Are You Getting a Good Night's Sleep?

According to the National Sleep Foundation “more than 40 percent of adults experience daytime sleepiness severe enough to interfere with their daily activities at least a few days each month - with 20 percent reporting problem sleepiness a few days a week or more”.

A good night’s sleep and the preparation for sleep is as important as preparing for a meeting, warming up before running a half marathon or delivering a major strategy to improve company performance.  "As many as 30 percent or more of U.S. adults are not getting enough sleep," says Dr. Twery, PhD, Director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research. Chronic sleep loss and sleep disorders are estimated to cost the American nation as much as $16 billion in healthcare expenses and $50 billion in lost productivity.

The consequences can be severe. Drowsy driving, for example, is responsible for an estimated 1,500 fatalities and 40,000 nonfatal injuries each year. "It's actually quite serious," says Daniel Chapman, PhD., MSc, at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Drowsy driving was implicated in about 16 percent of fatal crashes and about 13 percent of crashes resulting in hospitalization."  Dr Chapman says sleep is as important to health as eating right and getting enough physical activity.  Furthermore, research is beginning to attribute the lack of sleep, as with poor diet and lack of physical activity, with weight gain and diabetes.

For adults, the way you feel while you're awake depends in part on what happens while sleeping. During sleep, the body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain physical health. On-going sleep deficiency can raise the risk for some chronic health problems, but it can also affect how well we think, react, work, learn, and interact with others. Therefore, it is realistic to deduce that poor sleep is going to lead to trouble making decisions, solving problems and controlling emotions, as well as an increase in mistakes which results in re-work and inevitable lowered productivity.

Sleep hygiene is one of the essential pillars to good health and personal performance whether you want to excel at sport, at your job or in some other way.  Sleep is critical to effective brain function.  During sleep the brain as the body, is getting critical rest from stimulation, enabling preparation for the next day by creating neural pathways to support, maintain and improve brain function. Good sleep helps ensure brain agility to solve problems and make decisions, to focus and concentrate, introduce creativity and approach situations rationally, managing emotions in a balanced way.  When waking in the morning, the mind and body should be ready to face the day, feeling refreshed, energized and alert with no signs of brain fog, heaviness or confusion. 

Sleep is also responsible for repair of body cells as well as effective functioning of the immune system. It is the immune system that defends the body against foreign and harmful microbes, including seasonal flus and bugs and relies on sleep as one of the essential pillars to stay strong. On-going sleep deficiency may lead to the inability to fight off common infections and therefore each time the flu or a cold goes round the work place it affects the same people because of weakened immune function resulting in absenteeism due to sickness.

Those at particular risk from poor sleep are manual workers working on or with machinery. Nodding off could compromise not only their safety, but the safety of others, causing harm to themselves and possibly their colleagues as well as damage to machinery and the building itself. Workers who work nights or part nights are also at risk as they are going against the natural circadian rhythm and biological clock which has evolved to sync with natural light. Natural light exposure is important for our health, but more critical is light exposure at appropriate times. Many of us are exposed to artificial light at night both inside and outside our homes. How is this affecting our metabolism? As night is approaching and the time to sleep gets closer dimming natural light triggers melatonin onset which helps sleep. When our homes are brightly lit it affects this onset and makes it more difficult to get to as well as stay asleep. The amount of light intensity affects the human body and instead of slowing everything down can trigger the release of cortisol which in turn affects the liver and our gut microbiome. Dim light at night has now been associated with the increase in food intake and body mass in mice due to disruption of the Circadian Rhythm. Infact insulin sensitivity changes with dim light exposure at night in humans. (Mason e al, PNAS 1996) Studies are currently investigating the effect of dim light on the health of the gut microbiome. The gut houses 70% of the immune system and therefore gut health is important to overall health and wellbeing, as is a good nights sleep. 

Meal timing can affect the Circadian Rhythm also. Optimising meal timing is key to improving sleep quality, as is meal composition. High fibre meals - legumes, whole grains, vegetables, as well as fermented foods help with microbiome and immune function - fermented dairy products, fermented vegetables and fermented non alcholic drinks.

Tips to Getting a Good Night's Sleep

• Create a routine around sleep to prepare yourself and to naturally slow the mind and body.
• Lower light intensity in the home as natural light fades and you get closer to bed time.
• Eat your last meal 2-3 hours before going to bed.
• Tryptophan rich foods, such as turnkey, pumpkin, eggs, fish, tofu assist with good sleep.
• Stop caffeine at least 8 hours before bedtime and limit alcohol intake.
• Be in bed no later than 11pm as after this the "second wind" kicks in. 
• Be regular with sleep time.
• Sleep in a cool, dark bedroom.
• Avoid any wifi driven device at least 1.5 hours before going to bed and definitely keep all wifi driven devices out of the bedroom. The blue light stimulates the brain.
• If for some reason you have to have your mobile in the bedroom, turn it to airplane mode. Switch off bluetooth connection and keep it away from your head.
• Switch off your router at night.
• Use essential oils such as lavender and chamomile to massage your feet before getting into bed, or to spray your pillow. (Always dilute the essential oil in a carrier oil - fractionated coconut, olive, sweet almond etc.)
• Difficulty staying asleep, try meditating instead.