SLEEP

How we sleep can impact our health, our happiness, and our waistline. Below are some ideas, tips and tricks to lead you to a better nights sleep.

The health benefits of Sleep

Chronic sleep deprivation promotes chronic inflammation and disrupts the normal night time release of growth hormone.

Sleep deprivation helps promote obesity and its associated conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease; it is also associated with cancer.

While we sleep our brains file and analyse information, so getting a good nights sleep helps us to remember important things and bring our thoughts together coherently.

So sleeping well helps preserve our cognition and also helps to stave off the threat of Alzheimer's

Our brains accumulate waste during the day. When we get enough 'deep' sleep, a special fluid called cerebrospinal fluid bathes the brain to literally flush this waste away.

Sleep deprivation can increase our insulin resistance by up to 1/3rd.

Nutrition, Hydration & Sleep

Eating right before bed regularly can lead to weight gain and ill health.

Not eating within two to three hours of bedtime reduces our risk of heart attack and stroke.

In healthy people, blood pressure drops by at least 10 percent when they go to sleep, but blood pressure in late-night eaters stays high, increasing the risk of cardiovascular problems.

Avoid consumption of any liquids for 1 hour before bed time, to help avoid waking up to visit the bathroom in the night.

Avoid caffeine for 9 1/2 hours before you go to bed as it's 9 1/2 hour half life can disturb your sleep.

No amount of alcohol is good for your sleep so avoid it where you can, to improve your sleep.

Exercise, Weight & Sleep

The more physically active we are the better we sleep.

Just a single bout of exercise (although not directly before bed!) is proven to improve sleep, and regular exercise is even better.

In studies, those who regularly engaged in at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week reported a 65 percent improvement in sleep quality and were also less likely to feel overly sleepy during the day.

Adults who are physically inactive are more vulnerable to suffering from insomnia.

If we don’t sleep that well, we become tired and irritable the next day.

Lack of sleep also causes an increase in the levels of a hormone called ghrelin that makes us hungry and simultaneously depresses levels of another hormone called leptin that inhibits the desire to eat.

This can often lead us to making poor food choices.

Stress & Sleep

When we experience stress, a sequence of chemical changes occur in the body. Stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are released, which cause our heart rate and blood pressure to increase, more oxygen is supplied to our muscles and our alertness increases.

If our Cortisol levels are still raised at bed time it can interfere with our sleep & then even worse, when we wake up tired and still feeling stressed our Cortisol levels remain elevated and if this continues unbroken, we can we get into an endless cycle of stress.

Stresses that cause sleep deprivation can slowly erode our health, by depressing the immune system and directing the body to store more organ fat.

Fortunately there are many things that you can do to break the stress cycle. As well as those mentioned elsewhere in this section such as regular exercise, below are a few more things that you can try.

Getting into nature (or listening to natures sounds) is proven to help reduce stress and Improve our sleep.

Writing down something (or things) that we are grateful for can help to relax us before bed time..

Practising some meditation or breathing exercises can also be a great way to relieve the stresses of the day, before we drift off.

Tips for better sleep

Set a routine and go to bed at roughly the same time every night.
Avoid food for the last 3 hours before bed.
Avoid liquid consumption one hour before you bedtime.
Avoid stimulants & excessive alcohol.
1. Nicotine can cause a very alert state.
2. Try and avoid caffeine after Mid-day. Caffeine has a 1½ to 9½ hour half-life (depending on your size), so 400mg of caffeine taken 6 hours before bed will cause sleep disturbance.
Late evening fitness training will keep you awake (try and train in the day).
Turn off screens 1 hour before bedtime (they emit the same ‘blue light’ as the sun).
Ensure your bedroom is comfortable (16 -19 C or 61- 66 F ) and you have blackout curtains / blinds.
Turn off your gadgets (or put them on flight mode) so they don’t disturb you.
Listening to music with a specific rhythm can help induce sleep.
Lavender oil can improve sleep, as well as lift mood, and reduce feelings of stress.
Humming induces calmness, which enhances sleep, and boosts happiness.

How to plan for better sleep

Try to go to bed (& wake up) at roughly the same time every day.

To sleep better, make your room cooler, darker & quieter. (Ideally 16-19 C or 61-66 F with blackout blinds or curtains)

Turn off gadgets or put them on flight mode so they don't disturb you.

Turn off screens at least 1 hour before bedtime as they emit the same blue light as the sun and this stimulates us to stay awake.

Listen to relaxing sounds, or try making your own by humming to induce calmness and enhance your sleep.

Lavender oil can also be a very effective stress reliever, and can help to improve our sleep if used before bed.

Sleep Tracking

Coming Soon

Journaling, Sleep & Nightmares

If you have bad thoughts that keep you awake, journaling helps to get them out of your head.

Last thing before you fall asleep, and first thing in the morning, write one thing that you are grateful for.

Keeping a gratitude journal decreases materialism and the desire to have more stuff.

Journaling your gratitude is proven to lead to healthier eating behaviours and fewer negative emotions. Contributing to a gratitude journal, even as little as once a week, is proven to have a substantial positive effect on well-being.

Whenever a nightmare has occurred more than three times, write it out in as much detail as you can, then give it a better ending.

By writing out your nightmares and giving them a different ending, you are no longer held hostage by your unconscious mind.