Let’s talk about sleep. Glorious, magical, sacred, elusive-as-a-unicorn sleep.
If you’ve ever laid in bed staring at the ceiling wondering how your to-do list suddenly became a Broadway musical in your head at 2 a.m., then love—you’re my people.
I’ve had an on-and-off relationship with good sleep for most of my adult life. When it’s good, I feel like I can run the world. When it’s bad, well… I basically need a warning label—and my stress reduction strategies go out the window. And now that I’m in the wildly unpredictable world of menopause, my sleep has been ahem interesting. Some nights I sleep like a baby. Other nights I’m up trying to remember what peace felt like in the early 2000s.
But let me back up a second.
Why Sleep is the #1 Key to Stress Reduction
There are a lot of tools out there for managing stress and supporting stress reduction—meditation, breathwork, yoga, therapy, margaritas (kidding! kinda)—but none of them work well when you’re running on empty. Sleep is literally when your body does its repair work.
It’s when your nervous system calms down, your brain sorts through the chaos of the day, and your cortisol (aka the stress hormone) gets a reset.
So if you’re stressed out and not sleeping, it’s like trying to recharge your phone by setting it next to the charger instead of plugging it in.
My Sleep Routine (aka My Love Language)
Look, I take my sleep prep seriously. I treat bedtime like a sacred ritual:
Magnesium before bed
Sleepy time tea drinking
Cool room (hello, thermostat at 68)
No screens at least 30 minutes before bed
And yes, eye mask and all
I sleep on bamboo sheets too and have a Tempur-Pedic mattress—which is also what I did for the ranch- hence why our beds at Retreat Ranch are top-notch. If you’re coming to one of our retreats, you better believe your bed is going to be part of your healing. Because nothing wrecks a transformative experience faster than a janky mattress and scratchy sheets.
But Even With All That, Menopause Was Like: “LOL, Nope.”
Enter the hot flashes. The middle-of-the-night wakeups. The toss-and-turns that made me want to throw my pillow across the room. I was doing everything right, and still… I wasn’t sleeping well.
That’s when I decided to try something totally new (and slightly crunchy): a grounding sheet.
Grounded & Glorious: My Grounding Sheet Experience
I’d heard whispers in the wellness world about grounding sheets and how they reconnect your body to the Earth’s natural energy, which is said to reduce inflammation and promote better sleep. Honestly, I was skeptical—but also desperate.
So I ordered one, thinking “at least it has a 45-day money-back guarantee.”
The first few nights? Meh.
By day 5? Something shifted.
By day 7? I was sleeping like I had just come back from a yoga retreat in the Swiss Alps.
I was falling asleep faster, staying asleep longer, and waking up feeling like an actual functioning human again. My anxiety dropped, my stress felt more manageable, and even my hot flashes started chilling out (literally).
And then I went to France for a week… without my grounding sheet.
Big mistake.
BIG.
Let’s just say I came back ready to kiss that sheet and never leave it again (I did try to order one that would work in France…but I thought about it too late…I am getting one for my Scotland trip though!).
Why Sleep Matters So Much at Retreat Ranch
This is why we go all in on sleep at Retreat Ranch. I’m talking:
Tempur-Pedic-style mattresses
Cooling bamboo sheets
Quiet spaces that feel safe and sacred as well as a sleep machine in each accommodation
No harsh lighting or digital noise
Because your transformation—and your stress reduction—doesn’t just happen during a workshop or yoga class. It happens at 3 a.m. when your body finally exhales and lets go of something it’s been holding onto for years.
Final Thoughts (and a Sleepy Invitation)
If sleep has been a struggle for you—especially if stress is riding shotgun—I encourage you to explore what’s happening in your nighttime routine. Maybe it’s something simple like winding down earlier. Maybe it’s trying a grounding sheet like I did (you can check it out here).
Whatever it is, just know this:
You are not lazy for needing rest.
You are not broken for not being able to power through.
You’re simply human. And humans need sleep.
So here’s to surrendering to rest, one grounding sheet and bamboo pillowcase at a time.
Sweet dreams,
Shannon Jamail
