One of the things that people frequently fail to address when looking to improve their health, drop fat, and generally feel better, is their sleep.
When someone wants to get in shape, they will look for a workout, or a diet, and get on with it (or at least start it). But without actually being able to sleep right, they really limit their chances of success.
Sleep, we all know, is a pretty essential part of our existance. We know if we’ve not had enough, and we know (usually) if we need it.
If sleep quality is poor, we put ourselves at risk of a pile of things we don’t want, such as increased inflammation within the body, sub-optimal hormone levels – in particular reduced growth hormone and testosterone – both needed for an effective metabolism to maximise fat burning potential), and high cortisol (stress hormone) levels, which is linked to belly fat.
It’s generally accepted that we need about 8hrs sleep a night in order to be on our A-game. Few of us however get that (myself included from time to time), due to late nights, early starts, or simply an inability to nod off when head meets pillow.
So I figured I’d hit you with 5 things you can do to help improve the quality (and quantity) of your sleep.
1) Lights off Curtains Shut
Sounds obvious right? Making sure the room you are sleeping in is as dark as possible is pretty essential to a good nights kip. Our bodies have natural rhythms, and these haven’t changed too much since our ancestors slept in caves and beat dinosaurs over the head with rocks (ok, so I’m not a historian, but you get it). When it gets light, our bodies release hormones to wake us up. So keeping things as dark as possible is a given. Get ALL the lights off. Not just the bedroom, but the landing, your radio alarm clock, stereo light, laptop light, EVERYTHING. If your room is by a street light (mine is), maybe look at getting some black out blinds too.
2) Don’t watch TV before you go to sleep
Watching the telly (or using a laptop) actually stimulates your fight or flight response and will likely make your body want to stay awake. If you want to get an early night, get into bed, lights out, head on pillow, sleep. Don’t go to bed, lights out, TV on, try to sleep. Chances are you’ll stay awake longer, and have a poorer quality of sleep too.
3) Turn off your electrical appliances
Yup – TV, stereo, phone, electrical alarm clock – knock em all off, or better still, get them out of your room. Electrical items like te aforementioned all create electromagnetic fields which negatively effect sleep believe it or not. If your room is full of appliances, at the very least take the first step to turn them all off at the plug. If you can get away with it without your partner kicking your ass, boot them out into another room (appliances not partner).
4) Wind it doooooown
The more relaxed you are before you get into bed the better. The 3 things I’ve found most effective are: A – No ‘work’ a couple of hours before bed. So I stay off emails, projects, phone calls, anything work related as often as I can, so my mind isn’t over stimulated. B – Take a warm bath or shower before bed – this is great for helping you relax. C – drink sometulsi tea – this is a great herbal tea that helps reduce cortisol levels and has a relaxing effect.
5) Don’t eat too close to bed
Try to get your last feed down at least 2hrs before you hit the pillow. Going to bed on a full tummy, while your body is trying to work to digest a big meal, is never a good way to get a good nights sleep. Oh, and on the subject of eating and bed . . . that counts for drinks such as caffeinated coffee and sugary drinks too. Pretty obvious that one though right?
So . . . a super quick recap:
Get your last meal down at least a couple of hours before bed, start to wind down, neck a cup of tulsi tea, get into bed around 10ish, lights out, dark room, head on pillow, zzzzzzzz.
If you make use of the above points, or at least a few of them, you’ll find that your sleep improves, leaving you with more energy, feeling fresher, and if you’re trying to drop a few lbs, it’ll help that too.
Sleep is just one of the aspects we’ll be addressing in my all new Weight Management Program, which begins on Monday, and currently has a few spaces remaining. If you’d like to check it out, head on over to the site and have a read.
Talk to you soon,
Andy Sloan