One of the leading symptoms of peri-menopause and menopause seems to be disturbed and poor sleep. We joke and say that we belong to the 2 am Book Club, but it is actually not funny, as we end up feeling exhausted all the time and struggle to cope with all the demands of our lives. Poor sleep will also sabotage your hard work in the gym. In this post, we will have a look at the effects of poor sleep on your wellness and also discuss a few of the recommended behaviours and supplements that could maybe help you.
In addition to the impacts on your health as indicated in the infographic, how exactly does sleep affect your fitness?
Sleep gives your body time to recover, conserve energy, and repair and build up the muscles worked during exercise. When we get enough good quality sleep, the body produces growth hormone. During childhood and adolescence, growth hormone makes us grow, and when we are older, it helps us build lean muscle and helps our body repair the micro-tear damage sustained during a hard workout. Growth hormone is essential for recovery and without sleep, your body will not be able to make the muscle adaptations necessary for you to make progress in your fitness.
Additionally, adequate sleep has been proved to help motivate people to stick to their exercise plans and work out the next day, according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. The more sleep time individuals in this study got, the more likely they were to complete their exercise regimen.
How Much Sleep Do You Actually Need?
How much sleep you actually need each night varies somewhat for each of us depending on our age (younger people typically need more sleep than adults) and our genes (some people are naturally shorter sleepers than others). Typically the sleep target for adults is between seven and nine hours each night, according to guidelines from the National Sleep Foundation.
How to Sleep Better
There’s no one fool-proof formula for getting a good night’s sleep, but there are several steps you can take that have been associated with better sleep overall if you’re struggling to clock the recommended number of hours of sleep you know you need — or if you wake up feeling less rested than you want to be.
It’s important to check with your doctor or a sleep medicine doctor if you think you do have a more serious problem, or of another medical condition is interfering with your sleep.
Stick to a consistent sleep-wake schedule.
Aim to go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time in the morning, including on the weekends — and try not to vary it more than an hour or so. The times that you regularly go to bed and wake up are the signals you give your body’s natural clock, and when they’re consistent, that clock helps you wake up and fall asleep. If those signals are out of sync, your circadian rhythm gets thrown off and you experience the same drowsiness associated with jet lag. You also may struggle to fall asleep at night or wake up when your alarm rings.
Limit caffeine intake.
Be especially careful with this later in the afternoon or early evening. Avoiding caffeine within six hours of when you want to sleep can greatly increase your chances of a restful night. Try to substitute your coffee with tea in the evening. Camomile tea is purported to be beneficial for sleep.
Exercise regularly.
Research shows that regular exercise (at least 150 minutes of activity per week) is associated with better sleep, though it’s worth noting you should try to avoid intense exercise too close to bedtime, as it may make it tougher for some people to fall asleep. That’s because an intense workout sends signals to the body that tend to wake you up, such as your heart rate and body temperature increasing. If you will be exercising late, avoid high intensity or cardio sessions.
Avoid bright lights and bright screens right before bed.
Blue light — the kind that comes from fluorescent bulbs, LEDs, and computer and cell phone screens — has been shown to actually send the same signals to the brain as sunlight, and block production of the hormone melatonin that tells the brain to go to sleep. Read more at: blue-light-has-a-dark-side.
If you can’t sleep, don’t linger in bed.
This means at night if you’re having trouble falling asleep for 20 minutes or longer, get out of bed and do something to make you tired, such as reading or some gentle stretching. Staying in bed makes your body associated in-bed time as awake time, and it will actually be harder to fall asleep as you build a habit of lying in bed awake.
Don’t linger in bed in the morning either, and don’t hit snooze.
It can be tempting to wake up slowly, but that drowsy sleep (after you’ve initially woken up) is fragmented, light sleep. If you did get a poor night’s sleep, your best remedy is getting up, going about your day, and hitting your pillow at bedtime that evening, at which point your sleep drive will be strong and you’re more likely to actually reap the benefit of the deep restorative sleep you need.
Supplements that could be of use:
- Melatonin: Melatonin is one of the most popular and well-studied sleep supplements.
- L-tryptophan: L-tryptophan (or tryptophan) is an amino acid that’s often associated with making you sleepy. Tryptophan is also found in chicken, fish, eggs, pumpkin seeds, milk, and cheese, among other protein-rich foods.
- Valerian: Valerian root acts as a mild sedative, promoting relaxation and improving sleep quality.
- L-theanine: L-theanine is an amino acid that is found in tea leaves.
- Magnesium: Magnesium helps relax the muscles and nervous system, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.
- Vitamin D: Low levels of vitamin D could be a risk factor for unhealthy sleep.
If you have any questions or would like to talk more about this, you may e-mail me on maaike@fitstrongsa.com or WhatsApp me on 0826562711.