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How to get better sleep - 5 tips part 1

The importance of good quality and sufficient duration sleep is highly underestimated in today’s busy society. 

Research clearly shows the vast majority of the population function optimally on 7-8 hours sleep per night.

There are a very small percentage of people who can thrive on less and it is often the case a person can become accustomed to having inadequate sleep and that becomes their baseline normal.

This issue with this state is that your performance will be decreased and you are potentially setting yourself up for future health problems.

Sleep is a crucial recovery period for the body where tissues are regenerated and especially in the case of cancer malfunctioning cells are broken down by the body. Alzheimer’s disease is also increasingly being recognised as a side effect of poor sleep. Poor sleep duration can also be correlated to a shorter lifespan.

Here are 5 tips on optimising your sleep-

  1. Create a regular sleep schedule.

Aim to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Your circadian rhythm has a hard time adjusting to changes in sleep patterns hence the feeing of jet leg when crossing time zones. 

Sleeping later on weekends won't fully make up for a lack of sleep during the week  however you may claw back some recovery. If you do lay in aim to go to bed at the same time as a week night though on Sunday to ensure you get back to your routine.


2. Avoid alcohol too close to bedtime

Having a "nightcap" or alcoholic beverage before sleep may seem like a good idea to help you relax. It's sedating at first, so it can help you fall asleep, but can interfere with staying asleep. It will rob you of deep sleep and REM sleep, keeping you in the lighter stages of sleep.

Heavy alcohol ingestion may also contribute to impairment in breathing at night. 

It’s best to avoid alcohol 3-4 hours before bed.

3. Avoid caffeine and nicotine 8 hours before bed 

Coffee, colas, certain teas, and chocolate contain the stimulant caffeine, and its effects can take as long as 8 hours clear your system. Therefore, a cup of coffee in the late afternoon can make it harder for you to fall asleep at night.

Nicotine is also a stimulant, often causing smokers to sleep only very lightly in addition to the effects on breathing. In addition, smokers often wake up too early in the morning because of nicotine withdrawal.

4. Dim the lights and avoid electronic devices. 

Bright light can promote a feeling of wakefulness, as too can the light from computers, tablets and mobile phones.

Switch off from your electronic devices as much as possible 1-2 hours before bed.

Using candlelight or other softer sources of lighting can also to help create better environment to prepare us for sleep.

5. Take Magnesium before bed

One of the most consistently successful ‘bio hacks’ I’ve used with my clients is for them to introduce magnesium supplementation 45 minutes before bed.

The modern stressors of living and overall poorer food quality tends to leave people depleted in magnesium.

Insomnia is a common symptom of Magnesium deficiency. Magnesium plays a role in supporting deep, restorative sleep by maintaining healthy levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep. Low GABA levels in the body can make it difficult to relax. 

Magnesium is a cofactor in more than 300 enzyme systems that regulate diverse biochemical reactions in the body, including protein synthesis, muscle and nerve function, blood glucose control, and blood pressure regulation [ 1-3 ]. Magnesium is required for energy production, oxidative phosphorylation, and glycolysis.

Magnesium can also help insomnia that’s linked to the sleep disorder restless-leg syndrome and cramps.

I recommend taking 500-600 mg of a either a magnesium gycinate or taurate 45 min’s before bed on an empty stomach. I will post a more detailed article on the importance of magnesium in future.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC3703169/

Further Reading

If you are interested in learning more about sleep I’d highly recommend the book ‘Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker’.