06/29/2024
“If you don’t have sleep, you don’t have anything.” – Joyce Wagner
We’ve reached the end of the alphabet & perhaps we’ve saved the best post for last! Sleep is, without question, the most important part of your day. Adults (ages 25-65) need 7-9 hours of sleep (to determine the exact amount you need check out the sleep calculator below). Sleep affects every part of your health and mental health. High quality slumber is linked to longevity as well as happiness. When you sleep your body and brain repair themselves; REM sleep is when your brain actively works to solve the problems of the day.
Unfortunately, 64% of adults report difficulties sleeping. Getting a good night of rest is affected by a host of factors including age, stress & pain levels, snoring & sleep disorders as well a variety of mental health issues. The study of which environmental and behavioral factors influence your dreamtime is called Sleep Hygiene. I encourage you to check out the link below to see if there are simple adjustments you can make to improve your quality of sleep. I also must mention the singular most important thing you can do to improve your overall mental health: go to bed and wake at the same time each day!! Please, read that again and make this habit a priority in your life!
Sleep is a huge topic to cover. It comes up a lot in counseling and there are various interventions to try depending on what sleep issues you are having. For the remainder of this post, I just want to discuss a few of the wholistic things you can do to improve your zzz’s.
Let’s start with how you eat. Your diet has everything to do with how you sleep – for those trying to shed pounds please know the only time you lose weight is while you are asleep. Sleep deprivation disrupts appetite regulation and glucose digestion, often leading to increased appetite & less metabolism! Bottom line, people who sleep better weigh less (and vice versa).
To improve the quality and quantity of your sleep eat a larger breakfast, a medium lunch and a small dinner (with no rich or fatty food). Also, don’t drink alcohol – while it will first as a depressant on your system ~2 hours later you pop awake (as if you drank caffeine). If you are a light sleeper or tend to wake early (also known as late insomnia) try eating a healthy fat snack before bed. While not exactly diet related – if you are having difficulties with sleep try sleeping on your right side. Why (you might ask) … this closes your left nostril which dampens left brain – thinking – activity) – who knew!
Foods proven to help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer include chamomile, cherries, cinnamon, fenugreek, green tea, licorice root, probiotics as well as foods that include:
• GABA (walnuts, oats, spinach, beans, liver, mackerel)
• Healthy Fats (milk, eggs, cheese, avocados, nuts)
• L-Methyl folate/MTHFR/Folate (asparagus, broccoli, oranges, spinach, eggs, fish oil, etc.)
• Magnesium (spinach, figs, avocado, banana, beans, peas, asparagus, etc.)
• Melatonin (corn, asparagus, broccoli, walnuts, flaxseed. etc.)
• Stabilium (fish)
• Tryptophan (which breaks down to 5-HPT) – warm milk, eggs, cheese chicken
There are also a host of supplements (amino acids, antioxidants, glandulars, herbs, hormones, minerals & vitamins) which aid in sleep. I will put the evidenced based ones below - but encourage you to check with your health care professional before starting any regiment. Seriously, please don’t take supplements without consulting a professional. You need to buy quality supplements and should use ones that target specific issues you are having – even those that are “healthy” must be processed by your body. More importantly than buying a bottle of pills would be making the dietary changes that would incorporate these substances into your body naturally.
That being said, a gentle supplement to begin with would be the 3 sisters of sleep (valerian, passionflower & hops) – you can often find these blended together as a tea. Other options include:
• Cannabis
• Lavender
• Lactium
• Lithium Orotate, Lithium Protate
• Magnesium (what is found in an Epsom Salt bath)
• Melatonin (although this is often overused, especially in children – you may want to try other options first)
• Phenibut
• Primrose
• Progesterone (women); Testosterone (men)
• Skullcap
• Ylang-Ylang
• Vitamins: B3, B6, B12, B Complex or D
And then, let’s take a minute to talk about how you breathe while you’re asleep. For those who may be mouth breathers please know this practice dries your tongue, irritates your throat, increases blood pressure and leads to less oxygen in the brain. Mouth breathing also leads to insomnia, sleep apnea, snoring, bed wetting (and a host of other health and mental health issues). So, to improve your sleeping habits (and your health) it’s important to practice good oral posture and work to increase/improve your nasal breathing. I’ll put two links in the resource section below.
As I mentioned above, sleep is a complex issue, and other interventions may be necessary. If you are having sleep issues, I’m always happy to talk with you about what’s going on and your doctor is typically a good resource. However, for mild/moderate sleep issues try a couple of these proven suggestions and let me know how they worked. For now – happy dreaming!!
Resources:
• Sleep Calculator: https://startsleeping.org/sleep-calculator/
• Sleep Hygiene: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene
• Sleep Hygiene: https://www.thensf.org/
• Oral Rest Posture Recommendations: https://www.faceforwardomt.com/blog/2020/2/11/my-tongue-should-rest-where
• Oral Hygiene Exercise Overview: https://youtu.be/LpLJyytCpT0
