Hello kids. Today’s Fitness Friday is a little less about fitness, and a little more about health. And a bit of a science lesson. It’s all the same thing though in the scheme of things, right?
Back when I was an undergrad, that whole six months ago, I did a module on stress and the immune system. It was ironic because learning about stress in your third year = super stressful. It’s something I draw back on now and then though, as I find it quite interesting. Lately I’ve been feeling really run down, and I think it’s something to do with my stupid body clock refusing to let me sleep in at weekends, and my lack of free time to catch up on sleep via naps. I’ve not had a weekend to truly laze around in my PJs for the past eight weeks. It’s nice to have a life but seriously, naps man. I need them. Last week I caught a cold, and I just died. I couldn’t handle it while running low on sleep. I know I’m not insomniac but sleep deprivation over a long time does need to be caught up on, and I’d lost about 4 hours a week for eight weeks. Paired with a cold, I was eating rubbish, so tired I couldn’t concentrate, and waking up late as I couldn’t physically wake up. Saturday and Sunday were spent in bed, dozing and just recovering from life. It was perfect.
Everyone knows sleep is important for your health but that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone knows why. I’ll spoil the surprise – it’s hormones. When you sleep, your body is still putting in the hours. Your HPA axis (made up of the hypothalmus, pituitary and adrenal glands) regulates hormones in a roughly 24 hour cycle called a circadian rhythm. One hormone which the HPA axis is responsible for is cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol reaches its lowest levels during sleep (normally a few hours after drifting off), and peaks again at around 8am to wake the body up. Cortisol is our bodies response to stress and in small doses is beneficial – it keeps us alert, stimulates the immune system and activates the fight or flight system that would have kept us alive back in cavemen times. Chronic periods of elevated cortisol, however, is bad. It can cause diabetes, obesity, stress (and then once when you’re stressed, high levels make you more like to react more stressfully to situations) and cause cardiovacular problems, impair your immune system and so on. Sleep deprivation can actually cause your cortisol levels to rise, particularly in the evening, which then (along with all the other negative health consequences) causes poor sleep - increasing your cortisol further and just making you one giant ball of cortisol, stress and sleep deprivation.
It’s a catch 22, which any graduate looking for a job without experience will know are the worst. Cortisol isn’t the only way that sleep deprivation impacts your health though. Sleep deprivation can reduce your glucose tolerance, making you prone to developing diabetes. It also lowers the hormone leptin and increases the hormone grhelin - leptin suppresses your appetite, while grelin stimulates hunger, meaning if you’re sleep deprived (even just four hours!), you are going to be super hungry. I know personally when I’m running low on sleep all I can think about are carbs, preferably in big sandwiches, crisps and chocolate (which is essentially what I lived on last week!). Your immune system is also messed up when you’re sleep deprived. Normally when you sleep, different parts of your immune system work together to create an inflammatory response. Backwards as this sounds, it helps to fight against any invading germs, cell mutations or illnesses before they get out of hand. Lack of sleep prevents this from happening, meaning you’re more at risk for infection, chronic diseases and even cancer. Ouch.
I know that all seems a bit techie, so if you’re a little lost – lack of sleep makes you stressed, hungry, and ill. In a perfect world we’d all get a full 8 hours sleep each night, and a few hours extra at the weekend, but it’s not a perfect world. There’s really not enough hours in the day to work, have a hobby, have a social life and get a good night’s sleep. This whole ‘you have the same hours a day as Beyonce thing’ – Beyonce has a team of people doing her life admin for her!
If you can’t get a good night’s sleep every night, try getting the perfect night’s sleep maybe once a week to help your body catch up for lost time. Sleep debt, caused by lack of sleep over time, can actually be reduced by getting in an extra hour here or there so getting a good night’s sleep, a really long lay in or an afternoon nap can genuinely help you! I know getting the perfect night’s sleep is easier said than done so here are my tips for doing so.
Wash your sheets
There is nothing in the world more enticing than freshly washed bedding. I like to do mine in the morning, so that way I’m genuinely excited to go to bed all day. Probably quite sad but man, fresh washed sheets are the best! I actually have two new duvets I’m saving for my new home in summer and I’m sooo excited to whip them out. The only thing better than clean sheets are new sheets.
Avoid caffeine
I went through a phase where I drank three or four cups of coffee a day. I was adamant it had no effect on my sleeping, until I stopped drinking coffee and realised that going to bed at 1am wasn’t my natural sleeping pattern. These days I drink a cup of green tea in the morning, and the occasional coffee now and then, but if I’ve had a few bad nights sleep or need to be extremely well rested I’ll stick to caffeine free herbal tea all day.
Get the right bed set up
The only pillow I can sleep comfortably on is my seven year old pillow which is so thin and hard most people would have thrown it away years ago. When Scott makes the bed and ‘accidentally’ switches them, I’ll toss and turn for around five minutes before demanding he switches pillows. When I’m not at home, I normally sleep without a pillow as I find it comfier than a normal plumped cushion. I also like a really hard double mattress, anything too soft is a no and I lie diagonal so a single bed is a no too. And I cuddle a pillow. I’m not necessarily saying these will give YOU the perfect night’s sleep, but knowing what your preferences are and making sure it’s set up right before it’s bedtime will really help the going to sleep process.
Have a bath
I actually can’t do this any more as I don’t have a bath, but baths are a great way to relax and unwind. If you’re stressed, your body can physically become tense and a hot bath helps your muscles to relax.Pick up a relaxing bubble bath or bath bomb and spend half an hour essentially snoozing in the bath around an hour before bedtime. I would steer clear of washing your hair just before you want to go to sleep though, it’s too much effort.
Wind down
You already know high stress levels impact sleep, so reducing your stress levels is a must. Ways which I think are quite good to wind down are yoga (the ones that end with corpse pose and soft music do really put me to sleep), doing a manicure and reading – so long as it’s not a horror or anything! If I’m really stressed out about something, I give myself a 10 minute slot to think why I’m stressed and then put it to the back of my mind. If I don’t give myself time to really assess it, it’s constantly niggling at me so for me personally, this is the best way to get rid of stressful thoughts.
Put away your phone (and laptop, and tablet)
Did you know that the blue white light from your phones, laptop and tablets gives the same cue to your body as sunlight? So if you’re on them just before bedtime, your body won’t know to go to sleep. Put them away around an hour before you settle down, or at least half an hour if you really can’t resist one last scroll down Twitter.
Avoid eating anything carb heavy too close to bedtime
Unless you manage to time your carby foods so that you get a sugar slump right before you go to sleep, it’s best to avoid anything too heavy in carbs before bedtime. Not only do they give you energy, they can make you feel a bit bloated and full – not the best mindset for a perfect night’s sleep!
There’s a lot of herbal teas and scents and tablets that can apparently help you sleep but I’ve not tried them to be able to recommend them. Unless you do have sleeping issues, I think the best way to get a good night’s sleep is go to bed de-stressed and relaxed. If you’ve got any other tips, let me know as I’m busy the next few weekends so will need a good night’s sleep again very soon!
This post contains a sponsored link, all content and opinions are my own.
