For WellBeing
Sleep Well
There is not a single person that someone in their life has not told that getting a full eight hours of sleep is the best way to have a proactive workday. Dealing with the times that we are in from Covid-19 fears and worries about the future, it seems even more impossible to get all of those eight hours. A study done by Ellen Vora, MD, shows precisely how vital good sleep is for individuals and suggestions on how better to achieve a good night's rest.
The first step is making sleep a priority. The study states that sleep impacts various health issues such as metabolism, immunity, and insulin resistance. Sleep deprivation also affects our productivity and creativity. A vast majority of people often swap out a good night's sleep to catch up on work and studies or to go out to enjoy themselves. When we prioritize sleep, we can retain more focus in our day-to-day lives; one way to start this behavior is by making changes out of our lifestyle choices.
The second step is working or altering your lifestyle choices, starting with the amount of sunlight you receive. As evolution changed humankind, our bodies noted that the bright sun equaled day time and darkness as night time. Allow yourself time to 'rise with the sun, ' opening up the blinds to allow your body to soak up the sun. When night time comes, limit the number of screens and blue light you see before bed, roughly thirty minutes before bed. It might also be beneficial to develop a nightly routine such as having a shower, washing your teeth and face, read until you begin to feel sleepy. This will allow your mind to recognize that it is time to unwind and rest.
Another aspect of life to examine is your caffeine intake throughout the day. Caffeine has a lifespan of five to seven hours until it passes through your body. If you drink a coffee past noon by the time it is time to rest, you will still have that single cup of caffeinated in your system by the time seven pm comes. This is not to demonize caffeine; it is not all bad. It merely comes down to a matter of timing your cups. However, there are downfalls to simply cutting caffeine cold-turkey, such as fatigue and irritability. A suggestion would be to lower your caffeine intake, such as moving gradually down from coffee to half-caf, to black tea, to green tea, to lastly herbal tea. Even if you are not a tea fan, you can shift from caffeinated coffee to decaf.
Being aware of your time window is also important when it comes to your sleeping habits. When you are too tired, you will experience a cortisol shot, the nerve that makes you wonder why you are awake, which will make you stay up long, but not when you are not tired enough. A suggestion to aid this is earning more proteins and healthy fats such as olive oil and avoiding sugar and alcohol. A spoonful of almond butter and coconut oil before bed will also help prevent the crashing. Another internal health concern to look out for is obstructive sleep apnea; your body's experience is not breathing. That comprising can prevent your body from going into a deeper sleep.
The third step in this process is managing stress, which seems like an impossible thing to do in our current times. Stress, on a biochemistry level, can make getting a peaceful night's sleep challenging to achieve. If you do not allow yourself to unwind from that stress throughout the day, it will affect how you rest at night. Unplug from phones and electronics roughly thirty minutes before you go to bed. Try different breathing techniques to help you ease your mind before bed. Also, meditation can be a great technique to help you relax before bed. Take the opportunity to be one with your thoughts and develop compassion toward yourself and those thoughts.
Even throughout the day, take time out to have a moment to relax. It can be hard in the age of Covid-19 and having so many moving elements in your life. But now, more than ever, it is crucial to prioritize your health to ensure you are the best you can be. Take time to journal to put your stressed emotions on the page, try creative outlets as a way to take a break, allow yourself a moment to be still and breathe
The first step is making sleep a priority. The study states that sleep impacts various health issues such as metabolism, immunity, and insulin resistance. Sleep deprivation also affects our productivity and creativity. A vast majority of people often swap out a good night's sleep to catch up on work and studies or to go out to enjoy themselves. When we prioritize sleep, we can retain more focus in our day-to-day lives; one way to start this behavior is by making changes out of our lifestyle choices.
The second step is working or altering your lifestyle choices, starting with the amount of sunlight you receive. As evolution changed humankind, our bodies noted that the bright sun equaled day time and darkness as night time. Allow yourself time to 'rise with the sun, ' opening up the blinds to allow your body to soak up the sun. When night time comes, limit the number of screens and blue light you see before bed, roughly thirty minutes before bed. It might also be beneficial to develop a nightly routine such as having a shower, washing your teeth and face, read until you begin to feel sleepy. This will allow your mind to recognize that it is time to unwind and rest.
Another aspect of life to examine is your caffeine intake throughout the day. Caffeine has a lifespan of five to seven hours until it passes through your body. If you drink a coffee past noon by the time it is time to rest, you will still have that single cup of caffeinated in your system by the time seven pm comes. This is not to demonize caffeine; it is not all bad. It merely comes down to a matter of timing your cups. However, there are downfalls to simply cutting caffeine cold-turkey, such as fatigue and irritability. A suggestion would be to lower your caffeine intake, such as moving gradually down from coffee to half-caf, to black tea, to green tea, to lastly herbal tea. Even if you are not a tea fan, you can shift from caffeinated coffee to decaf.
Being aware of your time window is also important when it comes to your sleeping habits. When you are too tired, you will experience a cortisol shot, the nerve that makes you wonder why you are awake, which will make you stay up long, but not when you are not tired enough. A suggestion to aid this is earning more proteins and healthy fats such as olive oil and avoiding sugar and alcohol. A spoonful of almond butter and coconut oil before bed will also help prevent the crashing. Another internal health concern to look out for is obstructive sleep apnea; your body's experience is not breathing. That comprising can prevent your body from going into a deeper sleep.
The third step in this process is managing stress, which seems like an impossible thing to do in our current times. Stress, on a biochemistry level, can make getting a peaceful night's sleep challenging to achieve. If you do not allow yourself to unwind from that stress throughout the day, it will affect how you rest at night. Unplug from phones and electronics roughly thirty minutes before you go to bed. Try different breathing techniques to help you ease your mind before bed. Also, meditation can be a great technique to help you relax before bed. Take the opportunity to be one with your thoughts and develop compassion toward yourself and those thoughts.
Even throughout the day, take time out to have a moment to relax. It can be hard in the age of Covid-19 and having so many moving elements in your life. But now, more than ever, it is crucial to prioritize your health to ensure you are the best you can be. Take time to journal to put your stressed emotions on the page, try creative outlets as a way to take a break, allow yourself a moment to be still and breathe
Vora, E. (n.d.). Better Sleep. Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://ellenvora.com/better-sleep/