Summer Sleep Reset: Day 4 🧘‍♂️ Anchor Yourself

Wind-down mode is real. Here’s how to get there

                                                                                                                                                            

Hi there, Welcome to Day 4 of the Summer Sleep Reset. I realize the email that got sent out yesterday also said Day 4 even though it was Day 3.. (thanks a lot Mercury Retrograde!) Anyways...  It’s like 100 degrees outside for much of the country. Children in Gaza are starving. The news feels unbearable most days. And if you’re wondering why even bother caring about sleep right now, I hear you. But here’s what I keep coming back to: We were born in this timeline for a reason. And if we want to be part of the answer,  not part of the noise, or the burnout, or the collapse, we have to be resourced enough to show up. Being well-rested won’t fix the world but it makes us less reactive. It makes us more steady and creative, better listeners, parents and partners. More able to choose response over impulse. Today’s tip: Anchor evening habit. Pick one simple, calming thing to repeat every night. This is your anchor.  This is an aspirational stock photo. This is a photo for another season of life as right now, it’s kids’ books and cuddles, and I’m good with that.  Why it works: Repetition teaches the nervous system to exhale and science backs it up. Even small, repeated cues before bed (like writing a to-do list or breathing slowly) help people fall asleep faster, sleep more deeply, and wake less during the night. Slow breathing, in particular, boosts HRV (heart rate variability) and tells your whole system that it’s safe to rest. In my house, bedtime is a shared ritual. I co-sleep with my daughter. We take a bath or shower together, brush teeth, read a story, and then lights out.  But I’ll be honest, I often grab my phone after she falls asleep. I scroll more on days when I haven’t had time to myself, or time outside, or time to move.  Those things help me stay away from the dopamine loop at night. Lately, I’ve been shifting the pattern. I leave my phone across the room and bring two books to bed: one for her, one for me.  Even when I fall asleep easily with my phone, I notice that I do sleep better when I don’t use it at all. Also to be honest I never manage to do breathwork at night... I find it impossible to turn my brain down that low at the end of the day.   So I anchor my mornings with meditation, and my evenings with a bath and a paperback. What’s one thing you can repeat tonight that helps your body land? Wishing you softness, Sarah Scientific References: Lo et al. (2023). J. Sleep Res. — Reading a book before bed improves sleep onset and quality. Scullin et al. (2018). J. Exp. Psychol. — Writing a to-do list before bed shortens time to sleep. Tobaldini et al. (2019). Front. Neurosci. — Slow breathing increases HRV and parasympathetic activity before sleep. Feige et al. (2007). Sleep — Consistent wind-down routines reduce cognitive arousal and improve sleep continuity. Okajima et al. (2011). Behav. Sleep Med. — Behavioral conditioning via evening routines improves insomnia symptoms.   Sarah Petroski PGDip Sleep Medicine - Oxford '23 Sleep Performance Coach Personal Trainer & Kundalini Yoga  sleepfitsarah@gmail.com    210 5th Avenue 5th Floor New York NY 10010 USA Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe

 

Sarah Petroski
PGDip Sleep Medicine
Personal Trainer and Kundalini Yoga Instructor

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