Spring Clean Your Habits (& Get Better Sleep)

Spring is a great time of year to experiment with replacing less-optimal habits with new tips and tricks. Spring is a playful season, and with the longer days and warmer weather, it can feel easy to relax and try out new things.

Though I’m generally a good sleeper, my sleep doesn’t always feel as deep or restful  as it could. So I’ve been paying more attention to my sleep hygiene the last few weeks, and am trying out different strategies to get even juicer sleep. 

Chinese Medicine encourages getting to sleep by 10:00/10:30, as a second wind (the springtime organs) activate around 11:00pm. This explains why some of us feel that rising activating energy if we choose to stay up past 11:00. 

I’m an early bird and already have a fabulously boring bedtime patterned into my schedule most nights, so I started researching other approaches for sleep hygiene. As a side note for you later-sleepers who want to go to bed earlier, I recommend really, really gradually backing up your bedtime a bit (10-15 minutes) at a time and allowing a few weeks before backing it up another tiny interval. 

One of my online discoveries was the 10-3-2-1-0 rule for better sleep. 

10 hours before bed no more caffeine (that’s noon-12:30 if you’re a 10pm/10:30 sleeper)

3 hours before bed no food 

2 hours before bed no work

1 hour before bed no screens 

0 stands in for avoiding the snooze button; this might mean some of us need to be realistic about our morning alarm time  

Most of these were already habits for me, but my biggest challenge here was screentime. I sometimes watch a show before bed or just generally use my phone. 

My phone is also my alarm clock, so I had to make sure my alarms were set way before bed.

Though I use my iphone on grayscale most of the time (here’s how to do that) so I don’t feel blasted by brightness/overstimulation/glare every time I look at my phone, I know that I’m still getting bluelight by looking at my phone before bed. 

And though I fall asleep ok, so have never worried about bluelight per se, I decided to run an experiment where I put my phone to bed around 8:00/8:30pm nightly. 

So every evening for over a week, I said “goodnight!” to my phone, checked that my alarms were set, and put my phone facedown within reach of the bed. 

(Should I be sleeping next to my cell phone? That's probably not ideal–but here’s a reminder to give yourself the grace and space of one single project at a time!).

And, lo and behold, I slept deeper for most of that entire week! It was enough evidence for me to continue tucking in my phone fairly early as a semi-regular practice. I say semi-regular because life happens sometimes. There are nights I get home from work at 8:15/8:30 and I feel the need (or at least the desire) to tidy things up using technology before bed, so I don't quite make my goal, and that's ok.

Other sleep tips I love include using a sleep mask (mine is cotton to avoid microplastics in my eyeballs) and using cotton sheets. Someday I want to try linen sheets, but again, one step at a time. I also keep a pen and paper near my bed so if there’s something I really want to do on my phone, I can jot it down and wait till the morning.

Maybe sleep isn’t the thing you want to play with this spring. Maybe it’s food or fitness or journaling time or starting a pottery class. Maybe you were doing great with a particular habit but then it just kind of slid out of focus. That’s fine! Welcome to the human race! You are always invited to restart or refine something that isn’t quite working for you.

Timing is important, so give yourself grace and space to not quite do what you intended to do. You can always troubleshoot your routine and start again. It’s ok. That’s totally normal and even helpful at times.

It’s also helpful to be playful and curious as you make a shift. I gave myself the easy project of simply trying for one single week my new practice of putting my phone to bed early. I didn’t make a huge commitment and I didn’t beat myself up the night (or maybe even 2) where I didn’t quite manage to tuck in my phone as early as I intended. Giving yourself some grace is really essential. 

Compassion is the virtue of springtime. It tempers our natural sense of frustration when we’re beginning to grow, and are maybe not developing as fast as we might like. 

If you have a habit you’ve been wanting to start or refine (or even let go of!), my telemedicine self-care strategy sessions are designed to help you troubleshoot your motivation and to make a realistic plan to help you get on track. There's more information here about this service, which can also be great for those of you who benefit from having accountability support. I love helping people get to the heart of the matter and make a plan that works for them.  

If you're wanting a full-body physiological reset, to help you reconnect with yourself and connect with a baseline of clarity and calm, acupuncture is a great next step to help you feel your best. Maybe you’re a current client who hasn’t been in in awhile. If so, know that you are always welcome back! 

Or maybe you’re brand new and wondering how I can help you recover your health. If yes, welcome! I offer free consults by phone to help you understand how acupuncture might help you and what exactly it can help you with. 

Either way, please reach out to schedule and connect. 

I truly love helping people realign their habits with their values. If you’re wondering how I can support you, let’s connect! 

Sprong is the season of rebirth.

Monica