Optimizing Your Sleep Hygiene

There is one thing that you could start doing tonight to improve your health, energy, metabolism and brain function and that is to prioritize and optimize your SLEEP. In our culture (at least in North America), sleep is something that we are quick to push to the side if we need to work late, binge watch a new Netflix series (guilty!) or have something that just can’t wait until the next day. This might be ok to do once in awhile, but the truth is, if your sleep isn’t dialled in, then you are not putting yourself in the best position possible to achieve any health, personal or business goals that you have set for yourself. Your body heals when you are asleep - your muscles repair, your energy is increased, your immune system is rejuvenated and your brain is cleansed from waste that accumulates over the day.

Depriving yourself of a good nights over the long-term could result in metabolic disregulation (impacting your body’s ability to use the energy from what you consume and turn it into energy), weight gain or obesity, increased inflammation in the body, reduced insulin sensitivity (this is not a good thing as we want our muscles and tissues to be sensitive to allow glucose to enter the cells), increased risk of diabetes, and increase the risk for beta-amyloid plague build-up (this is the waste product that is found in the fluid between brain cells that is lined to impaired brain function and Alzheimer’s disease) to name a few. If that isn’t enough to convince you to start getting quality sleep, then just know that chronic poor sleep quality is associated with ageing skin - so if you want to hold on to your youthful appearance ensure you are getting good sleep.

Here are some hot tips that you can put to use tonight to improve sleep quality:

1) Go to bed and wake up around the same time each day (even on the weekends)
2) Go outside and expose your eyes to natural light for at least ten minutes when you wake up each morning
3) Limit screen exposure two hours before you go to bed (or if you need to be on screens, try using blue blocking glasses)
4) Use blackout blinds so that artificial light is reduced to a minimum
5) Limit caffeine consumption after 10am
6) Limit alcohol consumption prior to bed (by at least 2-3 hours)
7) Take warm bath before bed
8) Drink camomile tea
9) Cool down your room to 65 degrees F 18.3 degree C
10) Have sex

Happy sleeping!

~Sam