Recipes and Routines: Relax and Restore Yourself at Sleepytime

By Melanie Pores

With the stressful times we have been experiencing lately, I thought I’d share some strategies I recently shared with one of my favorite HWFC staffers about sleep. I’ve also included a yummy recipe for my Favorite Sleepytime Cookies. 

Strategies that help me sleep

I make lunch my biggest meal of the day. Instead of dinner, I eat a light snack around 6pm, which usually includes an apple cut up into small pieces and a cup of “Golden Milk”. I make the milk with Yogi Mango tea or Yogi Cinnamon Horchata Stress Plus Sleep tea with soy milk, or chamomile, lemon balm or passionflower tea with soy milk, plus 1 tsp ghee, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cardamom, and 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg.

Along those lines, here is my favorite cookie recipe that helps relax me into slumber:

Favorite Sleepytime Cookies

Servings: 12-15 cookies

Ingredients

1 bag Yogi Tea Cinnamon Horchata Stress, + Sleep tea

1/3 cup boiling water

1/2 cup soaked chopped, pitted dates

1 tablespoon tart cherries

1 teaspoon coconut oil

2 teaspoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon rose water

2 cups almond flour 

1/2 cup vanilla protein powder 

1/2 cup rolled oats 

1 tablespoon raw almonds

2 tablespoons shelled raw pistachios 

Directions 

Preheat oven to 375°F.

1. Brew the tea bag in boiling water with soaked chopped, pitted dates to make a strong tea and to soften dates. While still warm, add coconut oil, maple syrup, rose water, and tart cherries.

2. Mix in almond flour, vanilla protein powder, rolled oats, almonds, and pistachios in a mixing bowl.

3. Stir in tea, dates, coconut oil, maple syrup, and tart cherries into dry ingredients, and allow the dry and wet ingredients to soak together for a few minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed. The dough will be a bit wet, but should hold together. Add a bit more almond flour if it feels too moist to scoop in a cookie scoop.

4. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto a parchment or silicone lined cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.  Bottoms should look caramelized.

Let cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes and then remove to a rack to cool completely. 

Store in a loosely covered container lined with paper towel. 

Enjoy within 3 days or freeze.

Adapted from here.

Tips for a Winding-down Evening Routine

I disengage from electronic devices an hour before bedtime, and I wind down with a quiet activity like reading, and/or writing about my day or composing a to-do list for the next day. 

I  like to give myself an oil massage (Abhyanga) with coconut oil, but you could use sesame oil or olive oil.

I take 400 mg Magnesium Citrate and 450 mg Ashwagandha.

I follow this with an Epsom salt bath with 5-10 drops of calming essential oil blends mixed in. After the bath, I apply a rollerball oil blend behind the back of my ears (down my vagus nerve), around my thyroid, on my shoulders/upper back, on my third eye, temples, and wrists.

Relaxing Essential Oil Blends

Here are some possible blends to try, in a carrier oil such as jojoba, almond, or grapeseed:

This is a good blend to release tension and frustration. If overthinking is keeping you awake, this may be the blend for you:

• 3 drops bergamot essential oil 

• 2 drops of cedarwood oil 

• 1 drop of sweet marjoram oil

For deep sleep, this combination will help lull you into a restful and uninterrupted sleep:

• 3 drops cedarwood oil

• 3 drops lavender oil

• 2 drops of vetiver

Or you can mix the following blends:

2 drops each:  lavender, lemon balm, patchouli, and Roman chamomile. 

2 drops each: lavender, sandalwood, vetiver, and roman chamomile essential oils

2 drops each: cedarwood, orange, and lavender essential oils

2 drops each: Frankincense, cedarwood, and roman chamomile essential oil 

Or: 3 drops ylang-ylang essential oil, 2 drops roman chamomile oil and 1 drop lavender essential oil

Or you can use a premade blend. I recently placed a special order from the Wellness Department for NOW Essential Oils Peaceful Sleep Oil Blend which includes orange, tangerine, lavender, chamomile, ylang ylang, and sandalwood essential oils

You can also use a pillow spray:

Sleepytime Pillow Spray

• 1/2 cup of distilled water.

• 10 drops of nutmeg essential oil.

• 5 drops of lavender essential oil.

I aim to be in bed around 9:30 pm and turn off the lights and complete some gentle stretches, like this qigong neck stretch my teacher calls “Wise Owl Looks Backward” and also gentle Yoga poses, mostly twists and forward bends, happy baby, and alternate nostril breathing (Nadi Shodana) and ending with Legs up the Wall. I try to complete my routine sometime before 10:00 pm and then to slumber.

Bio: Melanie Pores is a retired bilingual educator, an HWFC member since 1978, has facilitated HWFC’s Spanish Conversation Group since 2015-currently on Zoom, Fridays 10am to noon.

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