Health is Holistic: Sleep/Recovery
There is no better way to start this post then with a story of how sleep and prioritising recovery led to an improvement in overall health, stress reduction and weight loss in the majority of my previous clients. [1]
Sleep takes up a third of our lives, but just like the subconscious rules our decision making and habits, sleep plays a vital role in neural development, digestion, memory, cardiovascular and metabolic function, as well as overall health. We all know that sleep is good for you, but just how good are we talking here?
Well, based on my own experiences and previous clients experiences, here are the results…
For myself and those clients who were only getting 5-6 hours sleep, the likelihood of a decrease in performance at training was significant, not only that, but a decrease in metabolism as well, whereby the body just did not efficiently take in and digest food. Which led to an increase in body fat, impaired judgement leading to poor decision making, less energy and therefore less productivity and increased stress/anxiety. These are results that I have seen over the span of ten years of training people, hundreds of people, just by simply asking how much they sleep on average and noting it down and tracking all of the above.
I myself, fell into the trap of only sleeping 5-6 hours per night when I was younger, thinking if I had more time in the day, then I would be able to get more done. When in fact, what was happening was the more time in the day led to more distractions and procrastination, impaired judgement and lack of energy.
Now, what happened when clients started sleeping the recommended 7-8 hours a night, or 7-9 hours a night for athletes? [2]
Well, of course there was an increase in energy levels almost instantly, weight loss occurred over the first few weeks and bowel movements were regular (based on my own experiences, didn’t have the guts to ask clients about their bowel movements, probably should have though on looking back).
Of course, this led to a significant impact on overall health and performance in training, whereby results were happening faster. So to re-iterate, we all know sleep is good for you…
How do we start sleeping the recommended 7-8 hours per night and getting a good sleep which is not disturbed, where you sleep all the way through?
First thing is taking a look at your environment, is it set up for a successful nights sleep?
Your sleep environment, generally speaking, your bedroom, is truly significant to getting a good nights sleep. Here is how to set up your environment for success.
Get rid of all artificial light! Including any electronic clocks or anything that may disturb your sleep.
Increased artificial light in your room decreases the onset of melatonin (think this as the wind down chemical in your body), which in turn will mess up your circadian rhythm. (A fancy term for your natural sleeping pattern) [3]
Which includes decreasing the amount of artificial light before bed as well, a lot of smart phones will automatically switch to night mode these days, whereby the blue/white light, which the brain sees as daylight, becomes a yellow/grey light. Just a simple change like this is powerful, as the brain will start to onset melatonin levels and naturally start signalling bedtime. If your smart phone does not do this automatically, you will be sure to find an app that will do it.
Go to bed at a set time each night!
Studies have proved over and over again that going to bed at roughly the same time each night will improve your sleep throughout the night, but also improve your ability to fall asleep.
Not able to get a full nights sleep? Napping throughout the day is just as effective!
Studies have shown, especially in athletes, that if you are not able to get the full 7-9 hours sleep for recovery and performance. According to Mathew Walker, sleep specialist and international best seller of “Why we sleep?”, napping throughout the day is just as effective, however timing is key for this one. As you should aim to nap between the hours of 11am-2pm, depending on when you wake up. You also should aim for no more than 10-20 minutes sleep or you will need to sleep for at least an hour to two hours depending on the person to stop the grogginess and drowsiness you get after a nap.
Eating and drinking affect sleep!
Your nutrition and what you drink will affect how you sleep, the main reasons for a hangover is not so much the alcohol consumption, but due to alcohol being a somnogen (chemical that induces sleep) it actually makes you sleepy, but affects the second half of the night by causing major disruptions. [5]
Therefore, what you eat and drink does affect how you sleep, ever get the meat sweats or have too much food and start to get drowsy? A similar affect occurs, and it is this disruption of sleep that actually is worse than getting only 5-6 hours of continuous sleep. Hence, eating a naturally balanced nutrition and limiting alcohol consumption will also improve your sleeping habits.
Exercise will help improve your sleep!
Incorporating daily movement into your life will help to improve your sleep as well, by incorporating 3-4 sessions of training per week at a moderate to high intensity, of only 45-60 minutes per session, you will be well and truly on your way to a great nights sleep!
Finally, I want to end on this, 1 in 2 Australians and nearly 60% of Americans will not be getting enough sleep or have sleep-related issues. [6] If you are not getting an uninterrupted 7-9 hours of sleep at least five to six days a week, you should be looking to change a few small things here and there right now, to help improve your sleeping habits. Taking one to two steps out of the five steps I have given you bove will help dramatically.
My advice, is to start with one or two things, make it easy and simply convenient. You could just start with downloading an app or checking your smart device for the sleep mode, and maybe setting a time for sleep each night.
By doing this, you are not only going to be improving your health, but increasing longevity, productivity and energy levels across the board. All it takes is a simple decision and taking action on that decision!
Until next time,
Take Back Control!
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References:
[2] - https://www.sclhealth.org/blog/2018/09/the-benefits-of-getting-a-full-night-sleep/
[4] - “Why we sleep?” Mathew Walker, published 2018.
[5] - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4427543/
[6] - https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/risk-factors/sleep-problems-as-a-risk-factor/summary
