Modern life is hectic, manic even most days. So much so that sometimes it might seem that life is happening to us. This is something many of us think we really need to get control of, and our health is just one of the areas that needs attention.

There are a number of foundations of health, according to The Restored, there are four foundations of health: Sleep; Nutrition; Movement; Mindset.

The Restored is a new health start-up passionate about combining products and practical guidance to help you feel significantly better. The Restored are launching a range of innovative health products – including supplements, equipment and supporting content in August 2019. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they launch.

To make significant improvements to our health, we need a good baseline in all four foundations – they are so deeply interlinked that if one foundation flounders, the others’ tremble too.

But, you can feel noticeably better by focusing on improving one foundation at a time.

The Restored

Take the quiz

If this is something that is of interest to you, why not take the The Restored health quiz. You’ll be asked a series of questions about your sleep, the amount of exercise you do and your diet.

The quiz has been developed by a team of experts to help you identify one foundation of health that you can restore – the one that could make you feel significantly different. Chances are you will be able to anticipate which element you are struggling with, but you may not know where to start in terms of improving the situation.

My result

I took the quiz and I have to say I wasn’t surprised by my result at all. My major presenting issue is….drumroll…SLEEP! Shock horror.

“So you’re struggling with sleep? Without sleep, we simply cannot function as we should. Let The Restored help you back to healthy sleep habits”.

The Restored

This result means that the foundation of health that needs most attention in my life is sleep. What about for you? Do let us know in a comment below.

The truth is that sleep, or lack of it has been an issue for me for 13 years now. Four babies, four lots of breastfeeding through the night, followed by toddlers who thought sleeping meant a quick 15 minute power nap in the car. Even now, although the children sleep more than they used to, it’s unusual not to have a night that’s somehow interrupted.

As the children get older, they go to bed later, which means I start work later, which means I sleep later. I also try to get up early to get ahead of myself before the rest of the house wakes.

How to ‘restore’ sleep

People used to say “sleep when the baby sleeps” and I’d laugh. Whilst first time around you can potentially do that sometimes, with more than one child you just can’t.

I think, in reality it’s actually my perception of sleep that needs to change. I see sleep as an inconvenient necessity. I don’t enjoy sleeping. If I could find a way to get that restoration without actually sleeping I would. At the moment I view the time needed to sleep as a waste, and think about all the other things I could be doing then.

According to The Restored, well, I’m approaching this all wrong:

Think of sleep as recovery. Quality recovery is essential for restoring your energy, plus mental and physical health.

Sleep is more important than diet and exercise – restore your sleep and you’ll find the other two much easier.

The Restored

I should be viewing sleep as a daily re-boot to my system. I take exercise and nutrition seriously, so why not sleep? Anyone else do this?

So what can I do? Here are the three steps that have been suggested to me as a result of completing The Restored health quiz.

• Switch off mobile devices 45 minutes before bed
• Go to sleep and get up at the same time every day
• Take a hot shower or bath 30 minutes before bed

In theory these things shouldn’t be hard, sleep shouldn’t be hard work. I’m going to give these things a go and let you know how I get on.

This is a collaborative post.