“If you can rest your body, if you can rest your mind, sleep just happens. It's a side effect.”
–Kali Patrick
Can’t sleep? It’s the worst. Whether you can’t fall asleep or stay asleep or get quality sleep, not sleeping impacts everything! Sleep is a hot topic in the FLOW365 community right now, and I know too many women who aren’t getting enough sleep. That’s why I’m so excited about this conversation with Kali Patrick, an adult sleep coach.
Poor sleep affects movement, mood, and what we eat, so you really need to prioritize sleep when we are making time for your health. What does “good sleep” even mean? First, Kali says we need to look at our whole sleep experience, not one night. We often create bigger sleep problems by getting in our own head about one or two bad nights of sleep.
The first step is actually having a sleep vision. “I need to sleep better” isn’t going to motivate you. You need to ask yourself: What’s important about getting better sleep?
We talk about:
- Setting sleep goals — and knowing how to support yourself to get there with doable changes
- Giving yourself enough sleep opportunity and setting boundaries with yourself and others to promote good sleep
- How to deal with middle of the night waking
- Simplifying your bedtime routine
- The difference between recreation, rest, and sleep … and how it affects what you do before bed
- Have a sleep rhythm and understanding that you can get back to if you choose or end up out of it for a night
ABOUT KALI
Kali Patrick is an adult sleep coach and #1 bestselling author of Mastering Your Sleep Puzzle: Your 12-Week Guide to Sleeping Better. She helps stressed-out tired people reclaim their sleep, energy, & enthusiasm for life.
Kali blends her training as a nationally-board certified health & wellness coach and therapeutically-trained yoga teacher into a practical and flexible approach to help busy people improve their sleep long term.
Kali’s personal experience with both insomnia & burnout add a different dimension to her approach and make her a leading—though often contrarian—sleep expert. Kali believes that everyone has the ability to sleep naturally without any of the products, pills, potions, & gadgets marketed by the $65 billion sleep aid industry*.
Learn more about Kali and her programs at KaliPatrick.com.
LINKS
DOABLE CHANGES
At the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Action is where change happens.
Even though we want big change, it’s really little things done over and over that make the difference. So pick a doable thing. Put it in your calendar. Weave it through your days for a week and then move on to the next one. It will have a snowball effect.
Here are three Doable Changes from this conversation:
- SIMPLIFY YOUR BEDTIME ROUTINE. Pick one thing you do before bed to set yourself up for good sleep. You could do a meditation or rub oil on your feet. Maybe you have a calming tea. Don’t make it complicated. Pick one thing that is restful for your mind or body.
- IDENTIFY YOUR SLEEP VISION. “I want to sleep better” or “I want to get 8 hours of sleep” isn’t a vision. It isn’t going to motivate you to make change. Ask: What’s important about getting better sleep?” or “Why do I want better sleep?” What passion or action or driving force in your life can’t happen without sleep?
- CHANGE YOUR SLEEP MINDSET. How do you talk to yourself when you wake up in the middle of the night? Do you think you’re lame for being in pajamas at 9PM? Do you you say, “I’ll never get to sleep?” Start noticing how you talk to yourself around sleep. Just noticing can be your first doable change. Then see if you can shift the script.
