I felt by expanding a little on the subject I could convey my thoughts on the importance sleep places in the pursuit of any health or fitness goals, and in turn help people improve on an often over looked essential part of their lives.
No matter how good your nutrition or training is, if you do not adequately rest and recover you are blunting your efforts.
A lot of people can argue the point that they survive on only a few hours sleep and of course they are correct, but who wants to just survive?
I have to think what is their potential if sleep was placed higher on the priority list and what are the long term effects to having a sleep deficiency?
I say deficiency because no matter who we are or where we come from we basically all have the same hardware. There are variations, but we all are typically made of the same stuff and work pretty similar, meaning we need to have proper quantity and of course quantity of sleep to optimally perform.
Performance covers daily life, work commitments, and of course sporting and fitness motives.
On average people sleep 5-7 hours per night.
This figure is a very general statement as a lot of factors will influence the average persons nightly sleep. Varying factors influence different people so generally 5-7 hours seems a fair statement for the average night.
I'm sure many of you reading this can relate and probably average out somewhere between this figure.
When you compare that average or your own normal sleep hours with the recommend 7-9 hours per night, you can see how this deficiency isn't just representing those of us working on less than 5 hours per night, it's nearly all of us.
For me a good night sleep is the best preparation for anything, if I am rested and recovered my training is better, food choices are improved and everything seems to just flow properly.
People put a lot of emphasis on pre-workout drinks to give them that boost before a session, and if they work for those people that's fine, but for people not getting enough sleep and buying expensive supplements to help their performance just sounds insane to me.
Getting good sleep is not as easy as it sounds however. It takes practice and training and habit. It's not just simply a case of going to bed early tonight and you're on track.
Your body adapts to anything you put it through and your wake/sleep cycle will have forced your body to adapt to your current routine. It will take time and effort to correct it back to an optimal cycle.
Even though your body has adapted and you don't feel exhausted or lethargic on a daily basis you must understand that you are under performing!
Changing this cycle will require attention to all or at least most of the following points on how to get a great nights sleep.
Sleeping At The Proper Times
Going to bed at bedtime! Simple but crazy effective, we are creatures that have adapted to our environment. We are programmed to sleep when it gets dark. There are chrypotchromes below the skin and in the eyes that detect sunlight, so if it is bright or not your body knows and wants to respond accordingly.
If you are altering this reaction of your body by forcing yourself to battle to be awake or sleep, you are causing a hormonal imbalance that will have negative health implications.
Getting Your Nutrition Helping
As kids we were all told not to eat sweets or drink fizzy drinks at night and it hasn't changed since we have grown up. High sugar content in our system is not what resting bodies need to relax and recover from the day's activities.
Equally sugar sources from other high carbohydrate containing foods can have an impact on our rest as well. Foods like fruits, breads, pasta, and pizza will put your body through an ordeal when it should be relaxing.
I am a fan however of eating my carbohydrates late at night to aid recovery and when my body is more insulin sensitive to use the carbs better, but I know what works for me nutritionally will not work for everybody.
So listening to your body and knowing what will aid a good nights rest should be exactly what you eat prior to sleeping, take an active approach to improve this aspect of your own life.
Get An Awesome Bed
If we go by recommended averages then the 8 hour sleep time is the one that most of us will be familiar with. This is 1/3 of each 24 hour day that we should spend asleep.
If we are actually alive for our life expectancy of 78-81 years (for the Irish population), this leads to the assumption we will spend on average about 27 years of our lives asleep.
For some bizarre reason people are sleeping on uncomfortable beds and mattresses leading to poor quality sleep and even injures from lack of support.
For 1/3 of your life I feel your bed should be one of the most valuable and comfortable things you own. Buy a decent bed, mattress and bedding and see how the quality of your sleep impacts everything else in your life. Any other purchase can and should wait.
Electronics
Not having the blue light from electronics bombarding your brain before bed is always a way to improve sleep. 95% of Americans struggling with poor sleep, have reported using some type of electronics at least a few nights a week within the hour before bed.
It's a pointless habit that a lot of people won't easily be able to stop.
Research has demonstrated that night time light exposure suppresses the production of melatonin, the major hormone secreted by the pineal gland that controls sleep and wake cycles It is also well established that short-wavelength or blue light from phones or laptops is the most melatonin-suppressive light.
Therefore, a reduction in melatonin at night is associated with levels of sleeplessness and insomnia.
But melatonin suppression has far worse implications than simply poor sleep. It has also been shown to increase the risk of cancer, disrupt immune system function, and possibly lead to other illness such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.
"With serious consequences like these, preventing melatonin suppression should be a top priority in anyone's healthy lifestyle" Chris Kresser practitioner of integrative medicine. http://chriskresser.com
My Sleep
Personally some of the best ways and little tips I found to help me sleep were to darken the room as much as possible. I sleep so much better with a pitch black room and blackout curtains have always been a good purchase.
Equally if the room is really cold I conk out. From living in Darwin even though it was crazy hot outside, my bedroom was always 19 degrees, I was always asleep after a few minutes due to the icy temperature.
Also from sharing a room with a Darth Vader like breathing machine who will remain nameless, I began sleeping with earplugs, a practice I still do to this day, the peaceful silence aids my falling asleep better than anything else.
One trick that I would do ever before making conscious decisions on how to sleep and recover better was to write before I slept.
Not only was I not on a computer, watching TV or on a phone which helped in itself, but the process of deloading my mind eased the dreaded "over thinking before sleeping" when you can't switch off. By writing out a list of all I had to do the following day I was free to let my mind drift knowing that all I needed to do was laid out ahead of me.
Conclusion
Above all tips and tricks to sleep better, it's very clear you can't beat a routine. By almost forcing a good sleeping pattern on yourself you will soon adapt and early mornings won't be a chore and you will find yourself tired at night and getting adequate rest.
The best way to begin is to get up early, expose yourself to sunlight and be active. Easier said than done but it's all about creating habits in your daily life. Soon this will not be an effort but something you look forward to!
If you get yourself into a good sleeping pattern you will rest better, lose weight quicker, build muscle faster, be more productive and generally feel and perform better.
Everybody has the same amount of time per day and I can guarantee you that the people who seem to get more things done, achieve more and perform better are the ones who sleep and rest better too.
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