Sleep

The three pillars of fitness are diet, training, and sleep. One could argue that sleep is the most important of the three. Getting sleep right can be one of the hardest things to achieve. I know it was for me and still gives me trouble. Americans are chronically underrested. Our culture makes us workaholics. Our jobs keep us busy, and our family responsibilities and stress make it difficult to sleep.

While we sleep, our operating systems recover. Our immune system is restored, our hormones are balanced, and our endocrine system recovers. The digestive system completes its tasks. Without good sleep, these systems can’t operate at peak efficiency. It is vitally important to get good sleep, not just any sleep, but at least seven and a half hours of quality sleep. As we get older, good sleep gets harder to come by, so we need to pay extra attention to it because it becomes even more important.

So, how do we get good sleep? For starters, you have to make it a routine, like training and diet. If you can, start winding down an hour before bed. Turn off your devices or at least switch off blue lights; many computers and cell phones have an option to turn off blue light at night. This is a good time to read a book or do something calming. Any lights at this time of night should be warm to bring calm feelings. Ideally, don’t eat or drink anything at this time. When you’re ready for bed, go to bed with the intention of sleeping. You don’t want your mind to associate your bed with wakefulness; it should be associated with sleep. Your room should be cool, between 65 and 70 degrees. Make it as dark as possible by turning off all lights and using blackout shades. Sometimes, white noise can help drown out any disturbances.

A healthy sleep position is on your side with your legs stretched out. It can be helpful to have a pillow between your knees to keep your spine straight. Sleeping on your left side helps with digestion and breathing. Many people, as they get older, have breathing problems and pain, which can lead to sleep apnea. If you are a little overweight or have a thicker neck, you may have a tendency toward sleep disturbances, which is dangerous. Sleep apnea can have a detrimental effect on your overall health. If you’re not getting good quality sleep, you’ll wake up tired, and your systems will be impacted. Your hormones will be out of balance. If you sleep on your back, your jaw tends to fall down, leading to sleep apnea. Breathing through your nose with your mouth closed is crucial. Some people even go as far as taping their mouths shut to learn this skill, but I wouldn’t recommend that. Practice breathing with your mouth closed throughout the day until it becomes a habit.

Soon after you fall asleep, you’ll enter a phase called deep sleep. During this phase, your body does a lot of recovery. Your heartbeat slows down, and you are totally relaxed. You won’t be conscious of dreams during this state, as it is very deep and solid sleep. This is a very important stage of sleep, and as you get older, you tend to spend less time in this stage. After the deep sleep phase, you enter REM sleep. This is another important stage of sleep where dreams happen. You may have little consciousness during this phase, but it is where your hormones are renewed. For men, especially, it is important to spend a lot of time in this phase. Waking up from this phase often results in an erection, which is a sign of good health. If you don’t dream and don’t wake up with an erection, something may be wrong. Having dreams every night is a good sign and indicates you’re getting good REM sleep.

To improve your sleep, consider some of these tips. Sleep was always a struggle for me, and the last challenge in my fitness journey. The thing that helped me the most was doing guided meditation with my wife, who is a meditation practitioner and coach. This changed my sleep behavior drastically. We would do guided Reiki meditation at night before bed, putting my mind in such a relaxed state that I would fall asleep by the end of the meditation. After about a month of doing these guided meditations, I had no problems getting to sleep. My mind used to be busy thinking about things, making it very stressful and hard to get to sleep. Now, even without the meditation, I go to sleep right away. The meditation put my mind at ease, and whenever I struggle, I can go back to it to relax my mind. This also changes your nighttime behavior and perception, helping your body and mind realize that bedtime means sleep.

Another important factor for good sleep is light. We talked about blue light and turning it off at night, as it causes alertness and wakefulness. However, light is important for setting your biorhythms and internal clock. When you wake up, go outside right at sunrise and see daylight for 15 minutes. This tells your body it is wake-up time. At night, go outside at sunset for 15 minutes to signal to your body that it is time for sleep. If you live in northern regions during the winter, this can be impossible. In that case, use sunlight-simulating light panels for about half an hour, as they are not as powerful as natural sunlight.

Are there natural supplements that help with sleep? The most common one is melatonin, which is naturally produced hormone by the body. As you get older, less melatonin is created. Studies on melatonin have not shown a direct impact on sleep, but for older people who produce less melatonin, it might help. It seems that taking melatonin for a few weeks can help set your clock, but long-term use is not effective. Tart cherry juice is known to help with sleep probably due to its high melatonin content so take that as you will. Other supplements that help relax the mind and muscles, thereby improving sleep, include ashwagandha and magnesium. Ashwagandha relieves tension and stress and relaxes the mind, while magnesium relaxes muscles. I have had good success using these supplements along with tart cherry juice to improve my sleep quality. Experiment to see what works best for you, and avoid addictive chemicals if possible. Something to consider is that combining them can give you some pretty vivid dreams and that’s not always great for sleep

Getting a good night’s sleep is almost like taking steroids for the effect it has on your performance, health, and well-being. If you are struggling with sleep, it will have a huge impact on your life, so work diligently on improving it. A good night’s sleep can add years to your life.