A Few Ways to Honor Rest

I will not deny that I am a person who has long been considered a night owl. This might be due to having a baby in my early adulthood and growing accustomed to being up late with my child and later learning to relish the quiet time offered by my children being asleep.

After all, it was during that time I could watch the movies and television shows I liked and were not age-appropriate for children, but through time I have noticed it's not so easy to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after working long hours staring at a computer screen. Most of my life is based on my work online and usually, it is easier to get it done when it is quiet and the bustle of the household has died down for the day.

But, I've become someone who really loves the extra time to sleep when I can get it, and has forced me to acknowledge that I should begin some new methods for taking better care of myself and the most important thing to that is rest!

So, I've started in the past week opting for ways to better my sleeping habits and knowing that insomnia was an issue, here are a few things I have found are helpful, which I intend to use for 2022 as my resolution toward restful and reparative sleep so that I can function at my best during the daytime.

The first thing I've recently come to enjoy is ambient sound videos with 500 frequency MHz. I've found this really does relax me, but more importantly, it gets me into a state where my mind can stop running in circles and keep me from falling asleep. I think that what science has stated regarding frequencies has, therefore, proven helpful for me and I intend on using these videos for a week starting in 2022 to see if they prove more helpful with sustaining a habitual practice for healthy resting.

As science has exhibited, "Binaural beats in the theta, that is 4 to 8 Hz range are linked to rapid eye movement sleep, as well as reduced anxiety, heightened relaxation and enhanced meditative and creative states. Binaural beats in the alpha frequencies, that is 8 to 13 Hz have been found to encourage relaxation, promote positivity, and decrease anxiety."

And strangely, what is so cool about these frequencies is that they are not found in just one musical genre, and are sounds that can be found in many aspects of life making it the resonation of the frequency that causes us relief - and respite.

I do believe that love languages exist, but one thing I think is not spoken on much with regard to this is the fact that music should be one of them. If we respond to sound as babies with lullabies why would we cease doing so as adults with full lives?

Another thing I've noticed that really helps me is to stop drinking caffeinated drinks when it gets later at night, and this is no easy feat for me to overcome being totally honest.

Why?

Because I love my Dutch Bros and my Mountain Dew, which brings me to the reason why I am opting for this - I need to begin drinking a lot more water and less carbonated drinks. I know this will help me with not only my sleep schedule but also with my weight, sugar levels, and my overall organ function, appearance, and wellness as a whole. And, so many of us will look to 2022 with a number of resolutions for changes we want to see, but I feel the sleep pattern and the water connection are the most important for my personal growth and commitment to finding rest and restoration in my own individual life.