Check in with your Health: Sleep

Sleep. To rest. To recover. To recharge.

Part two in a four part series dedicated to feeling and performing your best moving into the colder months and holiday season

Sleep.

Sleep is king. Without it we can not function the way we are meant to. We know this. We are supposed to get about 7-8 hours of sleep. We know this as well. But for some reason modern culture has made “the grind” a super sexy thing. We brag on how little we are sleeping or how much caffeine we are throwing back to survive. But sleep is not something you can bank up and then take out when you need it. A regular sleep schedule is very important to health and emotional well being, mental clarity and daytime performance.

Three easy ways to ask yourself if you are sleeping enough

1. Brain fog – our memories and daily interactions are stored away while we sleep. If we aren’t sleeping enough what we learn each day is not being committed to memory. Some things to look out for are an inability to focus/concentrate. Decreased alertness. Feeling confused or scatter-brained. Forgetfulness or slow recall.
2. Weight gain – a lack of sleep can increase perceived hunger and effect our appetite regulation.  Which inherently increases calorie intake. A lack of sleep can also increase our cortisol (stress hormone) levels and effect the way our body processes blood sugar.
3. Feeling sick a lot – when we miss out on sleep our bodies production of T cells (immunity on a cellular level) goes down and the inflammation in our bodies goes up. This increases our immune systems vulnerability to viruses and bacteria. It also affects our long term health related to inflammation, such as heart disease.

Step up your sleep hygiene to ensure you are getting the best sleep possible with the hours you have available to you.

• Sleep in a cool room. Optimal sleep temperatures are 60-67 degrees. So think a nice, chilly room.
• Make sure the room you are sleeping in is dark,pitch black, the darker the better. In the summer use blackout curtains when light hours are longer.
• Try and find a regular sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at very similar times every day.
• Reduce bluelight right before bed. Turn off the TV and put down your phone about a half hour (preferable an hour or more) before bed. Do not fall asleep with the TV on…. Why do you need a TV in your bedroom in the first place?
• Keep your bed/bedroom for sleep and sex. Oh gosh, that sounds so difficult 🙄  how am I going to wind down at the end of the day without spending 20 minutes mindlessly scrolling through Instagram or answering last minute emails? Following up with the last point, it’s important for our body to equate being in our bed with sleep, so avoid work and outside distractions that may have you keeping work and stress in the back of your mind.
• Spend some time each day out in the sunlight. At least 30 minutes a day of sun exposure on bare skin. Suns out guns out. This helps regulate our circadian rhythm (aka our sleep/wake cycle)
• Exercise regularly. This promotes good health in general, but also promotes good sleep. Most of us have pretty sedentary lives, so a little activity each day helps us tire out so that we can fall asleep more quickly and stay asleep more easily.

Categorised in: Blog, Nutrition