Are you ready to sleep tight, right through the night?
Sleep is a skill that we were all born with. As a new baby, we are born with the ability to sleep anywhere, at different times of the day or night. It doesn’t matter if it is light, dark, or noisy. If we are sitting up, lying down in our cots, or in our parent’s arms, even while we are feeding.
“Sleep is the golden chain that binds health and our bodies together” – Thomas Decker
We all have a daily need for sleep. From a small baby, throughout childhood and teenage years into adulthood, . Sleep is an essential part of our health and wellness and without it, we lose our ability to function.
“Productivity, wellness and health fundamentally cannot be without sleep. You can last three days without water, thirty days without food—you can last seven days without sleep.” – The Sleep Doctor
To promote health and wellness we need to be able to:
- go to sleep
- stay asleep
- wake up either naturally or socially determined wake up time feeling refreshed and ready to start the day
People can experience trouble sleeping from time to time. When a lack of sleep is affecting your ability to function, then it’s time to do something about. Before it has a detrimental effect on your health. A quality night’s sleep is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle. The body requires adequate rest each night and is essential for the following:
✓ fight Illness
✓ strengthen immune system
✓ repair damaged cells
✓ digestion
✓ detoxification
✓ hormone damage
✓ maintain cognitive health
✓ Mood
The Top 8 Tips to Optimise your sleep
1. Forget The 8-Hour Rule
The sleep doctor, Dr Micheal Breus says ‘EVERYBODY’S SLEEP NEED IS DIFFERENT. 8 HOURS IS A MYTH’,
We need about 5 sleep cycles a night, and we’ve been told that a sleep cycle is 90 minutes long. This is where we derive our popular sleep metric: 5 (sleep cycles) times 90 (minutes) equals 450 minutes, which rounds up to approximately 8 hours.
Not everyone’s sleep cycles are 90 minutes long, they can range anywhere between 75-90 minutes. So, if you are have a shorter sleep cycle, you’ll require less sleep.
Now, how do you figure out how much sleep you need?
2. Dig Into Your Sleep Patterns
1. Set a wake up time – Most of us have a socially determined wake up time — whether we need to wake up for work or the school run.
2. Set a bedtime – Let’s say that you need to be awake at 7am. Count 7 ½ hours backward from 7am, and make 11:30pm your new bedtime.
3. Note when you wake up – Set your alarm for 7am, and note what time you naturally wake up. If you find that you naturally wake up at 6:30am, then perhaps you only require 7 hours of sleep. If you find that you are still groggy or tired when your alarm goes off, then perhaps try setting an earlier bedtime.
3. Moderate Your Caffeine Intake
Caffeine has a half-life of 6-8 hours. This means that, after about 7 hours, half of the caffeine you’ve ingested is still in your system. To get the caffeine out of your system in time for bed, stop drinking caffeine at about 2pm and if you can’t live without your afternoon coffee, then switch to decaf after 2pm.
4. Mind Your Nighttime Alcohol
It is a misconception that Alcohol is asleep aid. While alcohol can cause you to pass out, this isn’t the type of healthy, restorative sleep we are looking for.
It takes the human body an hour to digest an alcoholic beverage. So, you need to give yourself 1 hour for each drink. For example, if you finish your third glass of wine by 8pm, go to bed at 11pm.
5. Time Your Exercise Well
We all know the benefits of exercise on health. However, did you know that proper exercise is the best way to improve your quality of sleep?All is needed is 20 to 25 minutes of moderate exercise. Moderate exercise is any movement that gets your heart rate up slightly, this includes exercise as simple as walking your dog, or light stretching or yoga. However, — exercise, of any kind, too close to bedtime can over-excite the body, so allow a wind down for at least 4 hours before bed.
6. Optimize Your Light Exposure
Blue Light Filter Glasses
Good Day LED Bulb
Sleep Baby LED Bulb
*Equilibrium Health may receive compensation for amazon affiliate links.
7. Nap Like A Pro
This is another taboo-breaker: contrary to popular belief, napping is extraordinarily productive. A 26-minute nap increases performance by 30%.
Or better still – MEDITATE!
Hope you enjoyed this guide and if you want to hear more about the science of sleep, then do listen in to my webinar ‘Sleep 101’.
RTT™ – Sleep Tight session aims to help you:
✓ let go of what is no longer serving you to gain a good night’s sleep
✓ everything that you need to know about how to achieve a perfect nights sleep
✓ a healthy habit for gaining sleep, and
✓ making this a familiar habit