11 - How to get a good night’s sleep
At the height of my best sleep ever days, I was using an app with a friend and we compared sleep. Mine was like a flatline every night – straight in to deep sleep and beautiful cycling through the levels until I woke bright eyed in the morning. I wasn’t on sleep medication, because sleep like that usually doesn’t come from medication, natural or otherwise. Sleep like that usually comes form habits that support it.
This is best understood by realising that sleep is the result of specific hormones, impacted by certain neurotransmitters and other hormones and the gut microbiome and the nervous system. Which is why sleeping tablets are a poor substitute for living in a way that supports these functions – no sleeping tablet at the pharmacy improves neurotransmitters and the gut and balances hormones. They are not addressing the reason why sleep is broken. To get good sleep – begin by getting the foundations in place, on step at a time. After you read this article I am going to ask you to choose just 3 actions which you can take to begin improving your sleep foundations.
Your morning ritual
I’ll confess, I’m a little bit woo. I love a morning ritual – whether saying affirmations in the shower or writing morning pages, I’m on board. When it comes to improving sleep though, there are three very specific aspects to a morning ritual that count.
Don’t sleep in. You don’t have to be part of the 4am club – in fact, I’d suggest don’t be. I wake between 7-8am and this is fine. But don’t get in to a habit of sleeping until midday when you can and having a waking schedule that is all over the place. Getting up at a consistent time helps to establish your cycle of cortisol and melatonin (which act in opposition to each other and need to be balanced)– which will help you at night when it’s time to get to sleep.
Get natural light early. Once you’re awake, get some natural light as soon as you can. Ideally this occurs between 6am- 8.30am. This is super important as the light receptors in our eyes send a signal to our pineal gland to stop melatonin production, which resets the circadian clock. Outside light is infinitely better for this purpose than indoor and artificial light, even on dull days. If you can get outside for 30 minutes that’s awesome, but even a few minutes in the morning and again on a lunch or coffee break later on helps. Do what is possible in your situation, it all counts.
Exercise is great for overall health at any time of day, but when it comes to optimising our hormonal response to exercise to best regulate our circadian clock and get better sleep at night – morning is best. Exercise increases stress hormones such as cortisol, and also increases our core body temperature, so too close to bedtime can worsen our sleep. Morning exercise makes the most of the rise in cortisol to regulate circadian rhythm, and later afternoon exercise can stimulate a rise and subsequent drop in temperature that helps too. Resistance or weight training builds better muscle quality by increasing the mitochondria (energy creating factories) in muscle cells and releases the optimum hormones for sleep regulation.
Eat to sleep
Like anyone, I grew up hearing the phrase “you are what you eat”, and took it as fairly metaphorical old wives’ wisdom. The further I got in my naturopathy studies though, the more I realised that this truism is literal. Our body is quite literally constructed and run by the products we absorb in the food we eat. This goes for sleep too, how you eat will either help or harm your efforts for a good night’s sleep. Here’s the key dietary factors for a good night’s sleep:
The timing of food has a massive impact on health, and I couldn’t be happier to see time restricted eating (also known as intermittent fasting) making a comeback. It helps with so many metabolic and hormonal issues. A good place to start if you want to improve your sleep is by having your last meal of the day early, and not snacking or taking in any calories for at least 2 hours before bed, more if you can. This means to get to bed by 10pm, have dinner before 8pm and only consume water or unsweetened herbal tea after that point. This prevents reflux when you lie down, a common disruptor of sleep. It also means that the distracting sense of fullness of digestion will have passed and your body can relax and allow sleep.
Drink enough water and herbal tea throughout the day. Although it’s not exactly precise, aiming for 2 litres of fluids per day is a great place to start. Dehydration can disrupt sleep so preventing it removes this obstacle. The body uses a lot of water during sleep as the glymphatic system (watery glymph fluid washes the brain during sleep) and sleep also regulates immune functions such as the lymphatic system which helps remove waste products from our immune system from our bodies.
Support your microbiome. Our gut microbiome is key for many functions originating in the gut, including serotonin production. Although serotonin is known as a neurotransmitter related to mood, many people aren’t aware that it is mostly produced in the gut, and it is a precursor to the hormone melatonin. So to support melatonin production you need a good supply of serotonin (see my article on nutrition for mood support here) and this needs a healthy microbiome. The two best ways to eat to support your microbiome are to have a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts and ancient grains in your diet – the more varied your plant intake, the more varied your microbiome. The other is to have fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, miso or tempeh daily to introduce more good bacteria to your microbiome.
Magnesium is a key nutrient required to balance our stress response and support the mental and physical relaxation required for a good night’s sleep. During times of stress sour need for it increases, so in this day and age many of us have insufficient intake. Magnesium rich foods include leafy green vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains. It can also be absorbed topically by applying magnesium oil or spray or taking a bath with magnesium flakes.
Caffeine and alcohol both disrupt sleep by differing mechanisms. Caffeine has along half life, so stopping caffeine intake by 2pm is a great idea to improve sleep. Caffeine blocks the receptors in our brain which recognise that we are tired, so it doesn’t actually help our energy levels but rather masks our fatigue. Caffeine is not a substitute for sleep! Alcohol can act as both depressant and stimulant on the brain, with the stimulation often occurring after falling asleep. So we can fall asleep ok but the quality and depth of our sleep is impacted.
Get in the zone
Ever fall asleep at a nightclub? No? Me, either. Okay – I did once at 5am after a long week. But normally we don’t, because that environment is specifically designed to stimulate us. We need the opposite to calm our nervous system and stimulate restful hormones to help us sleep.
Dim the lights. In the evening after sunset, use dim lighting and preferably lamp light or candlelight not overhead lights. The tone of the light also matters – warm or red lighting is less stimulating than cold blue lighting. When you enter your bedroom, have it as dark as possible by using blockout curtains and removing or covering charger lights etc.
Keep it cool. Don’t overheat before bed. Our natural body temperature cools down overnight, and when we override this we disrupt the quality of our sleep. Set the thermostat for between 15-18 degrees Celsius.
Get the most supportive mattress you can. If we’re getting enough sleep then we spend 1/3 of our life lying on our mattress. Pain is a key disruptor of sleep so make sure your mattress supports the natural alignment of your spine and experiment with pillows until your neck feels comfortable. You may also need to use body pillows to adjust your positioning if you have an injury. If you wake up feeling like your mattress is trying to kill you, you can be sure the quality of your sleep is suffering too. Also be aware that new mattresses have volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that off-gas, affecting the quality of the air you breath and potentially impacting your hormones. If you’re buying a new mattress, as well as back support consider organic or low VOC.
On the topic of air quality – make the air quality on your bedroom as fresh as possible by opening the windows/airing it, using an air purifier or keeping an indoor plant. Go for low-VOC products when buying any new carpet, paint or furnishings and inspect your bedroom (and house) for damp walls and signs of mould.
Your night time ritual
I bet when you started this article you were expecting something on an evening routine to improve sleep. Well, you’re totally right – how we wind down impacts which hormones we are releasing, and as we know, sleep is largely hormonal. Anything that might release stress hormones such as late night study or work, scary movies or running around catching up on every household task will impact your sleep, so finish these activities at least a couple of hours before bedtime. Awesome things to do at night instead:
A warm bath. We don’t want a raise in temperature right before bed as we need to allow out body’s core temperature to drop to signal sleep. But raising our body temperature about 90 minutes before bedtime instigates an attempt by our body to drop the temperature after the bath, supporting the natural cooling of our core. This helps signal “sleep” to our brain and hormones.
Apply magnesium either in the bath as magnesium flakes or as magnesium body oil. This helps relax the muscles, and can improve our blood levels of magnesium, helping mental relaxation also.
If you have a lot on your mind, allocate some time to deal with your worries whether by taking an action you need to take, talking it over with someone, allowing yourself a good cry or journaling. Lying in bed at night stewing over our stresses can be hard to avoid in some situations but is not a helpful habit when it comes to our sleep. Racing thoughts stimulate cortisol which dis-regulates sleep at night. Get the supports you need to empty your mind a little.
Meditation is a wonderful tool to lower cortisol levels. You can do this as part of your wind down routine, or even after lying in bed. You may like to begin by listening to a meditation app, but select apps such as Headspace which teach you the tools so you can meditate independently also.
Where to start
Go through the article again and choose one action which is the easiest for you to implement. Choose a second that you think will make the biggest difference, and a third that is a one-off action. Write these three actions down and choose one to begin with, adding one more each week.
When to get help
You can get extra support on any stage of addressing sleep issues. If you believe stress and worry is impacting your sleep, then accessing therapy services will be a vital aspect of addressing your insomnia. Likewise, if you are waking up in physical discomfort, then accessing a bodywork therapist will help also. If you have implemented the above approaches and still struggle, asking your doctor to refer you for sleep studies may diagnose your particular underlying issue. Seeing a natural therapist can help you address dietary, lifestyle changes and prescription of appropriate herbs and nutritional supplements to help.
If you’d like support with diet, supplemenst and lifestyle, book in your free discovery call here.
References
Baron, K. G., Duffecy, J., Reutrakul, S., Levenson, J. C., McFarland, M. M., Lee, S., & Qeadan, F. (2021). Behavioral interventions to extend sleep duration: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews.
Farhadian, N., Alipourian, A., Zereshki, E., & Khazaie, S. (2020). Relationship of sleep hygiene related factors with sleep quality among university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Scandinavia Journal of Sleep Medicine, 57-63.
Selvanathan, J., Pham, C., Nagappa, M., Peng, P. W., Englesakis, M., Espie, C. A., . . . Chung, F. (2021). Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in patients with chronic pain - a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Sleep Medicine Reviews.
Stevenson, S. (2016). Sleep smarter: 21 essential strategies to sleep your way to a beytter body, better health and bigger success. Hay House.
Wang, F., & Boros, S. (n.d.). The effect of physical activity on sleep quality: a systematic review.
Zuraikat, F. M., Wood, R. A., Barragan, R., & St-Onge, M.-P. (2021). Sleep and diet: mounting evidence of a cyclical relationship. Annual Review of Nutrition.