hey there we know how important sleep is but getting enough good sleep during pregnancy is
often really challenging so if you are ready for some practical tips on improving sleep then you
are in the right place now in today's video i have five actions that you can take tonight to improve
your sleep and I'm excited that this video is sponsored by a product that is actually designed
to reduce one of the problems that I suffered with when I was pregnant that made sleep really
challenging so more to come on that but let's jump in and start crafting our bedtime routine yes we
are going to have an adult bedtime routine we know it works for kids but these are for us there
are five actions they're going to work together to form this routine to help you get better sleep and
get more sleep now the first action is one that you might resist at first but i'm starting with it
because it's the most important and the one that's most backed by research and that is set a bedtime
this means committing to go to bed at the same time every night now having a consistent sleep
schedule is gonna allow your body to adjust to feeling tired at the same time every night now
this can lead to being able to fall asleep sleep quicker and fall asleep easier but if you're
someone who varies your sleep patterns a lot it's going to take you a while to get the hang of this
and just like any new habit it can take some time so give it some time research shows that keeping a
bed and bedtime and a wake-up time as consistent as possible can have some benefits for health and
what better time to work on our health than in pregnancy okay moving on to number two
and that is follow a list of what not to do one hour before bedtime now sleep experts
have put together several lists of what not to do before bedtime and i have checked these out
I've consolidated these and pulled them into the ones that really are related to pregnancy so that
one hour before bed is not a time to do things like eat a heavy meal or drink a lot of water
watch like super exciting and engaging movies or tv shows or the news also not a great time to
do some heavy exercise it's not a great time to use our phone we've all heard that put away the
phone put away electronics also it's not a great time to have emotional conversations we don't
need to get into those in-depth conversations with our partner right one hour before bedtime
and finally turn off the bright lights don't be in bright lights one hour before bedtime on to number
three which is relaxing your body now raise your hand if you have experienced middle of the night
restless legs or those dreadful muscle crampings muscle calf cramps in the middle of the night
i was totally tortured by these in all four of my pregnancies these are common pregnancy
symptoms and I have two suggestions for relaxing your body before bedtime and setting yourself up
for skipping these painful moments the first way to relax your body is by taking a bath with epsom
salts you have a nice warm bath put a bunch of epsom salts a good cup in there the epsom
salts break down into magnesium and salt and that magnesium can help soothe our muscles there isn't
a ton of research to prove this but even if it's just a placebo effect that helps you get sleep
then i think it's worth it the second way to relax your body is with sleepy body lotion now today's
video sponsor is eight sheep organics this is the product that i wish i had when i was pregnant
but you don't even have to be pregnant to enjoy it i've been testing it for the past week and
i am loving it the 8 cheap organics company is the type of company that i love supporting their
products are handcrafted in small batches they are 100 organic and i can clearly read and identify
all of the ingredients on the back of this jar which is super comforting when you're pregnant
i have a coupon code for you below and i'll put on the screen my favorite scent is vanilla check
it out and let me know in the comments if you have okay now that we have relaxed our body let's talk
about relaxing our mind which is number four of our bedtime routine relaxing the mind means
calming your mind before bed and that can be difficult but there are a few
super easy suggestions that i want to share with you number one use a white noise machine research
clearly suggests that a white noise machine can reduce the time it takes to fall asleep
by nearly forty percent white noise is likely to be something that you're going to use with
your baby so if you already have a white noise machine purchased for baby use it for yourself
now the other idea is listening to a story now kids always love being read to before bed but
turns out adults do too if you have a partner that's willing to read to you that is awesome
if not you can consider listening to a book on audible or using an app like expectable links all
down below they have lovely bedtime stories built into that app and don't worry using your phone in
this way does not violate the no electronics rule because you're not gonna be looking at it
you're gonna be listening to it it's gonna be over on your bedside table so on to number five
number five is have a plan for the middle of the night insomnia be ready for those times when you
wake up you have to go to the bathroom but you have trouble falling back to sleep you don't
want to engage your mind and have to think about what to do to fall back to sleep you want to have
a routine that's going to promote getting back to sleep quickly i recommend avoiding that list of
six things yes that means avoid your phone and tv what has been effective for my students includes
walking around a bit like going into another room maybe doing some very gentle stretching
reading a few pages from a book in a low light and then getting back in bed so trust me here
if you have a plan and you stick to it your body is going to thank you in the morning
now you are set to improve your sleep tonight i would love to know below which one you
definitely are going to try out i know your next video that i want to share with you are
five options about childbirth that you probably don't know that you have definitely want to
check that out next right here and thank you to eight sheep organics for sponsoring this video
don't miss the coupon code and the link below this video and i'll see you guys next time bye