Sleep is one of the most important things you can do to help your metabolism, healing and rejuvenation of your cells. The American Sleep Foundation recommends that all adults get 7-9 hours of sleep a night. So how do we do that?
One of the most important steps in getting the appropriate amount of sleep is to stick to a nightly routine. A routine can help the mind settle down and the body can start to relax in preparation before you actually lay down. To start the process, about an hour or two before bed take a warm bath, or get the house quiet and be sure and turn of fyour phone. It has been proven that the light on the phone interferes with sleep.
These processes can help you get into a relaxation mode before you actually lie down. Settling in to a relaxation process, like reading, meditating, praying or listening to relaxing music. Getting more sleep is a very important but, quality sleep is important too.
Try to reduce the destruptions in your sleep like lights in the room, noises and alams set incorrectly. It is also important to have a comfortable mattress and a comfortable temperature in the room. Your sleep is very important for your metabolism stabalizing sleep and waking times is one of the easiest ways to influence your health.
Sleep has become one of the pillars of ideal health and is being studied more with advances in sleep studies and the ability to extract sleep data. One study found that individuals who regularly slept fewer than 6 hours had excess body weight. Type 2 diabetes was also noted to be more prevalent with those who did not get enough sleep. Reducing blood glucose levels and lowering the hormone insulin in the blood is regulated in our sleep. Cortisol, that pesky stress hormone is also reduced during sleep and having less sleep affects how we deal with stress during our waking hours which in turn lowers our metabolism. Sleep also helps regulate the hormones ghrelin and leptin which regulate hunger and how full you feel.
Without enough sleep you will also not have as much strength and stamina. When you are trying to implement a new workout or increase you activity levels, sleep deprivation will reduce your ability to add that extra mile, or do the extra workout. Adding a few hours of sleep will actually make your workouts mean more by increasing your metabolism and your energy levels.
What can you do to get more sleep? Plan for it. Start prepping for bed two hours before your bed time. Stop eating 2 hours before bed and stay on this routine everyday. Remember, you cannot “catch up” on sleep! It has to be a continuous routine.