Today’s post comes from a new series I have written to help people create health instead of fixing disease called an Apple a Day. If you want to sign up for this series please see the link at the bottom of this post.

Did you know we spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping?

So it makes sense that our sleep/wake schedule is a big factor in the quality of our lives. 
 
Unfortunately our busy lives get in the way of proper sleep hygiene. 
 
Here are some easy tips to get you sleeping and waking better:

1. The best night sleep of your life starts when you get up in the morning. Get sun exposure first thing in the morning and the more you can get on your skin the better. 
2. Watch the sunrise and sunset whenever possible. 
3. Get rid of screen time 1 hour before bed. 
4. Use an easy application to automatically regulate blue light that is being emitted from your computer screen. You can download one here: www.justgetflux.com
5. Turn on "Night Shift" if you have an iPhone or download 'Twilight" for your Android phone.  These apps will regulate the blue light coming from your screen automatically based on the time of day. 
6. Have a consistent sleep wake schedule (even on weekends).
7. Reduce or eliminate overhead lighting in the evenings otherwise your brain will think it's high noon!  Lamps with a shade, salt lamp, or even candles are great forms of alternative lighting and very soothing. 
8. Get rid of the TV from your bedroom.
9. Keep your phone and all electronic devices away from you at night (or at least put them in airplane mode).  If you need to use a sleep tracking devices that use Bluetooth (i.e. Fitbit), it should only be done for a specified number of days in order to collect the data you need. Otherwise you end up collecting useless data that you are never going to do anything about and you could be causing more harm than benefit.
10. Go to the local health food store and purchase a Himalayan salt lamp as your bedroom lamp.  Use this lamp in the morning and evening to gently wake you and put you to bed at night.

Sweet dreams!

If you would like to sign up for my Apple a Day please use this link here:

https://mailchi.mp/quintenc/appleaday

Now I would love to hear from you! What is one thing that you can do to improve your sleep? Leave a comment below and I'll be back next week with another edition of Doctor as Teacher Tuesday!