How’s your sleep? Getting enough Zzzs?

• Do you wake up hourly?
• Sleep so deep you don’t dream?
• Are there nights where you don’t sleep at all? (Yikes!)
• Feel like you’re in a fog all day?

You are not alone.

60% of adults have sleep problems a few nights a week or more! And 42% of Americans get less than 7 hours of sleep. (National Sleep Foundation)

No matter which category (or you may have your own all together…) you belong to, lack of sleep has been known to be a culprit for a myriad of (usually) bad things.

I still vividly remember the spring afternoon in 1991, when a policeman and an army chaplain came to one of the windows at the bank I was working at and asked for my co-worker. Her 29-year old brother had fallen asleep at the wheel and plowed underneath a garbage truck at 70 miles per hour. He was crushed – it took the firefighters nearly 7 hours to free him and to finally identify his remains, so they could inform next of kin. The entire bank hall was quiet as she sobbed and had to be supported by the MPs, one on each side of her.

Including falling asleep at the wheel and job-related accidents, Harvard Sleep Science Studies says lack of sleep deteriorates recall, manifests in concentration issues, coordination and emotional problems, immune system depletion, etc.

• When we don’t get enough sleep, we are unable to put emotional experiences into appropriate contexts and give irrational responses. How’s that for yelling at your partner or kids for no reason?
• The immune system is more susceptible to colds and viruses and recovery times are lengthier.
• If you get less than 7 hours of sleep, you run 3 x the risk of getting the cold or the flu and recovery times are lengthier.
• Those are minor compared to stroke, heart disease, diabetes, and increased risk of weight gain – lack of sleep can mess with your metabolism!

How to get the best sleep ever:

Just a reminder: everyone is different. If you just remember that and adapt each of these steps to YOU, you’re already winning. Not everyone likes Chamomile tea, I know.

1. Ease into it.

We’ve heard this so many times! Shut off your light emitting devices, take it easy, relax, etc. But who has time for that?!

YOU should. Maybe this the 30-day long ritual you’ll gift yourself. Maybe you already do some of these things and need to just incorporate a few extra steps to make your sleep ideal and the best sleep ever.

2. Same time. Every Night.

Boring! You’re not even close to your grandma’s age yet! And your life, well, there are things that just don’t match up with this. BUT when you actually go to bed at relatively the same time each night, your body will adapt to this and pretty soon you’ll be the “old lady” – the one leaving the party early, when at 10 pm your body says: “Hey- we should be asleep in an hour!” 🙂 This is probably the easiest step to take. Really. At least start to relax and “ease into it” at the same time, if giving yourself an ultimatum and timeline seems too harsh.

3. Embrace the Dark Side.

Dim the lights, pretend the sun is setting inside your house, and your body will automatically start producing melatonin, the natural sleep medication our bodies produce. If you’re not getting enough of this, you may want to try a melatonin supplement. They range from 1-10 mg – if you choose to try it, start with the lowest dosage as everyone is different. For me, if I take more than 3 mg, I’ll sleep the next day, too! Melatonin is great in a way that other sleep meds aren’t, that you don’t get that groggy feeling. Make sure you know your limits as this is no medical advice.

4. Sprinkle some holiness into the bedroom.

Make yours a sanctuary for SLEEPING! (and ok, maybe a bit of romance – but then – it’s off to sleepy land!) Block out as much light from windows as possible, use a lot of pillows, or as few as you’d like, have extra blankets on hand if you get chilly (being comfortable is the main thing!) and then, make sure that ALL light emitting devices are covered, OR use one of those fancy eye masks to cover your beautiful eyelids and protect your sleep.

Currently, my bedroom, my office, and my living room are all in one, so there are blue, yellow, white, and red lights from all my devices around. I wear an eye mask each night to get to sleep.

See this infograph bigger by downloading this PDF: Best Sleep Ever Tools

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Cool it down.

And I’m not talking about romance.

“Heat can delay sleep” (even if you’re the chilly kind, like me) and leads to fragmented sleep (because we wake up sweating and then kick off the blankets, only to feel a bit chilly later on and then we’re looking to cocoon ourselves once more), according to Ana Krieger, medical director of Weill Cornell Center for Sleep Medicine at NY Presbyterian Hospital.

6. Just say no.

To work, to anything work related, like books and articles you have to read, a laptop, anything that physically reminds you of work, should never find its way to your nightstand. Forget “Madam Secretary” and her unending pile of national security briefings she is reading as she is talking to her husband about the next day’s agenda.

The same goes for anything that reminds you of unfinished business, like the bags of returns you need to take to the mall tomorrow, or the screwdriver which reminds you to fix the family room light fixture. These belong in their respective rooms, not in the bedroom. Can you just hear yourself sighing over these as you’re trying to fall asleep, opening your eyelids just a smidgen to scan the room…

7. Stop eating already!

A small snack a few hours before bed is good for you. This DOES not include an entire bag of chips, a bowl of ice-cream, or half a loaf of banana bread. (Oh, how do I know? Because I’ve done it!)

A small snack may be a half a cup of yoghurt, a handful of nuts, a small bowl of popcorn, an apple.

8. Say Om: Meditate, ponder, or pray

Whichever one of these floats your boat, do it. Take a few minutes as you lay your head down to breathe deeply and with concentration.

A great way to get to sleep (I’ve used it for a few years now) is to breathe into your belly as you count to 4, hold for 2 counts, and then release to the count of 8. Do this 4x, then:

Breathe in 8 counts, hold 2, and breathe out 16, expelling as much of the air out as possible.

Repeat if necessary.

Usually, by the time I get around to the second set, I’ve already yawned several times, sometimes not even making it to the end of the 8/2/16 count.

Some nights, though, it may take a few rounds. Just depends on the amount of “stuff” floating in your mind. 😉

9. Have you tried relaxing music?

Just search for it on YouTube – there are TONS of it there. Some have ocean and nature sounds, some only music, some are geared towards inner peace, positivity, happiness, etc. Because I use my laptop or phone for this, I take a piece of paper, a towel or blanket and cover the device so the light isn’t emitted out.

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P.S. What? You have a Fitbit?

Ok, that’s great (and I’m jealous)! However, relying on your device to tell you if you had a good night’s sleep or not, should not be the norm.

BEFORE you look at your Fitbit for all the answers, check out your body and your mind, and ask: “How do I feel?”

1. Did I have a good night’s sleep?
2. Did I wake up many times?
3. Do I feel refreshed?

After you’ve figured out how you actually feel about last night’s snoozes, then, and only then, take a look at your Fitbit.

It may confirm your great feeling – or it may be completely wrong. Relying on a device to tell you whether you had a great night’s sleep is relying on technology, not your intuition and body.

As a caveat, I do know that some have to wear it for other reasons – sleep apnea, sleep disorders, heart beat monitoring, etc. I get that. However, you should trust YOURSELF first to figure out how you feel. That’s all I’m saying. Your intuition has greater power than you give it credit for. Trust it.

P.P.S. The above is my opinion and should not be considered as medical advice of any kind. So don’t stop wearing the Fitbit your doctor has told you to use.

(9 tools adapted to my way of thinking from Time magazine’s special report on Mindfulness)

©2019 Taru Nieminen

20 Question Challenge for Teachers

Here’s a challenge for you: read and answer each of these 20 questions to find out some interesting things about yourself. Follow the facebook page and conversation – now, some of these are very intimate and some of the questions may be a bit too personal to post about. That’s okay.

These are for you. Whether you journal about them, talk it out with a friend, or simply mull over in your mind (perhaps with a good glass of wine…) it’s all up to you.

These 20 questions are meant for reflection, ponder, and/or meditation. You choose. Perhaps you’ll take each question and answer in your diary. You may want to answer all 20 in one sitting or tackle one per day. Perhaps you’ll pass on some, while taking much more time on others. Everyone is different.

Everyone will have different answers, different thoughts, and different emotions that may spring up. Take heart that those which “upend” you and bring the strongest emotions may be the ones that you may want to take more time on.

Again, everyone is different. Yet, you may want to have a plan in place when/if extremely strong reactions/passions/excitements surface. Perhaps take a walk, write it down, or meditate on it. Most of all, enjoy.

20 Questions for Teachers

1. Where are you coming from?
2. How are you feeling? Sad, scared, hopeless, hopeful, excited, nervous
3. Are your feelings universal?
4. How did you end up here?
5. Do you have underlying fears
6. Do you feel hopeless/hopeful?
7. Are you comparing yourself to others?
8. Do you have an overwhelming sense of anxiety?
9. Are you grateful for what you have? Truly grateful?
10. When did you last gift time for yourself?
11. Do you feel like you have no control over your career?
12. Do you need control of not just your career but life in general?
13. Can your fears be substantiated?
14. Do you look around you with overwhelm? Overwhelm at everything?
15. Do you have a sense of not knowing where to start?
16. Are you prepared?
17. Can you organize? Organize time, files, priorities, family, etc.? Batch.
18. Are you creative? What does it mean?
19. How can you cultivate creativity?
20. How do you deal with: family, overwhelm, time constraints, demands of work/admin, bad habits/good habits, organizing, quality lesson planning?

 

No matter what your answers, if you haven’t tried meditation yet, each happy, sad, elated, and fearful answer can be dealt with in meditation.

I hope you have an amazing day!

Get your meditation guide for Teachers written by a Teacher!

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The Ability to Think, Gain Insight, But Also Worry and Despair

Did you know that the neocortex gives you the ability, as a human, to develop language, read this post, and the capacity for thoughts, ideas, and feelings as well as insight?

On the flip side, it also gives you the ability to worry, despair, imagine the worst, perseverate, create drama and come up with crazy interpretations and scenarios for events that have occurred or even future events (that’s called dreading it.)

Which would you like to cultivate? I hope the first abilities are high on your list. Unfortunately, many of us choose the latter. Which is great if you can channel your abilities to for example mystery, sci-fi, or script writing for movies…

Even then, you must be able to bounce back.

Cats and Kids

Have you ever seen (or tried to help, or even done this yourself) someone try to get a cat into a pet carrier, so they can visit the vet? (The article link has a perfect photo…)

The claws come out in force, hissing sounds, bared teeth and meows abound. The kitty is in the fight-or-flight response mode. (intuitively, it might even know where it’s headed to…)

The picture here is the opposite; no kitty will high five you as you try to manage the seemingly impossible feat.

At the vet’s office, the same occurs when you try to take the cat OUT of the carrier!

The tense situation doesn’t release until your kitty is safely back home, and then-

something remarkable happens.

The darn cat acts if nothing’s happened! You’re more stressed about the whole ordeal than they are.

The cat curls up on top of the couch, licks the paws a bit, and falls asleep!

Animals and small children have this amazing ability to return to the state of rest-and-relax seemingly without much effort.

So, What Gives for Us Adults?

Why are we always fretful about situations that have happened, mulling them over and over, or even thinking of things that haven’t happened yet – dreading what’s to come….

Remember the neocortex?

That’s why.

But how do you combat those feelings of dread, doom, and drudgery?

Don’t worry — it can be fixed.

To illustrate it, we need to think back to the day, when our survival sometimes depended on being able to run away, to flee the enemy (man or animal), and this part of our brain was the open gate to staying alive.

Today, though, the negative thoughts that occupy our minds are most often only a danger to our psychological well-being and sanity.

 

It’s exhausting

It’s exhausting when you get a nasty email from a colleague, a mean text from a friend or loved one, or get called into the boss’ office for a reprimand.

Any one of these generate a state of anxiousness for a prolonged time (sometimes even years!) if you’re not equipped to return to the relaxed state.

Research has shown that “toughing it out” doesn’t work. In fact, it creates more stress and overwhelm.

Talking Yourself Out of Stress

And, you can’t talk yourself out stress – especially in high stress situations like the following:

Imagine coming out of the store (you just stepped into get a dozen donuts for the meeting) and finding your tire flat. No biggie, you call AAA (and pat yourself on the back for responding to their low yearly offer just last month) and in just 30 minutes, you’re at work, only a few minutes late. And your boss understands things happen (you don’t even have to show the receipt for AAA), your co-workers are happy — you brought yummy donuts.

Now imagine the same situation, but this time, there’s a winter storm warning [the parking lot at the store is almost deserted (who else would go out in this weather!?)], you have an important presentation at work (everyone is relying on you to deliver, and if you miss it, you’ll probably get fired…) You call AAA and they inform you that it’ll be at least an hour before they’ll get to you. The storm, you see.

You take a deep breath, but still, you’re in a state of fear. You sit in your car and call the cab company. There — the solution is at hand! But, due to the storm, they’re running at a 50% capacity and it’ll be a while before they can dispatch someone to pick you up. It takes all you’ve got for all this not to induce a full-fledged panic attack.

Trying to talk yourself out of that can be futile. And if a friend, co-worker tells you to “just relax” when you’re stressed, it’s even worse.

Soothing Our Panicked Mind

To soothe and regulate our bodies and mind out of any stressful situation, we can take solace in the simple act of breathing.

You’ve undoubtedly told someone (or took one as you sat in your car in the parking lot) in an agitated state to “just take a deep breath” and it’ll all work out. You might have even done this naturally yourself. And when they (or you) did suck in long, deep breaths, they often calmed down. It’s no great feat in itself, but it has immense power in regulating how your fight-or-flight response can return to the rest-and-relax state.

The key to it all relies on being able to return to a rest-and-relax state.

And maintaining that state until another threatening situation comes along.

Which means overcoming the next challenge with less stress-induced adrenaline surfacing.

Breathing is Life

From the first breath we take as newborns to the last one as we fade away from this physical world, our breathing gives us life.

Consider that telling yourself (or someone telling you) to relax doesn’t work, but that breathing can actually change the way you feel is backed by research.

In one study, researchers asked participants to simply slow down their breath during a stressful time when they had to make a tough decision. With this simple instruction to breathe slower and deeper, they were able to reduce anxiety.

Stephen Porges of the University of North Carolina, has concluded that especially abdominal breathing (expanding the belly as you breathe in) and lengthened exhales (e.g. 4 breaths in and 8 out), have significant benefits in reducing stress, anxiety, and blood pressure. These longer exhales relax and restore our nervous system. And isn’t that what we all want? Our “nerves” are shot — we need to learn relax them in order to build resilience.

Breathing consciously for even a few minutes before or after a stressful event can help you anytime, anywhere. It’s an incredible built-in tool we have. Start by taking action to feel better, happier, more relaxed and energized today. That’s the goal.

If you adapt a breathing technique like meditation offers, your body and mind are able to “bounce back” from the day’s stressors, and instead of feeling exhausted, you feel rested and recover your sympathetic nervous system by giving your body and mind the required downtime to create the practice and to feel happier today as a teacher, parent, spouse, and friend, click here.

TRY IT! 5 DAYS of FREE GUIDED MEDITATION!

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All done with the 5 Free Days? If you found the meditation helpful, imagine what 21 Days of Guided Meditation can do? Order now and Listen to Days 6-21 and continue to create calmness, happiness, and energy in your life.

Use coupon code Love2019 during the month of February to get $9.00 OFF regular price of $29.00! (That’s 31% off!)

Keep Reading the blog: Restoring Mental Energy

©2018 Taru Nieminen

The Myth Lives On -Top 5 Reasons Teachers Quit

Although the myth that up to 50% of teachers quit within the first 5 years of teaching has been debunked, it does not mean that teachers are any happier. They still quit, 10% not coming back after the first year and increasing to 17% in the fifth year of teachers not returning after the summer. And the study that keeps fueling the myth? Well, that one went further: it concluded that roughly 40-50% of teachers didn’t return after the sixth year.

Survey: Top 5 Reasons Teachers Quit

A recent Facebook survey cited the following as the Top 5 Reasons teachers quit:

1. Challenging work conditions

• Educators are bombarded with paperwork, ridiculous curriculum, lack of time for preparation, lack of materials, long hours + working on weekends, unrealistic expectations, ineffective administrators, no support for discipline, time-consuming and frivolous meetings and rules and regulations that seem to change daily.

Yikes! Any one of the above can cause stress, overwhelm, and exhaustion!

2. Lack of support, lack of respect

• Micromanagement by administrators and parents — with little or no say as to whether a student, for example, passes a test, the course, or continues onto the next grade.
• The fact that you went to college for 4+ years and have at least a Bachelor’s degree (and often a Masters) doesn’t seem to weigh in — teachers aren’t treated as professionals —not by administrators, parents, or students. Instead, teachers are treated more like punching bags and faulty wheels; keep kicking them and eventually, they’ll give up fighting.

      3. Testing, testing, testing

• High-stakes testing, data collection, and the creation of a “punitive and abusive test-and-punish system” can be a recipe for disaster — when you’re required NOT to prepare your students for the real world by “teaching to the test,”, it takes a toll on the creativity teachers feel they should be able to offer their students and themselves.

4. Kid’s best interest is not priority

• Decisions made by administrators and parents are often made based on students who perform well. Students are stressed because of these great expectations and not allowed to fail.
• “Bubble” kids are often left out hanging. And even though the “lowest of the low” often receive help, the help is not adequate. Why? Because the teacher’s voice is not heard nor are they allowed to take a holistic approach to their teaching. Educating the whole child is no longer a priority with high stakes testing.

5. Family and work/life balance doesn’t exist

• When the environment you must work in is taped together with duct tape instead of real-world fixes, it seems impossible to even try to hold it together. When a school you work in isn’t one you’d send your kids to, many say it’s time to go.
• Teachers decide to channel their energy into their family and themselves — once again citing lack of support for family time: when you work 12-hour days plus weekends, how much family time can you amass?

Focus on New Teachers

Many districts have started to focus on new teachers. Which in itself is great. The Alliance for Excellent Education and the  National Center for Education Statistics feel that more on-the-job training and mentoring programs included within the first two years of teaching will keep the teachers in their profession.

According to AEE and NTC, the initiative, or “comprehensive induction,” includes “a high-quality, pre-screened mentor who is an experienced teacher, common planning time with other teachers, regular and rigorous training, and ongoing contact with school leaders, like principals and district officials.” All of this is fantastic when it actually happens. When it does, it can make a difference if it’s teacher friendly.

I Had a Mentor…of sorts

I had all this in some form or another. I had a “mentor” my first year, and although she was highly qualified as a teacher, she was not trained as a mentor. When in our session we (two others she was mentoring and I) received cute little, laminated quotes and saying as the “take-away” from each session. It certainly wasn’t what I’d call mentoring. Bless her heart, she wasn’t trained properly.

The “rigorous training” included yet another way to teach something, new curriculum the district decided to implement in the middle of the year, yet another PD that no one gleaned one actionable item from… and then – there was the paperwork. The paperwork in all this was amazing. Even as a Legal Clerk, did I not fill out and turn in as much paperwork as a new teacher!

Teachers are Tenacious

During my second year, I no longer had a mentor (changed schools) even though the school knew this was only my second year. It was one of the most stressful years of my life. I was so overworked that I had hardly any time for family. But because teachers are a tenacious bunch, I persevered, just hoping to make it till summer vacation. (My survival was also probably partly thanks to my “advanced” age. I was 40 when I received my teaching credentials.)

It took all of the time off during the summer to feel like I could return. On my third year now, I wowed to reduce stress by not working more than 10 hours a day, leaving school by 5 p.m.…and only working one day on the weekend — Saturdays were my day off.

Shortcuts and Time-Savers Galore

I devised all kinds of time-savers and planning shortcuts, copying two weeks of papers in one sitting, creating a plan for students and myself to be less stressed. And it did work, I did manage my stress better, and my time at school was at least a bit happier. One of the reasons was that my then principal hardly visited the classrooms — we teachers could essentially run them as we pleased — but that also included not giving us support either when disciplinary issues arose.

And yet, even with all the tips, tricks, and time-management, and stress-relief techniques I’d implements, after teaching for 10+ years — I resigned. Just quit with not much of a plan, thought I’d move back to Finland (where I’m originally from), and start a teaching career there, or…do something completely different. I tried the move. It didn’t work out. So, I opted for something different and have been writing ever since. I love it, yet often think of what could’ve been if I had continued as a teacher.

Stay — We Need You

Now, the reason I’ve written this blog post is not for you to quit and start something completely different. No, it’s so that you’ll stay a teacher , just like Jeremy Knoll did. The world needs you, your creativity, your knowledge, your influence. The students need you more than ever.

How can you avoid being a statistic — feel happier, more relaxed and energized? Take the 5 things Jeremy persevered with along with meditation to create the balance in your life you crave, and you may look at life — but more importantly, the teaching career you chose, in a different, brighter light. 😊

Feel Happier Today

TRY IT! 5 DAYS of FREE GUIDED MEDITATION!

Just click here, enter your name & email to get started!

All done with the 5 Free Days? If you found the meditation helpful, imagine what 21 Days of Guided Meditation can do? Order now and Listen to Days 6-21 and continue to create calmness, happiness, and energy in your life.

Keep Reading the blog: How to Create Resilience

©2017-19 Taru Nieminen – The Happy Teacher Solution

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