Sleep

 

When we get a full night of sleep, we wake up feeling energised, refreshed and ready to take on the day ahead. With adequate sleep, we are more concentrated and able to learn. Sleep restores us mentally, emotionally and physically.

Everything from proper digestion to good decision making, to high performance, is heavily dependent on getting good quality sleep.

Unfortunately, more than a third of adults get fewer than 7 hours of sleep each night, the minimum needed to keep your risk of health problems in check. In Australia, 1 in 3 adults has at least mild insomnia that leads to fatigue and irritability during the day. 17% of people admit to skipping out on work because they were too tired.

How do you know if you are getting enough sleep?

The amount of sleep a person needs depends on many factors, including age.

• In general, sleep requirements are:
• Infants (ages 0-3 months) – 14-17 hours a day
• Infants (ages 4-11 months) – 12-15 hours a day
• Toddlers (ages 1-2 years) – about 11-14 hours a day
• Pre-school children (ages 3-5) – 10-13 hours a day
• School-age children (ages 6-13) – 9-11 hours a day
• Teenagers (ages 14-17) – need about 8-10 hours each day
• Most adults – need 7 to 9 hours a night for the best amount of sleep, although some people may need as few as 6 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day
• Older adults (ages 65 and older) – 7-8 hours of sleep each day
• Women in the first 3 months of pregnancy – often need several more hours of sleep than usual.

However, experts say that if you feel drowsy during the day, even during boring activities, you haven’t had enough sleep.

Several factors affect your sleep, internal and external —many of which you can control. The internal factors include changes within the body such as alterations in brain functions when it goes through the stages of development or mental stress. Women who are in the stage of menopause can also experience changes in their sleep patterns. External factors include the food we eat, our sleep environment, and the medications that we take. All these factors, individual or combined, have an impact on how well we sleep.

How can sleep deprivation affect you?

Think about the last time you did not get adequate sleep. You may have woken up feeling sluggish and made your way to the local coffee shop for a double or triple shot coffee to kick start your day. Having woken up with little energy, you may have forgotten to make lunch and decided to eat out. By the time you got home you were likely completely wiped out and had no energy to attend the gym. At this point, you then started craving comfort food and picked up a bag of chips to satisfy your craving.

Too little sleep may also cause memory problems, feeling depressed, weakening of your immune system, increasing your chance of becoming sick and increase in perception of pain. This situation may be an exaggeration for some, however, continued sleep deprivation can lead to the development of unhealthy habits over time.

If you want to optimise your sleep, here are tips to get a good night sleep:

• Wear loose clothing to bed. Clothing made of natural fibres, like cotton, is usually best.
• Keep your bedroom cool and well-ventilated.
• Avoid certain foods that may cause sweating (such as spicy foods), especially right before bed.
• Maintain a regular bedtime schedule, including going to bed at the same time every night.
• Exercise regularly but not right before sleep.
• Avoid excessive caffeine, perhaps chamomile or tulsi tea may help though.
• For myself and many of our clients a ZMA or magnesium supplement may help, ask your doctor first to be sure it suits your situation.
• Avoid naps during the day, which can prevent you from sleeping well at night.
• Talk to your doctor about prescription medications that can help you sleep.
• Make sure you empty your bladder before bed.

I hope this helps!
Adam