Is lack of sleep impacting your energy and stress levels?

Sleep matters big time. How much you have and the quality of it, matters significantly and not getting enough can impact your energy and stress levels.

As a busy working professional, you are likely to be sleep deprived. Scientists now know that, if you are consistently surviving on too little sleep (i.e. less than 7.5 hours of good sleep per night), you’re not going to be functioning at your best, focusing properly or thinking creatively. You are also sabotaging any attempts to take control of your fatigue and stress levels.

Sleep deprivation causes hormone imbalance. Ghrelin (the hunger hormone that makes you feel hungry) and leptin (the satiety hormone that tells you when you’ve had enough to eat) are majorly disrupted when you are not sleeping enough. So, after a night of lousy sleep, if you feel like you need to eat a banquet, it’s not all in your head but rather in your hormones. The feast you desire is going to be filled with high-carb, starchy foods and not the lovely healthy ones you might otherwise choose. This is likely to result in a roller coaster of spikes in blood sugar levels and crashes in energy levels.

If your diet is high in starchy carbs like bread, rice, pasta and sugars, you make more insulin, which creates blood sugar fluctuations at night, and these cause sleep disturbances. A sugar ‘crash’ at night triggers a release of cortisol to wake you up at the wrong time, and this can shift you out of deep sleep into a lighter sleep phase. Moving to a way of eating that balances your blood sugar helps significantly improve the quality of your sleep.

Lack of sleep also messes with stress hormones, and stress messes with your sleep. It’s a vicious circle and one particularly good reason why it is so important to take the time to unwind before hitting the sack. Cortisol is one of the main stress hormones. It should follow a specific pattern throughout the day, starting off low rising to a peak in the morning to get you out of bed and gradually tailing off towards evening time. Prolonged periods of stress can create an imbalance in this daily rhythm that may lead to cortisol levels being high come night-time. This could leave you feeling tired but wired i.e. your head is buzzing when you hit the pillow.

Here are a few tips to improve your chances of sleeping well.

DO...

Try to go to bed at the same time every day. Your body thrives on routine.

Keep the temperature in your bedroom comfortable; not too hot, nor too cold.

Keep the bedroom completely dark, so you’re not disturbed by light, which your brain detects even when your eyes are closed. Eye masks can be useful.

Spend time outdoors to soak up the sun.

Take some gentle stretching/aerobic exercise every day. A brisk walk ticks both boxes.

Relax before going to bed - a warm bath, massage, meditation.

Get a traditional alarm clock and keep your smartphone out of the bedroom.

DON’T...

Engage in stimulating activities – like watching an edge-of-the-seat film, or having an important conversation with a loved one.

Use smartphones/tablets - they interfere with sleep, because they emit the same kind of light as the morning sun.

Eat a heavy meal within 2 hours of going to bed.

Drink caffeine in the afternoon

Use alcohol to help you sleep.

Go to bed too hungry - a light healthy snack is fine.

Put getting more/better sleep at the top of your to-do list this coming week and see what a difference it can make.