Sleep and Longevity - 6 ways to support your sleep

Give yourself the gift of better sleep and you might just live a little longer.

Longevity isn't about living longer, it is about prolonging your health span, a life free of disease. Prolonging your health span starts with better sleep. Sleep is fundamental to health. It is the foundation for healing.

Imagine a world where you get 7-9hrs of sleep everyday. A world where you wake up rested, clear and calm.

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1. Acupuncture

Acupuncture (#acupuncutre) increases the natural melatonin in the body, quiets the mind, calms the heart, regulates your nervous system and supports regular deep sleep. 10 weeks of consecutive acupuncutre treatments has a profound effect on establishing new sleep habits.

2. Limit Caffine

Swap out your morning coffee for tea and your afternoon coffee with a green juice. This might seem daunting at first but after a week you will greatly feel the benefits.

3. Reduce stress. Acupuncture reduces the level of stress hormone cortisol in your body. It supports the transistion out of our all too familiar sympathetic (fight or flight) response and into parasympathetic (rest & relax) response.

4. Movement. Get outside and move your body everyday. Turn off to tune in. I cannont emphasise how important it is to move outside every day. Whether you go for a hike, run on a trail or just simple walk to pick up your kids at school instead of driving. Take a moment without your phone to be outside moving your body. 15-30 can turn your whole day around.

5. Take a hot shower or bath before bed. This will help you fall asleep faster by aiding in the natural tempature regulation that occurs before sleeping, lowers your blood pressure and overal relaxes your nervous system.

6. Have sex instead of watching tv at night. You will will sleep better, feel more connected to your partner and wake up happier. Plus regular orgasms help regulate your cycle, ladies.

Katie Dittmann is a licensed acupuncturist in Boulder, Colorado. She loves sharing her passion for natural approaches to health and wellness through her online articles and at her clinic, Katie Dittmann Acupuncture, at 3080 Valmont Rd. Call for an appointment at 720-470-3908.