Sleep

Sleep is highly underrated in our western culture which seems to advocate always doing more. We live in a faced paced society that overvalues money over living a balanced life. Sleep is our bodies natural recovery method where all the work we do during the day is transformed into stronger muscles, bones, and connective tissue. We also recover our nervous system while we sleep so we can be fresh for the next day.

Our ancestors would follow their natural circadian rhythm which means they would follow the natural light patterns of the day. They would fall asleep when it got dark and rise with the sun which is optimum for our health. We live in an artificially simulated environment where we are constantly being bombarded with blue light from screens and fluorescent lighting that is harmful to our eyes. This tricks our body into thinking we are in daytime even when it is nighttime and can throw off our natural circadian rhythm to make a proper nights sleep challenging.

The optimum window of opportunity for proper sleep is from 10:00pm -6:00am. We recover our physical bodies during the first part of our sleep from 10:00 – 2:00 am. This is where all the hard work from your workouts will repair your muscles and make your joints and connective tissue stronger. From the hours of 2:00am – 6:00am we repair our cognitive function. It is similar to rebooting your computer and if we miss this important window of opportunity either from getting to bed too late or waking up too many times we can feel off the next day. Brain fog, anxiety and memory problems can rear their ugly heads when our psychological processing is not adequately recovered.

Need tips for getting adequate sleep during the optimal time? Start by unwinding after 6:00pm. Use orange colored blue blocker glasses after 6:00pm and dim the lights in your house or use orange or red bulbs, salt lamps and natural candles to simulate evening. Keeping a cool temperature for sleeping is also a great way to get to sleep and stay asleep. Make sure to turn off all electronics in the bedroom and keep the cell phone away from the bedroom at night or else turn it off. Shut your wifi off at night as excess electromagnetic radiation from sources such as wifi or bluetooth is sleep disrupting. Practice deep breathing with a 4 second inhale, 4 second hold, and a 8 second exhale making sure your breathing into your belly (belly rises on the inhale and lowers on the exhale). Practice self massage using a lacrosse ball, foam roller, or similar mobility device. This will activate the parasympathetic nervous system which is imperative for good sleep. Try making your last meal no later than 7:00pm in order to give your body time to digest fully before bed. A full stomach definitely interferes with sleep. If still hungry before bed, snack on a high protein and fat source like tuna and a piece of avocado. Avoid carbohydrates before bed as these will most likely be converted to body fat.

Many health conditions could be prevented if we just got enough sleep. Make your sleep a priority and then see how you feel.