50+ community Weekend Check-in September 25-27, 2020
It doesnt matter how slow you go as long as you dont stop. –Confucius
Happy Friday to all of you, how was your week? 
Before I go to bed, I made it a habit to either do some stretching or a short sequence of mindfulness movements. So today I like to share a video link with you about this https://youtu.be/oz_qHrZjY10
What are your best and healthiest habits to ensure good sleep?
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PTSD is challenging. Grateful for 7 cups and using tools to become more empowered over the symptoms and anxiety and depression. Often I'm told I am a strong person. I feel I am strongest because of the support I receive here to assist me so I keep gaining the strength to remain strong.
@Lolowise475
Dealing with PTSD is tough I am glad you find support here. It's hard to stay in the present moment when the past is visiting, this is an exercise I learned from DBT skills:
S:Stop. Whatever you're doing, just pause momentarily.
T: Take a breath. Re-connect with your breath. The breath is an anchor to the present moment.
O: Observe. Notice what is happening. What is happening inside you, and outside of you? ...
P: Proceed. Continue doing what you were doing.
Focus on the present https://www.7cups.com/exercises/mindfulness504/
I like the Confuscious quote...
What are your best and healthiest habits to ensure good sleep?
None...yesterday I dreamt there were bombs dropped from planes and gellicopters but I ran away from them through peoples gardens and I reached a high hill farm fence, broke it and met with two chickens. I broke the neck of the first chicken gently and thought to myself I will make a chicken meal with the siding of...chicken since I took the other chicken too...
The bombings and the huntings did not affect me and in my dream I came up with a new recipe: chicken meal with chicken siding 😉...weird nightmares when you can twist them in your favour...
@RubyRedGlowingButterflee
Some nightmares can be very confusing, how did you feel during the day?
I make sure I'm really tired. If I'm just a little sleepy, it could be hours before I actually fall asleep. But if I'm super tired, I'll fall asleep quickly and typically stay asleep for a good amount of time.
Of course, I also need everything "just right" for bed. I can't be too hot or too cold. The pillows have to be right, the music or white noise has to be right. It's a whole ritual. :)
@thoughtfulmomma
It seems that with time you found out what you really need to get sleep. It's awful to lie in bed turning and twisting around when the mind is not ready to sleep. Do you use relaxation music or meditation?
@amiablePeace77
Regarding your question...
What are your best and healthiest habits to ensure good sleep?
Here are my tips. I'll put them in a separate thread too.
Key thing is to... Understand what the body needs for good sleep.
Then do those things consistently each day and night.
Most important... don't drink caffeine after lunch because... it lasts a long time in the blood and... reduces sleepiness and sleep quality.
In the evening...
Starting at sunset... I turn down the intensity of all home lights. I turn down intensities of device screens also.
Several hours before bed time...I avoid eating or drinking (except water sips). Also turn down home temperature.
1 hour before bed time... I begin a wind-down time so I'm not doing stressful things well before bedtime (mental or physical). I avoid music that would get stuck in my mind.
The wind-down includes... brushing teeth, flossing, washing face (and sometimes washing hair under the kitchen sink faucet).
Right before going to sleep..
I make sure my bedding selection is right for the room temperature.
I make sure my blanket thickness will let me sleep a little cool rather than too hot because...
the body isn't very good at cooling itself under a blanket...
so overheating can cause a wake-up if the body gets too hot while sleeping.
Also... the body isn't good at controling it's temperature during dreaming sleep.
That's why people often wake up during dreams... they they get overheated from too thick blankets.
I log the time I go to sleep on a piece of paper.
I do relaxing mind-clearning Tai Chi Stretching and Breathing https://nicertube.com/tmx6r8
The Tai Chi moves are very easy to learn because they all have fun descriptive names so can do without the video quietly.
I put on foam ear plugs and a sleeping mask and...
Go to sleep same time each night... if at all possible.
Once I get in bed... I don't think or worry in any way... I just relax and go to sleep.
While sleeping I...
try to use good sleeping postions and...
I never pull covers over my face even if it is cool in the Winter because...
covering one's face causes overheating and re-breathing CO2, which can cause raised heartbeat and wakening.
I also make sure the pillow stays in the right position or it can affect the neck and breathing. Open mouth breathing can ruin sleep. Sometimes I need to use lip balm to keep my lips moist so my mouth stays shut while sleeping. That helped me a lot. Waking up in the middle of the night with a dry mouth is no fun!
If I get awakened in the middle of the night due to noises...
sometimes I'll use headphones and "white noise" because I find it very calming and is most reliable for enabling me to get back to sleep. I use a radio tuned between channels so i just get static. I keep it very low volume.
In the day...
I wake up same time each day and make sure I get bright light right away to reset my body clock.
I also eat early for same reason.
I get lots of physical activity, especially in the morning and when sitting too long.
That is crucial for creating a "need for sleep".
I don't eat a lot of carbs at one time because that would make me sleepy and want to take a nap.
I don't take naps because that would reduce my "need for sleep".
In the morning, I log that time I woke up and the number of hours I slept. I also log if anything disturbed my sleep. If yes, I list any sleep improvement ideas to try next... to prevent the problems from occuring again.
Most of the ideas above I got from top sleep books and articles with evidence-based findings.
They all work well for me.
See book "Sleep Smarter" by Shawn Stevenson. It's the best book I've read out of very many. Here is the Google book listing that provides table of contents: Sleep Smarter - 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success
By Shawn Stevenson 2016
Please forgive any typos above.
Opps! Here is the Standing Tai Chi stretching video I meant to paste above https://nicertube.com/cz59qb
@7motivation,
You have many good ideas and habits. Thank you for sharing!!
Sher
@SeekerSher
Thank you. I have been creating many new healthy habits little-by-little over the last year especially.
Most of my new habits were made due to great necessity.
I had very big problems with sleep, eating, exercise, shallow-breathing, stress, and procrastination. Then I realized they all interact with each other like a vicious circle. So I had to fix them all little-by-little or none of them would be fixed for long.
So I began making simple small changes as experiments based on ideas I read about in many places.
Then as I started seeing progress, I built on the habits gradually and also refined them so I have a system in place.
It's much easier to refine things once a pattern is in place.
Now I simply just do all my healthy habits without procrastination. I know I must do them to feel good, so I just do them because I want to. If I feel any resistance, I just do the easiest first baby step. Then that overcomes my resistance and the ball starts rolling effortlessly. It's funny how one has to play games with the mind that way.
It might be good if 7Cups encouraged people to post their own
"Healthy Habits Diary" for each habit they are working on.
That way, people could share their growth paths
while building new habits, and also
while untangling and replacing old bad habits.
Tagging @GlenM @ASilentObserver @Heather225 @PoliteOcean @RarelyCharlie
@7motivation,
Wonderful!!!
Sher
@7motivation
This is an awesome and very helpful post, thank you for making it so detailed and sharing all these information!
Falling asleep is a challenge for me. I have a heated mattress cover on my bed. Earlier in the evening, I turn it on just enough to take the chill off of the sheets. When I get ready to go to bed, I set the sleep timer on my phone music app to play relaxation music. When I get into bed, I lay a heating pad on my stomach, and set at the lowest setting. As soon as it heats up, I turn it off and enjoy the residual heat. Not sure why; but the heat provides a comfort factor that helps me relax. If I'm still unable to unwind, I try some mindfulness exercises along with it.
@Justme1225
I am glad you found your wayÂto deal the challenges to fall asleep. Temperature makes a difference, it's a good idea to warm up the sheets before bedtime, so nice to get into a warm, cozy bed . Mindfulness exercises are great to relax the mind, do you have a favorite one?
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@amiablePeace77 to sleep well do not eat heavy before going to sleep, do relaxing things, read a little, meditation
@soulsings
Nice soul! I remember times when much younger, going out and having a big meal and not being able to sleep after it, never again 
What are your best and healthiest habits to ensure good sleep? I wish I knew. I wake up every few hours. Not fun.
@Offmytrack oh no sorry to hear that. Hope you get better rest.
This helps me get back to sleep. https://youtu.be/8gevAxNb4u0
One of my friends told me to sprinkle salt around the bed to sleep well and put salt under my pillow so I asked her if I am out of salt can I spread quetchup around my bed and under my pillow to sleep well?
@FlameRedGlowingButterflee
Maybe a mindfulness meditation would do much better than any salt or ketchup. Being mindful about your thoughts and how you express them can change a lot.
@amiablePeace77, Go to sleep at an early enough time, to ensure, that if I wake up during the night--and I frequently do-- that I will still be able to go back to sleep and wake up for the day at a hour that is reasonable to me. I take my meds. I no longer drink alcohol or do drugs. I exercise and get sun. I drink water and eat 3 meals per day that are healthy and reasonable. I meditate, talk to people, practice my faith and have hobbies. All this adds up and helps me to sleep reasonably well.
@purpleTree4652 wow sounds like you are doing a great job of doing self care.