Have a consistent sleeping schedule

All of us have a circadian rhythm system in our body that helps regulate our sleep-wake cycle. This natural cycle responds to the environment around us. It is important to have a consistent sleeping schedule, that is, you should wake up and sleep at the same time every day so that your body’s internal clock knows that it is time to produce melatonin to help you fall asleep. It might be quite tempting to wake up late on the weekends, but it really messes up your internal biological clock and makes it difficult for you to fall asleep on time.

Exercise in the day

Exercising is a great way of helping you sleep at night, but only if you work out in the day. Exercising releases endorphins and adrenaline in the body that can make us stay up till late if we work out in the evenings. Exercising in the day will leave you with a lot of energy and can also help you fall asleep at night since you have tired out your body in the right way. Exercising just for 30 minutes every day can help improve your quality and even the duration of your sleep.

Smoke some weed

If you are an avid pot smoker, you might already know that smoking cannabis can actually help you relax. There have been numerous studies on marijuana’s efficacy in dealing with stress, anxiety, and insomnia. Most people prefer a strong Indica dominant strain such as the pinkman goo strain for helping them relax after a long and hard day at work. If you are someone who tends to wake up at night because of dreams, there have been studies published that show marijuana reduces the amount of REM sleep that you have. This means that you will have fewer dreams, leading to a better quality of sleep.

Have a healthy diet

All of the things that we do throughout the day affect our sleep quality at night. If you are living on a diet of caffeine, alcohol, and processed foods, there is a huge possibility of you having a poor quality of sleep. Remember to have well-balanced meals that provide you with all the nutrition that your body needs.

It is important to change a few habits in order to help deal with insomnia. Try these tips and tricks to help you get better sleep at night.

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In fact, lack of sleep can put you at risk of serious medical conditions and has been known to be linked to heart disease, strokes, cancer, obesity, depression and dementia – so it really shouldn’t be underestimated.

Here Dr Ranj, Brand Ambassador for British bed brand, Sleepeezee, looks to the most common causes of poor sleep and gives you some tips and tricks to help improve the quality of your rest.

Your mental health

Approximately one in four adults will experience mental health problems each year, with anxiety being the most common issue.

If you’ve struggled with anxiety or depression, you may have noticed the impact it can have on your sleep – with many of you getting less than six hours per night.

Vice versa, chronic sleep debt can lead to anxiety and depression – so getting to the bottom of the problem should be a top priority.

If you often find yourself overthinking before bed or worrying about tomorrow, try writing down your feelings or making a to-do list. This can help put your mind at rest, making it easier to switch off and drift off.

Support and help is available to people suffering from mental health related problems – and often, speaking to someone is the first step to recovery.

Your sleep environment

Your bedroom plays a big part in your sleep routine and it should be a relaxing environment – think dark, quiet and cool.

A dark bedroom helps us release the melatonin hormone that helps the timing of our sleep – and an ideal temperature for your room is between 18 – 21 degrees.

As tempting as it may be to scroll social media on your smartphone or watch TV in bed, your bedroom should be a tech-free zone and you should avoid blue light technology for at least two hours before bed.

Finally, we all wake up with neck or back pain from time to time but if it’s becoming a regular occurrence, your mattress could be to blame and it could be time to invest in a new one.

What we put in our bodies

Along with a balanced diet and good exercise, quality sleep is the foundation of your health. Despite this, many of us still don’t realise the effects certain foods and drinks can have on our sleep.

Take caffeine as an example – it may give you a quick boost but it blocks a sleep-inducing chemical in the brain called adenosine.

While there are a number of foods and drinks to avoid before bed, there are some that can enhance your quality of sleep.

Try swapping your bedtime brew for a herbal tea like chamomile which contains apigenin, an antioxidant that binds to certain receptors in your brain and is said to promote ‘sleepiness’.

If you’re still unsure what’s causing your sleep problems, try keeping a sleep diary. This will help you track daily activities and other lifestyle habits that may be affecting your sleep. It can also help your GP diagnose more serious sleep problems or underlying conditions.

For more sleep tips or to follow Dr Ranj’s journey with Sleepeezee head over to the Sleepeezee blog.

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Lack of sleep causes negative effects on human health and well-being, and the long-term impact of sleep deprivation has been associated with numerous conditions, such as diabetes, depression, hypertension and obesity.

Bed Guru are determined to help solve the sleep loss epidemic by raising awareness through the #ChooseSleep campaign – educating people about the importance of sleep and ways to help get the most from a good night’s shut eye. Bed Guru understand that no two people share the same sleeping requirements, despite this, it is their mission to ensure that everybody gets a great night’s sleep!

By creating a video outlining the mission of the Choose Sleep movement, Bed Guru hope to encourage a better night’s sleep, not only through sleeping on the right bed, but through making the right choices in life to combat the sleep loss epidemic. Through a series of initiatives, including a Spotify playlist designed to help you “reclaim your right to sleep”, the new sleep hub is their contribution to help stop the sleep loss epidemic.

Carl Walsh, Sleep Specialist at Bed Guru says: “It enhances your memory, improves your appearance, and lowers your food cravings. It helps to protect you from cancer and dementia, and wards off colds and flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks, stroke, and even diabetes. You’ll even feel happier, less depressed, and less anxious. It will give you a zest for life you never knew you had. Choose sleep.”

Bed Guru hopes to raise awareness of the issue amongst its customers as well as the wider population. So far, the Choose Sleep video created by Bed Guru has been viewed by more than 24,000 people and the aim is to continue growing the movement with events around the country run by the Sleep Specialist Carl Walsh launching in September.

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So why are we sleeping so badly? Well first we electrified everything, then there are the very blurred borders between work and home, together with longer commuter times. We are more lonely, depressed and anxious and relying on alcohol and caffeine to fill the void or keep us awake. We don’t want to lose out on what precious time we have with our families, so sleep can get sacrificed. We desperately need to put a good nights sleep as a priority and understand how important it is to repair our bodies and brain. Longer term sleep issues are diagnosed as insomnia which can take the form of not being able to fall asleep or waking during the night and not being able to get back to sleep. Some cases of insomnia can be the symptom of an underlying medical disorder and can often be attributed to depression, stress, grief, night sweats or pain. Jet lag of course has its part to play for those frequent flyers. Additionally copious amounts of caffeine and use of certain drugs can cause problems with sleep, which ironically are the very crutches people use to try to get them to sleep in the first place. Lack of sleep can impact your mortality, mood, relationships, learning and memory. In addition sleep deprivation can impact your immune system, blood sugar, hunger hormones and leave you vulnerable to insulin resistance and inflammation

Your Circadian rhythm

Our circadian rhythm is a process in a 24 hr period which gives your body its inherent ability to regulate its own sleep/wake cycle. The master of this clock is the hypothalamus in your brain. If rhythm is disrupted everything can get out of sink. For most adults, the biggest dip of the cycle happens in the middle of the night, between 2am and 4 am and just after lunchtime, between 1pm and 3pm. Those times can be different if you’re naturally a night owl or a morning person. You also won’t feel the dips and rises of your circadian rhythm as strongly if you’re all caught up on sleep. It’s when you’re sleep-deprived that you’ll notice bigger swings of sleepiness and alertness. Outside factors like lightness and darkness can also have an impact. When it’s dark at night, your eyes send a signal to the hypothalamus that it’s time to feel tired. Your brain, in turn, sends a signal to your body to release melatonin, which makes your body tired. That’s why your circadian rhythm tends to coincide with the cycle of daytime and nighttime (and why it’s so hard for shift workers to sleep during the day and stay awake at night).Your circadian rhythm works best when you have regular sleep habits, like going to bed at night and waking up in the morning around the same times from day to day. When things get in the way, like jet lag, or binging on Netflix until the small hours, you can disrupt your circadian rhythm, which makes you feel out of sorts and can make it harder to pay attention .

Can food help us sleep?

Foods high in tryptophan can aid sleep.Tryptophan is an amino acid that interacts with those brain chemicals important to sleep and the timing of your biological clock’s sleep/wake cycle. Tryptophan increases serotonin, which also increases melatonin (a hormone made by the pineal gland). These neural “gateways” regulate sleep and mood chemicals. When either serotonin or melatonin is disrupted you can suffer insomnia and symptoms of low mood. Foods containing tryptophan that can be eaten a few hours before bed include: Milk, Bananas, Nuts, Turkey, Eggs and Oats. That warm milky drink before bed is not an old wives tale after all! However eating incorrectly can also impact your sleep. A heavy rich meal before bed might keep you up with indigestion. Avoid coffee after lunch time as caffeine can take quite a while to get out of the system. This is also the same for dark chocolate with a high cocoa content ie 70% and over. Scientists now believe there is a link between your gut microbes and your sleep, although not fully understood. Our gut microbes may effect sleep related physiological functions in a number of ways shifting circadian rhythms, alternating the body’s sleep wake cycle and altering our hormones. Additionally if we eat badly we most probably sleep badly. Eating a rich variety of foods will help the gut microbiome. Taking probiotics of adding prebiotic foods to your diet can only help. Eat foods containing garlic, leeks, shallots, bananas, artichokes, as many different varieties of vegetables or try a probiotic plain yogurt. Getting a good diversity of microbes is important and that means eating real food and avoiding processed foods, artificial sweeteners and hydrogenated fats.

Flying and sleep

For those of you that fly quite a bit, you know that flying takes its toll on your circadian rhythms and sleep cycle. You don’t adjust to sleep changes as easily as you think. When you travel across many time zones or work night shifts you confuse the body’s sense of time, making sleep difficult and inhibiting some necessary sleep functions. For every one to two hour time changes it takes your body one day to adjust. This means it could essentially take your body 6 to 12 days to adjust to a trip from New York to China. One airline has recently launched on of the worlds longest commercial flights – a 17 hr journey between Perth and London. Airlines are now trying to make these long haul flights tolerable for passengers. They are doing this by experimenting with lighting, cabin temperature and menu times to help travellers cope. Cabin humidity and cleaner air are being looked at together with rescheduling food served at the start of the journey to synchronise more closely with meal times. The on board menus have lighter menu options and herbal teas to encourage relaxation and a bedtime hot chocolate. Light settings are being changed to help mange passenger biorhythms – either to fall asleep or wake up. Lower temperatures can help passengers doze off. If the temperature can be adjusted to 60 – 68 degrees that can help passengers core body temperature drop, helping regulate circadian rhythm.

Resetting your rhythm – Kate’s top tips

• Get up and expose yourself to daylight every morning
• Work during the day near a window if possible
• Remove all phones, laptops, ipads and phones from the bedroom
• Try not to eat too late. Leave at least two hours before going to bed.
• Not drinking too late at night can stop night time trips to the loo!
• Alcohol effects REM sleep- although you initially can get to sleep you may find your sleep is restless and you wake early
• Practice mindful breathing techniques
• Make your bedroom a zone for sleeping and sex only
• Get as dark as an environment as possible – try black out blinds
• Invest in a good quality mattress and wear cotton clothing
• Wake up to a gentle alarm and preferably not on your phone. Buy a good old fashioned alarm clock.
• It sounds obvious but go to be when you are tired
• Do not stay in bed if you are not sleepy.
• Try a warm bath before bedroom
• Learn to keep your worries out of the bedroom
• If you’re having a really tough time sleep, there is no shame in taking a sleeping tablet if it gets you out of a cycle of sleep deprivation. Speak to your GP about this and how lack of sleep is impacting your life. There are many ways to get you to sleep in terms of medications, even anti histamines can be used. Getting out of the cycle fast is key to returning to health.

If you would like help with sleep issues/insomnia or any other health issue please contact Kate on 01323 310532/737814 or katenut@aol.com or go to www.katearnoldnutrition.co.uk for more information.

The post How to get a good nights sleep/The rhythm of life appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Ti Sana Insomnia
Rediscover a good night’s sleep and learn to beat insomnia at this tranquil retreat in northern Italy. Release stress with specialist medical spa treatments and therapies to help reclaim your sleep-wake rhythms and naturally bring balance to your cortisol levels, the hormone responsible for stress. Together with a customised nutrition plan and calming yoga lessons, form healthier habits to resolve your sleep issues and enjoy secondary improvements on affected problem areas such as fatigue, weight gain and digestion issues.

4 nights at Ti Sana from £2,635pp or £2,870 for single occupancy. Price includes full board, an insomnia programme, return flights and transfers.

Boost Your Brain Power in Brazil:

Kurotel Brain Booster
Give a healthy boost to your brain power in Brazil with this specialist wellness programme, designed to enhance your cognitive capacity, attention span and memory. Developed by neuroscientists and in-house health professionals, optimise your brain performance during consultations with psychologists as well as creative coaching sessions. In the stress control centre, utilise relaxing visual and sound stimuli to promote tranquillity and optimum brain power, before relaxing with a calming yoga class or underwater massage.

7 nights at Kurotel from £4,890pp or £5,185 for single occupancy. Price includes full board, a wellness programme, return flights and transfers.

Quit Smoking in Spain:

SHA Anti-Tobacco
Transition to a tobacco-free life the natural and healthy way on a transformative wellness holiday at SHA Wellness Clinic in southern Spain. Surrounded by inspiring coastline and mountain views, begin your wellness retreat with an initial heart and lung check, before experiencing a programme of personalised coaching and medical spa therapies, designed to prevent you from returning to your smoking habit. Combine oxygen therapy sessions and dental cleaning with stress relieving wellness activities, such as yoga and Tai Chi, to return home a changed person both inside and out.

7 nights at SHA Wellness Clinic from £3,440pp or £3,880 for single occupancy. Price includes full board, an anti-tobacco programme, return flights and transfers.

Triathlon Training in Thailand:

Thanyapura Triathlon
Bring out your athleticism with a triathlon training holiday at Thanyapura, Thailand’s leading sport and fitness retreat. Welcoming both beginners and seasoned triathletes, experience expert coaching in swimming, cycling, running and the all-important transitions, to help you reach your personal best. Work on your technique with one-on-one coaching before soothing tired muscles with a revitalising sports massage. Enhance your strength and endurance as you train with state of the art facilities, including an Olympic sized pool and athletics track, as well as the stunning surroundings of expansive forests and mountains.

7 nights at Thanyapura from £1,480pp or £1,680 for single occupancy. Price includes full board, a triathlon training programme, return flights and transfers.

Health and Fitness Travel 0203 397 8891 www.healthandfitnesstravel.com

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A lack of good quality sleep can be extremely detrimental to good health and wellbeing. Weight gain, general apathy, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease can all be exacerbated by poor sleep.

However, with lifestyles increasingly dominated by smartphones and tablets, it can be difficult to get the good quality sleep we need because the blue light emitted by most screens inhibits the production of melatonin which is a sleep inducing hormone.

Therefore your bedroom needs to be an oasis of calm.

Here are my top tips for the perfect night sleep.

The temperature of the room should be cool, try having the window or vent slightly open.

There should be no unnecessary light, either from outside or electronic equipment.

It’s also important to have a regular night-time routine:

Retire at the same time each night

Don’t eat too late; If you do find yourself hungry before you go to bed eat an oatcake as this will release energy slowly.

Don’t exercise within a couple of hours of bedtime

Don’t drink caffeine after 4pm.

Investing in a new bed could offer the perfect way to get a great night’s sleep.

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How much sleep do we really need?

This is still a contentious issue and is, of course, entirely subjective as it needs to be taken into account along with myriad factors. However, most scientists and experts recommend between 7 and 9 hours quality sleep every night for adults.

That may seem like a lot for many people, particularly those who have become used to burning the candle at both ends in order to fit in their responsibilities and social life. However, if you subsist on little sleep often or have a very undisciplined sleeping pattern, you could be harming your health in more ways than the obvious.

You may find you genuinely feel ok after just five hours, whereas your partner may need more like eight hours. The important thing is to listen to your body and establish a routine that works for you.

Why is quality sleep important?

Stress levels, financial worries, busy jobs, families, babies, children, relationships problems… with everything life throws at us in 2013 it’s not difficult to see why many people report routinely having trouble sleeping.

Regularly suffering from a lack of good sleep can have a huge effect on your health and can increase the likelihood of depression, raised blood pressure, high stress, lack of concentration, poor work performance, being a danger on the roads and generally feeling below par and under the weather for most of the time.

It can be very difficult to properly interact with others, whether that’s family or work colleagues when you feel like you’re sleepwalking through every day.

What can you do to sleep better?

This is where some discipline comes in. Stick to a few simple rules and you could find yourself benefiting enormously. The most important is, just like with children, establish a workable routine. Choose a bedtime that suits your lifestyle and try and stick to it as closely as possible every night, including weekends.

Similarly, train yourself to wake up naturally (ditch that alarm clock when you eventually get into the right rhythm) as you will therefore be waking up in the proper cycle of sleep, meaning you’ll feel refreshed and ready to face the day. Keep the same wake up time at weekends as well.

Make sure your bedroom is comfortable, cool and dark enough. Don’t have central heating on and invest in good quality bedding. Have a good look at your bed and mattress and work out whether you need to replace it. If you have owned it for more than around five years then the chances are you do. Consider a different kind of mattress and check out the beds at bedstar.co.uk for loads of different options. You may find you’d benefit from a memory foam mattress, for example, which would take the pressure off your joints and allow you to sleep with a straighter spine.

If you sleep with a partner, work out whether you could benefit from different tensile mattresses on the same base, or whether you would both benefit from upping the size of your bed. Having enough space to move around freely without rolling into each other is very important for a sound night’s sleep.

If noises bother you, consider ear plugs and make sure you’re neither too hot nor too cold as both will affect your sleep. Cut down on alcohol and caffeine, particularly from mid afternoon onwards as both will affect your sleep and remove all electronic equipment from your bedroom. Beds should be for two things – sleeping and sex!

If you follow these tips you could find you can revolutionise the quality of your sleep, even if you’ve had problems for years. Stick with it and enjoy the benefits it will bring.

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But what happens when you’ve followed all the advice and you still can’t sleep?

The answer may well lie in your levels of histamine.

Histamine is a substance we associate with allergy and inflammation. Hence we take antihistamine when we suffer from hayfever or overreact to a bee sting.

But histamine is also a powerful neurotransmitter involved in sleep regulation. High histamine levels correlate closely with high alertness. (Which is why antihistamines tend to make you drowsy.)

Some of us are genetically programmed to produce more histamine: if you’re tall and slim with long fingers and toes, high sex drive, good teeth and a tendency to salivate a little too much, you’re a high-histamine type. Which means you’re more likely than most to struggle with insomnia. But all of us can get stuck in a high histamine cycle when life is very demanding or exciting.

Taking the occasional antihistamine to aid sleep when your routine has been disrupted is an acceptable solution for most of us, but long term reliance is probably best avoided. Antihistamines also tends to leave you with morning drowsiness which is very annoying.

If you’re stuck in a sleepless rut, you might want to consider more natural strategies to reduce night time histamine levels. Here are some:

Methionine, an amino acid found in good levels in eggs, fish and poultry, has the ability to combine with histamine and help the body excrete it. So a high protein supper can help.

Magnesium deficiency – fairly widespread in the UK population – promotes the release of histamine; so making sure you eat plenty of dark green leafy vegetables can help. Or consider taking a supplement (see below).

Vitamin C is nature’s antihistamine and can work wonders to detoxify histamine levels. You can score a double whammy by taking a supplement of Magnesium Ascorbate (that’s magnesium combined with vitamin C) before bedtime. One or two 1000mg doses should do the trick.

It goes without saying, I hope, that if your sleeplessness is due to intractable life problems that are not being resolved, then some coaching could also help you find a more rested state of mind.     Sleep well!

Dawn Waldon is a coach and nutritional therapist working in Tunbridge Wells http://dawnwaldron.wordpress.com/

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