Mommy Needs Sleep: 3 Healthy Ways to Improve Your Sleep and Put More Happy in Your New Year
How to improve your sleep and make your holidays more happy and bright.
by Pam Vredevelt
Dec 27, 2018
It’s the first Christmas and New Year with your baby. Joy to the world. Tis the season to be jolly!
At least that’s what you want – right?!
Holiday hubbub has a sneaky way of ganging up on most of us. Add to this the massive adjustments that go with welcoming a new baby into the family, the lack of sleep that comes with our dreamy little bundle of joy, and suddenly our jollies can evaporate into thin air.
What’s a new mom to do?
How can we make more merry when life feels kind of – O.K., I’ll just say it – exhausting? Here are a few simple ways to improve your sleep and make your holidays more happy and bright.
3 Healthy Ways to Improve Your Sleep
1. Give yourself permission to take “me” time before bed.
If you don’t take care of you, the Grinch that stole Christmas will show up at your house and those around you will be singing, “You’re a mean one…mama Grinch.” Why is it so easy to put everyone else and their dog’s needs before your own? Let’s switch things up.
How about this idea: Let some things go that you typically do before bed. Take a warm bath or shower, use a few calming deep breathing exercises, play quiet instrumental music, and add a touch of lavender oil to your neck and pillow. These are simple ways to melt away the day’s stresses and prepare your body and mind for deep sleep.
2. Log Out of Brain Buzz an Hour Before Bed.
Laptops, television, and smart phones are powerful tools with many great benefits. But, they get in the way of our body and mind slowing down. To increase your holiday happy, pull out of the brain buzz that screens stimulate an hour before bed. This will allow your body to more naturally ease into sleepy mode for a good deep slumber.
3. Take five minutes to record what is good in your life.
Shop
Article Continues Below Advertisement
Keep a journal beside your bed and write down three things you’re grateful for before you turn off the lights. Don’t just think it: Write it. Brain science shows that this daily practice switches you out of negative thought loops, reduces stress, and improves sleep. It also sets the stage for a more positive frame of mind when you wake up for your baby’s next feeding.
For those times when you’re absolutely drop-dead tired and can’t put the pen to paper, simply go back and re-read your earlier entries out loud. When your ears hear you recount your blessings, the positive impact has sticking power.
Following these three steps will not only help improve your sleep in the New Year, but far beyond, making it even more plausible to stick to those resolutions and goals!
More New Year Articles
- Celebrating Your New Year's Baby
- Reset Your Family Priorities
- Organization Resolutions - How to Lose the Crazy, Hectic Lifestyle
- A New Year's Resolution for Families
- 7 Healthy Baby Tips for the New Year
- Mommy Needs Sleep: 3 Healthy Ways to Improve Your Sleep and Put More Happy in Your New Year
Pam Vredevelt
Pam Vredevelt is a Professional Counselor and Coach, Best-selling author of Empty Arms, and the Empty Arms Journal. Jessie Vredevelt Schultz is a business consultant and transformation coach. They co-lead Healing Your Empty Arms: A transformation experience after the loss of your baby or child, for emotional healing, personal growth, and spiritual renewal.
