Sleep: Light Routine and hygiene Food timing Environment Lists Meditation

Transcription

1

2 DISCLAIMER The information within these pages are for educational purposes only and in no way supersede any prior advice given by a medical practitioner, registered dietician or nutritionist. No information in this ebook is designed to diagnose or treat any symptom or condition. Should you take action on any information in this ebook, you are choosing to do so of your own free will, without coercion and in the full knowledge that the information have not been personally designed for you and that should you suffer from a medical condition of any kind or suspect that any action taken on your behalf may cause you a medical problem of any kind whatsoever that you should speak to a qualified medical practitioner for advice. Further, if you choose to take action on the information provided and feel that you are experiencing any adverse effects, then you should cease the action immediately and consult your medical practitioner or doctor. All efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of the information contained in this ebook at the time of its publication. The author disclaims any liability for any medical outcomes that may occur as a result of applying the methods suggested in this ebook. Copyright 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or means whatsoever without the prior consent and written permission of the author.

3 Sleep: Since the dawn of time, the sunrises and the sun sets. It has been pretty consistent don t you think? Our natural body clocks has revolve around this for centuries. This is what we call our Circadian Rhythm. To get the general gist of the Circadian Rhythm, when the sun comes up and gets light outside, we wake up naturally. When the sun goes back down, our bodies rest and go to sleep, naturally. Its that simple but with todays modern lifestyle unfortunately it is. Why am I struggling to get to sleep or stay asleep, I hear you ask. Thats a good question, I m going to answer. These are the 6 things to consider are: Light Routine and hygiene Food timing Environment Lists Meditation First of all I'm going to talk about the external influences on your sleeping patterns. These have a great impact on us whether you like it or not so it is important to recognise and take control of these points as well as the internal influences. 1) Blue Light As humans we can only see what we have deemed as visible light, this will be everything that you can see when you're looking around. However we also have a massive amount on invisible light that the human eye cannot detect, for example X-Rays, Gamma rays, Radio waves, Microwaves, Blue light and even your Wi-Fi uses light signals that you cant see and many more. Ok so why is blue light so important. Blue light is predominantly seen in all artificial light, the house lights, televisions, computers, mobile phones to name a few. So what? Blue light inhibits our melatonin production. Melatonin is the natural chemical our brain makes when its time to get to sleep to rest and recover. As the night draws in, our eyes and body clock pick up this sense and the production of melatonin will begin. But what if my favourite TV programme is

4 on, or i m working late or messaging friends on my phone? Then you are stopping your melatonin production from being made and therefore you have no signals to and from the brain to send you to sleep. Oh okay, so what can I do? Nature always provides us with the answer, after all thats how we evolved. You need to cut out your blue light exposure. Some mobile phones now they have a blue light blocker function where by when its gets dark outside the screen changes a slightly different colour as it reduces the blue light that it emits. There is an application called Flux which can be used on desktop computers too. These light changes work in accordance with our circadian biology. You can also reduce blue light by stopping your TV exposure after sunset and avoid bright lights in the house. In addition to make things easier, you can buy some Blue Blocker glasses that you can buy them at a very reasonable price online. These are more ideal if you're someone that gets caught up at work, takes work home or has to travel to destinations that has bright lights late at night. Simply wear these glasses just after sunset, or at least a few hours before bed, to help block the blue light exposure getting into your eyes and over stimulating the brain. They come in a range of designs. Now that we have spoken about blue light and its negative effects, we also have red light which has positive effects. Whereas blue light blocks melatonin production red light has the opposite by helping us produce more melatonin. Having red light exposure before bed will help assist your natural sleep cycles so make sure you are exposed to red light more at night then blue light. 2) Routine and Hygiene Sleeping is more than just being unconscious for a number of hours each night. When we sleep our brains go through different stages of sleep patterns as we cycle through them. The two most important stages of sleep is Deep Sleep and REM sleep.

5 Deep sleep, like it suggests, is very deep, the brain and body is less active which helps you recovery from the days activities and keeps you healthy. Whilst REM sleep is a little more active and is important for brain rejuvenation and development of cognitive functions such as memory and creativity. REM sleep is where dreams occur. Both Deep and REM sleep make up a big chunk of a sleep cycle, which both help to allow you to wake up refreshed. Each sleep cycle will on average last around 90 minutes, therefore it is important to get 4 to 6 sleep cycles per night, meaning you should look at sleeping 6 hours, 7.5 hours or 9 hours per night or actual sleep. The average person can take 15 minutes to actually fall asleep, hence people are commonly told 8 hours sleep per night is recommended, allowing you time to unwind, relax and drift off. One thing that is slightly important than the amount of cycles you get, is the regularity of your sleep. There is a term called sleep hygiene and its simply making sure you are doing all the necessary rituals before bed and this includes going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time. The more your body can get into a regular routine then the better your body clock will be and the better the sleep cycles will be. Keeping in mind the above information about light, If you wake up in the night in need of the bathroom it is important that you don't turn on any light as this will make the body think its time to wake up, so avoid turning on light, except red light, or put on your blue blocker glasses if you do. The same goes with mobile phone, don't use them if you wake up and want to check the time, this will disrupt your sleep further. Upon waking you should get as much natural light exposure to help kick start your day-time body clock.

6 3) Food timing When it comes to food we should only eat when the sun is up as there is a direct link with food and our circadian rhythm. This means that food also tells our bodies what time of day it is. Once again, it is natural to be eating when awake and not when you are asleep, so eating late at night will be telling your body that its still day time and therefore it can reduce your natural sleeping patterns. Disturbed sleep raises your stress hormone levels of cortisol and it is perfectly natural to wake up with higher cortisol levels than the rest of the day. However if you have disturbed sleep, you are increasing these levels and your body will feel very stressed upon waking, which isn't going to set you up for a good day. It is recommended that upon waking, you consume a glass of water with some himalayan/ pink salt and a slice of lime. This is a nice combination and the himalayan salt doesn't taste as bad as white table salt. Note: do not use white table salt for this morning drink. The himalayan/ pink salt helps to buffer the adrenal glands which produce the cortisol and the lime reduces any residue acidity from the body of the activities of the day before, as well as being a good antioxidant. You should therefore only eat during day light hours. One thing that is recommended to consume right before bedtime is camomile tea as this is known to have calming effects on the body.

7 Here are a list of vitamins and minerals you should ensure your body has enough of for rest and repair: Vitamin D3 Magnesium (In a chelated form, which helps the magnesium get to the intestines for absorption, or use magnesium oil which can be sprayed on the body) Potassium Zinc B vitamins especially B6 CoQ10 Always aim to get these in a natural food source. If not then it is recommended to use high quality supplements. Ask your doctor for a blood test to check your Vitamin D3 levels are good. Make sure you are eating enough foods throughout the day and avoid low carb diets and ketogenic diets. Ensure that you don't go longer than a 12 hour fast each night. 4) Environment What we have already spoken about above all plays a part when it comes to setting up your environment for best sleep. Remember when it comes to electronics it is best to avoid having any form within the bedroom, no TV, no mobile phone, no laptop, no tablet device. Minimise electronic devices and keep the bedroom for bedroom use only and not as an office or living room. Best habits would also get you turning your phone on Flight/Airplane Mode as this reduces its electromagnetic frequencies or even better turn off the Wifi router and all other electronics with it as these are also producing the Wifi (light) signals. In addition it is important to have a cool room temperature between degrees as this will help with regulating the thyroid. Have the humidity around 40% and have blackout blinds to prevent any light from outside waking you up. Make sure you have a bed that you find comfortable, ideally sleep naked so the body isn't restricted and there are no compressed areas blocking blood blow or lymphatic drainage. You can also have house plants as they will help balance out the room environment.

8 Internal factors on sleep: 5) Lists The mind is a busy place, it is constantly bombarded with stimulation from the outside world and we generally go and make it more busier with work, deadlines, targets and house bills etc. A good place to start is to brain dumb all this information onto paper. We get stressed because this is all in our heads and we don't want to forget about it either but by writing things down we can have a sense of control over the situation. The 2 best lists to write is a To-Do list and a Gratitude list. Knowing what you got to do and writing it down will ease up the mind on worrying about what needs to be done and you wont forget it because as you wake up it will all be written down. You can also use this if you wake up in the middle of the night with some thoughts, simply write them down and then you can analyse them in the morning rather than thinking to yourself, what does that mean? Knowing what you are grateful for, is a great way to show progression and reward for your achievements, even if its having a chat with a stranger at a bus-stop, be grateful. We often miss the little things and sometimes they can make your day. Its nice to feel proud about what you have achieved rather than focusing on where you are going as when we do that, we miss interpret at how far you've come. 6) Meditation / Mindfullness Now this doesn't have to be a sit down, be quiet, don t move situation for hours on end. In fact it can be very short or you can meditate or be mindful when walking, running or doing some other form of exercises, as this allows people to focus purely on themselves or take in their surroundings. The main concept of meditation or mindfullness is to gain better clarity of yourself. We are often in stressful situations within the modern world so it is important to take a step back and reflect how you are doing. It gives you time

9 to calm your mind, focus on yourself and assess from an outside point of view, what your feelings and emotions mean to you personally, allowing you to become more refreshed. Very often we are overwhelmed and we can not understand our own reactions, but by spending time 5 to 10 minutes going through these thoughts it will help you understand yourself better. You can upgrade the power of your meditation through the use of Float Tanks. There are a number of facilities around which will hold these and they are d e s i g n e d t o r e d u c e t h e s e n s o r y information that the body senses, such as light, sound, temperature and even gravity, hence the name float tank. If you've never heard of these before, they are podlike shaped containers filled with water and loads of epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) which cause you to float. This sensory deprivation allows you to have transformational effects for your body and mind. Always understand that you are your own friend and you are there to help yourself and simply understand, so there is no need to get uptight, annoyed or angered by your thoughts or emotions. simply observe. Another option here is to listen to some Binaural beats / Meditation music as these are designed to help the listers brain waves slow down through their natural progression towards meditation and sleep.

10 As an exercise, you could go for a short walk an hour before bed and simply observe your surroundings, observe yourself (your breath, your walk, the speed you walk), observe your thoughts and emotions of the days activities or something that may have been bothering you so you can settle it down. Do this for 5 minutes at the most to start and just be curious. Then once you've done that continue walking and spend the next 5 minutes on your Gratitude list. You don t always have to write this down, just think of it. Think of 5 things that you are grateful for from the day. Then once you get back home spend another 5 minutes jotting down notes on a to-do list, nothing over complicated, just 3 to 5 points to help jog the memory of what needs doing after you wake up. This exercise I have given you, combines many of the above strategies for improving your sleep. 1) You ll be out of the house so you will be reducing artificial light stimulation and electronics. Also ideal if you leave your mobile at home. You may still wish you wear the blue blocker glasses as you ll still receive blue light from street lighting, car head lights and shops. 2) You ll get into a routine if you do this a specific time before bed as part of your sleep hygiene. 3) You ll be avoiding the desire for food after dark as you are outside so you cant walk to the fridge for a snack. 4) You get to focus on yourself, relax, get some exercise in the form of walking and clear your head, whilst coming back feeling grateful and in control as you know what actions to take the next day according to your todo list. 5) Listen to some Binaural beats / mediation music.