Make Space
Overnight, the limits of our physical world shrunk. Commuting, for many of us, became a walk from the bed to the sofa and the kitchen table now doubles as a hot desk. In a shrunken world our space is everything.
Clean it up:
Cleaning it up can be a revelation and caring for your immediate surroundings is, by extension, caring yourself. It doesn’t have to be about aiming at minimalism, just taking care of a few of those small jobs that you have been putting off, like sweeping the leaves, unsticking that stubborn drawer or wiping condensation from the windowsills. These tiny acts are a physical reflection of the maintenance on your peace of mind. When thoughts won’t unjumble, sometimes just stopping and tidying is all it takes.
Break it down:
If it all seems a little daunting and you need some inspiration, there are websites and Apps to help you break down the work in to smaller, manageable tasks. The website Unfuck your habitat offers a fun approach to breaking free of mess, by organising jobs into “do what you can, when you can” challenges of 5, 10, 20 minutes at a time.
https://www.unfuckyourhabitat.com/
Sleep it off
Just like our food and supplementation routine, establishing a healthy sleep habit takes practice and patience and small changes to the bedtime routine now will add up over time to make a big difference.
Getting enough sleep is vital to supporting healthy mind and body function and is key to making that good diet and exercise routine pay off. Proper sleep regulates the metabolism and hormones responsible for our body mass index (BMI) and insufficient sleep has been linked to obesity. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535701/]
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2007.118
There is already a great deal of common-sense advice for improving sleep hygiene, such as getting to bed earlier,
turning off your smartphone, avoiding (or reducing) caffeine, lowering room temperature etc. However, there are also some practical steps that can be taken to encourage more restful and restorative sleep. Setting some time
aside to do these things before bed will help establish a routine focussed on preparing your brain and body for
sleep. It may take a little while to set in as a habit, but once it does, you won’t look back.
Magnesium:
Magnesium is important for over 600 enzymatic reactions including energy metabolism and protein synthesis, regulating muscle and nerve function as well as blood sugar levels. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25540137/ ] In addition, magnesium is vital to the body’s ability to absorb vitamin D
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180226122548.htm
Take magnesium last thing in the evening, as it decreases the binding of adrenaline to the adrenergic receptors, helping to calm us down. https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/tip-foods-and-supplementsthat-control-cortisol]
Make it dark:
Where possible, turn off all electronic devices and if street or other ambient light makes complete darkness
impossible, eye masks can really help. It sounds obvious but it is amazing how much light penetrates our night
time hours.
Write it out before bed:
Get that to-do list written down for the next day. Once those anxieties about tomorrow are on paper, you will have more space in your head for relaxing thoughts.
Gratitude:
Make a list of three things you are grateful for. Research shows that positive thoughts before bed decreases stress levels even more, making it easier to sleep.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minding-the-body/201111/how-gratitudehelps-you-sleep-nigh
Read:
Nothing too exciting and make sure its paper rather than online, to avoid that screen glare and the temptation to doom scroll for hours.