Sleep is a vital element of health.
Sleep 
How to get better sleep
Written by Simon Gunn in January 23
Sleep: one of the most important and frequent things we do, yet one of the most troublesome for so many people. 

noun: sleep
1. a condition of body and mind that typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the eyes are closed, the postural muscles relaxed, the activity of the brain altered, and consciousness of the surroundings practically suspended.

You might actually be surprised to know scientists actually do not fully understand sleep yet, especially the why; why does the body actually shut down for several hours. Think about it, we are essentially animals and millions of years ago, sleep would leave us vulnerable. 

Any woo, we do know sleep keeps us healthy and functioning well. It lets your body and brain repair, restore, and reenergise. If you don't get enough sleep, you might experience side effects like poor memory and focus, weakened immunity, and mood changes.

One thing is fact, far too many people struggle to sleep and sleep well, so here are some fundamentals to help you. 

Remember, you are different to everyone else meaning you must trial and error everything to tailor to your lifestyle, personality, budget and environment. 

Circadian rhythm. 
Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. These natural processes respond primarily to light and dark and affect most living things, including animals, plants, and microbes.

Basically, the clock in your brain! Internal clock. 

Think of it this way, can you remember a time where you had good sleep pattern and use to wake up a few minutes before the alarm? or the same time every night you get up for a pee? or know when it's lunchtime without seeing the clock etc? 

These are patterns our brain gets used too. And good sleep is about signalling to your brain it's bed time by creating a pattern. 

Let's call this a bedtime routine. You need to create a bed time routine, so even if you're a shift worker or travel around for work etc your brain knows its sleep time because of the routine you create. 

This is my bedtime routine (remember, mine might not work for you). 

1 hour before bed - usually 9pm I start by doing the following. 

- I get up from the sofa and start moving around turning lights down or off and/or lighting candles, to create a dimly lit environment. 
- Make mine and Jacqueline's night time tea, allowing to cool for several minutes before supping away. Sometimes, it could be a hot chocolate made with Oat milk. 
- Set out tomorrows stuff, which is usually gym clothing and bag as well as making breakfast (overnight oats), setting out mine and Jacqueline's coffee, mugs and spoons. 
- Fill all my water bottles for the day (7 litres spread through 1.5 or 2 litre bottles of tap water leaving the cap off to let the chlorine evaporate). Making sure one is for the gym in the morning. 
- On the floor in front of the TV Stretch or foam roller or lay on acupressure mat or have a bath - depending what day it is or how my body feels. I do this for around 20 minutes. 
- Put the phone down around 30 minutes before bed or at least turn the blue light off and use night time mode to change the brightness and light from the screen. 
- We usually have something funny on the TV such as Dave Channel, Qi, Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo etc. This is easy watching, no stress, dramas, over thinking etc. 
- Finish off watching 10-20 mins in bed of the above and 9/10 times I'm gone before 10pm. 

Jax takes about another 15 minutes or so. 

Because my brain knows bed is sleep time coupled with the same routine my brain knows when I hit the pillow its time to go off! 

This took me a long time to perfect and It is easily transferable to when we go away to say London for the weekend. 
Lack of sleep 
Lack of sleep is no joke, I know! 

There is a reason I have a good routine now, because once I had major issues and the lack of sleep really screwed up my life; amongst other things! But sleep, or the lack of it makes things much worse, creating a huge negative spiral. 

And let's face it, you don't want to be around someone who is tired, like desperately tired! Moody, cranky, forgetful, and a bit horrible... that was me for sure! 

If you're still here reading this, you clearly want help, so let's go. 

The following things are suggestions for you to try. 
Avoid stimulants.

This might seem an easy one to think of however, there are lots of stimulants you might not think of. 

The obvious stimulant is caffeine hidden in coffee and tea. 

But, at what time do you stop consuming tea and/or coffee? Have you even checked to see if it's early enough for you? We are all so different and affected by caffeine in different ways. You should be looking at reducing caffeine several hours before bed and tweaking this time to suit you. 

For instance, Jacqueline knows anything after 4pm is a big no no! 

But, caffeine is also hidden in drinks such as energy drinks, coke, cakes and so on... are you thinking of these? Are you even aware of these?

Are you taking any caffeine supplements such as Pro Plus or "diet" or "fat burning" pills which are laced with huge quantities of caffeine?  

Other stimulants are sugars; sugars in cordials, fizzy pops, foods etc. These will give your brain quick energy to fire up those thoughts potentially! 

Even milk and diary have sugars in which could be making your brain ping open!

Look at consuming calmer, healthier, unprocessed foods, soothing foods and drinks before bed (from say 4pm), especially, night time teas!
Night Time Teas. 
Night time tea is just that, tea you have before bedtime!

I personally, would say about 45-60 minutes before bed is the ideal time to sip one of these bad boys down. 

There are now 100s of these on the market and after much trial and error we have chosen these two. 

I, Simon drink Twining's sleep tea and Jax and Sara prefer Pukka's Night time tea. 

It really does come down to taste, drowsy affects and price I suppose. 

Similarly, you need to evaluate how long before sleep you need to take it and look at how long it takes to work and how it makes you feel in the morning. I know if I drink mine past 9pm I feel so sleepy in the morning when my alarm clocks goes off at 5am therefore, it's before 9pm for me! 
Blue light. 

Blue light is something most screen technologies produce when being used and is a huge issue with sleep because it restrains the production of melatonin, the hormone that controls your sleep-wake cycle (aka circadian rhythm). This makes it even more difficult to fall asleep and wake up the next day.

Not only that, every time you tap away at your device you produce dopamine. Dopamine motivates us to take action and each time we hear a notification, we check our device. The problem is this dopamine boost is temporary and leads to a let down.

Add these two together (addictive habit and sleep hormone reduction) it is easy to see why you might be struggling. 

Either put your phone and screens away say an hour before bed, and/or turn on sleep mode on the device. This turns the blue light off and stops the light flooding the brain. 

If you are "addicted" to your phone, start reducing the time you spend on it before bed with two alarms. One 15 minutes before you put it down and one to say times up. 

Breaking the blue light cycle may be tough, so do what you can and use anyone around you to help if needed.  
Lack of exercise. 
Exercise is well known and researched to do so many amazing things to our bodies such as boost the immune system however, exercise plays a HUGE role is sleep.

When we exercise (increase our physical activity) we put our bodies through stress and strain, we know sleep fixes these. It is therefore, safe to say the more we exercise the more the body needs to shut down and fix the damage we have done. 

Move more, sleep better - fact!

The next time you start talking yourself out of exercise (and you're a poor sleeper) tell that voice to do one, because you want to sleep better! 

Go for a walk or jog, attend a Bootcamp, online fitness class, hit the gym, or group exercise class or go for a cycle - just move. 

Not getting enough fresh air! 
Getting out and about in the cold, crisp air does your body (and mind) wonders! 

The air is thinner during the colder months, due to less pollen particles and pollution and thus goes in so sweetly. Go for a walk and breathe this gorgeous, crisp air in. 

Not only that, but you’re moving more, which as above means you’re “exercising”!

Your mood will lift, your body will be full of beautiful, oxygenated blood and your nasal cavity and lungs will be full of moisture and gorgeousness!

Yes, it might be cold, layer up – and drink water!
Yes, it might be wet through rain, layer up, take some spare shoes etc. - and drink water!
Yes, it might be windy, layer up – and drink water!
Yes, it might be snowing… ok, be careful, especially if driving or slippery under foot, layer up – and drink water!
Yes, it might be dark, stick to lit areas, get a torch and drink water!

You get the gist!

Not taking cate of your mind; Learn to take a break!
It is very easy to keep going at 100mph all the time because we “want” to do something or “have” to do something but, going at this speed all the time, will create a huge crash and lots of carnage!

If you do get ill and run down, crashing hard could create more dramas than you need.

Slow down and stop more.

Stress + Rest = Growth!

You’ve most likely seen by now I bang on about this a lot, well that’s because after far too many huge crashes, I’ve learnt the hard way! 

And, believe me, I wouldn’t want this on anyone!

Take time each day, week, month, quarter and annually to slow down and stop!

However that looks for you is up to you, just do it. Plan it in, action it and make it a priority!

Laugh some, socialise, walk the dogs, feed the ducks, go to the coast, read a book, knit… whatever it is, just do it – guilt free!

You cannot serve from an empty cup.

Know when to take a break, recognise the early warning signs of your body saying slow down (fatigue, nodding off earlier than normal, headaches, feeling emotionally, stressed over silly things and so on).

Lack of quality Sleep. 
This is one of the most important elements of good health and yet so many of you neglect this.

There are 1000s of ways to improve the quality of your sleep and the internet is a wash with tips, ideas, products, apps and guidance.

If you have restless sleep, struggle with sleep in any way, you MUST learn to take action to improve it. Only you can do so, so do so!

I could be here all day explaining the importance of sleep on the human body, but you’d switch off, that is if you’re even this far into the article!

Please, please do whatever it takes to find something, a solution which works for you to get a better night’s sleep, daily! And NO, you haven’t tried “everything”, if you had, you’d sleep well each and every night. It is just trial and error. 

Some people just quit quicker than others.

Maybe you don’t understand the importance of sleep, who knows but, sleep!

Remember this "If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got."

If you need help, get in touch.

If this helped you in some way, please do share it to help others. 

If you’re interested in knowing more or want to work with us, get in touch. 

In the meantime, get a glass of water.

Simon Gunn FdSc, BA (Hons)
Jelly Fitness Human Performance Coach.
Email: info@jellyfitness.co.uk

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