Did you know your sleep quality can be the difference between good results and great results?
Poor sleep seems to be very common these days, particularly in women.
If the ONLY thing I worked on with a client was improving their sleep, the results they would see from almost any approach they were taking to eating and exercise would increase hugely.
The importance of sleep is often very underestimated in terms of its importance for not just getting in shape and losing body fat, but also for keeping your health in good check.
With this in mind, here are some pointers for improving your sleep quality. Clearly, the more difficulty you’re having with your sleep, the more closely you’ll want to follow these points.
Many people don’t realise that what they do first thing in the morning affects their sleep quality that night. A good nights sleep tonight starts the moment you wake up this morning!
- Get outside within an hour of waking up. Whatever the weather, get outside and get some daylight into your eyes. You could go for a walk, or just drink a cup of tea outside – this isn’t about exercise, its about reminding your body to produce the wake-up hormone serotonin.
- If you’re really struggling with going to sleep at night, a short blast of intense exercise first thing in the morning could be a good idea. It will remind your body that it should have a blast of stress hormones first thing.
- Eat. I wrote a while ago about how I have changed my daily eating schedule from eating no earlier than 12pm and no later than 9pm in favour of eating around 7.30am and finishing eating by 5pm. Certainly finishing eating earlier has had a big impact on my sleep quality, as my body is able to start repairing as soon as I nod off, rather than having to digest my last meal before it can get on with what its meant to do while I sleep. The injection of food, calories and energy first thing in the morning seems to be a good way to tell your body it’s time to get going.
- Make sure you’re active during the day. Boosting activity levels during the day creates sleep ‘pressure’, making you more likely to feel sleepy at bedtime. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to hit the gym or do a hard workout – just hit those 10,000 steps every day, and ideally spread out them across the day too.
- Stop drinking caffeine after about 2pm. This one should be self explanatory!
- Have your last meal as early as you can. According to the research, it is optimal to finish eating at 2pm – which is clearly not do-able for most of us. Every hour later than that will have a progressively stronger impact on your blood sugar levels the next morning. Eating late is not a good idea – so eat as soon in the evening as you can. If you can’t help but eat late, try making your last meal the smallest of your day.
- Avoid alcohol. Although it makes you feel relaxed and sleepy, alcohol really reduces your sleep quality.
- Get rid of blue light at least an hour before bed. Blue light reduces production of melatonin, which is the hormone our body makes in the evening to help us feel sleepy. Use the ‘night shift’ function on your phone if you have one, but better still, turn off all screens – definitely your computer, iPad and phone, and possibly your TV as well. The more time you spend inside during the day, the more artificial light in the evening will affect your sleep.
- Take some quiet, down time. Reading a book, having a bath or meditating is a good way to remind your body that the evening is for calming down for bed. A busy mind which hasn’t had a chance to switch off before bed is often the culprit for people who wake up in the night and struggle to nod back off – you’ve passed out because you’re exhausted, but wake up again as soon as you’ve taken the edge off your tiredness.
- Make your bedroom as quiet and dark as possible. Wear an eye mask if you need to. Even tiny amounts of light affect your sleep.