BLOG 552 BAD SLEEP

BLOG 552 BAD SLEEP

A good night’s sleep is never underappreciated, but when a night with hardly any shut eye happens, we readily feel the impact the next day. Feeling tired during the day affects us in many ways and we just don’t feel like ourselves energetically or even mentally. A night of tossing and turning every now and then happens, but even a couple nights in a row really takes a toll on us. Our autonomic nervous system needs its rest, which is responsible for all the background work in our bodies. This system digests our food, makes our heartbeat, makes hormones, and controls blood pressure. There are two branches of this system which include the sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”) and the parasympathetic nervous system (“rest and digest”). Most of our life is spent in the parasympathetic system, whereas only short stints are meant to be spent in the sympathetic state when there’s something like a threat that activates it.

Many of the activities the parasympathetic system performs must be done while we are sleeping. Often it is the sympathetic nervous system that is out of whack and causing the trouble to fall sleep. Calming the body down to sleep isn’t happening. There can be several reasons for this phenomenon.

1.      If you sleep schedule consistent? The more regularly you can go to bed at the same time and wake up around the same time, the better. It’s like practice makes perfect. The body learns to settle and rise for these times. Generally, naps over 30 minutes throw this schedule off, so naps can play a role in sleep regularity and scheduling as well.

2.      Are you eating too close to bedtime? Digestion can be unsettling when trying to sleep. A super full stomach is not comfortable. Typically, a 12-hour fasting window is ideal for the body to get the job done. For example, if you eat at 6pm and then don’t eat again until 6am. It’s a natural window for fasting that you don’t even realize you are doing.

3.      How much alcohol are you having?? Alcohol does relax the brain waves, but when it wears off, the brain waves become overactive. Then you are alert. Therefore, the time of alcohol consumption before bed is key. Yes, you might fall asleep but then you wake up in the middle of the night because you are now attentive.

4.      When and how much caffeine are you having?? Caffeine, no matter what time of day, can linger in the body, even though we might feel we have acquired a tolerance to it. An afternoon pick-me-up coffee can stick around into the night and keep you awake. Many people do become dependent on caffeine, so removing it entirely can be troublesome and difficult at first. How you process caffeine is genetic.

5.      Are you deficient in magnesium?? This is a very common deficiency because it is difficult to get from food. Natural supplementation sources and foods can support a restful sleep. The best type is a more readily absorbable form versus other types that are more useful for going to the bathroom. The best options are magnesium glycinate, gluconate, aspartate, or threonine. Magnesium is needed for brain function, so your body needs it to help your brain go to sleep.

6.      What time do you exercise?? Working out earlier in the day is preferable to your body, and not at least 2 hours before bedtime. You have woken up the body and got the blood flowing, so the body needs to wear all this off before it’s ready to hit the pillow.

7.      Are you using your phone right before bed?? One way to get to sleep faster is to avoid blue light, which blocks melatonin production. Scrolling before bed can be disrupted by the electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by electronics. There are now types of devices that avoid blue light exposure, especially those for reading or gaming purposes that you might do before bed.

Some of us can get anxious about getting enough sleep, and then we mess ourselves up delaying being able to fall asleep because of this. That’s no way to relax the brain and body. We are only adding stress, and this isn’t an easy habit to break. Generally, you will require more time to settle in and become more relaxed and tired to get tired enough to fall asleep. Sometimes giving yourself more down time before going to lay down can help with this.

Being a night owl isn’t always best for our health, but this of course would then depend on what time you wake up in the morning. Everyone varies in the amount of sleep they personally feel they need to function. Life happens regardless of how much sleep we get, but we want to enjoy our hours awake versus longing to go back to bed. Give your bedtime a chance to get the job done well for you.