If you’ve watched neuroscientist Andrew Hubberman talk about sleep, you’ll know that sleep is the main building block for your mental health, physical health, and immune system.
It’s involved in processes from your nervous system’s control over your movements, your digestive system’s ability to process food, and even your stress levels and mood.
Plus, things like noise, varying sleep schedules, and travel can ruin a decent night’s sleep, and potentially lead to higher risk of depression. But fear not, there’s plenty in your control for getting that ideal 7-9 hours of sleep (or 8-10 hours if you’re a teenager).
Consistency
First, we’ll explain how sleep works via the circadian rhythm.
You may have heard of a circadian rhythm, which is the body’s 24-hour cycle. It affects our sleep, hormones, digestion, and temperature. As the National Institute of General Medical Sciences wrote:
“Light and dark have the biggest influence on circadian rhythms, but food intake, stress, physical activity, social environment, and temperature also affect them.”
The Sleep Foundation also spoke of sleeping with a consistent schedule of when you decide to doze off, which will keep your circadian rhythm consistent and greatly help your wakefulness in the day too.
Have you ever noticed that if you’ve stayed up a few extra hours to enjoy a game or needed you time, the next morning it can seem harder to pry yourself out of bed? That’s because your body’s clock has to reorganize your circadian rhythm each time you change bed time.
Environment
Another lifestyle change for better sleep would be to create the right environment or bedroom for sleep. Alongside some low-level lights for the evening, you might want to consider:
- Using a high-quality mattress to maximize your sleep
- Removing any technology from the bedroom if you can
- Investing in soft sheets and pillows
- The right duvet for the temperature
- Buying noise-cancelling headphones
- Using an air purifier, or diffuser with soft scents
- Keeping your room clear of clutter
- Creating the right room temperature (around 18-20 degrees celsius)
Ensuring your environment welcomes you into the land of counting sheep, takes little effort and can make a world of difference. Even consider reading, drawing, or talking with those you live with instead of scrolling before sleep.
Regular Exercise
Getting the right sleep allows the body to repair from the day’s exercise. Subsequently, exercising helps promote better sleep. It’s like a positive feedback loop!
Psychiatry studies have delved into exercise and found that just 30 minutes a day can increase sleep up to 15 minutes — as proved in 22 trial studies.
Essentially, by getting a good night’s sleep, you’ll gain more from exercise, and vice versa.
Nutrition
Getting the right balance of vitamins, macronutrients, and minerals can boost your sleep quality. There’s a lot that goes into a balanced diet — typically you want to aim to eat five portions of different fruits and vegetables, and some starch like potatoes, pasta, bread, or rice.
You’ll also need dairy or dairy alternatives, alongside pulses, beans, fish, eggs or meat for your protein intake.
Foods That Improve Sleep
Along with a varied diet explained above, the foods that are backed by science in terms of boosting sleep are tart cherry juice, due to the melatonin and antioxidants it provides. Also, a study showed that kiwi consumption, due to being rich in antioxidants and vitamin C and E, led to increased total sleep time, when eaten two hours before bed.
Role of Melatonin
Melatonin is a chemical released in the brain around two hours before you go to sleep — it’s essentially the chemical that initiates your sleep. It’s been of interest to the scientific community to see if increasing melatonin in diet could help promote sleep.
Foods that contain melatonin include cherries, fish, oats, milk, nuts, rice, and goji berries.
But why not just take a melatonin supplement and be done with it? Because 88% of melatonin products are not accurately labeled, having far higher doses than stated in some cases. So if you want to take your health into your hands, we recommend sticking to natural sources of melatonin.
Food Times
It’s not just a matter of what you eat, but when you eat. For example, having your meal less than two hours before sleep time can lead to poor sleep. Studies have also noted that those with irregular meal patterns, such as night shift workers, tend to be at higher risk of obesity too — which in turn affects sleep further.
Stress Management
It’s reported that stress can lead to some health complications, including heart disease and a weakened immune system. Many of these health complications are interlinked with poor sleep which can cause similar risks to health.
That’s where meditation and breathing exercises can really help reduce the chatter of the mind, allowing thoughts to pass by into a sweet sleep.
Reducing Alcohol, Nicotine and Caffeine
While the glass of red wine may initially be relaxing and many people may believe it aids them in falling asleep, the truth is that it throws the important REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep out of balance. Which is important for your memory, brain development, emotional processing, and dreaming.
Nicotine from cigarettes, vapes, and other nicotine containing products aren’t much better according to the Sleep Foundation. Those that ingest nicotine have a tendency to wake up more frequently in the night and take longer to get to sleep.
Lastly, and arguably most painfully to those who love a coffee, caffeine is also a substance that can negatively impact our sleep. Drinking caffeine within four hours of going to bed impacts your sleep less than consuming alcohol or nicotine according to a 14-year study. That said, caffeine can still disrupt your deep sleep if consumed in large quantities (over four cups) and late into the afternoon (six hours before sleep).
Digital Breaks
Screens like your phone, TV, eBook, Ipad, and laptop have what’s called “blue light,” which can affect your sleep by making your body think it’s daylight. This can also disrupt your circadian rhythm when used in the evening.
It’s advised to switch off all your devices around an hour before bed to give your brain time to signal that melatonin production. If that’s too unrealistic for you, then there are some blue light filters you can get for your tech — however the jury is out on whether these really do help with your circadian rhythm.
Conclusion
Sleep is an essential foundation for health and wellbeing, nailing your sleep will positively impact other areas of health.
It will boost your immune system, improve memory, help you gain more muscle, and make healthier food choices. If you’d like to start down a health journey, there’s no more rewarding one than a good night’s sleep. Thanks for reading and wishing you sweet dreams.
Jacqueline Renouard wrote this guest post.
I am Jacqueline Renouard, a self-taught content writer who began writing on all thing’s wellness, business, and marketing. I then worked my way into the digital nomad sphere where I co-founded the website Nomadic Writers where me and my partner share content on traveling Asia and content writing.
