IT ALL STARTS WITH A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP

Apr 6

If you have children, or a good enough memory to remember your childhood, you’ll know how important a bedtime routine is to help get a young child or baby to sleep. Most children thrive on their bedtime routine, looking forward to things like a nice warm bath, a light supper, maybe some warm milk and a fun bedtime story. If only we were kids again!!

Having enough good quality sleep is essential for every living creature, and we humans are no different. It’s our lifeline. It enables our brain and body to restore and renew so they can function the way they should when we wake.

As we sleep, our brain and body slow down and begin processes of recovery, leading to better mental and physical health the following day, and most importantly, over the long term.

Science is now proving that lack of sleep, even a small amount per night, contributes to diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer’s and cancer. It accelerates ageing, and for most of us, that’s our biggest fear and something we try hard to fight. We invest in beauty products, cover our grey hairs, stress about stress causing us wrinkles, yet we overlook the biggest accelerator of all - lack of sleep.

How do you get the right amount of good quality sleep?

Firstly, regularity is king. Like with babies, we need to create ourselves a bedtime routine that prepares our body and brain for sleep. It needs to be exactly what it says on the tin - a routine. This means being consistent so our brain learns the triggers for bedtime, and starts the process to allow you to drift off with ease.

Creating a routine is something that has to be individual for you and your lifestyle. There are a few common things to consider and try to include in your routine. Here are a few I recommend:

Go to bed at the same time every night, seven days a week - the brain doesn’t differentiate a Tuesday from a Saturday!
Include something that helps you to switch off and relax, such as meditation or a breathwork exercise designed for the end of the day.
Build some habits that are associated only with bedtime, maybe reading a book, journaling to clear your mind at the end of the day, having a skincare routine or doing some relaxing stretches.
Prepare much earlier than the time you want to go to sleep. Look at the time you last eat, drink and use blue light devices. The earlier you finish these types of activities, the better prepared you will be.
Make your bedroom a place for sleep and train your brain to understand that this is what happens in that room. This ideally means no TV, laptops, bright lights, pets, making it dark and keeping the temperature cooler than in other rooms.

When you get a good night’s sleep, you wake to feel much more refreshed and motivated to start your day. It helps you have the drive to start your day the right way and feel focused to achieve what you need to. When you’ve slept well, you have the energy to move your body and exercise, as well as make better food choices - it’s proven that insufficient sleep leads to feeling more hungry due to increases in the hormone that controls our appetite. It also prompts our body to release a higher amount of insulin after meals, causing spikes in our blood sugar levels which contribute to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Imagine if there was a pill you could take that guaranteed you’d feel happier, more optimistic, productive, energised and in control of how you run your day…you’d want that pill right? The good news is that there is one, and it’s free. It’s sleep! Having good sleep does change everything and gives the foundations for you to build a healthier lifestyle. It enables you to feel recharged and that you can make the right decisions for how you function throughout your day.

“It’s not an optional lifestyle luxury, it is a non-negotiable biological necessity, your life support system, mother natures attempt at immortality.”

— Matthew Walker, Sleep Expert

Achieving the right amount of good quality sleep can be something that takes time, but starting with a routine is the best way to begin this journey. It really will help you to build good sleep habits to regulate your body clock and fall into a night of deep sleep easier. If you have trouble staying asleep and falling back to sleep should you wake in the night, there can be many causes of this and it’s important to try to get to the root cause. To begin with, focus on helping your body to adjust between day and night, so it creates the right habits to enter into a peaceful night of sleep.

Can you start thinking about how you can build new habits for your evening and bedtime routine to achieve this routine? Once you get started, reflect on what’s working and how different you feel. You might need to make some changes along the way, life changes for us regularly so adapt where you need to, but keep the focus on having a consistent routine as much as possible. Know that by doing this, you’re investing in every aspect of your health and wellbeing, to feel the benefits now as well as in your future.