Most of our guests arrive on retreat ready for adventure and sleep is often the last thing on their minds amid holiday excitement. Which is why many are so happily surprised to find that their retreat sleep turns out to be one of the highlights of their trip!
With busyness and long to-do lists taking priority in our modern lives, sleep is often the first sacrifice we make to fit it all in. And we don’t always realise how deficient we are until we take time out from day-to-day life and find ourselves flagging.
At Reclaim Your Self, we recognise sleep as being an integral pillar of all-round wellness. With health being high on our list of priorities for what makes a great retreat, we make sure our guests have everything they need for optimal rest and nourishing slumber on their yoga retreats so they return home feeling fantastic!
Why is Sleep So Important?
Good quality, ample sleep is as important to our health as nutrition and exercise. Being sleep deficient perpetuates stress and increases your risk of serious medical conditions, including obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Lack of sleep can also reduce life expectancy, and has been shown to promote mental health issues including anxiety and depression.
Darkness & Devices
Darkness is our brain’s signal to produce the hormone melatonin. Melatonin makes us sleepy, keeps us asleep, and regulates many of our body’s most important processes, including our circadian rhythm, metabolism and immune system. It has even been shown to help fight cancer, obesity and other chronic lifestyle conditions —it’s a very important hormone!
The lights from the city streets that creep through your blinds at night, your bedside lamp while you’re up late finishing work, the blue light from your smartphone shining into your eyes when you check your emails in the night — they all affect your body’s ability to produce sufficient melatonin. And our modern society is deficient and experiencing health symptoms as a result.
Add in extra sleep disrupters including chronic stress, unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles, and it is little wonder our wellbeing is in decline!
The good news is that by managing your sleep habits you can easily supercharge your slumber! Escaping to the wilderness for peace, quiet and nature is the perfect way to reset your circadian rhythm, treat your body to a melatonin surge, and wake you up to prioritising rest!
Ready to reset your rest and get a good night’s sleep? Book your yoga retreat today!