Are you one of those people that are what I call coffin sleepers – do you wake up in the same position that you went to sleep in without even so much as a wrinkle in your comforter?  Or are you one of those people who sleep like you’re rolling down a hill as a little kid?  I’m the coffin type and I want to share these six tips can at least help you prepare your external environment so that your internal environment (your body and mind) can be quiet and sleep.

First of all (yes this is my plug) let me say that acupuncture and Chinese Herbal medicine can definitely help you get better sleep.  So many of my patients – especially first time clients report back that they slept amazingly for the first few days after sleep – in time this becomes their regular sleep pattern and often times they aren’t even aware that they aren’t sleeping that well.

However, acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine should always be secondary to creating the proper environment to sleep.  Preparation is key.  It’s just like you wouldn’t go to your wedding in some old jeans and a Midnight Oil t-shirt – or maybe you would.  Preparing your external environment will train your body, your mind, and your energy to rest.  When infants are born they must be trained to follow a proper sleep schedule.  Sometimes we as adults because of one reason or another fall into bad habits and therefore we need to remove all external distractions so we can retrain ourselves to sleep.  So….

1.    No TV, laptop, movies or anything else in the bedroom.  The bedroom is reserved for the act of sleeping and well (is this a G or an R-rated blog)

2.    Wash and change sheets, duvet cover, ect. once per week.  This will cleanse your room and allow you to get a fresh start weekly.  I find this is particularly nice to do on a Sunday night – fresh sheets to start the week – awwwwww yes!

3.    Make sure the room is as quiet as possible and if you live in a noisy place use white noise.  Sleeping with a fan or a white noise machine can greatly increase your ability to sleep.  Your body is trained like that of an animal.

I know that if the gate outside my house creeks my dog is alert and

ready to pounce on an intruder in a second.  However, it’s not necessary for our sympathetic nervous system (fight and flight part of the nervous system) to be so alert as in today’s modern world we are generally safe at night tucked in our 300-dollar Pier One 300 count Egyptian cotton sheets. Using a noise machine can help rest your ears and quiet your fears at night.

4.    Sleep with a room at a temperature below 70 degrees, but not with a window wide open.  In Chinese Medicine we have both yin and yang.  Yang is the energy of activity of sunlight and of day time.  Yin is the energy of night, cold, and rest.

During the night we have to nourish the yin without damaging the yang.  A cool room will help encourage the body to rest while a cold room or a cold body – including head, feet and hands creates constriction and tension.

5.    Position your bed correctly.  This means position it at the master position of the room.  Do not place the bed next to the door in the “shopkeepers” position – this is where the shopkeeper would sleep and if he had someone come in he would jump out of bed and be ready to serve them.

Do not place the head of the bed towards the door.  This is the “endangered” position.  It doesn’t allow for the sympathetic nervous system to fully relax because your subconscious mind cannot fully let go because it is more susceptible to someone ie. the local caveman bully attacking you.

6.    Clean your bedroom and organize everything THOROUGHLY.  This is my last requirement, but I am also emphasizing that this is the most important.  This means all closets, drawers, and bedside tables.  There should be no more than 3 items on any surface.

There should be absolutely nothing on window sills.  Nothing on the floor, and ESPECIALLY nothing under the bed.

7. Believe in yourself and it will happen

Your body will obey your external environment meaning that if there is external clutter there will be internal clutter.  You job is to make everything quiet, clean and relaxed.  

May you find your path towards a deep, full and relaxing sleep!

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