the woods and surround ourselves with blackout curtains, unfortunately, so I decided to do some research on sleep health, with help from experts and my partners at Sakara Life. 

Sakara Life is currently featuring a limited edition program called “Sleeping With Sakara”, and it looks like they are taking sleep as seriously as I am trying to!

This program was designed to educate on the science of sleep, support you in designing your ultimate sleep routine, and help you sleep through the night for a rejuvenated, energized tomorrow. 

“Through nutrition, luxe gifts, and curated content, we'll share how to completely recalibrate your nervous system, heal your hormones, reset your cravings, and tap into joy and creativity during your waking hours.”

What you’ll receive on the 3-week program:

• Sakara Nutrition | Receive three weeks of Sakara’s Signature Nutrition Program, designed to nourish your dreams.

• Sleeping Essentials | Create new rituals with complimentary gifts from my bbs at OSEA Malibu, Fleur du Mal, and yoga nidra expert Tracee Stanley.

• Expert Advice | Learn daily practices from renowned sleep experts who will guide you to better sleep.

I am starting my second of the three weeks and have been fully committed to finding a more restful way of being.

Here are 5 paths to more restful sleep that I have taken away from Sleeping With Sakara’s experts and also from my own research. 

1. Choose nutritious meal options with sleep-supporting ingredients

Your gut microbiome is the control center of your body, influencing how your body and mind function—and how well you sleep. 

A few sleep-supporting ingredients and meals included in Sakara’s Signature Nutrition program for “Sleeping With Sakara”

• Cherry: Naturally filled with melatonin, Cheries set the body up for rejuvenating rest

• Tatsoi: Cleans your digestive tract and makes space for good bacteria to thrive

• Sesame: The small superseeds are rich in tryptophan, an amino acid needed to produce slumber-inducing melatonin.

• Sakara’s Complete Probiotic Formula: This comprehensive probiotic goes to work within your digestive tract overnight, fortifying your gut microbiome while your body rests. (I take this before bed!)

Full disclosure: while the type of food you select may help with sleep in general, they are less likely to be effective you have poor “sleep hygiene”.  

The next 4 tips address this. 

2. Try to limit caffeine after 2pm

According to professor of neuroscience and psychology at University of California, Berkeley, director of the Center for Human Sleep Science, and bestselling author Matthew Walker: 

The quarter-life of caffeine is 10-12 hours. So if you drink a coffee at noon, at midnight a quarter of that caffeine is still in your brain.

Caffeine is a psychoactive stimulant that makes you more alert, but at a cost. It decreases the amount of deep sleep that you have (stages 3 and 4 of non REM sleep). You will wake up and not feel restored, even if you do not struggle to fall asleep. Then, due to this vicious cycle, you reach for 2-3 cups of coffee (or equivalent energy drink) because of unrestorative sleep.

So, even though there are certain types of people who are able to process caffeine more effectively, it is still not a good idea to partake in caffeine after 2pm.

Caffeine races into your brain and latches onto the welcome sites of adenosine receptors. It hijacks them and blocks the signal of adenosine telling your brain that you are sleepy. But the adenosine is still there, and you're still sleepy. it's just on mute. Your brain is fooled. Ugh. 

As that caffeine is in your system and blocking the receptors, the adenosine is still building up. 

One that caffeine is metabolized, not only will you go back to the same level of sleepiness, you're going to have that PLUS all of the additional adenosine that has been building up. Hello, caffeine crash. Now you need an even stronger cup of coffee! and the cycle continues. 

Hot tip: beware of caffeine found in hidden places! Decaf coffee is not “non” caffeinated. Desserts such as ice cream can also contain caffeine. Dark chocolate sometimes contains almost as much caffeine as a cup of coffee!!

3. Limit use of LED devices, especially at night

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, by Matthew Walker:

“Due to its omnipresence, solutions for limiting exposure to artificial evening light are challenging. A good start is to create lowered, dim light in the rooms where you spend your evening hours.” 

Tips to “wind down” and reduce LED lights during the evening.

• Avoid powerful overhead lights

• Mood lighting is the order of the night

• Wear yellow-tinted glasses indoors in the afternoon and evening to help filter out the most harmful blue light that suppresses melatonin

• Install software that gradually de-saturates the harmful blue LED light as evening progresses

• If you have an iphone, make sure to take advantage of the new and updated “bedtime” options! They have come out with a ton of new features recently.

• Maintain complete darkness throughout the night

  • Get some blackout curtains; your brain and sleep cycle will thank you!

  • I’ve also found these helpful little blackout stickers that you can place over small electrical lights on, say, chargers to create complete darkness.

4. Try to skip the nightcap if you can

Intoxicated Sleep is not advisable. Unfortunately, even one glass of alcohol can equal measurable changes in your sleep.

As alcohol is a sedative (and sedation is not sleep), you are drifting into a light sedation more quickly when you imbibe, which is not a natural sleep.

You will often wake up more and not remember it; this is called sleep fragmentation, and leads to poor quality of sleep.

Alcohol also shifts you over into a more activated state; it activates a fight or flight branch of nervous system, and disrupts your REM sleep, which is critical for mental and emotional health, creativity, and duration of your life span.

5. Develop your own bedtime rituals and implement them at least an hour before you wish to fall asleep

Find bedtime rituals that fit in with your timetable and that work for you.

Here are a few I enjoy:

• Osea Vagus Nerve Pillow Mist - This luxurious pillow mist is included with the Sleeping With Sakara program, but I’ve actually been using this since it appeared on OSEA Malibu’s website! It is one of my favorite products that they make, and I mist my pillows with it nightly.

  • Hot tip: use my code HANNAHATOMIC10 to take 10% off at OSEA Malibu

• Breathing practice - check out Tracee Stanley’s Radiant Rest (also included in Sleeping With Sakara) and find a practice that fits into your lifestyle. I usually partake in one of the quicker pranayama techniques before bed. 

• Detox Tea - I have a cup of Sakara’s Sleep Tea before bed; this tea includes superherbs useful for sleep such as valerian root, catnip, and passionflower. 

• Journaling - writing down your thoughts before bed can be very healing and calming. Find a pretty journal and a nice pen that resonate with you. 

• Invest in bedding and sleep wear that make you feel luxurious.

  • Some suggestions:

    • Fleur de Mal

    • Parachute Home

    • Beyond Yoga

    • Girlfriend Collective

    • Quince

    • Frette

Save 20% off your first order at Sakara Life with discount code: ATOMICBLONDESAKARA

Sources and further reading | Education 

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker

Masterclass: Function at your Highest Level with renowned sleep expert Matthew Walker

Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation & Awakened Clarity by Tracee Stanley 

“Bounce back from a poor night’s sleep” by Hannah Shanken