Month: March 2018

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Spring Clean Your Bedroom Like a Pro

It’s springtime! The wintertime freeze is thawing, the birds are chirping, and you may have the urge to open up your windows and let in some fresh air. Something about the season makes everything feel new, and it spurs on a frenzy of spring cleaning, especially the moment that ray of sunlight hits the room to reveal the layer of dust that has accumulated over the winter. Pace yourself. There is no need to take on the whole house for a spring-cleaning overhaul all in one fell swoop. Tackle one room at a time. A good place to make a clean start is in the room where you sleep. You will be able to venture outside to soak up the outdoor freshness in no time after you spring clean your bedroom like a pro with these helpful tips:

Make your bed an inviting, cozy, and clean place to spend the night – Before you begin to clean up the entire bedroom, get started by making sure the bedding is clean. Better yet, freshen up your bed with brand new bedding, a fluffy new comforter, a fresh set of sheets, and don’t forget to buy a new pillow. Even if you refresh your bed with new bedding, you may want to run them through the wash before you cozy up for the night. While you’re waiting for the wash to finish, move onto other corners of the room. Follow the instructions of the labels, and toss in some tennis balls into the dryer when you go to dry the pillows to fluff them up a bit.

Yes, we do windows – But, maybe just in the spring – While your bedding is being cleaned, begin cleaning the frame of your room with the walls and windows, and then move to the furnishings. Start dusting top to bottom so as not to knock dust on an already cleaned area. Remove curtains for cleaning. Dust the corners, and slip an old pillowcase over the ceiling fan blades to catch excess falling dust before it hits the bed below and then wipe the blades down with a damp cloth. If the lights have glass covers, remove them and soak them in the sink while you go about wiping down the walls and cleaning the windows with a water and vinegar mixture or your choice of glass cleaners. Don’t forget the window sills, light switches, and door knobs. Vacuum the outside cover and inside heating and air conditioning vents. For hard-to-reach spots, use vacuum extensions or a cotton mop with a long handle. Once you’re done with the frame of the room, move in to dust the furniture, doors, lamps and other bedroom accessories, and remove everything from dresser or nightstand tops to clean the surfaces before neatly returning knick-knacks to their decorative places. When all of the dusting is complete, finish off by vacuuming the mattress using special attachments to get into the seams and crevices, dust with baking soda to keep it fresh and then flip the mattress. Pillow top mattresses may do better to be flipped from head to toe rather than upside down. If you flip the downside up, repeat the vacuuming process for the underside that is now the top.

Closet and Storage Clean Out – Springtime is also a great time to go through your wardrobe and make sure it’s season ready and up to date in terms of fashion and size. If you haven’t worn something for months, or it no longer fits, it may be time to donate it to charity or sell it at a resell shop or online. Go through your closet, and create a box of items to get rid of and a pile of items to keep. Before you put the keep pile back onto hangars or tucked away in drawers, vaccum the entire closet and get into the crevices of the drawers. Wipe down closet shelves before returning the wanted clothing neatly back in place.

Bottom Line – Now it’s time to get to the bottom of things by cleaning the floors. Vacuum the closet floor thoroughly, and move around the bed and furnishings in the room. For wood floors, use any special attachments for your vacuum or sweep well and mop. Be sure to get into the corners well, and use a vacuum extension to get under the bed. For area rugs, vacuum or enjoy some fresh outside air by taking the rug outside to beat it. Sprinkle a little baking soda on the carpet to fresh it up, let it sit for a few minutes before vacuuming it up. Don’t forget the baseboards.

Now, your bedroom is tidy and clean from top to bottom and your bed is made with fresh, clean linens and a new fluffy pillow which will feel good after a hard day’s work of spring cleaning. What more could you hope for to start your spring off refreshed and ready to soak up some springtime air after a good night’s rest in a clean bedroom.

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5 Reasons hitting snooze is a bad idea

Oh that sound of the 6:00 alarm in the morning! It’s set to alert you that it’s time to wake up and face a bright new day and the promise of what lies ahead as the minutes tick into hours. But, oh how good it feels to reach over and tap snooze to grab just a few more minutes of sleep. You may have heard the saying, “You snooze, you lose,” but research has now shown that these words may be more than a snarky rhyming phrase that slips off the tongue in Dr. Seuss fashion. Hitting snooze actually has negative effects on your health, emotions, and psychological outlook. Here are five reasons why hitting snooze is a bad idea.

1. The snooze button disrupts healthy sleep

Healthy sleep comes in cycles that start with light sleep and moves into deep sleep. Deep sleep allows our bodies to refresh enough to heal, boost our immune system, strengthen bones and muscles, and regrow tissue. Deep sleep leads to Rapid Eye Movement, REM, when our brain is active and allows dreaming to take place. REM comes in stages, and a good night’s sleep includes several REM cycles with the first REM stage starting about an hour and a half after we have fallen asleep. Getting quality REM sleep the night before leads to clearer thinking the following day. Hitting snooze will disrupt a healthy sleep rhythm, throw off our thinking, and could lead to some very serious health issues.

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2. Snoozing jolts and confuses your body

Our bodies go through sleep cycles and need to complete the full duration. For instance, if the cycle lasts for 45 minutes, and you hit snooze for 10 minutes, you’re going to jolt your body awake before the next sleep cycle is complete. This creates what is called sleep inertia, which basically means that you keep waking up in the middle of a REM cycle. If you don’t get quality REM sleep, you’re going to be left fatigued instead of rested. Our bodies begin the process of waking up about an hour and half before we actually open our eyes to face the day. This is why having a bedtime and waking time that your body gets used to is healthier than hitting snooze which will confuse your body as to whether you are attempting to wake up or stay asleep. This sleep inertia jolting leads to a feeling much like jet lag. The end result is that you will feel more groggy.

3. Procrastination starts with the tap of Snooze

Hitting snooze is about more than quality of sleep or how much sleep you’re getting and the physical effects on your body. It also effects emotional and psychological health. It’s really a form of procrastination, putting something off. You may think there’s no harm in hitting snooze and putting off waking up as long as possible, but what you are actually doing is dragging your feet and maybe even failing to plan your day which may be a warning sign that there are emotional and behavioral issues to deal with during waking hours that cause you to want to put off waking up to face them.

4. Hitting snooze sets a bad tone for the day

Does the sound of the alarm strike a feeling of dread about waking up to face the day? The way you wake up sets the tone for the entire day, but it goes even deeper than that. When you consistently hit snooze, your body subconsciously starts to react as if you are dreading waking up and may respond by producing excess stress hormone, cortisol, that will create inflammation and put unnecessary strain on your physical body. Wouldn’t it be better to set the alarm for five minutes later or go to bed five minutes earlier so that when the alarm sounds, it triggers more of a sense of ambition and anticipation for a new beginning and a good day ahead?

5. The snooze button is a lie that will backfire

The only real relief you get from hitting snooze is temporary at best. Ultimately, the snooze button’s promise is a lie. It teases with thoughts of a few more seconds of sleep making all of the difference in how tired you will feel once you get out of bed, and that bed does feel cozier in those early waking moments. But, it’s really a lie. By hitting snooze, you tell yourself that if you just can sneak in five or ten more minutes of precious sleep, you’ll be rested enough to face the day. However, the truth of it is that hitting snooze will actually make you feel groggier. Hitting snooze won’t add a few more minutes of deep, quality sleep. It really will most likely end up making you feel more irritated and ultimately more sleepy than if you had never hit snooze in the first place.

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How to survive Daylight Savings Time

When it’s time to change your clocks, the saying goes, “Spring forward, fall back!” It sounds simple enough. In the fall, when Daylight Savings Time ends, we set our clocks back one hour. In the spring, when Daylight Savings time begins, we move our clocks forward one hour. Though, what does all this switching up of the times do to our sleep? Oh, the fall sounds nice since we actually gain an extra hour of sleep. But, what happens in the spring when Daylight Savings Time begins, and we jump ahead one hour losing that precious 60 minutes, that’s 3,600 seconds of precious sleep time? Add a new baby, a child or two, or even a pet into this drowsiness, and suddenly those hands on the clock are starting a pillow fight with your bedtime rituals. When Daylight Savings Time arrives, be prepared to not only set your clock back an hour but to recharge your body’s own sleep clock to adjust with the time change with these helpful sleeping tips.

Do not disturb sleep hours

Most things worth doing require planning, including getting quality sleep. It doesn’t usually just happen. Plan for the lost hour by starting a week ahead of time and slowly moving your bedtime up by 15 minutes each night. Even though your sleep time is being pushed up an hour, make sure you are still getting enough sleep. Start by doing some simple math to set your bedtime by calculating backwards from the time you need to wake up. Make getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night a priority. Like putting up a Do Not Disturb sign on your hotel door, treat these hours as something that cannot be messed with.

Set the tone for sleep

Even though you set aside a bedtime and waking time that meets your body’s sleep requirements, this doesn’t mean that the second your head hits the pillow you are immediately fast asleep. Start by setting the tone for quality sleep time by following a relaxing ritual at bedtime, such as taking a warm bath, listening to relaxing music, or reading a book. Make sure the room is dark, that the temperature is cool, and it is quiet. If it helps you, turn on an air filter or fan for white noise or use black-out, light-reducing curtains to block out lights.

A good night’s rest starts in the kitchen

Don’t eat a heavy meal just before bedtime and expect to settle in for a full night’s rest. Don’t let that midnight snack come back to haunt your sleep time. Digesting food requires energy which may keep you awake or wake you in the middle of the night. Make sure your final meal of the day or night-time snack is finished two or three hours before you call it a night. Also, be careful not to drink too much caffeine or alcohol before bed. Both caffeine and alcohol have a tendency to disrupt sleep. Additionally, while you may think it’s relaxing to have one last cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoke before bed, it actually stimulates you and makes it difficult to sleep well.

Mattresses and pillow fights

Use Daylight Savings Time as a chance to re-evaluate your mattress and pillow. Since you will be stretched out on your mattress with your head resting on a pillow for the next 7 to 8 hours, it only makes sense that these furnishings are taken seriously as much more than mere pleasant décor. When your mattress begins to wear out, it may start to sag and fail to provide you with the proper comfort and support. If your mattress is older than seven years, it’s time to start looking for a new one. Likewise, pillows wear out and fail to properly support your neck and back. If you start waking up with neck or headaches, take a good look at replacing your pillow.

Waking hours lead to sleep

The way you spend your day can have a major impact on how well you sleep at night. Staying active, getting plenty of daytime light, or even taking a short 20-minute nap during the day may contribute to better night-time sleeping. Just make sure your workouts or short nap ends at least a couple hours before bedtime.

Sleep like a baby

The time change is often especially rough if you have a baby or young children living with you.  The good news is that the same sleep-aid steps that work for you will probably work for them as well. It will just require some effort and attention on your part to make sure their trouble with adjusting to the time change doesn’t keep you up at night as well.

Take it slow – Start about a week or so ahead of Daylight Savings time, and begin to slowly adjusting your child’s napping and sleeping times by 10 or 15 minute increments each day leading up to the time change.

Routine – Establish bedtime rituals that are the same every night. Start to wind down after dinner leading up to a relaxing time for bed. Your night-time ritual may mean an evening bath, snuggle time, or even a bedtime story. Whatever it is, keep it consistent as possible every night.

Darken the room – Depending on what time your child goes to bed, a time change can throw off how much light comes into the room, since the sun may still be up. Install black-out, room-darkening shades if streetlights or such become a problem.

Stay cool – Cooler temps at night help the body want to sleep or to snuggle up in a blanket. For safety, use sleep sacks for infants.

Relax and be patient – No matter how pleasant and relaxing you make the environment and bedtime ritual, some kids just won’t stay down for the night. Time changes exacerbate the issue, and since you may be feeling the stress from lack of sleep yourself, it’s more difficult to deal with it. Try to remember that their little bodies are trying to get into their own individual circadian rhythm, and this often requires patient intervention on the part of the parent to make changes to your child’s routine, daytime activities, or to the physical environment to help them sleep.

Daylight savings isn’t easy. Loosing 60 whole precious minutes of sleep is a sacrifice I am willing to make, because soon enough that warm sunshine and beautiful flowers will be here! So, don’t forget to “spring forward” this Sunday March 11th!