According to Ana Nois, the Senior Clinical Physiologist in Neurophysiology and Sleep at Bupa Cromwell: The concept that certain foods may induce restful sleep has been accepted for many years. However, there has been a long debate which combination of foods actually promotes a better quality sleep. Tryptophan is an amino acid that is found in foods rich in protein, for example, turkey, steak, chicken, pumpkin seeds, nuts and peanuts; eating proteins in conjunction with a carbohydrate, for example, rice has been shown to make us sleepy and sleep more soundly.
In the Middle East, there’s a high consumption of foods rich in sugar. Foods rich in sugar may hinder sleep as increases the level of alertness. Therefore, people may experience a rise of energy levels making it difficult to fall asleep afterwards. Coffee is also very popular in the Middle East and other drinks rich in caffeine such as tea, chocolate, and general energy drinks such as a coca-cola stimulates the central nervous system, therefore increasing alertness and decreasing sleepiness.”
Sleep and Rest
According to Jane Gammage, Wellness Practitioner and life coach at Journey to Wellness and one of our guest speakers of our first #BringBackBalance event: Getting enough sleep and rest is vital when managing stress. Get into a good sleep routine and stick to it, as they say, early to bed, early to rise, makes a men healthy, wealthy and wise… People’s sleep needs vary but we should all be aiming for a good six to eight hours sleep a night.
There are people who sleep soundly for approximately five hours and then wake up for up to two hours and then go back to sleep for another three to four hours. This is not as abnormal or unusual as it may seem and it is called Biphasic sleep; it can be managed quite well once you know it is happening. The trick is not to allow yourself to become anxious about waking up as this just adds stress to your life and that is what we want to avoid. Rather:
- Stay in bed and remain relaxed
- Try to stay in the dark when you wake up, if you must turn a light on wear yellow or amber tinted glasses to counter stimulating blue light
- Listen to an audio book – have this set up ready to press play so that you do not have to fiddle around too much
- Meditate
If you are a Biphasic sleeper you will need to adjust your bedtimes accordingly to ensure that you are well rested.
In order to ensure that we sleep well we should be cognisant of our circadian rhythms – the twenty-four hour cycles all living beings follow; the cycle of light and dark.
In order to ensure that these rhythms function properly it is important that we spend time in the light and sleep in the darkest space we can. Spending at least fifteen minutes per day outside in daylight is beneficial to our bodies, as is ensuring that we wind down at night by :
- Using soft, yellow lights and not blue light as blue light stimulates the brain
- Turning off TVs, computer screens and devices at least one hour before going to bed
- Installing blackout curtains in your bedroom
- Wearing a sleep mask if the room is not dark
- Wearing yellow or amber tinted glasses in the evening to counter the stimulating blue lights of screens and light bulbs
In the morning, immediately upon waking, open curtains and take in the light of the day as this stimulates the body’s physiological processes into ‘daytime mode”.
These are the fundamental steps to ensuring a balanced body, and a balanced body is more able to cope with stress (to be resilient). There are however other ways to cope with stress and maintain a harmonious balance in our lives.
Sleep facts
- What we do know is that sleep plays a vital role in:o ‘filing away’ memories in your brain o improving your ability to learn o regulating metabolism(the way your body breaks down food into energy)
o reducing mental fatigue
- Humans spend around a third of their time sleeping. If you live to 90, the chances are you will have spent approximately 30 years asleep.
- An adult, on average, needs between seven to nine hours of sleep daily. However, this varies from person to person and decreases as we get older.
- There are 4 stages of sleep: The first phase is called non-rapid eye movement (NREM). This is where you spend most of your sleeping time. This phase has three different stages: N1, corresponds to feeling sleepy, N2 is a light stage of sleep, where you can easily be woken up, N3 is a period of deep sleep. The second phase is rapid eye movement sleep (REM), during which you tend to dream.
- Your sleeping habits can impact your appetite and weight negatively, and make you more susceptible to work accidents and longer reaction times when driving.
Tips for better sleep
- Don’t exercise close to bed time: Exercise is a good way to exhausts your body and mind in a positive way. Just avoid doing any vigorous exercise three to four hours before bed as it elevates adrenaline levels and heart rate, which will make falling asleep harder.
- Bye-bye technology: The blue light emitted by phones, tablets and TVs stops your body from producing the hormone melatonin3, which is essential for good sleep. If you do not switch off your phone before going to bed, putting it on silent and on “night shift” (mode in which the colours of your display are shifted to the warmer end of the colour spectrum) can help you get better sleep4.
- Temperature: The environment of the bedroom you sleep in plays a role in your sleep. Your bedroom needs to be cool and dark, as light and warmth slow the production of melatonin, our ‘sleep hormone’.
- Limited nap time: Limit your nap to 45 minutes or less, especially if you need to do something when you wake up. Otherwise you might drift into REM sleep. Waking up from that stage results in sleep inertia, that grogginess and disorientation that can last for 30 minutes to an hour or more.
- Stop the caffeine: Avoid caffeine for up to 6 hours before bedtime. The effect of caffeine on sleep depends on the amount ingested throughout the day, not just at bedtime. Caffeine consumption can cause extended sleep latency, shorter total sleep time, worsening of the overall quality of sleep and shortening of deep sleep7.
- 20 minute rule: If you are struggling to sleep, do not stay in bed tossing and turning. You will only get yourself frustrated and anxious, which will make it relaxing harder. If after 20 minutes you are still awake, get up and do something ‘boring’ or relaxing, such as reading of ironing, for 20 minutes then go back to bed.
- Regular bed time: A stable bedtime routine helps the heart filter out stress hormones5, as well as hormones related to satiety and hunger.
- Limited nap time: Limit your nap to 45 minutes or less, especially if you need to do something when you wake up. Otherwise you might drift into REM sleep. Waking up from that stage results in sleep inertia, that grogginess and disorientation that can last for 30 minutes to an hour or more.
- Stop the caffeine: Avoid caffeine for up to 6 hours before bedtime. The effect of caffeine on sleep depends on the amount ingested throughout the day, not just at bedtime. Caffeine consumption can cause extended sleep latency, shorter total sleep time, worsening of the overall quality of sleep and shortening of deep sleep.
World Sleep Day is an annual event, intended to be a celebration of sleep and a call to action on important issues related to sleep, including medicine, education, social aspects and driving. It is organized by the World Sleep Day Committee of World Sleep Society (founded by WASM and WSF) and aims to lessen the burden of sleep problems on society through better prevention and management of sleep disorders. As of 2016, World Sleep Day had a total of 394 delegates in 72 countries around the globe.
[This article is created with the research conducted by YouGov omnibus survey with a sample size of 1001 during the period between February and March 2017 and information provided by worldsleepday.org. These articles are a part of #BringBackBalance, a FoodeMag campaign in collaboration with Oman Insurance Company (OIC) and Bupa Global. A series of bespoke events follow at various venues for the next few months, so do stay tuned to enter the next competition to join us for our second event. Feature image: Pixabay]