Unlock the Secrets to Better Sleep: Boost Your Health and Quality of Life with These Science-Backed Tips

Overview:  

Sleep is one of the pillars of recovery and, to be completely honest, one of the pillars of a healthy life. Sleep is a little more complicated than going to sleep and waking up. There are several complex phases or stages of sleep. Each stage will have its own purpose. When you get adequate time in each stage, you achieve quality sleep. Quality sleep more often than not leads to a better quality of life. In this post, I will do a brief run-through of sleep and how to improve it.  

Science of Sleep:  

There are four stages of sleep. They are divided into REM and non-REM sleep. The first three are non-REM. During the first two stages of sleep, the body is relaxing and slowing non-essential functions down. These phases are in preparation for the third, which is deep sleep. Deep sleep is when the body repairs itself. During deep sleep, the body is basically paralyzed. The body diverts almost all energy to repairing and preparing for the next day. It’s important not to be interrupted early in sleep because the deep sleep stage is the longest then. As the night goes on, this stage shortens. The last stage is REM (rapid-eye-motion) sleep. This is the stage where we dream. REM sleep is more important for the brain. Here you will lock in memories and learning. One complete cycle will include all four of the stages listed above. One cycle will be around an hour and a half or a little more. You should have around 4-6 cycles per night. We need 7-8 hours of quality sleep every night.  

There are many consequences of poor sleep. Some obvious side effects are poor energy and irritability. A lesser-known consequence is the body’s lower count of natural killer cells. Sleep is very important for the immune system. With inadequate sleep comes the inability for the body to protect itself. Natural killer cells kill cancerous cells in the body. That alone is plenty enough a reason to get better sleep. You might have heard of circadian rhythm. This is our biological clock. This clock determines when certain hormones should be released and when they need to be cut off. With poor sleep comes a clock out of rhythm. When our hormones are off kilter, this leads to many more problems, like those associated with bad mental health. This can turn into a nasty cycle. Bad sleep leads to bad mental health, which then leads to worse sleep.  

Improving Sleep:  

Improving your sleep is not complicated. There are a handful of major components to getting the best sleep possible. First, I’ll talk about the time leading up to bedtime. Within 1-2 hours of sleep, you’ll want to heavily limit exposure to bright light, especially your phone. If you have trouble doing so, I recommend getting good-quality nighttime glasses that block out blue and green light. You should also have the ability to make your phone change to grayscale. You will also want to steer away from drinking heavy amounts of fluid before bed because that increases the chances of you having to wake up in the middle of the night. I also recommend not eating too close to bedtime because this can affect sleep quality. If you have trouble relaxing, you can try taking a magnesium supplement. APN’s Function supplement is exactly that. This will help your muscles relax. Another thing I like to do is journal. This can help with having a busy brain. Sometimes getting those thoughts onto paper is just enough. Reading before bed is also a good strategy. Next, the environment. You’ll want the temperature in the room to be somewhere around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The room needs to be as dark as possible. Sound should also be kept to an absolute minimum. If you have a problem with sound, you can get earplugs. I highly recommend that you do not use a melatonin supplement. This messes up the body’s timing and amount of melatonin it releases. You do not want your body to rely on an outside supplement unless absolutely necessary. Going to bed on time and getting up on time helps with the body’s release of hormones. Exercise also improves the quality of sleep unless it’s close to bedtime. This is because exercise raises cortisol levels. You do not want to raise cortisol levels close to bedtime.   

If you are having serious problems with sleeping, seek care from a medical professional.