Introduction
Getting enough quality sleep is the single most beneficial thing you can do for your physical and mental health. If you consistently fail to get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep per night, you’re effectively putting yourself at a disadvantage before the day has even begun.
What is ‘sleep’?
Before we delve any further though, what do we actually mean by ‘sleep’? Put simply, humans experience two main types of sleep, REM and Non-REM. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement sleep, and this is associated with dreaming. Non-REM sleep stands for Non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep, and this is associated with deep sleep. Humans will cycle between these two types of sleep every 90 minutes, like a sort of perpetual sleep rollercoaster. It isn’t quite that simple, as the different types of sleep do different things to your body at different points in the night, but those are the basic principles.
The effect of sleep on the body
In what ways does sleep help the body? Well, the research indicates that getting sufficient sleep helps to reduce the risk of virtually all lifestyle-related diseases, such as obesity, heart-disease, high-blood pressure, and diabetes. This is because sleep plays a crucial role in hormone regulation, as nearly every hormone in the body is released in response to your sleep-wake cycle (or ‘circadian rhythm’ if you want to sound sophisticated).
Unsurprisingly then, insufficient sleep will also have a negative effect on your diet and exercise. Poor sleep disrupts the delicate hormone interactions responsible for hunger, fullness, fat and blood-sugar regulation, making it harder to lose weight, as you’re likely to have a larger appetite and a slower metabolism. Equally, in relation to exercise, sleep deprivation decreases the amount of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) produced in the body, which is responsible for muscle development and tissue repair.
Tips for improving sleep:
1. Regularity
The human body generally responds well to regularity and routine. Our circadian rhythm is no exception to this, so try to maintain the same sleep pattern throughout the week, including weekends.
2. Temperature
Your core temperature needs to drop by about 1°C for you to fall asleep, so keeping your bedroom cool will aid this process. Open the window or invest in an electronic cooling mattress topper. Simple as.
3. Darkness
In a world of light pollution and electronic devices we have lost touch with darkness, but it’s a crucial component for good sleep. Our body needs darkness to trigger a hormone called melatonin, which effectively helps to make us sleepy. In the evening, try to limit screentime and dim the lights if possible.
4. Association
The bedroom needs to be a place your body associates with sleeping, not infinite scrolling on TikTok. Try not to spend too long in bed before sleep/after you wake up. Equally, if you can’t fall asleep for whatever reason, get up and do something else rather than lying there in frustration. You wouldn’t stand in the kitchen waiting to get hungry, so why lie in bed waiting to get sleepy.
5. Alcohol & Caffeine
In short, neither are beneficial to sleep:
Caffeine:
- Caffeine is a stimulant with a half-life of 5-6 hours, and a quarter-life of 10-12 hours. For example, if you drank a cup of coffee at noon, a quarter of that caffeine would still be in your system at 10pm.
- Resultantly, try not to consume caffeine after late morning.
Alcohol:
- Alcohol is a sedative, which is why many people treat it as a sleep aid, but sedation is not sleep.
- In fact, alcohol will actually inhibit your usual sleep cycles, making your sleep fragmented and decrease overall sleep quality significantly.
Overall, whilst it may be possible to sleep with caffeine and alcohol in your system, the quality of this sleep will be poor. Ideally, avoid caffeine after late morning and ditch the alcoholic nightcap altogether.
Summary:
Short sleep predicts all-cause mortality. In other words, the less you sleep, the sooner you die. Going to bed at the right time is an investment in tomorrow, not a sacrifice for today.
Further Reading:
If you’d like to delve deeper into the science behind sleep, I have compiled a short reading list of the resources which helped to inform my understanding of the topic.
BBC. (2022) ‘Dr. Matt Walker: Why We Sleep.’ The Joe Wickes Podcast: Series 3. [Online audio] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0cg61xv
Smith, J. (2020) Not A Diet Book. London: Harper Collins.
TED Talks. (2020) Sleep Is Your Superpower- Mathew Walker. [Online Video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MuIMqhT8DM
Walker, M. (2017) Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams. New York: Scribner.