Like most parents, when our little one finally arrived, he wreaked havoc on our sleep schedules. Three years later and it still feels like the first day. The broken sleep, the middle of the night wakes and the parenting “worries” that were the cause of many restless nights. Speaking from experience, the lack of and disruption of sleep takes a toll after some time. I’d wake up in the mornings with a foggy mind and not have the energy to get through the day. For every new parent, not getting enough sleep is always a big topic and I have 5 tips and products that can potentially help you sleep better, all available at www.BestBuy.ca.
Get a Mattress and Pillow Best Suited For You
As parents, we do everything possible to prepare as best we can before the baby arrives. We spend hours researching the best cribs and mattresses to ensure they will be safe and comfortable. As parents, we need to make sure we reciprocate this for ourselves! A good mattress and pillow is essential for comfortable sleep. Firstly, figure out what type of mattress works best for you. I personally enjoy a mattress with a medium firmness, not too hard, not too soft. What I like about the KOALA Gel Memory Foam Mattress is that it has two layers of aired gel memory foam and 7.5 inches of charcoal-infused, high density foam. All this goodness in the mattress helps distribute body weight evenly and helps regulate temperatures to aid with a restful sleep. In addition, this mattress is stored and packaged in a convenient box.
As for my pillow, I also prefer a medium firmness. A pillow too soft does not provide enough support, yet one that is too firm can leave a kink in your neck. The Luna Lyra Memory Foam Pillow is soft yet supportive. It utilizes NASA-inspired PCM technology to thermo-regulate the sleep surface, absorbing moisture and adapting to external temperatures, providing you all-night comfort and rest.
Improve The Air You Breathe
Depending on where you live, the summers can get really humid and the dry winter air can be disruptive to your sleep. A good quality humidifier can make your home more comfortable by helping to regulate the consistency of humidity levels. I would suggest keeping two in the house if you are able and move them around the home as needed. Keep one in your room while the other in your baby’s room. The Dyson AM10 Humidifier is ideal for year round use as it delivers clean, even humidification during the dry winter and cooling, high velocity air during the warm summer months. The better the family can breathe, the better rest can be had by all.
Lighting To Help Put You in A Relaxing Mood
The right “lighting” can set the mood for almost anything. Our bodies and our minds are trained to be awake when there is bright light and asleep when it’s dark. We are surrounded most days in a office with unnatural lighting and hunched over the glaring lights of our mobile devices. The type of lighting we have in our home can help dramatically reduce restlessness and aid in falling asleep.
Connect your home with the Philips Hue Smart Lighting Kit. The starter kit comes with 4 Hue light bulbs that feature every shade of light. You control the lights with your smart phone and works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, HomeKit, IFTTT and Nest. This will come in handy when you are pinned down to the recliner with your baby, unable to move. You can adjust to the variety of lighting options based on your activity like reading a book in bed, relaxing or meditating. You can even re-create the feel of a warm sunset…the possibilities are endless.
Try Meditation to Help You Relax
Now that we have everything ready in our homes from our beds to our lighting, what else can we do to relax? If you have not tried meditation, I highly recommend giving it a test drive. The Muse 2 Brain Sensing Headband is your meditation assistant. It uses sensors to gather feedback from your brain and body, it plays gentle and soothing sounds to help calm your busy mind and steady your heart. Set your mood lighting, burn some incense or a candle scent you love and melt away into your meditation.
A Warm Drink Can Do The Trick
I remember my mother always making a warm class of milk before heading to bed. One of my all time favourite warm drinks to have before bed is a Turmeric Latte. Turmeric has many anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial benefits which means it is great for reducing symptoms of the cold and flu. Also, since turmeric is a true super food, it can help the body adapt to stressors like environmental toxins, anxiety and lack of sleep. Here’s what you need to make your latte:
1 cup milk (I prefer a nut or oat milk)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of salt and pepper
1 heaping teaspoon of coconut oil
1 to 2 teaspoons of honey or maple syrup (depending on how sweet you’d like your drink)
I take my choice of milk and give it a quick steam in the Nespresso Aeroccino Milk Frother. Once the milk is ready, I toss it into a Magic Bullet Blender, along with all the other ingredients and give it a good pulse or two and make sure the coconut oil is nicely blended and VOILA! If you’d like to have this drink during the day, just add a shot of espresso to the latte.
To all the new and to be parents out there, be understanding and accepting to the idea that life will consist of sleep disruption. Hopefully, all these tips will assist with better rest and sleep. But remember, this too shall pass.
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