Anxiety Always Kept Me Awake — Until I Switched To This Sleep Routine

It involves plenty of sound healing.

Kass

Feb 8, 2023 - 21:02

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Anxiety Always Kept Me Awake — Until I Switched To This Sleep Routine

Founder of Culinary Alchemy®

Image by Spacejoy / mbg Creative / Unsplash

February 8, 2023

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Our sleep series, The Wind Down, provides a minute-by-minute peek into the wind-down routines that get well-being experts ready for bed. Today, we're relaxing with nutritionist and celebrity chef Serena Poon, whose ideal nightly routine includes multiple types of salt in the bath and plenty of sound healing.

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I developed insomnia back in my early 20s, right after I graduated from college, around the time when my dad was diagnosed with stage four cancer. Any time you are a caretaker, especially in an acute situation, your circadian rhythm and sleep patterns are thrown off. I also believe that my anxiety at the time strongly contributed to my insomnia.

Sleep continues to be a practice that I mindfully work on. I believe that it is, without question, one of the most restorative non-negotiables for a healthy life. Simply put, a good night’s sleep helps us function more optimally spiritually, cognitively, physiologically, and emotionally.

These days, I still don't sleep for as long as I'd like every night. I have long days and often don't get home until after dinner. I also sometimes lose track of time and find myself working, learning, or creating late into the night. But my sleep efficiency usually averages 94+%, and my combined REM and deep sleep percentages are at least 50-70% most nights.

I sleep best when I have time to do an extended wind-down ritual. It includes taking a warm bath or shower in the evening, meditating with my red light therapy while in my lymphatic drainage boots, and also relaxing on a crystal PEMF mat. (I really do like to stack my routine!) But with my travel schedule, it’s not often that I have the luxury of going through this process.

When I'm on the road, I try to have a cup of herbal tea or warm water with a little lemon, take my evening supplements, cleanse/shower, and do a light skincare prep. I also practice light breathwork and meditation and sleep with solfeggio frequencies (a type of sound healing) on.

Average hours I sleep a night: 5Ideal bedtime: 11 p.m.Ideal wake-up time: 6:30 a.m.Nightstand essentials: Water, journal, pen, solfeggio frequency musicSleep bad habit: I often go to bed very lateCaffeine consumption: 2 matcha lattes a dayHow I track my sleep: I use a variety of different sleep-tracking devicesThe last product or habit that changed my sleep for the better: Meditation

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Here's a peek at my sleep routine when I'm home and have access to my recovery tools.

10 p.m.: I make a cup of tulsi rose tea and set up my infrared and amber lights. I lay on a PEMF mat and put a separate FDA-cleared light device on my face. I do this for about on for about 15-20. I’ll usually listen to Solfeggio frequencies here as well.

10:20 p.m.: I lightly drybrush.

10:30 p.m.: I take warm bath with a combination of Epsom salt, Dead Sea salt, pink Himalayan sea salt, and organic lavender essential oils. (And yes, I put crystals in my bath too.) I soak for another 15-20 min with Solfeggio frequency playing (sometimes 528Hz, 432Hz, 963Hz, or 693Hz). After no more than 20 minutes, I take a warm shower to rinse off all the salt, then moisturize with raw organic unrefined coconut oil.

10:50 p.m.: I then take my nighttime supplements (Serena Loves Ultimate D, Love My Mag, Optimize Me NAC, and sometimes Sweet Dreams).

11 p.m.: I meditate. Sometimes I use a device if I want to focus attention on specific brain waves or my central nervous system. But usually, I just do light 4-4-4-4 breathing and go into a quiet meditation. On myself, I’ll do a little reiki. I’ll also do this with Solfeggio frequency playing.

11:15 p.m.: After meditation, I usually do my prayers and affirmations as I go into my dream sleep state.

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Serena Poon CN, CHC, CHN

Founder of Culinary Alchemy®

Serena Poon, CN, CHC, CHN is a leading chef, nutritionist and reiki master to the Hollywood elite. Serena’s passion and career for curating healing and wellness programs using integrative health, holistic nutrition and Culinary Alchemy® began long before she started creating contemporary meals, menus and nutritional goodness for the likes of Jerry Bruckheimer, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, and Kerry Washington.

Serena’s Culinary Alchemy is the practice of combining intuitive energetic techniques with guidance and education on functional & spiritual nutrition, integrating how food affects our bodies on a physiological level, as well as how it affects the energetic body. Serena’s goal is to optimize and heal the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of her clients. She is also the founder of Just Add Water®, a wellness line of super nutrient foods and supplements, and Serena Loves, a lifestyle brand and blog, as well as the host for Serena Loves TV.