Trouble Sleeping?

Do you get enough sleep??

So many of us don’t even come close to getting enough shut-eye. Maybe you are not allowing for ‘wind down’ time before jumping into bed, or maybe you are going to bed with a head full of thoughts that you can’t shut down. Whatever the reason, lack of sleep is such a huge issue and needs to be worked on, especially due to the negative effect it has on weight loss.

If you are trying to lose body fat, adequate sleep is so important to help you on your way. Lack of sleep can cause poor judgment, including poor food choices, and lack of motivation, which can lead to ditching your workouts. Not enough sleep can also mess with your hormones. The two hormones that are key in this process are ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is the ‘go’ hormone which tells us when to eat, and when we are sleep deprived our ghrelin levels rise. Leptin is the hormone which signals that we’ve had enough to eat, and sleep deprivation decreases leptin. SO….. Excess ghrelin combined with decreased leptin results in unwanted weight gain!!

Here are some helpful ways to change your lifestyle, keep those hormones in check, and get some decent sleep:

• Meditation – on a personal level, meditating has made my sleep patterns so much better. I used to get anxious before bed time worrying that I wouldn’t sleep, but meditating on a regular basis has changed that completley. This is the book I use, and I highly recommend it – http://www.booktopia.com.au/silence-your-mind-dr-ramesh-manocha/prod9780733628771.html. However, there are many other great books, and you can also get lots of good (free) apps for meditation too.
• Avoid stimulants after 2pm – everyone responds differently to stimulants such as caffeine. For me, it doesn’t seem to keep me awake no matter what time of the day I might have a cuppa, but it can leave some people wide awake at night – and if this is you, I’d make your last coffee or tea around 2pm.
• Have a wind-down ritual – ideally start winding down a couple of hours before you plan to get to bed. This can include dimming lights, staying off your computer/iphone/ipad and any other gadget which emits light. This will help let your body know it’s night time and almost time to sleep. This one is really important this day and age, as we are so over-stimulated with lit-up screens and gadgets.
• Keep your room dark – if you can’t get your bedroom to be pitch black for whatever reason, maybe try using a sleep mask. And ideally aim for a room temperature of around 18 degrees.
• Allow for 7-9 hours per night – this means knowing your wake-up time and working out the time you need to get to bed for adequate sleep.
• You may have heard that every hour of sleep before midnight is much more valuable than the hours after midnight. Your best quality of sleep is obtained when your circadian rhythm is at its lowest point – usually between 10 pm – 5 am. Therefore even if you obtain a good amount of sleep (7-9 hours), going to bed too late is likely to lead to a large amount of your sleep being inefficient. So plan your night so you’re relaxing or winding down from 8-9pm, and make the most of those quality hours before midnight.
• Check your Vitamin D3 levels – the part of the brain responsible for sleep has a large concentration of vitamin D3 receptors, and the entire sleep-wake cycle is disrupted if the receptors are deficient. Vitamin D3 also influences many other hormonal processes in the body that affect body rhythms, including reproduction, metabolism, digestion and cardiovascular health, all of which influence fatigue and sleep regulation. So get your levels checked!

If you’re not getting enough sleep, try to recognise why and start working on the necessary changes. Your mind and body will thank you!

Have a great day!

Paula