Supernatural Botanicals

   Sleep!   Why does it always have to seem like a guilty pleasure?  Don’t you feel guilty or lazy if you’ve slept longer than 7 hours a night?  I’m right there with you, sister.  I’m completely guilty of making a to-do list as long as my leg each day, and not stopping until I conquer it all.   It’s one of those little afflictions I’ve picked up along the way. 

Why does the body need sleep?  It’s still a mystery to scientists, but they have identified several functions that occur during this period; energy conservation, decreasing body temperature, physical and mental recreation, memory processing and, according to Thomas Penzel, M.D., “the brain decides what to put in the bin and what to keep for long-term memory. 

Get the look of rest: 

*Get between 8-10 hours of sleep a night.

*Lighting should be minimal.  If you cannot achieve a completely dark environment, dim the lights as low as possible.

*Don’t drink too much caffeine late in the evening. 

*Light meals in the evening are better.  If you are having a big meal, make sure it’s three hours before you are ready to go to sleep.

*Restrict afternoon naps to 15-30 minutes; any longer and your body will think it wants to slip into a deeper REM cycle.

*When you go into the REM cycle, your body becomes physically paralyzed.  This is a self protective measure to make sure you do not physically act out what you are dreaming.   (Thank goodness for this stage…can you imagine?) 

I’ve been successful lately in just putting the to-do list down for the night.  So what, the to-do list doesn’t have all 300 things crossed off the list (my eye twitches as I write this…it’s still hard to do, but I’m trying.)   It’s okay, put it down for the night and commit to yourself the way you commit to others.  It’s easier to achieve gorgeousness the next day if you make an effort to get some sleep.  

Keep in mind that sleep = gorgeousness.