My Sleep Rituals

photo by Christie Graham, robes by One Wednesday

photo by Christie Graham, robes by One Wednesday

Ever since I can remember, I have loved to sleep. Apparently I slept through the night fairly early on, and I’m pretty sure my parents never had to beg me to go to sleep. I’m the first one to go to bed on family getaways and people often make fun of me for how early I go to sleep. I am one of those people that thrives on 9 hours of sleep. I can handle 8 but don’t love 7. So you can imagine having children was quite challenging during the first few months. I really had to find ways to prioritize sleep in between caring for my babes.

I’ve spoken about this before, but after having Liam, I suffered from post-partum insomnia due to a mixture of hormone imbalance, anxiety and my iron deficiency. All of a sudden, my baby was sleeping through the night but I wasn’t. You can imagine how frustrating that was. There were some nights where I didn’t fall asleep for four hours. And the same thing would happen the next night. By the third night, I was so anxious I wouldn’t fall asleep, that it would happen again. Since then, I’ve worked really hard to prioritize good sleep hygiene and can finally say that I’m in a good place when it comes to sleep (most of the time!) This is everything I currently do in order to get a good night’s sleep:

  1. I wear blue light glasses once the sun goes down. I love these ones. Blue light glasses block blue light that interferes with your circadian rhythm. People also say they help with headaches if you’re staring at a screen all day!

  2. In terms of supplements, I make sure to always take Iron as I’m deficient and B12 if I’m not eating a lot of meat as a deficiency in both of these vitamins can interfere with sleep. Magnesium every night is also a must for me (reminder: I’m not a doctor so check with your’s! Get tested! Be your own advocate!)

  3. When things were really bad, I only drank one cup of coffee per day. Now I feel comfortable having two but found that this made a MASSIVE difference when I was suffering greatly. Note: do not cut out caffeine cold turkey as it’s absolutely miserable. I still loving having my coffee with collagen (recipe in my ebook!)

  4. Lately, what’s really been working for me is getting into bed around 8/8:30 with a good book (always fiction or a memoir at night) and putting the book down when I naturally fall asleep. This is actually my favorite way to fall asleep and have a good sleep. My fave books lately are:

    1. Finlay Donovan is Killing It - a cute, fun, almost YA-like mystery

    2. We’re Going to Need More Wine - Gabrielle Union’s (shocking to me) memoir

    3. Know My Name - one of the most important books I’ve ever read - Chanel Miller’s story is incredibly powerful

    4. The Good Sister - started reading this thriller last night and I’m already O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D

  5. When I can help it, I go to bed and wake up at the same time everyday to help my body get used to that rhythm. That’s usually 9pm-6am.

  6. I wear an eye mask and earplugs (thankfully my husband can hear the kids!) Otherwise I wake up to the lightest sound. I don’t love the feeling but I 100% sleep better when I do this.

  7. I was prescribed RelaxMax and a Rhodiola tincture by my naturopath and both have helped me be more consistent with falling asleep.

I know this all sounds quite high maintenance. And it is! But getting a good night’s sleep is one of my top priorities and after not being able to sleep, I relish the opportunity to do what I can to maintain my sleep routine.

wellnessSophie CollinsComment