It’s not just a balanced diet and exercise that’s needed to have a healthy body and mind. You also need to get enough sleep a night to make you function like a normal human being. With 63.1% of over 15,000 people surveyed claiming to not be happy with the amount of hours sleep they get each night, I delve into why you may not be getting as much shut eye as you need.
Despite many thinking that it’s just a figure of their imagination, the Body Clock is a real thing! It’s a 24 hour repeating rhythm where pressure builds up every hour you’re awake and peaks in the evening before you go to bed. It is in sync which the light of the mornings and dark of the evenings; it releases some hormones in the morning light when the body needs to be more awake and other hormones in the dark evening which helps the body feel drowsy before going to bed.
The timing and rhythm of your body clock changes with age and everybody is slightly different. I was constantly asleep when I was first born- my parents had to wake me up so that they could feed me - a stark contrast to my brother who decided he didn’t need sleep. Ever. Yet when I reached 5 or 6, I was always downstairs on the sofa, with my duvet watching cartoons each morning long before anyone else (including the sun!) was up. This continued into my teens before eventually my body clock realised I was a normal teenager, who did need some shut eye!
People like to joke about teenagers being lazy because they sleep in later but they can’t necessarily help that. During the teen years, they sleep later because the morning hormone is released later in the 24 hour cycle. Whereas older generations find their natural wake up time to be much earlier than the norm due to theirs being released much earlier on.
Whatever your age, you will always need a good night’s sleep. It plays an important part in the repair and healing of your body and supports healthy brain function. Both long term and short term effects of the lack of sleep can have a massive effect on you and can be life threatening. Sleep deficiency is linked to an array of illnesses such as heart disease, stokes, diabetes and high blood pressure. It can also be found a high factor in the cause of depression, suicide and risk taking behaviour.
Have you ever been driving, got to your destination and realised you don’t remember a part of your journey? Well chances are you were micro sleeping. This is a state where your body is sleeping but you’re unaware of it. This short term factor can be more fatal, much more quickly and with irreversible consequences. Micro sleep has led to large scale damage such as car accidents, nuclear reactor meltdowns and plane accidents.
Think you’re not getting enough sleep? Then follow some of these steps to help you catch a few more zzz’s!
- Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Yep, even at weekends. Resist the urge for a cheeky lie in on Saturday because your body will be thankful for it later in the week- plus you’ll get much more out of your day!
- Avoid heavy meals, alcohol, and caffeine for a few hours before you’re aiming to go to bed. This will keep energy levels at a low and hopefully make it easier to get some shut eye.
- Spend time outdoors and keep physically active during the day. Join a gym, go for a walk or even start a new class. Les Mills classes are great- high intensity means a greater use of energy and therefore should tire you out ready for bed.
- Avoid the use of bright lights the hour before bed. Phones, tablets and computers will also disrupt your evening release of Melatonin so your body won’t be prepared to sleep.
- Allow yourself enough time to sleep. If you’re feeling tired, say no to another episode of your favourite Netflix series- there’s always tomorrow!
