Does anyone want better sleep? 🙋🏻‍♀️😴😊

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Seriously, what a question! 😂

We all have natural biological clocks and rhythms. Following a 24 hour cycle, these rhythms respond mostly to light and dark. This process affects our health, involving our hormone release (including melatonin), eating habits, digestion, and body temperature. Things that can interrupt this rhythm are jet lag, time differences (including daylight savings time), electronic devices, and dramatic life events. Once our circadian rhythms get off kilter, it can difficult to get back on track without a conscious effort to realign ourselves. As it turns out, there’s more than one schedule to follow, according to our chronotype. 

So, what’s a chronotype? 

According to Dr. Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist and sleep medicine expert, chronotypes are genetic. The theory is it comes from our species’ need for survival, with different individuals needing to watch the fort at night, and others during the day. There are four chronotypes, the Lion (morning person), the Bear (daytime person), the Wolf (a night owl), and the Dolphin (who has difficulty creating a schedule and is more prone to insomnia).

Here are the four types, along with some relevant tips (a link below is provided for you to take the quiz, but can you guess your chronotype first?):

🦁Are you a Lion? 

A Lion is a morning person, typically waking up naturally as early as 4am or 5am. For this type, it is best to eat breakfast within an hour of getting out of bed in order to synchronize the body clock to the day. As Lions are at their peak in the early morning, this is the time they should be doing their most productive tasks that need top focus. With lots of energy early on, they tend to wane after lunch, and should be doing lighter cognitive activities thereafter. Exercising late afternoon (between 4pm and 6pm), eating dinner afterwards, and then binge watching TV at night is great for their chronotype. An early evening shower is best in order to relax and get a good night’s sleep. Typically, Lions are high energy, are very interested in their health, are organized, and have a list for just about everything (or in my case, a spreadsheet). 

🐻Perhaps a Bear? 

The Bear’s schedule is tuned into sunrise and sunset. They typically get up at 7am, and go to bed around 11pm. Lucky them! This makes the 9am-5pm workday perfect for their chronotype, and gives them enough energy throughout the day to get work done, and ease into the evening. Bears do well to start their day at 7am, then follow up with breakfast within the hour, followed by a cool shower. Their peak performance time is 10am - 3pm, ideally getting a nap in at 2pm. Lighter tasks are recommended thereafter until 6pm. Exercise and dinner at 7pm, followed by binge watching TV works best for them in order to unwind. Bears like, and need, 8 hours of sleep, so the proper wind down, including an evening shower after dinner, works best. Bears get the work done, are affable and fun to be around, and make great friends.

🐺Or maybe a Wolf? 

Wolves are night owls. They wake around 7am (or later), and go to bed at midnight (or later). No surprise, their peak performance time is late afternoon into late evening. If at all possible, a nap around 2pm is perfect. Doing research, making plans, and memory recall is best after 6pm. Exercise is best around 7pm. 9pm and later is their best time for socialization. A hot shower or bath is recommended late evening, before bedtime, so they can wind down and get a good night’s sleep. Wolves are intelligent and creative - often artists, musicians, and authors, and most are risk takers who don’t follow traditional norms.

🐬Or somehow a Dolphin? 

Dolphins are the insomniacs and have a difficult time with any sleep schedule. Because they are light sleepers, they have irregular sleep patterns. Being very sensitive to sound and light, they are easily awakened. As they naturally get less sleep, it is recommended they get out of bed around 6am, and then take a morning run and cold shower to get invigorated to start their day around 7am. Eating breakfast at 8am, or shortly thereafter, works for them. Dolphins are most productive starting at 3pm, with exercise at 6pm. A hot shower or bath at 9pm winds them down for a midnight bedtime. Dolphins are intelligent and perfectionists.

All chronotypes, except Dolphins, do best to eat within an hour of waking, followed by a nap at some point in their day. All four archetypes are advised to stop eating two hours before bedtime, taking an hour to unwind lets the body know it’s time to wind down and get ready for sleep. This routine sets our body clocks, and prepares us to greet the day. People who follow their correct chronotype schedule have said they have gotten better sleep, lost weight, and feel in sync with their bodies.

To find out your chronotype, click here to take the quiz. 

For more in-depth information (and to change your life!), read Michael Breus' book: 

“The Power of When: Discover Your Chronotype--and the Best Time to Eat Lunch, Ask for a Raise, Have Sex, Write a Novel, Take Your Meds, and More” by Michael Breus. 

It has helped me a lot, and a few surprises have worked in my favor, happy to say!

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Sagittarius Season, The Zodiac Sign of Adventure. 🍄🌈🗺✈️

Sagittarians are known for being witty, intelligent and driven. They can also be very forthright (read: blunt). Although some well meaning remarks can feel like a sting from the Sag’s arrow, they mean no harm.

The thing is, Sagittarians don’t intend (or even realize) they have hurt you. Their intention is to merely tell you the truth. Honesty is important to them since deception, in all its forms, repulses a Sagittarian. Anything not genuine goes completely against their grain. When a Sag finds out they have hurt you, they will not only be bewildered, but hurt, as they never meant any harm. That is the innocence of the Sagittarian, which can be appealing and lovable, and at times, shocking and hurtful. Having an adventurous spirit, a Sag at times speaks first, and then realizes the consequences later. 

Because deceit is unnatural for them, it is difficult for them to lie, therefore most are not great secret keepers. Typically, they are not cunning or successful “chess players” in life, as their innocence and hidden vulnerability would suggest. Life seldom brings them down for long, as they have an understanding that everything will work its way out.

When you meet a Sagittarian, you may find them to be dramatic and vigorous (Tina Turner and Jimi Hendrix, for example). They have a fire spirit in them, as the fire sign of Sag would suggest. Even the unassuming Sagittarian has a sharp mind, but this could lead to sarcasm. Although a Sag may lose their gloves and phones, they have excellent memories, and can give you specific details of an incident that occurred many years ago.

Physically, they usually have strong, sturdy bodies. Their eyes sparkle and their hearty laugh can awaken even the dullest of souls. A Sag typically likes to wear color and big jewelry to express themselves, and most Sagittarians are known for their beautiful and lush hair.

Sagittarians are also known to love travel and adventure. Being idle can make them restless and antsy. Their love for food and drink needs to be curtailed, as they like to indulge and enjoy life. Too much of a good thing for a Sag could negatively affect their overall health and well being.

Generous as they are, Sagittarians offer without hesitation. As a fire sign, Sag’s are idealists, extroverts and forward. They can come on strong, and are not likely to back down when on a mission. Their fiery fire sign temper can flare up if they feel people are encroaching on their territory, or crossing a boundary.

Sag’s love to have fun, and love to see themselves on stage as the main point of attraction. They can be very funny, and fun to be around. Sagittarians is symbolized by half human and half horse, the healer whose higher intelligence creates a bridge between Earth and Heaven. And with their big, generous hearts, a Sagittarian will shoot their beloved Sagittarian arrows into the sky, and symbolically toward their dreams.

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The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. 🕊🌅

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Many of us don’t want to face our own, or our loved ones’, mortality. It can be a very scary and difficult reality to deal with. In the last stages of life, people look back on their lives with great memories, but also with regrets - some painstakingly so. Many times our fears of not knowing what to do, or being punished, or ridiculed, or catering to ego, creates our disconnect with our true self, and we fail to recognize what we need to fully ascend. 

Bronnie Ware, a caregiver in palliative care, shared the wisdom she received from her dying patients in her book “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing.” I’ve known of this book over the years, and find it interesting that these regrets are universal. This blog will recap and share what we can we take away to live our best lives, before it is too late.

“I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” 

This is probably one of the most difficult, and worthy, lessons to take to heart. Many of us live our lives according to what other people will think of us, and we miss many opportunities for our own growth and joy. Living in our Spiritual Sovereignty (click here to read my full blog on this topic) keeps us present in our everyday existence, and allows us to be true to ourselves and our own unique spiritual journey.

“I wish I hadn't worked so hard.” 

Working hard and succeeding can be very fulfilling, but a balance between our professional and personal lives helps us enjoy what we have acquired. Unfortunately, once a life moment is missed, it cannot be retrieved. As life events come and go (and go by more quickly as we get on in our years), knowing when to tap the breaks on our office time, and be fully present in our personal lives, makes a huge difference in ourselves and our loved ones.  

“I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.” 

Often we are trained not to express our feelings because it can be uncomfortable to those around us. The feelings within us are there for a reason. They give us guidance when they are listened to so we can respond accordingly. If you would like to read my blog on The Five Natural Emotions Not to Suppress, and how they serve us, click here.

“I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” 

Connecting with people and staying connected, brings joy and comfort. Having relationships with people who know you and your history makes life more meaningful. “One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.” - Lucius Annaeus Seneca. So true ❤️

“I wish I had let myself be happier.” 

Focusing on the negative, and beating ourselves up for our mistakes, is self sabotage. Life brings us challenges so we can grow. Our journey can be fleeting and uncertain, and it can also be wonderful. Allowing ourselves to be in the present, and aware of what is going on around us, (and the opportunities all around us for growth as well as joy) gives our lives meaning. 

Can you relate to the above? What can you change now before it is too late? 

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