ChrissyJee

I just finished a 21 day sleep project where I tracked my sleep each night with an oura ring. This year I’ve put together a 21 Day Habits of Health Project where each month I spend 21 days on a single health habit. We need at least 7 hours of sleep each night to give our body the time to rebuild and restore, clean out, feel rested and have energy the next day. I’ve already done three 21 day projects this year and this one was the hardest. Harder then the 21 Day Big 6 Detox. Many times we sacrifice sleep to get through our never-ending to-do lists and over-scheduled calendars. To make sleep a priority takes effort and priority.

My Sleep Profile

I am a decent sleeper and regularly fall asleep or stay asleep. The biggest challenge with my sleep is going to bed earlier enough to get at least 7 hours of it.

Here is what I learned.

What helped me get enough good sleep (at least 7 hours)

• Consistent Bedtime & Routine. The best way to get consistent good sleep (7+ hours) is to create a bedtime routine or habit and train your body to go to sleep each night . The actions in the routine should prepare your body and mind for sleep. Choose actions that are slower-paced, relaxing, and give a sense of closure. Include a warm bath or shower, pamper yourself with a facial mask, calm your mind with meditation or reading, feel a sense of closure responding to any emails or text messages you didn’t get to earlier in the day. I also like to relax watching an exciting or funny and well-written series on Netflix. Set your bedtime at least 7 hours before you need to wake up.
• Comfortable and clean sleep environment. My bedroom needs to put me in the mood to sleep. Everything from a firm bed, comfortable bedding, and soft lighting. And my room has to be tidy, it calms my mind when things are in place. I’m all about loungewear and that includes sleeping in comfortable pajamas.
• Sleep time indulgences. Even though I know I need sleep, I tend to go to sleep too late because I “just want to finish one more thing on my to-do list” or “just want to watch a few more minutes of a really good show”. I motivate myself to start my bedtime routine by adding little indulgences like a favorite face mask, new pajamas, or a great book.

What doesn’t help me get enough good sleep

• Going to bed too late. It’s simple math. On weekdays, I wake up at 6am. If I go to bed later then 11pm the previous night, I won’t get 7 hours of sleep. After my daughters go to bed, I have about 2 hours to clean up, finish up work and my to-do list, and get through my bedtime routine. I can easily get derailed if my kids took a little longer to go to bed, a lot of work to finish or an unscheduled make-out session with my husband. On most nights, I have to work hard to make my bedtime.
• Alcohol. I enjoy an occasional alcoholic drink or two with family or friends. As I’ve gotten older, alcohol has effected me differently and I have to be very mindful of the quality and quantity of alcohol I drink. Alcohol does effect my sleep when I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed. If I drink too much or alcohol that is not good quality, I don’t get enough REM (re-energizing your mind) and deep sleep (restoring your body) and get up very early so I feel tired and sluggish the next day.
• Stress and Anxiety. I am a decent sleeper and if I don’t sleep well the reason is usually stress and anxiety. Stress effects my breathing and my sleep. When I’m under a lot of stress and anxiety, I get up at 3am and can’t go back to sleep.

I can’t remember the last time I slept this much for 21 days and it felt so good. I thought about my sleep routine and schedule each day and I know I need to make it a priority in order to get at least 7+ hours of sleep. This taught me sleep is absolutely necessary for good health.

Chrissy xo

One of the best ways I’ve been able to support my health is to create everyday routines and habits around the five pillars of good health: diet, relationships, exercise, sleep, and managing stress. There is a lot to accomplish each day between work, home, and being a mom, and I reserve my brainpower for the things that require high levels of creativity and thoughtfulness. For daily routines, I want to be like a robot where I do them with little to no thought, and they become health-centered habits.

The 21 Day Habits of Health Project (21DHOHP) is an intention to try a single health-centered action for 21 days each month. According to the researchers in a study in the European Journal of Social Psychology, 21 days is within the timeframe to form a new habit . Each month I pick a single action that supports the five pillars of good health: diet, relationships, exercise, sleep, and stress management. For the actions my body responds positively to, I’ll work to include them into my daily routines and habits.

Diet. Food provides our organs and systems the information and ingredients to work properly. Nutrient and mineral rich foods gives our body functions the information to grow, restore, and maintain. When our bodies are nourished properly, we physically and mentally perform at our best, we feel good, have the energy to do the things we want to do, we feel happy. During the 21DHOHP, I will try foods and routines that will support my body and health.

Relationships. Close relationships with people we can trust makes us feel secure. Studies have shown strong, trusting friendships and a supportive community results in better health, less disease, and longer lives. During the 21DHOHP, I’m embracing the relationships that elevate me and make me my best self.  In the same regard, I will be “detoxing” from my life relationships that cause me guilt, anxiety, or don’t bring out my best self.

Exercise. Regular movement and exercise effects our whole body by keeping our joints healthy, strengthening muscles and building bone, losing and maintaining weight, supporting heart health, brain health, and preventing stress, injury, and chronic disease. Each day we want to be moving (standing and walking ) more and sitting less. 2-3 times each week we want higher-intensity exercise like a run or exercise class and mind-body movement like yoga.

Sleep. We all NEED sleep. It affects productivity, emotional balance, memory, focus, metabolism, immune function, heart health, and even creativity. It’s the only time our body restores and cleans house. Our bodies need 7 – 9 hours of sleep.⁣

Stress Management. Stress is mostly not avoidable in our busy lifestyle managing home and work, and conquering the world. Stress management is the most important of the five pillars of good health because you can change your diet, exercise regularly, but if you aren’t managing your stress you will still be at risk for conditions like heart disease, diabetes, thyroid diseases, auto immune diseases. Stress management is hard. It asks a lot of us. It forces us to slow down, disengage for a moment from the intensity of modern life.

For many of us with busy lifestyles, the meals we serve ourselves and families range from healthy, to healthy-ish, to not-that-healthy. Healthy and nutrient-dense foods heal, restore and refuel. Eating a lot of foods that are processed and nutrient-poor can harm our bodies. My diet isn’t perfect so I do a 21 Day Big 6 Detox (21DB6D) in January each year. This is a period of whole body restoration where I’m only eating nutrient-dense and whole foods.

The Big 6 Detox removes the top food groups that have been known to cause inflammation, or negative reactions from the body. The idea here is by removing these potential negative triggers, your body will be in a continuous period of restoration and healing.

Here are the big 6 food groups that are removed from this detox.

Without Grains. Some of the most popular grains are wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum, oats, rye and millet. The reason why grains are one of the popular food groups to eliminate during detoxes is because they have evolved to produce toxins, like gluten, to protect itself from predators like humans. These toxins poke holes in our gut lining, bind to essential minerals and make them unavailable to the body, prohibit digestion and absorption of other essential nutrients like protein.

Without Dairy. Milk from conventional cows are raised with reproductive hormones, antibiotics, chemicals, and growth products. Some of these additives are known to promote cancer. The Dairy Council has convinced us milk is the best source for calcium. The truth is there are better food options that are more calcium-rich for healthy bones and are also a good source of Vitamin D, K, and magnesium. Sardines and arugula are a great example of this.

Without Added Sugar. Sugar is highly addictive and can cause blood sugar imbalance, insulin resistance, weight gain, diabesity, and many other problems. Sugar is confusing because it has over 200 different names and food manufacturers use this confusion to sneak it into most processed and packaged foods.

Without alcohol. In moderation, drinking alcohol works for many of us. When drinking becomes a daily habit (one, two, or three + glasses to wind down from the day), it can start to negatively impact your health. Alcohol can effect sleep, your mood, your skin, your hormones, and your digestion.

Without legumes (beans). We should avoid legumes because they contain the anti-nutrients called lectin and phytate. Lectins are a type of protein that can bind to cell membranes and studies have shown lectins can impair growth, damage the lining of the small intestine, and destroy muscle. Phytates interfere with enzymes we need to digest our food. Even though these anti-nutrients would be inactivated after 15 minutes of cooking, I eliminate them for their reputation for triggering a negative reaction in the body.

Without processed oils. Canola, soybean, sunflower, safflower, corn, vegetable are categorized as processed oils because they go through steps like bleaching, de-gumming, deodorization, high heat, to create oil from the plant they are picked. All of this processing makes the oil unstable and hard to digest. Processed oils also have a high imbalance of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. High omega-6 intake has been linked to an increase in all inflammatory diseases like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, psychiatric disorders, autoimmune diseases. I like to use canola oil and ghee for cooking and olive oil for salads.

So what can you eat?

• Any whole food like vegetables, meat, seafood, eggs, natural oils, herbs, spices.
• Only one granny smith apple or green tip banana a day
• Read labels and make sure you each ingredient is allowed during the detox

I come out of the 21DB6D with better digestion, a clear head, and well rested. I love that this time also slows down my life and keeps me home more. I feel both physically and mentally refreshed.

If you are having trouble with sleep, digestion, brain function, or energy levels, please join me in January and let’s do the 21 Day Big 6 Detox together.

Chrissy xo