To maintain good energy throughout the day and your life, you must have plenty of uninterrupted sleep. Note, I didn’t say how many hours of sleep or when to go to bed or wake up. I said, “plenty of uninterrupted sleep” which means how deeply relaxed you are when you are asleep.
What’s in it for you?
Sleep has a crucial effect on the health of your nervous system. While you sleep, the glymphatic system starts detoxifying the brain of neurotoxic waste proteins: think of it as a beneficial cleanse for your brain. This prevents the accumulation of amyloid (responsible for dementia). Sleep deprivation does just the opposite.
While you are in the 3rd and 4th stage of sleep, your body experiences:
- Deepest and most restorative sleep
- Blood pressure drops
- Breathing becomes slower
- Muscles are relaxed
- Blood supply to muscles increases
- Tissue growth and repair occurs
- Energy is restored
- Growth hormone is released, essential for anti-aging, growth, and muscle development
- Cortisol is slowly increasing through the night to promote alertness and high energy in the morning.
But for that to happen your sleep must be uninterrupted for a while. And this depends heavily on what you do throughout the day.
Your Lifestyle Choices Have an Impact
Know and be consistent with your circadian rhythm.
I suggest waking up and going to bed at the same time every day. It’s worth making an effort to test this for a few weeks, especially If you need to improve your sleep.
The biochemical processes in your body are happening according to your circadian rhythm and greatly depend on the state of you being asleep or awake. Your digestion, muscle repair, cell regeneration, and everything else depend on it. Creating a consistent daily routine will help your body to create a predictable pattern of smooth uninterrupted operation.
In addition, your genetics have a say in your seasonal sleep/awake pattern. It is very useful to know your genetic profile so you can predict and correct certain symptoms before they appear.
Exercise is great, but not late in the day. I suggest some light stretching for a few minutes to get blood circulation in your tendons and ligaments. It will help you feel more energetic in the morning.
Nutrition. The best way to help your body to rest is to ensure your digestion and nervous system are not overwhelmed with working hard to process heavy food you just had before bed. As a rule, the food and drink you have throughout the day greatly affect not only your sleep but your life in general, affecting even the way you think and perceive events around you.
Genetics have a big impact on the way you digest and extract good molecules from your food. Vitamin synthesis is a very unique process for everybody. I love the DNA test I offer in my practice because it’s comprehensive and practical, and gives you a roadmap to optimal nutrition.
Light exposure at night plays a big role in melatonin and serotonin production. You should block “blue” light because it tends to irritate your nervous system. This is a well-researched fact and I suggest, if you are interested, read more about it.
At all costs, avoid overstimulation for at least one hour before bed. It is not unreasonable to get noise-blocking headphones and avoid contentious topics with family or unwanted phone calls. As a rule, avoid watching or reading news late at night. Every rule has exceptions, but they must be rare ones or they will bring health consequences. I believe that late-night news is designed to air at night so you will wake up still thinking about it. I think it’s a smart marketing effort by the news media, and they may not be aware of the impact on your health.
If you go to bed with a clear, positive mind, you will wake up with that same state of mind.
Create a bedroom environment specifically for relaxation. There is great value in removing TV from your bedroom. Relaxing colors, soft light of yellow/red tones, and your choice of quiet or pleasant nature sound like rain or ocean waves. It will help your nervous system to calm down and start preparing your entire body for your nightly regenerative routine.
These are some of my favorite 100% herbal sleep supplements. Give it a try and purchase it from Fullscript (fully HIPAA compliant meaning your information is secure) – they guarantee freshness and great customer support.
Dr. Maya Sarkisyan
If this information picked your curiosity, let me know by emailing me [email protected] and ask for more interesting and relevant information.
Stay tuned and discover “The True Story About Your Health”.
