19 tips for good sleep

 If you need to be woken up in the morning – either by an alarm clock or by another person, then you’re not getting enough sleep. Many of my naturopath and massage clients report they have trouble sleeping. You can give yourself a better chance of a good night by following your body’s natural rhythms and these guidelines. .

 Below I’ve listed nineteen - yes that’s NINETEEN - things you can do to improve your sleep at night.

1: Get out of bed at the same time each day.

Have a regular time of getting up out of bed. Regardless of what time you were in bed the night before get up at the same time each day. 

2. Don’t lay in bed worrying.

Avoid lying in bed for long amounts of time worrying about sleeping. If you’ve been in bed for more than 30 minutes – or what feels like 30 minutes and your worried about sleeping – get up and go do something else in dim light (a few yoga stretches are ideal here) and then go back to bed when you’re sleepy. 

3. Cut your day naps.

Avoid napping during the day – limit to a 20 minute powernap in the afternoon if necessary. 

 4. Get some sunshine.

Spend time outside in natural light during the day 

 5. Lay off irritants.

Avoid eating foods that may interrupt sleep such as acidic citrus, wine, beer or fatty foods that may cause indigestion. 

 6. Go natural.

Avoid Bright light exposure late in the evening, particularly blue light from electronic device screens. Turn off your devices at least half an hour and ideally an hour before bed. Sorry, no more scrolling your phone in the middle of the night. 

 7. Wind down

Avoid big heavy meals or sweaty workouts in the three hours before bed as the can be stimulating for your body and brain.

 8. Be in the dark.

Make your room as dark as possible – remove all sources of light, such as digital clocks and the little lights that might be admitted from electronic equipment such as stereos or laptop charging plugs. This is because light interrupts your production of melatonin, the sleep hormone.

 9. Get comfy.

Use a comfortable mattress and pillow for comfort and support

 10. Don’t work in your bedroom.

Reserve your bedroom for sleeping and making love 

 11. No problem solving

Avoid thinking about troubling issues before bed. Allocate time earlier in the evening or day to worry and problem solve 

 12. Lay off the stimulants.

Eliminate all stimulants such as caffeine, sugar, soft drinks and nicotine, completely if possible but particularly after 3pm 

 13. Avoid alcohol

Reduce or eliminate alcohol – even one glass of wine interferes with healthy sleep and you wake feeling tired. 

 14. Avoid illicit drugs

Avoid illicit drugs – these mess with you and your sleep 

 15. Try and keep pets out of the bedroom .

Avoid having pets in the bedroom, and children (joke!). This is a tough one, obviously this comes down to personal choice and many of us choose to sacrifice good sleep in order to make our loved ones feel secure. The kids may take a few years to grow up and forgo their midnight cuddles, but if you can at least make a special sleeping space for your pets that’s not on your head, your health will be better for it.

16. Drink sleepy herbs

Try drinking a herbal tea before bed. Chamomile is wonderful, so is lavender, passionflower, lemon balm and oat straw. I’ve put all these gorgeous sleepy herbs in a delicious Sleep Tea blend, available in the Wild Grace Tea Shop.  

17. Have a Bath

Have a warm bath before bed – extra points for placing Epsom or magnesium salts in the bath, lavender essential oil is wonderful for inducing sleep also.

 18. Get the temperature right.

19 degrees celsius is the optimal temperature for good sleeping.

 19. Create a routine

Create a bedtime routine for yourself: Set aside 30 – 60 minutes for winding down with a bath, self massage, breathwork, yoga, a meditation and listening to sleepy music. Spotify have some great playlists. 

Herbs that can help when you're feeling grumpy

Some days are much harder than others. When things go wrong, or a spanner is thrown in the works  emotions bubble up and you find yourself being a little bit snappy. Wouldn't you know it though, there's a herb for that. 

I practise herbalism on an energetic basis. We all have our different personality's, dispositions, and energetics. What's right for you will be different to what's right for me, and I love finding the right plant medicine for the right person. 

I mixed up the below formula for myself last week when I was a grumpy mcgrump pants, and it worked a treat.

Korean Ginseng 

This one is powerful. So powerful that I find many herbalists shy away from it. it's quite stimulating, so wonderful if you're feeling tired and havn;t had enough sleep. Which was me last week, a combination of staying up a bit too late and my kids needing me in the middle of the night. It's indicated for loss of physical stamina, exhaustion and tiredness, and diminished concentration and memory Just what I needed. I find a few drops of korean ginseng prior to a long drive is excellent for helping concentration. 

Sage

Sage is one of my personal herbal allies and finds it's way into many of my personal blends. It contains rosmarinic acid which is an antioxidant and really good for your brain. Matthew Wood lists one of sages traditional uses (of which there are many) as indicated for 'withered dry skin and withered tendons.' Yes exactly how I feel after not getting enough sleep for a week. Also has traditionally been indicated for mental lethargy, depression, melancholy and poor concentration. There are many other uses - this plant is complex and full of magic as far as I'm concerned - the uses I've listed above seem the most apt here. 

St Mary's Thistle

A powerful liver healer, this herb prevents and reverses damage to the liver induced by alcohol and life in general. Wonderful for strengthening the liver to process all those nasty toxins you don't need. In traditional chinese medicine the liver is associated with the emotion of anger, so by nurturing the liver you nurture your anger. 

Zizyphus

Has a mild tranquilising effect - perhaps downplaying all those irritable emotions. It's indicated for anxiety, nervous exhaustion, restlessness, irritibility and insomnia. Perfect. I always expected this herb to be quite sedative but have found when taking it, it actually has more of a calm your nerves type vibe. It helps you get off to sleep because it calms your irritability and anxiety allowing you to destress. I’ve found it doesn’t make you drowsy if you want to stay awake.

Ginger

Another herbal ally for me that I consider a master healer. just so much awesomeness in one little root. Full of anti-inflammatory, calming goodness, and a little bit of ginger tincture added to a herbal blend improves the taste an awful lot. 

This is by no means an exhaustive list of herbs that can help your mood - there are many more. This mix was exactly what I needed at the time. After taking this blend all noises and mess and annoyance dulled and faded. I managed my tiredness for the rest of the day, and of course, made sure I got into bed early for a goods night sleep. 

If you'd like to experience the gorgeous support offered to us through our herbal allies, please book in for herbal medicine appointment. Appointments are available online or in person in South Fremantle. 

Herbal tincture

How does a Medicine Tea Reading work?

Your medicine tea is a blend of medicinal herbs handpicked by me with the help of spirit to support your unique needs. Plants are more than just mere material, but have a consciousness and purpose of their own. When working with plant medicine you open your mind, heart and soul to the plant's lessons and healing. This works on a physical level, with the teas containing minerals, nutrients and phytochemicals that interact with your own biology to heal, balance, and bring health, as well as on emotional and spiritual levels to help bring greater understanding and meaning to your experiences.
You may just like a unique blend to help you relax in the evenings, or to get you going in the morning. Perhaps you’d like to use your tea to help support the function of a particular body system, like your reproductive health, your heart , or your digestive system just to name a few. There are plant medicines to support all of your body systems and all kinds of health needs.

You also might like to feel differently, happier, more vital, more productive. You can choose to work with intention when ordering and drinking your tea. Perhaps you would like to bring in more abundance, more connection, a better job. If this is the case don’t be shy and let me (and the universe) know so I can select the plant medicines that can help you find your way. When ordering a tea reading you have the opportunity request whatever it is you would like help with.. be it a physical health issue, a metaphysical request, or simply just for wellness.

You can order your Medicine Tea Reading here. When placing your order a short questionnaire pops up that you fill out with your intentions and requests to help guide the tea selection process. Typically your tea will contain 5 herbs at least. Your tea is then lovingly created and posted out to you.

7 lifestyle tips to stop getting sick

Confession time: I prefer getting all my nutrients from food rather than popping supplements and powders. I focus on eating healthy and this used to be enough. I’d rarely get sick. Since becoming a Mum it’s a different story. Of course I took supplements prior to conceiving, during pregnancy and most of breastfeeding (I forgot here and there), and I irregularly take them now. Experience is telling me, though, that diet alone isn’t doing enough to build up my nutrient stores post children. It’s hard not to get a cold from a toddler child that needs cuddles and kisses and likes to give cuddles and kisses back. Pre-children I never got sick. I was dedicated to my fitness, ate a pescatarian whole food, low sugar, anti-inflammatory diet, and went years without so much as a cold. 

After two pregnancies and four and a half years of continuous breastfeeding (that’s a lot of nutrients sucked from my tissues) and, 5 years later, I still have my sleep interrupted by babes. I also have a child in day-care a couple of times a week who’s exposed to new pathogens constantly. It feels like I get sick A l l   t h e   t i m e.   I’m actually embarrassed about how often I get a cold. This is postnatal depletion syndrome.  

I’ve had enough. 

I’m boosting my nutritional profile by taking some concentrated vitamins and minerals, essential fatty acids and probiotics RELIGIOUSLY. And of course, botanical medicine. Medicinal Mushrooms are renowned for boosting the immune system, but intuitively, they don’t resonate with me at this time. Rather Echinacea, Baical Skullcap, Japanese Knotweed, Siberian Ginseng, Lemon Balm, Nettles and Withania are here to help me. I feel like my immune insufficiency is caused by nutrient depletion, and once I have those stores up, the mushrooms may be ready to help me. 

So here’s 7 lifestyle tips to overcome immune insufficiency caused by postnatal depletion:

1. Antioxidant rich foods. Antioxidants modify your immune response.  The phytochemicals that antioxidant rich foods provide the body help repair damage to your tissues caused by your immune response to infection. When you see colour in your fresh produce, you can safely assume that’s antioxidants, so that’s why the phrase ‘eat the rainbow’ is so popular. 

2. Getting adequate sleep: , the sleep hormone melatonin performs as a potent antioxidant, repairing and restoring your body. I know this is easy to say and not do when you mother small ones, so ask for help where you can, and do your best. It may mean turning off netflix and getting into bed earlier. Your sleep is much too valuable. 

3. Protein: Inadequate protein is linked to dysfunction in the immune system. Protein is available in meat, dairy, beans, legumes, wholegrains, eggs, nuts and seeds.

4. Wholefood diet - one that is based on foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. Not only do whole foods contain a wide array of nutrients, wider than foods that have been segmented, they also retain their vital force, or prana. Nutrients in their natural state work synergistically in the body to benefit the immune system. 

   Leave out

5. Sugar: Sugar is an immune suppressant with studies showing intake of sugar reduces the capacity of white blood cells to function properly, so therefore your immune response is weakened. Studies have shown that eating sugar can deplete the immune system for up to two hours after consumption. So that’s every time you eat sugar, you’re weakening your immune response for a time. 

6. Caffeine: Chronic and excessive intake of caffeine is likely to function as a stressor to the already depleted immune system. HOWEVER, in small amounts it’s actually anti-inflammotory, antioxidant and helps modulate the immune system, and may be particularly helpful in auto-immune conditions.  Yes I love caffeine. It’s been a saviour for me these past 5 years as I’m woken up often in the night and unnaturally early as well, that cup in the morning is supportive. If you’re having a lot, or having it with heaps of milk and sugar, then any anti-inflammatory effects may be lost. I try and keep to under 200mg of caffeine a day. For me this means using nespresso pods at home and rarely buying a coffee when out, as the caffeine content can vary greatly in cafe coffee. 

7. Preservatives: additives and colourings - Foods with these additives have, for the most part, long lost their vital force. Overly processed foods, while do provide calories to keep you going, do more harm than good in the long run. Often high in the wrong kinds of fats, sugars and a driver of inflammation, these kinds of foods wear you out. 

   If you’re rundown or experiencing repeated illnesses, nutritional and herbal medicine will help you build up your immune system and resilience. Nature has everything you need to thrive. Please book in for a naturopathic appointment for health coaching and a herbal and nutritional plan to restore your vitality. Life is too short to waste it feeling awful. 

6 household items you should lose to enhance your fertility

Plastics, and in particular BPA, build up in your system and can affect your fertility. The good news is that studies have shown that by reducing exposure, the amount of BPA in your system decreases significantly, and other kinds of plastics will likely reduce also. 

Head to your kitchen. Many kitchen utensils are made of plastics that break down when exposed to heat - directly into your food, and this is what you want to avoid. 

Replace all the following items with ceramic, glass or metal. 

• Reusable food storage containers - Ikea have some fabulous glass containers with timber lids

• Microwave safe bowls (don’t put plastic in the microwave all together)

• Reusable plastic water bottles and cups 

• Plastic tea kettles

• Colanders

• Blender containers that have been used with hot soups 

Although many plastic kitchen items in store are labelled BPA free, often the manufacturers have replaced BPA with a similar compound such as BPS that isn’t as well researched and may be just as damaging. In our society, until plastics are proven unsafe they are assumed safe. Perhaps they are, but then, asbestos was once assumed safe also, and with substances such as BPA proven to adversely affect fertility, it’s wise to err on the side of caution. The Handmaids Tale comes to mind (eep).

The plastics used for bottled water and food products on the supermarket shelf do not contain endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC’s - the fertility damaging components of plastics) and you don’t need to stress as much about it. Reduce where you can and only drink bottled water when absolutely necessary. Tinned foods are more problematic than other shelf foods as the cans are lined with plastics. Although some are labelled BPA free, there’s no way to know what the replacement lining is, and whether it’s benign or not. In particular it’s important to avoid tinned tomatoes, as these are quite acidic and are therefore much better at leeching fertility damaging plastics into their juices. It’s easy enough to dice up your own tomatoes thankfully. Try and use fresh foods instead or products jarred in glass.

While preparing to conceive, ideally, you’ll be focusing on whole foods prepared from fresh ingredients and steering clear of processed foods. Not only are processed foods more likely to contain EDC’s, they’re also more inflammatory and overloaded with bad fats, sugar and salt.  You need a rainbow banquet of fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, protein and wholegrain to nourish your body and optimise your maturing eggs and sperm, so shopping at the farmers market for fresh produce and bulk food stores for nuts, dried beans and grains is not only better for the environment, but better for your future baby as well. 

Gorgeous baby image via upworthy.

Are everyday items destroying your fertility?

We’re nearly at the end of plastic free July, but saving the planet isn’t the only reason to get rid of plastic. Many, if not most, plastics out there have some form of endocrine disrupting chemicals (ie, they mess with your hormones and normal bodily function)  or persistent chemicals that hang out in your fat cells forever. In fact, in one analysis, 500 plastic products labelled ‘BPA free’ were analysed for endocrine disrupting chemicals. 90% were determined to contain endocrine disrupting chemicals and in some cases at higher and more damaging levels than BPA itself.* 

Whenever plastic is heated, frozen or exposed to the elements in any way it breaks down in tiny amounts and you end up ingesting it, such as from water bottles and take away containers, from water pipes in the ground, or through your skin from creams and cosmetics. 

Further to this, during pregnancy and breastfeeding your body will dump any plastic residues from your tissues into your baby while in utero and into breastmilk while breastfeeding. Alarmingly, pregnancy and lactation are the most efficient way for your body to detox these nasties - straight into your baby. Little is known on how much these chemicals affect the developing foetus however animals studies indicate there is a measurable negative effect on gene expression and health of the foetus as she grows to adulthood. 

I’m not here to alarm, don’t panic. Your body is wise and brilliant and can overcome these hurdles. For example getting plenty of folate in the diet has been shown to negate the negative effects of BPA. So there’s ways around it!  But please be wary and reduce usage of plastic products now. 

If you’re planning on starting a family, it’s wise to consider a full detox program approximately 6 to 8 months prior to first trying to conceive, especially if you have been exposed to a higher level of environmental toxins through your work, lifestyle and living environment. A detox takes approximately four to six weeks, and then you can start a preconception care program of approximately four months. You want as many nasties eliminated from your system as possible before starting your conception journey. 

*BPA has been proven to significantly disrupt fertility. Women with high levels of BPA are 87% more likely to suffer a miscarriage than women with low levels of BPA.