How to get a Good Night's Sleep

Wake up feeling rested and ready to go!

During deep sleep, your body engages in essential restorative processes. Your body works to:

REPAIR muscle, organs and other cells

STRENGTHEN your immune system

LOWER your pulse and blood pressure

CALM the nervous system - enabling cortisol (one of the stress hormones) to go down

IMPROVE the actions of hormones that regulate hunger, leptin (the ‘I feel full’ hormone) and ghrelin (the hunger hormone)

REDUCE: Research on sleep suggest that different stages of sleep (such as REM) help your brain clear out information you don’t need – helping reduce anxiety and feelings of overwhelm and improving cognitive function such as memory and problem solving

How to get a Good Night's Sleep

1.    Aim for 7 or more hours sleep and keep regular bedtime and wake-up time hours

• Sleep research has shown that the average amount of healthful sleep for an adult is 7 or more hours.

• Infants, young children, and teenagers need more sleep to support growth and development.

• It can be helpful to practise sleep restriction (specific time in bed with rigid bedtime and wake-up time for 2 weeks – such as 10 am to bed, with 10.30 pm lights off and 6.30 am wake (8 hours) - this method is often used to help insomnia.

• Even if you can’t fall asleep, relax and breathe deeply as your body will be resting. Worrying about it can cause you to feel stressed and find it difficult to sleep. Breathing exercises, the Calm App can be helpful  as you listen to sounds of nature or gentle stories and descriptions of travel that can help you visualise and drift away.

2.    Eat balanced meals and snacks throughout the day to help manage blood sugar

Some typical symptoms of blood sugar imbalance are headaches, sleep disturbances and difficulty coping with stress.

Glucose is the main fuel our bodies need to create energy. Carbohydrates in our diet are broken down through digestion into glucose, which enters the bloodstream and is transported by the hormone insulin into cells for energy.The more glucose we eat, the more insulin is produced and insulin is so good at it’s job that highs and lows of glucose in the bloodstream result in us feeling highs and lows of energy:

Selection of bread rolls and loaves - mainly made with white flour

Simple carbohydrates  (such as white rice, doughnuts, sugary cereals, sugary drinks, cake, biscuits, crisps and chocolate) are broken down quickly into glucose and blood sugar imbalance can happen when meals, snacks and drinks provide too much glucose or when glucose enters the blood stream too quickly, creating highs and lows of blood sugar. Complex carbohydrates  (such as whole grains, wholewheat pasta, brown rice, oatmeal, leafy vegetables, whole fruit, beans and quinoa as examples) contain more fibre and are therefore broken down slower enabling the glucose to enter the blood stream more slowly.

Example of a balanced sandwich, salad, avocado, vegan soy patty on wholemeal seeded bread.

Balanced meals and snacks

Balancing meals and snacks so that they contain carbohydrates (see examples above), protein (e.g. red meat, chicken, fish, eggs, nuts tofu, lentils, beans and nuts) and good fats (e.g. eggs, olives, olive oil, full-fat yoghurt, avocado, nuts and seeds) help us feel fuller and glucose release is slower to enter the bloodstream.

This can prevent the rollercoaster of blood sugar highs and lows and promotes more consistent energy and better, deeper sleep.

A few portions of almonds - a helpful snack that can help promote sleep

Evening Snack – to help promote sleep

Consider having an early dinner followed by a 'sleep-inducing' snack later at night, such as milk, turkey, oatcakes, or almonds, which all contain tryptophan, a neurotransmitter that aids in sleep promotion.

3.Have a cool room (and warm duvet)

A cool room signals your body that it’s time to sleep – assists your natural body clock

• helps your body produce melatonin (responds to darkness and cold)

• helps you reach a deeper sleep

• helps you burn more calories during the day

4. Get as much light in the morning as possible (go outside to get 15 mins direct natural light)

• helps regulate your body’s natural clock (Circadian rhythm)

• Our bodies need natural sunlight to make Vitamin D – which boosts positive mood

• Increases energy

• Improves focus

• Reduces stress

• Helps regulate appetite (connected with circadian rhythm)

5. Sleep in a dark bedroom

Darkness stimulates the pineal gland in the brain to produce melatonin, which is a serotonin-derived hormone that promotes sleepiness. Light exposure inhibits that process, thus blocking melatonin production and providing another barrier between us and sound sleep.

• Cover windows with blackout curtains or a blackout blind

• Wear an eye mask

• dim lights (If you have to have a light on / switch to ambient lighting in the hours before bedtime / night light far away from the bed)

7.Stop using electronics at least 30 minutes, if not 1 hour before bedtime and charge electronics away and out of sight before bedtime.

• Absorbing the blue light from screens can disturb our natural body clock (circadian rhythm)

• Charging devices away from the bedroom makes them less tempting to use again!

8.Avoid coffee in the late afternoon and energy drinks that contain stimulants

• Even six hours before bedtime, one strong coffee in the afternoon can reduce sleep by one hour

• Caffeine in coffee and energy drinks triggers the release of the stress hormone, adrenaline which stimulates the liver to release stores of glucose. This can contribute to blood sugar imbalance, a typical symptom of which is disturbed sleep.

9.Drink less alcohol – and avoid at least 3 hours before bed

• It can help you fall asleep, as it is a relaxant – but the problems come in the second half of the night, leading to poorer sleep

• it can disrupt the release of melatonin (the hormone that helps you fall asleep).

• it can cause you to urinate more frequently - disturbing sleep

• because it contains a lot of calories, drinking too much can raise your temperature as your body burns of these additional calories which can wake you up

• it increases your chances of having vivid dreams or nightmares

• it can worsen symptoms of sleep apnoea

• eating a large meal with alcohol in the evening can upset your blood sugar balance and make you wake up frequently throughout the night

Other ways to promote a good night’s sleep

Exercise regularly throughout the week – “..moderate aerobic exercise increases the amount of slow wave sleep you get. Slow wave sleep refers to deep sleep, where the brain and body have a chance to rejuvenate.” Charlene Gamaldo M.D.*

Meditation – helps you focus on the present moment / relaxes the mind and body

• can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance

• calms the nervous system

• relaxes the body, which can help reduce stress and anxiety

• meditation can improve memory, attention and focus

Prayer – give your worries and fears to a Higher Power and ask for assistance

• Prayer can help you feel hope, peace and love

• Prayer can allow a more positive outlook

  lowers heart rate, breathing rate and reduces muscle tension

• Many people believe prayer is essential for our spiritual growth

  – as French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin expressed when he said:

• ‘We are spiritual beings having a human experience”  

As a Baha'i I pray in the morning and evening, in the quiet of my home. A prayer I often say before sleep, which brings me a feeling of calm and peace is this:

Relaxation - abdominal breathing can soothe the nervous system and reduces stress. Go to sleepfoundation.org for some wonderful relaxation exercises before bed, including breathing exercises.

Journaling – writing down thoughts and feelings stops them being bottled up and helps you be mindful of your inner world, which can help make healthy choices

• Keep a notebook to write down worries, things you are worried about forgetting the next day

• practicing forgiveness and sending out love to others and compassion for yourself (research has shown this can help promote better sleep!)

Visualisation – Calm App / Guided Meditation

• the Calm app has beautiful stories to listen to, relaxing sounds and soothing readers, all helping ease the mind and assisting you to drop off to sleep peacefully.

I wish you a good night's sleep - something I now enjoy after years of waking constantly throughout the night due to blood sugar imbalance and stress.

With patience, new habits consistently practiced and self compassion - when you give your mind, body and soul what it needs - then relaxation and deep sleep can come naturally.

'Till next time! All the love, Fleur x