Almost a third of adults do not get nearly enough sleep, according to recent research.
• Do you struggle to get to sleep?
• Do you find you wake up at least once in the night?
• Do you feel dog tired in the morning, even though you’ve been in bed for 8 hours?
The chances are you are suffering from some kind of sleep deprivation or even insomnia itself.
There can be many reasons why this is happening. We all have our own particular sensitivities but I find that sleep and sex are often the first indicators that all is not right with a person. Perhaps you are worrying about an upcoming event and have been feeling anxious? Anxiety is driven by adrenaline and cortisol, the stress hormones so they are likely to have some negative affect on your sleep.
Here are a few more things to consider –
Diet & Caffeine – is your diet as healthy as it needs to be. Depending on your age and many other factors, a high sugar/carbohydrate diet is certainly something to look at. Caffeine too is another tricky one. The hit from your morning cappuccino lasts for at least 12 hours and if you have more than one a day the effect will be accumulative. Sorry! Of course, if your sleep is as good as you’d like it to be you have nothing to worry about. If not, consider decaf (still up to 40% of regular levels of caffeine) or even better, herbal teas are perfect and zero calories.
Exercise – Keeping your body moving is also very important to maintain good neurological and sleep hygiene. Even if that’s an online yoga or pilates session, or a 10KM run, something is better than nothing, walking is especially good for you. Much depends on getting the right kind of physical activity for your age. The more regularly you are able to get some exercise in your routine the better for your night’s sleep, no matter what your age. So keep that body moving if you want to get more snoozing.
Screens – Much has been written about how we need to spend less time using our devices but when comes to sleep it really is more important than you’d think. The blue light that is emitted by most screens has a detrimental affect on our brain’s ability to produce melatonin. This chemical plays an important role in regulating your body clock. If we don’t produce enough melatonin our sleep routines are compromised. Also, the way we use our smart phones, tablets more and more keeps our minds in an ‘active’ mode. If you are having difficulty sleeping, try cutting down your screen time and stop using them all, including TV, at least 30 minutes before bedtime. Try to only use your devices if you really have to after 7pm.
Finally – getting to bed at a good time is more important than you’d think. Our sleep cycle goes by the clock, not from when you start sleeping. If you get to bed at 3am you have already missed some very important deep sleep, even if you then are lucky enough to stay in bed for 8 hours it is still lost. Sometime around 10-11pm is the ideal time to go to sleep for most people. From then until around 2-3am is when you get most of your deep sleep. This when the brain does all its filing of the day’s memories. So, if you miss that stage you take all of yesterday’s stuff with you into the next day. This, is why you feel so groggy when you have a late one.
I am currently able to continue working with in-person as well as online appointments, where appropriate. Get in touch now if you are ready to take that step towards making 2021 your best year yet.
It’s free to call me and have a chat about your problems – 07768-392635