I think it is safe to say that the majority of us are not getting quality sleep. This has become a major complaint with the patients I am currently seeing. The sleep disturbances continue due to the changes in our daily schedules and increased stressors. And surprisingly enough, sleep disturbances are occurring in even the younger population.
So what can you do to promote quality sleep?
- Eat well balanced throughout your day. Try to eat your first meal within 30 minutes upon waking and your last meal three hours before going to bed. This timing is important for our metabolism as well as digestion.
- Staying properly hydrated. Just like eating, you want to make sure that you are hydrating throughout your day. A good rule of thumb to gage your hydration is, you should never feel thirsty.
- Avoid caffeine after 2 pm. Again, it all has to do with timing. When you become dependent on that afternoon caffeine fix, your cortisol levels will also reflect your this dependency. You want your cortisol levels slowly declining throughout the day to allow for restful sleep.
- Avoid screens later at night. Our world has evolved to screens all day for those working from home and now even our students in school. It is important to turn off that stimulus at least 1 hour before bed. You want to avoid as much stimulation as possible and allow for your body to naturally become sleepy.
- If you are having difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, good quality supplements may help you to fill in the gaps. Things such as magnesium and melatonin are great options when wanting to get quality sleep.
Sleep is one of the most important things for our overall health and wellbeing. When we do not sleep properly our functioning becomes poor; cognitive skills, critical thinking and problem solving, as well as digestion and healing. Our body does the majority of our healing while we are asleep. If you want to perform at your best and function clearly it is recommended that school aged kids get 8-10 hours per night and adults get 7-9 hours per night.
If you would like to learn more about the importance of sleep or looking for ways you can improve your sleep, feel free to reach out and schedule you FREE Discovery session with Hannah!
