The importance of sleep
Sleep is the foundation to our health! It is quite possibly the most important thing to master and understand if you want to feel and perform your best. It really does play a vital role in your health and overall well-being.
Sleep is essential to every process in the body, it affects our physical and mental functioning the next day, our ability to fight disease and strength of immunity, as well as our metabolism and disease risk.
It underpins so many of your daily activities and behaviours. Have you ever wondered why you feel extra hungry after a bad night's sleep? (more on this below). The quality of your sleep affects so many aspects of your life. Therefore it is just as important to understand, if not more important than the other pillars of your health such as nutrition and exercise.
The amount of sleep each person needs can vary but most adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep each night for optimal health.
Just one night of poor sleep can impair your concentration, judgment, appetite and make you more likely to make mistakes. With long-term lack of sleep increasing your risk of larger health problems such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity and depression. It also impairs your immune system making you more likely to catch colds and flu.
There are 2 types of sleep - REM (rapid-eye movement sleep) and non-REM (non-rapid-eye movement sleep) or also referred to as deep sleep. The ratio of these each night varies but each has an important role in a quality sleep.
A wide range of different factors can contribute to how well you sleep, including hormones fluctuations, gender and age.
Good quality sleep can be described as falling asleep within 10-30 minutes, not waking up or waking once for fewer than 20 minutes and spending most of your time in bed asleep. Nowadays there are plenty of apps, watches and devices you can use to track your sleep and its quality but the above is a good quick way to assess your sleep as well as how you feel on waking.
How sleep can affect your eating habits and behaviours
A lack of sleep or poor quality sleep can lead to an imbalance in your hunger hormones, therefore affecting your appetite the next day. Research has shown that sleep deprivation tends to lead to higher levels of the hormone ghrelin (our hunger hormone) therefore leading to less feelings of fullness and an increased appetite.
Lack of sleep not only increases ghrelin but also decreases the hormone called leptin. Leptin circulates in blood and acts on the brain to regulate food intake and energy expenditure. It works to suppress your appetite when your body isn't in need of energy. Therefore, when you have had a poor night's sleep you are a lot more likely to overeat and feel a lot hungrier than normal. Your body hasn’t got the sleep it needs and is trying to compensate by increasing hunger and cravings for carbohydrate rich foods.
When you do get sufficient, restful sleep it allows the body to regulate production of these two hormones, creating a balance of appetite and satiation.
Caffeine consumption and sleep
Caffeine is not something you need to go without if you are working towards better quality sleep. It can be a great way to improve your mental and physical performance, however, it is important to understand when it is best to consume it in order not to affect your sleep later on.
You have most probably experienced a quick pick me up from caffeine after having your morning coffee as it acts fast and peaks in the bloodstream about 30 minutes after consumption, but its effects last long after that as your body processes it. The half-life of caffeine is person dependent as it affects all of us differently but it can be anywhere from 5-10 hours therefore, I suggest giving yourself a cut off time for coffee of 10-12 hours before bedtime to ensure it is not impacting your sleep quality. I personally have a hard rule of no coffee after lunch time.
Tips for good quality sleep
Be consistent with sleep and wake timings - moving it only by ½-1 hour on the weekend
Make sure your bedroom is quite, dark and cool
Avoid caffeine within 12 hours of bed time
Avoid alcohol before bed
Include exercise or physical activity in your day
Wind-down - remove screens and blue light 1 hour - 30 minutes before bed
Manage worries - journal or write out a to-do list for the next day
It can be easy to forget some of these small things, or slip into bad habits such as staying up late scrolling social media. But they really can be having a big impact on your health and behaviours the next day. If there is one thing you do for your health and well-being it is to get enough quality sleep each night.