Quick Tips to Improve Sleep

S L E E P ?? 

50% of the population have problems getting to sleep and or staying asleep. Interestingly though, less than 5% of the population have awareness of standard sleep hygiene, never mind in depth sleep knowledge. So what’s Sleep Hygiene (SH)? 

SH defined- ‘habits & routines that are conducive to creating the best conditions for regular, healthy and restorative sleep’

Yesterday I kicked off a sleep roll out with Hymans Robertson. We covered a lot! So today I thought I’d make an article sharing a few simple but effective sleep hacks anyone, anywhere can implement TODAY for a better sleep:

Magnesium It’s said that 80% of the nation are deficient. Magnesium is a mineral and our bodies require approx 300mg per day to function optimally. You can take it orally via supplement (see other images) or topically via sprays or bath salts. 

Tryptophan an amino acid found in foods like: turkey, red meat, nuts, seeds, lentils, oats, etc. Simply google ‘foods with high concentrations of tryptophan’. But why is this so vital? You may have heard of #melatonin it’s termed the get good sleep hormone, it’s one of the many sleep inducing factors required for good sleep. The body requires external Ingredients like tryptophan to make melatonin, the perfect sleep stew, if you will. Tryptophan influences the creation of 5HTP which in turn helps create Serotonin which is a precursor (a thing that helps synthesise another thing) to Melatonin. Don’t get bogged down by the fancy words. Just know that If your diet is light on tryptophan your not giving your body the best ingredients for sleep. 

Temperature think brrr chilly. According to science our core body temp has to dip for good sleep. So give your body a hand by adjusting the thermostat. The sweet spot is 60-69 fahrenheit or 13.5-20 degrees celsius. Personally I lean towards the cooler end of the spectrum. A rough indicator is to stand in your bedroom in your underwear and if you feel like hopping under the sheets to warm up those are probably ideal conditions. 

Take preventative measures to increase night time sleep hormones. Blue blocking light glasses ?? are your friend. The light emitted from all the screens you own: laptop, tv, iPad, phone, emit a light of a whitish, blue spectrum that mimics daylight. Think of this light as a false daytime. When the sun goes down and your body starts producing night time hormones to help you sleep, most of us stick either or all of those screens ?? in front of our eyes ?? which tricks our bodies into thinking: Hey, it’s daytime not nighttime, reduce the night time hormones and ramp up the day time hormones. And thus, this is a major reason why we suffer bad sleep. What can we do? Wear blue blocking glasses (see image). They offer protection from the harmful false day time (blue/white light) produced by your devices as the orange tint of the lens softens the blow (by tricking the body into thinking its night) and allows our night time hormones to evolve to required sleep inducing levels. 

Sleep is a necessity not a luxury. Experiment with these hacks to improve your energy, mood and mojo.