Let’s talk about sleep for a minute.
Sometimes I’m cruising along getting 7-8 hours a night and feeling pretty good about life. Other times? I’m lucky if I scrape together 4–5.
Between being a small business owner, a mom, a wife, and a person who cares about the absolute chaos and heartbreak happening in the world right now… sleep can be hard. Our brains don’t always get the memo that it’s time to power down.
And I know I’m not the only one.
But here’s the thing: sleep is so much more important than just feeling a little groggy the next day.
It affects nearly everything.
When sleep starts slipping, a lot of other things tend to follow.
Sleep plays a big role in:
Basically, if you’re putting in the work in the gym but skipping sleep, it’s kind of like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom.
If I’m being really honest about what affects my sleep the most, it usually comes back to my evening routine.
And by routine I mean…my phone. 😬
I spend a lot of time on it. More than I want to admit.
It's not all bad! I use language-learning apps like Pimsleur and Duolingo (though I lost my epically-long streak earlier this month when the stomach bug took me down.) I also play brain-games like Sudoku, and crossword puzzles.
BUT add in watching TV with Kyle as we wind down at night (lately we’ve been deep into Cobra Kai...yes, I know, we’re very late to this party), and suddenly it’s later than I planned, my brain is still buzzing, and sleep becomes harder to achieve and maintain.
Sound familiar?
News, social media, emails, work messages...they all keep our brains in “go mode” when we really need to start shifting into “rest mode.”
One of the things that helps my sleep the most is something I’ve honestly been slacking on lately.
Sauna and cold plunge.
Kyle and I rebuilt our sauna this fall, and it’s up and running again. And when I use it regularly, I feel a huge difference in my stress levels and my sleep.
But like a lot of good habits… when life gets busy, it’s easy to let it slide.
The interesting thing though is that part of what helps isn’t even just the hot and cold therapy itself.
It’s the pause.
It’s stepping away from everything.
It’s sitting somewhere quiet.
It’s letting my body finally shift into “chill out mode.”
Sometimes I’ll throw on a meditation playlist on Spotify and just sit there.
And almost immediately, I can feel my nervous system settle down. Like someone is turning my dial down from 11.
Now, most people aren't lucky enough to have a sauna in their backyard. And that’s totally fine.
You really don’t need anything fancy to create the same kind of effect.
It could look so simple, like:
Even 5–10 minutes can make a difference.
We spend so much of our day “on” (answering messages, working, parenting, worrying, planning) that our nervous system rarely gets a signal that it’s safe to power down.
Sleep tends to come a lot easier when we give ourselves that signal first.
If you’ve been struggling with sleep, you’re definitely not alone.
The goal isn’t perfection (sometimes that expectation makes it even HARDER to fall asleep).
When you're in the moment, just take the biggest breath possible, then inhale a little bit more, and give yourself a nice long and slow exhale. Think to yourself "This is fine. I am fine. We will take care of everything in the morning."
It’s just nudging things in the right direction.
Other things you can do TODAY to help:
Little changes add up more than we think. And when sleep improves, almost everything else gets easier too.
So this might be a reminder for you… and honestly for me too. Tonight, maybe we put the phone down a little earlier.
Even if Cobra Kai is getting good. 😅
Your future self will probably thank you.
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