Improving your sleep habits may be the missing link in your health and fitness goals. When you think about health and wellness, what comes to mind? For many people, salad and cardio are front and center. But a holistic view of health, wellness, and overall happiness includes so much more. For me, one of the components critical to my overall wellness is sleep. If this Mama isn’t getting good sleep, everyone had better watch out!
The average American gets 6.8 hours of sleep – less than the recommended 7 to 9 hours – and 40% are sleeping less than 6 hours per night! And not only do most of us not get enough sleep, but the quality of our sleep suffers, oftentimes due to our daily habits. Think about it – we get up before the sun rises, plod into the office, grab a hurried bite to eat for lunch, come home after the sun goes down, get dinner on the table, and shovel down a late night snack after the kids go to bed, oftentimes while we scroll through Instagram stories. Then we do it all over again!
But what does this lifestyle actually do to our bodies? Well, it actually puts stress on our bodies and mimics unstable blood sugar. When you’re sleep deprived, your cortisol rises. Cortisol is one of the “stress hormones” that activates in a fight-or-flight situation. Too much cortisol can cause weight gain, high blood pressure, depression, our immune system, and more. Ladies, it can also impact our menstrual cycles and libido – and I’d bet you don’t want anything messing with those!
And there’s more – the hormone ghrelin also increases, and that one affects your hunger. Do you find that when you’re tired, your eating choices are not so great? Grehlin messes with the pleasure center of your brain, causing you to reach for that sugar or salt – multiple times over. No wonder we have a hard time eating the stuff we know is good for us. Grehlin does not encourage you to eat your veggies!
John Hopkins Medicine reports other staggering impacts of lack of sleep. Not only does sleep deprivation increase our chances for diseases like diabetes and cancer, but it can also age the brain by several years. These long-term effects make it critical that we get better sleep, which can be done by changing just a few of our habits.
Habits for Better Sleep
So, how can you break this cycle, without cutting out any of the million things you have to do each day? Start by improving the quality of sleep, then work through finding extra time. Here are a few habits for better sleep you can begin integrating, one at a time. You will find that these really make a difference!
- Avoid eating within 2 hours of bedtime. Eating right before bedtime causes your body to spend critical resources digesting your food. But your body really wants to detox instead! It needs to clear out your liver, intestines, and kidneys so that things don’t get backlogged over time. If you can, try to space your dinner and breakfast out by about 12 hours. That gives the body enough time to process everything. Your goal is to wake up hungry and light the next morning, not feeling gross from your meal the night before. Added bonus: you may notice a huge improvement in your overall digestion!
- Keep it dark, quiet, and cool. Invest in room-darkening shades! It’s worth every penny to have absolutely no light coming in through your windows. Also take care to dim clock lights, night lights, or any other light in the room. A white noise machine will drown out any random noises you may hear, which may not actually wake you but could disrupt your sleep.
- Cuddle up with a water bottle or heating pad. While we want your room to be cool, your body temperature should be warm to optimize sleep. It’s also amazingly comfortable to cuddle up with a hot water bottle, especially on those cold winter nights. Your partner may make a suitable replacement as well! Or, try a bath right before bed to increase your body temp.
- Get 20 minutes of sunlight every day. Ages ago, we rose and went to bed with the sun, establishing our circadian rhythm. Our bodies still crave that cycle, and getting at least 20 minutes of sunlight each day helps to balance our rhythms. Not getting enough sunlight can cause a hormone imbalance, and I don’t know about you, but I need all the balance I can get! Make an effort to get outside over lunch or after work. Just soak in some sunlight for a few minutes, and I bet the rest of your day will be more productive too.
- Turn off the electronics an hour prior to bed. Yep, I know, I just ruined your Insta scroll. But I bet you already knew that one would make it onto my list! Electronics put your system into fight-or-flight mode, which obviously isn’t conducive to good sleep, and it activates cortisol production. Pick up a book instead, or look at the next tip for another – and more productive – way to wind down.
- Make a to-do list and practice gratitude. What’s better than going to bed with decluttered mind and a full heart? Take some time to do a brain dump and release everything on your mind. Make a to-do list, make a back burner list of worries you may have – put it all down on paper. That way, your mind has less to think about when you’re drifting off to sleep. And, if you write down your gratitude before going to sleep, your heart and mind are reminded of all the good you experienced that day. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, and it can be as simple as being grateful for your rocking nail polish color. Find a few ways to be grateful and I guarantee you’ll drift off in a more peaceful state.
Which of these habits for better sleep will you try out first? Take baby steps and work on one at a time. Once it’s habit, move onto the next! Before long, you will be sleeping better and reaping all the benefits. You may notice increased mental acuity, better digestion, decreased colds and viruses, and a general increased sense of well being. Sleep feeds into all parts of our life, so optimizing our zzzz’s is a worthwhile investment!
Want to learn more self-care tips? Check out A Realist’s Approach to Self-Care to learn a few more healthy habits that will improve your overall health and energy level.