Review of Sleep Hacks from February

Ok, so I wanted to give a review of the things I tried last month and which ones helped and which ones didn't. 

First, the California poppy extract.  I found the effects wore off with long term usage.  I think this would be helpful to use during stressful periods or when your brain is too active and you can catch it in time.  I found taking this 1-2 hours prior to bed added the benefit of shortening time to sleep.  California poppy helps with extending REM cycles and while it helped in the beginning I am no longer certain it is still benefitting me.  So I'm going to take it out of my evening ritual and save it for times when I feel I need it.  My worst sleep seems to be cyclic. 

Magnesium: while those with magnesium deficiencies may be certainly benefit from this I found no help with my sleep.  I took this for 3 weeks without a change and so took it out of my evening routine.  In case you missed the posting about magnesium, you can find it here.  I eat a lot of foods rich in magnesium which is most likely why this didn't help me. 

Sound Sleep, Sound Mind has been very helpful so far and I wish I had more time to add more activities faster, but my last few weeks have been taken up with doctors, dentists, family with stomach flu, etc...  One of the first activities from the book is to tell your brain your day is done, right? 

I do not have have many days that my brain thinks I need to solve the world's problems.  I do not get very stressed about much.  I have a very developed spiritual practice which I believe is the main reason behind my lack of stress.  So many experts say that spirituality, no matter what it is, is one of the top 10 things you can do to improve quality of life and happiness.  I whole heartedly agree.  Pray, read, journey, meditate, chant your mantras, etc...  Do it no matter how little time you have and your whole life with benefit.  I am a much better mom and wife when I take time away from my family for my spirituality!!!

So the day is done isn't something I have found very helpful yet, but I am doing every night as practice for just in case. 

The next trick is building imagery.  Lol!  Building imagery is NOT something I need to work on.  But, I have been reliving my time when I swam with dolphins in Mexico (a very spiritual experience for me) and a heaviness pulls at my body.  I was doing this at 9 p.m. as part of my go to bed ritual and found that this really can put me to sleep and 9 is way too early so I switched my alarm to 10:30 p.m. last night and plan to try it out then. 

I haven't woken in the middle of the night, other than a few minutes cuz of my tooth (grumble), so I have not had to try out coloring/sketching to trigger my imagery system. 

I hope to post more from Sound Sleep tomorrow.  I am very eager to get to The Power of Rest, but don't want to try out more than 1 thing at a time. 

In other news, the plague continues at our house.  Sunday and Monday sure looked like it was gone until Anna became ill early Tuesday morning.  She is still home and Rowan keeps running a fever off and on. 

Madalyn is being seen by a neurologist for migraines and during an MRI they found a mass near/on/in her pituitary gland.  Yesterday we met with an endocronolgist to see if this is a problem.  She has to go see the vampires (lab) for a bunch of testing on her hormones.  Prolactin may be suppressing key hormones in her system which would explain why she only gets 2-3 periods a year.  Her neurologist is almost certain that it is nothing to worry about and that it is a common abnormality. 

Madalyn has tried out Maxalt and Topamax for her migraines and they haven't helped.  Since she has genetic headaches, from me, what has helped the most is Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and her neurologist just bumped that up so fingers crossed.  She was taking 100 mg in the morning and evening and now she takes 200 mg in the morning and evening. 

Anna gets really bad headaches, not with Madalyn's frequency thank goodness, and they seem to revolve around her period and I'm thinking that maybe she should try out vitamin b2 to see if it helps her out.  hrmm...

Because of my absess and antibiotics I am trying to be even more proactiv with my health.  Young (thai) coconuts are pricey (around $2.50 each at Winco), but they are packed with so much nutrition that I have splurged a bit.  Here is my morning smoothie I have been drinking the last couple of days, it makes a lot so if you are drinking it alone you might want to put a glass of it in the fridge. 

water and meat from 1 young coconut
handful of pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon raw tahini
2 frozen bananas (can use fresh, add ice if you want it cold)
3-4 dates for sweetness

Blend and enjoy.  Tons of nutrition and immune supporting goodies.