Sleep sets the tone for your stress and hormones
We’ve talked about the importance of eating a bigger breakfast, and maintaining a consistent fasting and eating window.
Both are simple, achievable strategies that will help balance your blood sugar, boost your energy and reduce your risk for chronic illness.
Now let’s talk about the thing you’re doing during most of your fast: Sleeping.
While you’re sleeping, your body is doing all sorts of helpful things. You are recycling old cells, disposing of waste, repairing muscle tissue, even washing your brain and putting memories in long-term storage.
Your ability to do ALL of those amazing things depends on the amount of quality, restful sleep you get each night.
And the amount of quality, restful sleep you get each night depends on what you do long before you go to bed.
I shouldn’t have to remind you, but please stop drinking caffeine by 1pm at the latest. It’s great as a kickstart in the morning but will truly mess up your sleep if you drink it too late in the day.
Like we talked about last week, your body loves consistency, so stopping eating at the same time every night is key.
So is stopping eating 2-3 hours before you go to bed. You need time to switch over from “digesting” to “rest and repair”.
I also like to brush my teeth and do my bedtime things right after dinner which tells my brain to get ready for sleep soon.
Next, as your hormones switch over from “awake” hormones to “asleep” hormones, it’s important to reduce the amount of blue light.
This means turning down lights in your home and putting away tiny blue screens like laptops and phones at least an hour before bed.
(I know many phones now have “nighttime mode” which reduces the amount of blue light, which is a bit better, but still not great.)
You want to tell your brain that it’s getting dark and it will soon be time to sleep; blue lights from screens tell our brains that it’s time to wake up.
I know our busy lives often make us feel like we need to stay up to unwind without the kids, or for quality time with our partner.
But really, it’s worth turning in an hour or so earlier than you typically do to maximize the time your body has to rest and recover.
So if you usually hit the hay about 11pm, try 10 and see if you feel more rested in the morning.
Finally, we can’t forget about the importance of where you sleep. Your bedroom should be ONLY for sleeping (and sex).
It is not a second office. It is not an entertainment lounge.
Your bedroom should be dark, cool, and screen-free.
It doesn’t hurt to have a small lamp with a warm, dim bulb or even a salt lamp that diffuses light through a block of pink salt.
A note about alcohol: I know plenty of folks have a drink or two at night to “unwind”. But please consider that a drink or two might be doing more to disrupt your sleep than you realize. Even just a beer or a glass of wine can throw off your blood sugar and prevent deep, restful sleep.
Just to sum things up, here’s how to prepare for a good night’s sleep:
Stop drinking caffeine by 1pm
Stop eating food 2-3 hours before bedtime
Turn down lights and shut off screens 1 hour before bedtime
Make your bedroom a dark, quiet and cool sleep sanctuary
Go to bed an hour earlier than you normally do
Prioritizing quality sleep is one of the best things you can do for you for your energy, focus and mental health.
Just one disrupted night of sleep can put you into insulin resistance and lead you to make poor food choices the next day.
Improving sleep quality is one simple, achievable step you can take to boost your energy, lose weight and prevent chronic illness.
Sleep is often a big unlock for people struggling to get their weight under control and get back the energy and vitality they have been missing.
Your personalized health coaching program could include steps like these to improve your sleep. Instead of trying to tackle all these things yourself, couldn’t you use someone to give you the tools, support and accountability you need?
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