It’s hard to imagine that clean skin can aid in restful sleep.  Our skin is the biggest organ of the body, connected to our lymphatic system.  This system is vital in moving fluids throughout the body, including both nutrients and waste products.

I learned this simple trick to relaxation many years ago.  When my sister wanted her son to unwind and relax, beginning the journey to sleep, she would ask him to go in the bathroom and wash his face.  This easy act clears the skin of toxins and grime, and can relax both body and mind.  I was surprised, this simple act of washing his face really did calm and rejuvenate him.

Ready to take it the next step?  You can take a shower before retiring, giving yourself that full body cleanse.  Including a soap with restful ingredients such as lavender can enhance your sleep, so long as you are not overly sensitive to aromas.  A bath is another alternative.  You can use cleansing and refreshing additives such as sea salts, baking soda, or Epsom salts to detoxify the skin and refresh.  Using a transdermal magnesium salt bath or oil will calm and nourish, and will make bath time even more powerful step in your quest for restful sleep.  Magnesium is an amazing stress-reducing mineral. 

Rub-a-dub your way to more restful sleep with a soothing bath.  You can use this time for thoughtful meditation as well, or listen to your favorite music to set a pleasant mood.  Enjoy this time as a chance to release overworked problems and unsolved issues.  Choose whatever activity brings you pleasure - if you like to read and give yourself “food for thought” then do it!  Your cleansing activity can be a powerful tool in giving to self on every level - body, mind and spirit.

There are many ways to process our thoughts.  Exercise can stimulate both the physical flow and mental flow.  Thoughts accumulate just as do fluids in the body, or waste products in the blood.   We all need an occasional mental “flush”, and with our busy lives and so many distractions we forget to take time to assess our days.  Restless thoughts and unfinished “processes” can interfere with our restful sleep by agitating our internal “on alert system” known as the fight/flight response.

Tibetan Meditation Music: For Quiet Mind and Peaceful Heart

Taking time during the day to process and release is as important as digesting your food.  You’ll find no gain from what you’ve eaten unless it is broken down into usable form.  How is that done with our mind and experiences?   We digest our life through reflection, finding the value in what we contribute and the response to our actions.   How is our perception of the world around us connecting within our own heart and soul? 

Without a time of reflection we accumulate our problems, queries and questions into a mass of thoughts.  The dam will eventually break at a point of the least resistance, and that can be during our sleep cycle when we do not have our normal distractions and protections in place. 

8 Minute Meditation: Quiet Your Mind. Change Your Life.

How do we recover our sleep time from our thought processing?  There are several ways: through meditation during the waking hours, or by consciously separating the restful time for the body from the active processes of the mind.  One simple technique is to have a vessel of some sort, like a long stemmed glass, in your sleeping space.  Focus on the glass before you go to sleep.  Gently allow the day to flow into the glass, using the stem to ground away the unusable.  The remaining energies and experiences are then contained within the vessel, but like the glass they are open to the influence of your higher guidance.  Ask for the resolution and completion of your day, and ask that it come to you in a peaceful, nurturing way.

Utilizing the services of a medical intuitive can help you find and release stuck thoughts and experiences that affect your ability to relax and sleep.  These services are intended to compliment, not replace, the services of your health care provider.

Exercise is very important to our health and wellness.  A lack of exercise can contribute to a lack of sleep as well.  Your body needs movement to circulate your blood and lymphatic fluids.  Without adequate exercise your cells cannot receive the nutrients it needs, nor release the toxins they carry. 

Mini Trampoline 4-way Folding Trampoline 40″ with Hand Rail Stabilizing Bar

Timing is important for your exercise routine.  Morning is the recommended time to exercise.  Even just using a rebounder for bouncing movement will get that lymphatic system moving.  Exercise gives your system that pick me up it needs, and will bring greater energy for your day.   Exercise also improves mood, which in turn improves our outlook and ability to relax. Good circulation leads to the proper processing of your entire body: aiding digestion, cleansing the cells, circulating oxygen and nutrients.  All this leads to more restful sleep, for the body will be more content.

Airzone 38-Inch Mini Band TrampolinePrice: $49.99 USD

Many people use visualization as a gateway to restful sleep.  Visualization is as simple as this:  lie down, close your eyes, breathe deeply and slowly, and focus your thoughts on a relaxing scene.  You can pick any scene that you find enjoyable.  This may be a tropical island, a place deep in the jungle, a forest scene, or a mountain top.  Choose whatever pleases you, or rotate your visualization between all the above!

Bring all your senses into this visualization process:  feel the breeze on your skin, notice the smell of the flowers or pine trees, listen to the waves crashing or birds chirping.  Let your imagination play.  As you experience your sensory creation you can then imagine your thoughts and cares drifting away, melting into the sand, swirling through the leaves of the trees.  Breathe in the crisp air, and fill your lungs with refreshing oxygen, and allow that oxygen to flow easily to every cell of your body.  And just as the tide pulls back out into the sea, you can allow any tension you have carried to wash away as you exhale.  Imagine that, you can visualize your way to restful sleep.

Visualization will be more effective when we calm the mind and nourish the body.  Meditation can be helpful, and nutritional supplements can provide vital minerals and trace elements that may be deficient in our diets.  The cause of your sleep concerns may be locked within memories or retained energies from the day. Consulting with a medical intuitive may help you unlock the door to restoring your restful sleep in as little as one session.