How do you sleep?
I am sure you are aware that lack of sleep, especially over a period of time has an affect your concentration, mood, emotions and motivation. There are many ways in which your sleep maybe affected:
Maybe you:
- Struggle to get to sleep (unable to switch off)
- Insomnia
- Wake-up and unable to get back to sleep
- Have very light sleep
- Sleep for less than 6-hours
- Wake-up still feeling exhausted
- A heavy snorer or partner is a heavy snorer
- Have sleep apnoea
- You have children who wake you up
- You need to go to the toilet
In fact, in the Horizon documentary with Michael Mosley (How to sleep well) he stated that 1/3 of people struggle with sleep and during the pandemic there was a sleep crisis with 1 in 2 people identifying they struggled to get a good night’s sleep. A study conducted by the University of Oxford found the average nights sleep from a group of 2700 was 6-hours 48-minutes. Which is lower than the recommended 7-9-hours for an adult. You can find the link to the documentary here
Whatever your reason is for not having 7-9-hours sleep, the affects can be the same.
So, what affects can a poor night’s sleep have?
Short-term
- Feeling tired
- Poor concentration
- Lack of motivation
- Low mood
- Overeating
Long-term
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Obesity
- More likely to pick up illness and infections
- Alzheimer’s
Having a good night’s sleep can help:
Immune System
Improve the functioning of your immune system – During sleep it has been said parts of the lymphatic system accelerate to help the body fight off or recover from illnesses and infections. It can also help strengthen the body’s immune memory where it can recognise, remember and react to an antigen (An antigen maybe a virus, chemical, toxin) to protect you from future allergies, illness, infections. (Sleep Foundation)
Regulate Emotions
This occurs during the rapid eye movement (REM) phase of sleep where it processes these emotional memories to make sense of them. It has been suggested that during REM your body is in a relaxed state and is therefore able to process and make sense of your daily emotional memories. So that when you wake up the next day, what happened the previous day may not seam as severe. (BBC)
Endocrine System
Improve your endocrine system – Sleep can help regulate your hormones. For example the growth hormone is released during sleep which aids in protein production, muscle development, metabolism. Therefore a good night sleep can help you recover from injury quicker and help regulate your metabolism to stabilise your weight. (Healthline) As you sleep the hunger hormone leptin increases as ghrelin decreases. This decrease in ghrelin is what to reduces the feeling of being hungry and lowers the want to overeat.
Tips for a Good Night Sleep:
- Set a daily bedtime routine.
- Do not engage in any technology 1-hour before bed – the blue light reduces sleep hormone melatonin.
- Dim the lights in bedroom/bathroom.
- Do not have bedroom too hot, ideally between 18 – 20 degrees.
- De-clutter your bedroom
- Use deep breathing or relaxation techniques when get in to bed. (See me sleep video below using serenity)
- Try counting as you do deep breaths, breathe in for 1, out for 2, in for 3 and so on, only count-up to 10 and restart from 1.
- Snack on healthy foods 1-hour before bed if waking-up hungry.
- Wash/clean teeth in dim light or an hour before bedtime.
- Wake-up at the same time every morning
- If you haven’t fallen asleep within 15-minutes, get up and do something else, then try again, continue this until pattern.
- Have an afternoon nap between 1-4pm for approximately 30-minutes.
- Complete my self-care hand reflexology routine here. Try doing this every night an hour before bedtime, then when you get in to bed.
Reflexology and Sleep
Reflexology can be hugely beneficial for sleep even after just 1-treatment. My clients are always amazed at how well they sleep after a session. Regular sessions can help to make sure that those good nights sleep continue throughout the week.
I had a fantastic sleep and was amazed how affective it is towards the well being of the mind and body. It was lovely and relaxing. I can’t wait to have another session!
Tracey
Why?
Because it is hugely relaxing and works by stimulating the nerve endings to all the body’s systems. The aim is to rebalance the body and kick start it’s natural healing process by relieving any build-up of physical and emotional tension in the reflexes leaving you feel calmer.
Are you struggling with sleep?
Call Nicola on 07889137168 to book your appointment or to chat how reflexology can help you sleep.