Goodnight Day 13

Well, we are closing in on two weeks of our Whole30 and I've got sleep on the brain again.

One of the nine factors referred to in the Whole9 is sleep. Getting the right amounts in the right fashion is integral to health and well-being. The right amounts are between 7 and 9 hours, apparently. I fall short of this most nights, but feel markedly better when I do punch seven good hours. One of my definite time wasters is my beloved iPad and iPhone. It never fails that I want to check "one more thing" before lights out, and before you know it I am on the fourth food blog and up well past my desired sleep time.
For the remainder of this Whole30, I am going to attempt to have all electronics shut down by 9:30 and be in bed by 10:00, lights out 11 at the latest (already reality has interjected and my revised goal is bed by 10:30.) Wish this night owl luck! Luckily, my husband has graciously offered to take the kids out and run some errands so I can shower and write this at a decent hour. Yup, the glamorous life of a mom.

Anyway, a friend of mine sought professional help with sleep and left some tips on an earlier blog post for me to reflect on. None of these were new to me, but they were important reminders to get quality sleep - it's part of the Whole30 formula for success. After my short round up of daily eats, I'll leave her tips for you to ponder as well.

They're all a bunch of puppies.
Seriously,
most patient dog ever.

Breakfast: one total SWYPO banana muffin. It was good in a pinch, but would have been better with some fat, preferably from coconut milk in coffee. The two monkeys took all my attention this morning and I didn't even have a chance to open a can of coconut milk before lunch time and I absolutely should not have caffeine after lunch.

Lunch: fluffy scrambled eggs* with hot sauce, probably two (I scrambled five for the three of us), plus about a half cup of sautéed garlicky mushrooms. My two year old shares my love of mushrooms, it's fun to watch him shove them into his mouth. His older brother now despises them, but he used to be a fungi fiend himself. Ahh, fickle kid appetites keep us parents on our toes. I finished off with a couple of slices of watermelon.
*you may notice I eat a lot of scrambled eggs, this is not out of desperation. Rather, when working, I rarely get to enjoy fluffy, hot perfectly scrambled                   eggs and I adore them. Hence, many scrambled eggs this month.

Zoodle bowl

Dinner: zoodles and bolognese, one of my favourite meals ever. I topped it with toasted pine nuts again, added hot sauce at the table, and it was so good! I encourage you to try these as a topping even if you aren't Whole30ing. I find pine nuts so buttery and delicious. The two year old adores this meal and polished off two bowls - I guesstimate his noodles equated one full zucchini in total. Amazing!

Snacks: two spoonfuls of almond butter, a spoonful of coconut oil (felt I needed the fat)

And without further adieu, I leave you with a good reminder of proper sleep hygiene. Thanks Tammy!

Some tips I've learned (thanks to the use of steroids and their best friend, insomnia!) from my friends at the Sleep Clinic at the University of Ottawa:

1. Turn off all electronics AT LEAST one hour before going to bed. This doesn't help you actually get to bed early (especially for an Energizer Bunny like Nicole), but the ultra-violet hues that emanate from our electronics, actually stimulate your brain for up to two hours. So if you look at your iPhone in bed, right before you turn in, your brain is still in "on" mode for a couple of hours, affecting the quality of your sleep.

1a) Take the TV away from all sleeping quarters (none in the bedrooms, no Blackberries or iPhones near where you sleep).

1b) Watch TV with the lights ON! Not only is this better for your eyes, but incandescent light actually mitigates the ultra-violet light that your brain absorbs.

2. Every hour of sleep before midnight is roughly equivalent to four hours of sleep after midnight. So even if you go to bed at 9:00 a.m., and get up at 5:00 a.m., you will still be far more rested than if you went to bed at 11:00 p.m. and woke up at 7:00 a.m. I've tried this...it works!

3. Watch the temperature in your home during sleeping hours. It should never be higher than 68 degrees. Warmer temperatures means your body's cooling system has to work harder to keep your body from overheating, therefore taking away from the rest your body needs. If you're like me and you cheap out on hydro in summer, I use an oscillating fan when I can. It moves the air around and creates a breeze. NEVER point a fan directly at you when you're sleeping. That's a great way to wake up with stiff muscles.

4. Lavender scents promote relaxation...and there's a difference between relaxing and sleeping. The two can be mutually exclusive. I sprinkle lavender powder (non-talc) under my sheets when I make my bed. In between bed changes, I give a sprinkle in my pillowcases. Ahhh! Bliss!

5. Read something that is important to you. For me, it's my Bible (hint: the Psalms are like a sleeping pill!), but for someone else it could be a Paleo cookbook (sorry, Nic, couldn't resist), a romance novel, or a how-to book. I can hear people saying "But won't that get your mind working?" Maybe, but it'll be working on something that triggers your endorphins (happy hormones) and a happy person sleeps restfully, while an unhappy person sleeps fitfully.

Plus, one more from the Paleo community: complete darkness!