Sleep–the most underrated nutrient!

Despite what we may think, it takes energy to stay awake and do even basic functions throughout the day. Sleep is our way of resting, relaxing, recovering, and repairing our body on a cellular level. More importantly, deep sleep gives our body the opportunity to flush out toxins that build up around our brain and spinal cord throughout the day.

Why is Sleep so Important?

Sleep plays a vital role in our lives. I’m sure you have heard that you need around 7-8 hours of sleep at night. While the quantity of sleep is important, the quality of those sleep hours is often considered more important. During different stages of the sleep cycle, the functions in our body slow down. Your heart rate, brain activity, breathing all slow down. During these different stages, our body repairs different areas throughout the body. Good quality sleep can improve the immune system, promote healthy weight and metabolism, improve mood, and reduce the risk of heart issues and diabetes. We achieve these health benefits when we get enough quality sleep, and by that I mean enough deep sleep.

What is Deep Sleep?

Deep sleep promotes proper brain health and function. The deep sleep stageallows for true rest and recovery from the activities, tasks, and challenges of the day. Deep sleep replenishes our energy stores, promotes memory formation, balances your hormones, improves blood supply to muscles and tissues. A strong blood supply helps replace cells and promotes proper growth, and development. When our body enters deep sleep, our sugar metabolise increases to help the brain to store short term and long-term memories. Our brains take everything we see, hear, and learn in a day and and turns it into a memory. Its like the save mode on a computer! Without deep sleep, it becomes difficult to recall facts, dates, events, names. 

The sleep we all need helps reduce stress which will keep your body and immune system strong to reduce the impacts of viruses and bacteria. One of the most important things that happens during deep sleep is a cleaning process. Deep sleep signals our body to clear out the toxins and waste in the brain and around the spinal cord. 

What Happens During Deep Sleep?

I hear some people acting like its an achievement to go without sleep. They are running on 2 hours of sleep each night. If that happens regularly, over years, the toxins around our brain and spinal cord build up. Many researchers link the constant buildup of these toxins around our brain to the onset of Alzheimer’s and dementia. How can we expect our brains to stay healthy if we don’t give it a chance to clean itself?

Yes, your brain needs to be cleaned, too. Few people think about that. But let’s try to think about this.  If you were to go for a hike in the forest during the summer that lasted the whole day, what happens? You get dirty, sweaty, slogged down by the grime on your skin, and likely irritable after a while. You want a shower and to feel clean again because it is refreshing and rejuvenating. Right?

Well, your brain is no different. Over the course of the day, the brain is sending communication signals all over your body. Your brain controls your when you type on your laptop, it tells you know you are hungry, manages hormone and stress, and makes sure your heart beats and your lungs take in air! It even manages your emotions at the same time! That’s hard work. Your brain deserves the sleep so it can clean itself up and start the next day refreshed. Deep sleep allows your brain to get clean, refreshed, and recovered for the next day’s worth of work.

What Happens When We Get Enough Deep Sleep

1. Sleep boosts immune cells because sleep allows our immune cells, just like the rest of our body, to rest and repair themselves, boosting your defence system

2. Good quality sleep prevents weight gain. Without sleep, your body produces a hormone called ghrelin – (sounds like gremlins and nobody wants that!) – which increases your appetite, leading to overeating the next day. Our body produces the hormone leptin much less (this is the hormone that tells your brains that you’re full). Low levels of leptin triggers late night snacking and overeating the following day. Without sleep, we weaken our ability to make good choices, meaning we are more likely to snack, which could cause weight gain. Deep sleep helps us focus on making good decisions, both subconsciously and consciously.

3. Your mood improves because–you sleep well, feel rested, and are ready to tackle the day–who wouldn’t be in a good mood? Sleep means you will have more clarity, and then and only then could you realize that happiness is a choice that we all make at the start of the day. Will I be happy to start the day and appreciate the opportunity I have to make a difference in the next 4 hours? Or will I be bitter and resentful because something someone said to me 2 weeks ago is upsetting me again? Choose to be happy.

4. You are more productive–you can function better mentally, better and faster decision making, and because you are rested, you feel energized.

If you miss a night of deep sleep because you are restless, out late, or pull an all nighter, your body makes up for this the next time you fall asleep by going through sleep cycles at a faster rate to get deep sleep faster and for longer than usual. Now, if this is a common occurrence, the lack of sleep, and the lack of deep sleep affects our brain, causing memory issues, leading to an inability to make decisions, reduces our capacity to retain information. So, don’t cram for an exam the night before. It actually affects your ability to remember the facts the next time. Losing sleep regularly, can lead to, over time, the development of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Tips to Get Better Sleep

1. Get outside during the day to promote easier and deeper sleep. When we get outside, our brain prevents the release of melatonin because of the bright sunlight. So, when we get inside and it gets dark, the brain releases melatonin in larger quantities, making you sleepier faster. Plus, you’ll get a boost of vitamin D at the same time!

2. For the same reason above, turn the tablets, phones, computers, and TV off a few hours before going to sleep. The light from technology will delay the release of melatonin, making it take longer for you to fall asleep and can even lead to disruptive sleep. If you tell yourself, you can’t do that because your phone is your alarm clock, go buy a regular alarm clock. Your sleep and health are worth it!

3. Work out–exercise benefits your health across the board, from maintaining a healthy weight, keeping your body moving to prevent stiffness, aches, and pains, and even helps promote deeper sleep. All it takes is 30 minutes a day. Studies have shown that cardio might be the most effective exercise for deeper sleep. If you don’t like running, give swimming a go. If you need help to make a training calendar, book an appointment with me!

4. Focus on your diet–2 things here–eating healthy fats promotes better sleep but also, eating several hours before you plan to bed will allow your body to digest your food prior to bed so that your brain and body can focus on relaxing, resting, and repairing itself (all while you sleep!).

5. Putting yourself on a bedtime routine is also a good idea. After a few weeks, it will become easier for you to fall asleep. We put children on a bedtime schedule because we know its good for them. Ive never understood why most adults stop doing this for themselves. Create a routine, stick to it, and you will see an improvement in your sleep patterns. For me, I like to journal or read a book before going to bed.

6. If you toss and turn, go to a different. Room and read a book (not on your phone or kindle) until you are tired again.

7. You may find that you need to reduce the amount of caffeine you drink either in a day or in the week. Too much caffeine can put your body in a perpetual cycle of a boost of caffeine, inability to sleep, reliance on caffeine. Remember, moderation, in everything, is key!

Logistics of a Good Night Sleep!

1. Bed–is it comfortable? No? okay well, how do you expect to relax and sleep if you are uncomfortable? I know it can be a big investment, but your health deserves better sleep. The best thing you can do is set yourself up for success! If you are in the USA, check this company out for incredible bed options. If you are in Australia, check this company.

2. Sheets–are you still sleeping on sheets that are made 100% of cotton and seem to turn your bed into a sauna at night? I switched to bamboo sheets earlier this year and I can not stress this enough–its an absolute game changer. I used to be freezing or burning up but with the bamboo sheets; they help regulate the temperature and keep you comfortable all night plus, they are irresistibly soft.

3. Pillow–this for me was the hardest part of getting my bed correct. I felt like I was in that story book of ‘Goldilocks and the 3 Bears’ where one pillow was too tall, one was too short, one was too hard, one seemed to have no structure at all but always seemed to lose feathers. It was a nightmare. Until I went to a sleep specialist and got a proper pillow that keeps my head, neck, and shoulders aligned. 

Combined, these basic and often over-looked bedroom items allow me to fall asleep faster, easier, and stay asleep longer. But for me, the most important part is waking up WITHOUT aches and pains and knowing I had a great night’s sleep so I can tackle the day.

What’s the Take Away?

Don’t overlook the importance of sleep. I promise you, if you get sleep, those deadlines won’t seem as pressing because you will have more energy and better focus to accomplish your tasks throughout the day!