Sleep.....Are You Getting Enough?

Sleep.....Are you getting enough?

Sleep is the single most important thing you can do to reset your body and mind so why do so many of us struggle to get enough?  

In terms of nutrition a lack of sleep often makes us hungrier (through the increase of the hormone grehlin or the ‘hunger hormone’ – I call it our gremlin inside!) and so we can often make poor diet choices when tired.  In respect to muscle growth, sleep restriction can impair muscle protein synthesis and reduces our bodies abilities to recover from exercise.  A lack of sleep also impairs our immune system and affects our mood and behaviour.  So if sleep is so important why do many of us struggle to get the recommended 7-9 hours sleep?

Modern day life and stresses are a major culprit but with our busy lifestyles we often see sleep as something we maybe don’t have time to do.  However, we really need to start flipping the switch on this one and start seeing sleep as an investment, an investment in our health which will in turn make us more productive during the day.

So I have put together some tips that can help you improve the quality and length of your sleep…….

Set a go to bed alarm

As adults we need 7-9 hours of sleep a night…….that’s not 7-9 hours in bed but 7-9 hours of sleep.  We set an alarm to get up, think about setting an alarm to go to bed, to start your bedtime routine.  If you are aiming for 7 hours of sleep get into bed that half hour beforehand, that extra 30 minutes can make a huge difference.

Create a routine

We spend a lot of time getting babies and children into a regular bedtime routine but very often we just go to bed and expect sleep to happen.  We need to tell our body that its ready to power down, so adding a few things into your routine can do this, changing into our pyjamas/sleep wear an hour before we intend to go to bed, removing make up/skin routine and brushing teeth will all help create that routine.

Set the environment.

Bedsheets should be clean and comfortable, blackout curtains or blinds so as little light as possible in your room and minimal electronics i.e. no flashing or buzzing.  Try to sleep with your phone out of your room, I know this one is hard!

Avoiding blue light before bed

This is a big one, falling asleep while watching TV or scrolling on you phone is not conducive to a good night’s sleep.  We all know this already, so if you struggle to fall asleep stop the screen time 1-2 hours before bed! 

Avoiding caffeine & stimulants

Caffeine can affect the time it takes to fall asleep; it will make your sleep more fragile (i.e. tends to be more broken),  it affects your REM sleep (this is the most important stage of sleep for your brain) and it also leaves you feeling a little less refreshed in the morning.  Caffeine in moderate doses has its benefits, but it’s the timing of caffeine that is so important to make sure it has cleared your system by bedtime.  I aim for no caffeine after 12, absolute latest is 1pm!!! 

Alcohol in small doses can induce relaxation leading to a better sleep but more than 1/2 units can start to impair sleep quality, leaving you with more of a broken sleep and not as refreshed in the morning.

Naps are good

Short naps are great and should be encouraged (30 minutes max), but not used as a replacement for sleep.  Our natural circadian rhythm normally dips around 2-3pm, so afternoon naps are the best!

Sleep trackers

Most phones and some watches nowadays have health functions that you can track your sleep – this is useful to determine how long you spend in bed versus how long you actually sleep.  However, bear in mind that these are not 100% accurate!

Waking up during the night

Can you fall asleep ok but regularly wake up during the night? If you are struggling to get back to sleep, the best thing to do is to get up and potter about until you start to feel tired then go back to bed– but don’t pick up your phone or do anything that triggers you to wake up, by the way counting sheep does not work!

So there you are some tips on how to improve your sleep, hope you took something away from this!!!

Thanks for reading this!!

Jude

Xx