Get Some Sleep

Get Some Sleep

“The foundations of good health are good diet, good exercise and good sleep, but two out of three doesn’t get you there,” says Dr. Anne Calhoun, a neurology professor at the University of North Carolina.

In the last four newsletters I have written about the importance of exercise – What Motivates You  https://thrivefitness.com.au/blog/what-motivate-you and good nutrition https://thrivefitness.com.au/blog/it-aint-about-the-ass-its-about-the-brain and today we will look at the importance of sleep on your health and fitness journey.

How many hours of sleep do you get per night? Five? Six? What would you do if I told you that you had to get at least seven, with an optimal of eight hours per night?

You may say, “But, Steve, I just do not have enough hours in a day to sleep eight hours! I am always rushing around, always trying to cram more into this day, and at the end of it, I barely have enough time to sit and have a cuppa in silence.”

Could that be where the challenge comes in? Your busy schedule? We are working long hours, driving children from the one activity to the next, we have to schedule our friends into our lives, we have to make time for our fitness journey, to say nothing of the normal everyday activities of cooking, cleaning and general housekeeping. I understand that you are busy. But is there anything that you can simplify or even do without?

The Slow Living movement has been getting more prominent recently. (There is currently  a program on one of the TV channels where a Slow Movement advocate  stepped in to help a family. Their nine year old child had 13 extracurricular activities. He sometimes had 13 hour days!  This is just not healthy!)

Here are a few suggestions where you can simplify your life and start working towards getting more sleep:

Limit your screen time.

Some families put their handheld devices in a box at the door when they come home at night. That way they ensure that they are focussed on one another and not on a screen. Have a cut-off time for television at night. Most programs can be watched at a later stage these days. It has also been proven that the light of handheld devices contributes to being more awake.

Reduce your extra curricular activities to one only.

That goes for children as well. They have far too little time to play and be kids. I have a friend who allows her kids to choose one extra curricular activity per six months. It’s also kinder on the budget.

Ban car trips under two kilometres.

Take a bicycle or walk.

Stop thinking about unproductivity as a waste of time.

You do not have to be busy at all times. It is more than all right to have times where you just sit and have a cuppa and contemplate things, or watch your children play, or the dogs running on the beach.  You may just find that the distance you give yourself from the hustle and bustle actually gives you better clarity and a new sense of purpose.

Sleep is important. Let’s look at the benefits of getting the prescribed seven to eight hours sleep:

– You will lessen your risk of cardiovascular disease.
With less sleep you have a 48% greater risk of developing or even dying from heart disease and you have a 15% greater risk of developing or dying from a stroke, according to an article in the Guardian of 9 February, 2011, titled Dangers of Sleep Deprivation.

– You may just see an improvement in your waistline! Sleep for seven to eight hours a night and the powerful hormones that control hunger will not be disrupted. The less sleep you get, the more stressed you will feel, the more stressed you are the more cortisol your body produces. Cortisol is what makes you crave carbohydrate rich foods and it rewards you by putting fat around your belly, which is where you do not want extra fatty deposits, because that is where your vital organs are.

If you are pre-diabetes seven to eight hours sleep will help you build up your glucose tolerance.

– Getting enough sleep will help your immune system to function optimally. An optimal immune system increases your ability to ward of infections, bacteria, viruses and many more.

– Sleep seven to eight hours at night and see how you smash your fitness goals! A tired body and mind just do not have the reserves to push through that barrier of improving and achieving the goals your set yourself.

It is important to schedule time to sleep into your daily plan. If you say that you do not have the time, something else will have to go in stead of your sleep.

Please let me know if you have any tips that you can share with the rest of my readers regarding slow living and getting more sleep, I love hearing from you.