Moms Indulgence.com

Sleep is always a hot topic, especially for families managing ADHD. Individuals, be they kids or parents, struggling to manage attention, often have issues with arousal, making it difficult to settle down, as well as wake up. Sleep, is always elusive for us. Add to this issue is the downward spiral of less sleep contributes to greater difficulty maintaining our attention. Below are 5 tips for getting a better night’s sleep, so you can a happier person and a more attentive mom.

Go outside! During the day, make a ritual of taking a walk. Sunshine helps regulate circadian rhythms or our sleep-wake cycle. Spend an hour or more outside everyday helps get us on a rhythm of rising with the sun and sleeping when it goes down, helping to offset that struggle with settling to sleep or arousing to get going.

Have a bedtime- even Moms and Dads! It is easy to slip into the notion, I can stay up and do _____, after the kids are in bed. Research is showing that those hours cannot be made up on the weekend. Regular 8 hours of sleep is required for a good attention and a sense of well-being. So set your DVR and go to bed!

Avoid pictorial-visual stimulation such as TV, computers, and video gaming devices an hour or more before bed. These types of sensorial input devices, create novel experiences that increases dopamine production, increasing arousal making it difficult to fall asleep.

Have a bedtime routine, that tells your brain, it’s time to settle down. Begin with self-care but then play instrumental music, dim the lights, read in a bedside chair (with a book light) or listen to a book on tape. For kids, complete bathing and teeth brushing, and then create your routine with your child. Maybe begin with reflecting on all the best parts of the day, and things they are thankful for, then read a book.

Practice some yoga and meditation. Consider adding some relaxation yoga techniques to your routine. Laurie Jordan, is soon to be out with her new book, Yawning Yoga, which walks families through a series of exercises especially designed to make kids more aware of their relaxation state, and to achieve that state. Begin with the Jiggle-wiggle test: wiggle your body to make sure it’s ready for sleep. In Dog-tired down dog, get on all fours and wag your tail. In Bedtime-Bug, lay in bed on your back, with toes in your hands, rock back and forth. The Lemon squeeze, is done lying in bed and suggests you squeeze you nose, toes, hands, as tight as you can and then relax. Notice the tension difference in your body. The Spaghetti test, is designed to continue making kids more aware of the tension in their bodies, by assessing if they are raw or cooked spaghetti. Next in the yoga bedtime routine, Good Night little body, wiggle each individual body part, as you say “good night” to each part. Finally end with pressing your palms together and saying “Namaste.” May the divinity in me honor the divinity in you.

Here’s wishing you a restful sleepfilled weekend!

I just wasn’t feeling Cheesy Potato Casserole so I made Pasta Fagioli instead!

What’s that you ask?

It is so quick and easy….

Ingredients

(2) Cans of Chunky Vegetable Pasta Sauce ($2.50 on sale at Alberstons $1.25/ea)
(2) Cans of White Kidney Beans (drained) ($1.39 x 2)
(1) Can of chopped spinach (drained) OR you can use frozen (thawed of course) OR fresh spinach (chopped). ($1.69 for canned)
16 oz of pasta (Elbow Macaroni, Rotini, Penne, whatever you have on hand) ($1.00 on sale)

Directions

1. Cook pasta as directed. Drain, keep 2 cups of pasta water.
2. Combine pasta sauce, beans, spinach, pasta and pasta water.
3. Cook on med heat for 10-15 mins.
4. Add salt & pepper to taste

As you grow and mature you often you will have less fashion and beauty blunders. As you grow you come into your own personal style. You better understand, the extremes just may not be for you. Somewhere in the middle is a safe place to be. Not too conservative or too wild, either way may lead to a place, you don’t want to be.