Media Diets & Sleep

Don't you all wish you could sleep like your pet? Jovie, my 5-year old Shih-tzu, can put any man to shame when it comes to snoring. Most mornings, this is how I wake up. If you can't tell, that is my beloved doggie in all that hair! She gets really close to my face and then sneezes all over me. She is so my kid!!

My clients ask me all the time how I stay so rested. Most people don't know that I had nightmares for most of my adult life and they progressed into night terrors. I studied for years to determine how to stop them. And then...Bingo! Firstly, I was sleeping too hot. Secondly, what I consumed visually during the day was entering my subconscious mind at night. Enter...the media diet...

A media diet is consciously choosing what you watch (TV, a movie, the news, a YouTube clip, etc.) and removing those that are not good for you. Personally, I chose to remove violence and disturbing images. Challenging, eh? I got the idea from a book called "Rethink your Life" by Stan Toler. I like the points he made about media diets, so I recorded my media intake for a week. The result: Crazy amounts! Yes, it was sad to see my shows disappear, but resolving the two issues that I discovered produced amazing results. My night terrors completely stopped, and I rarely have nightmares anymore.

More guts and violence are being demanded to be entertaining these days. Whether or not you have nightmares, I challenge you to write down or just notice how much unwanted media you watch. Then, fast for a week from it. I bet you'll see a difference. It may even give you the most peaceful sleep despite the noises from across the pillow.