On the 12th day of Christmas my brain health tip for me is one B12 booster, iPhone 11 connection check, 10 minutes of meditation, and 9 ANTs to squash… and 8 Hours of SLEEP!
Are you tired from all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season? Do you awake regularly feeling like you were hit head on by Santa’s sleigh? Do you find yourself regularly promising that you will “catch up” on sleep after the New Year, as you nod off standing in line at the store?
Sleep is one of the most important things we can do for our health. Lack of sleep is associated with decrements in focus, attention, memory, learning, mood, immune response (hello, flu season!), cardiovascular health, and even your days on Earth. Not sleeping regularly and appropriately is actually associated with all-cause mortality and dying earlier! I know you’re probably thinking, “Wow, this is not the holly jolly news I was hoping to read today.” But it is important to be aware of the impact sleep can have on your brain, body, and longevity.
To change how we view this information, let’s reframe the list by saying quality sleep can help with improving my focus, attention, memory, learning, mood, immune response, cardiovascular health, and lifespan!
Most Americans are only logging approximately 6 hours of sleep per night. Our society supports this idea that less sleep means more productivity, more devotion to the job. We act as if sleep is a luxury and not a biological necessity. Though counter to our “hustle and grind” culture, without quality sleep the work that we do is slighted. By allowing our bodies to get the adequate sleep that is needed, we are better able to efficiently produce quality work – and with a much better mood!
The recommendation for most folks is between 7.5-9.5 hours. This allows our bodies to cycle through sleep stages throughout the night and awake during the lighter stages to feel refreshed and rejuvenated. If we cut our sleep time, we are more likely to awaken groggy and grouchy during a deeper stage of sleep.
Here are 8 tips for improving your sleep!
1. Start making time for plenty of sleep. Move your bedtime back until you can wake up feeling more like a kid on Christmas and less like you’ve been drug by a herd of reindeer.
2. Have a strict schedule for sleep and don’t budge on it! Once you have identified your optimal bedtime/wake time, stick to it and don’t change even on weekends or days off. Make an enjoyable nighttime routine that signals to your body that it is time to snooze.
3. Lay off the caffeine and alcohol. These can both interrupt quality and quantity of your Z’s. At the very least, minimize the amount and be smart about the time you consume. Keep caffeine for morning times and if you MUST indulge in the spiked eggnog, keep it to one and not right before bed.
4. Exercise! Getting regular exercise helps to reduce stress, elevate mood, reduce risk for cardiovascular diseases, and burn off those unwanted calories you garnered from the Christmas parties. Shoot for 30 minutes of exercise per day and find something you enjoy doing, but don’t do it too closely to bed! Elevating your heart-rate can make it difficult to fall asleep.
5. Eat quality foods! Going to bed after stuffing yourself with fatty, sugary holiday treats can strain your sleep as your body spends its resources trying to digest instead of all of the important things required for sleep.
6. Turn the lights off! Stay away from blue light (screens) at least one hour before bed. Also, make your bedroom as dark as possible. Light plays a large roll in our sleep/wake hormones. Hiding your eyes from light, like with a sleep mask, isn’t enough. We have photoreceptors in our skin that respond to both natural and artificial light. Unplug that pesky nightlight and your pretty Christmas lights and see if you don’t sleep a little better.
7. Make it cool. With the lower temps, it is tempting to want to sleep with your heater on. Research suggests sleeping with the temperature between 62-68 degrees Fahrenheit is optimal. Having too warm of an environment can interrupt restorative sleep! Throw on some fuzzy socks if you need them!
8. Keep the bed for sleep and sex only. If you read, scroll the Gram, listen to tunes, or do your homework in bed, you are not creating boundaries between wake and sleep space. You don’t get in your car before it is time to leave, don’t get in bed before it is time for sleep!
Try implementing these tips this Christmas season and see if you don’t feel merrier and brighter within a few days! If these tips don’t help and you feel there is an underlying issue wreaking havoc on your sleep cycle, give us a call at 817-295-8708 and ask about our neurotransmitter and stress hormone testing or to speak with one of our certified Brain Health Coaches. It could be a simple supplemental fix that could change your sleep and your life!
Sweet dreams,
Katie
#changinglivesonebrainatatime #brainhealth #sleep #brainandbehaviorassociates #loveyourbrain