How sleep is the greatest asset to our physical and mental health. How’s your sleep?
Evolution has not given us any better tool to aid our physical and mental health than sleep. There is no method of ‘banking’ sleep or catching up with sleep after a period of sleep deprivation. Mother Nature has given us a function to store fat in case of famine evolved from when we were hunter and gatherers and would have periods of feast and famine, however sleep cannot follow the same process. Therefore we need to sleep well to help our body to recover and heal from illness and to deal with the stresses and pressures of modern day life.
When we sleep our body does some amazing things.
The brain is busy processing the input of the day, removing the intense emotion from memories and playing over interactions and things learned. This process happens during Rapid Eye Movement sleep (REM) and is crucial for our wellbeing and emotional regulation each day. This happens during the second part of our sleep cycle.
The first part of the sleep cycle is our deep sleep (non REM) the deeper the sleep the more powerful the depth of the brain waves and is also crucial for our health.
We don’t want to skip either stage of sleep and so it is important for us to get on average between 7-9 hours each night.
It is normal to regularly stir from sleep throughout the night as the brain goes through the different stages of sleep, some people just turn over in bed, others open their eyes or visit the bathroom. If the wakeful period is not longer than 20 minutes then this is not detrimental to your sleep process as explained by Professor Matthew Walker, sleep scientist.
Society has not put enough positive focus on sleep. There is a work mentality in our society that to be a high achiever, sleep takes second place to finishing a deadline or a project. However if this focus was changed to one of sleep being an asset to productivity when sufficient hours of sleep are gained, then productivity and quality of work would increase.
So how do we get a better night’s sleep?
The body has certain conditions that aid sleep.
Getting sunlight into your eyes as early as possible is scientifically proven to help set your circadian clock which is the clock our body works to. Sunlight helps to trigger the cortisol pulse that gets us going in the morning. Even if it is cloudy outside there is still sufficient light to act as a catalyst for this chemical process that then leads to us having more energy to get on with the day. It is important that the light is low in the sky from the early morning sun as this process is less effective when the sun is overhead at midday.
As this circadian clock moves toward the end of the day the light intake is just as important to then encourage a sleepy state. Viewing low level light, such as the sun at sunset then helps the body to know it is moving toward the end of the day and more sleep chemicals are produced to aid sleep.
Research has shown that any artificial light between the hours of 11pm - 4am will have a negative impact on your sleep due to the chemicals in the body that are generated from the light. If you find yourself being wakeful during these times you may be tempted to reach for your phone, but be aware this will be giving your brain the signals to stay awake rather than go back to sleep.
Using sunlight early in the morning to aid sleep hygiene
A good night's sleep also helps keep a healthy weight.
How? For a few reasons.
The body produces hunger hormones that tell us if we are satisfied from eating and if we are still hungry. These hormones are called leptin and ghrelin and science has proven that when the body is sleep deprived these hunger hormones act in the opposite way. Leptin that should tell us when we are satiated instead does not give our brain these signals and so we think we need more food to satisfy us. Equally ghrelin that gives us the signals that we don’t need any more food acts in the opposite way and we get the message that we are still hungry.
The hunger we feel when we are sleep deprived makes us 20-30% more hungry and it is not for the healthy food or proteins, it is for carbohydrates and stodgy food along with easy to consume sugars.
A lack of sleep also reduces the performance of our Prefrontal Cortex of the brain where we make proper assessments of situations and that leads us to make healthy choices around food. Therefore if this part of the brain is less active we make food choices that are more around how we feel emotionally or what will give us a quick fix.
Sleep helps emotional wellbeing
Our emotional health also benefits from a better night’s sleep. If you reflect on a time when you have been sleep deprived I imagine that there has also been stress, more emotions and feeling less able to cope with life. A good night’s sleep also benefits mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. It would be great if GPs could ask about sleep routines and quality of sleep when asking for help with mental or physical health issues. However the time focused on sleep for GPs when training is 1-1.5 hours out of years study.
What else can get you back on track to sleep better?
Hypnotherapy can be very effective in helping you get more sleep and a better quality of sleep for the following reasons:
Hypnotherapy helps manage stress and anxiety that can cause problems when trying to get to sleep and create wakeful periods in the night
Hypnotherapy helps to embed better habits that aid a better sleep routine
Builds a focus of self care so that sleep can be made a priority
Teaches self hypnosis that can be used when struggling to get back to sleep in the night
Hypnotherapy allows you to feel more relaxed more often so that falling to sleep at night comes more easily
Reduces worries about close relationships and work that can accumulate in a ‘stress bucket’ and impact on the quality of sleep
Provides your own hypnosis audio to fall asleep to each night
Finding a qualified hypnotherapist near you: as hypnotherapy is just as effective online then finding the right therapist for you couldn’t be easier. Just check that they are registered with either National Council for Hypnotherapy, Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy, Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council.
