The internet, smart phones, television, 24 hour drive-thrus and 60-hour work weeks have created a cultural norm of nocturnal living that is unrecognizable to our genetic hard-wiring. If you are like most people, your body expects and requires more sleep than it gets. In fact, Dr. John Medina author of Brain Rules explains that 90% of westernised people are chronically over-tired. Although this has noticeable implications in our day-to-day lives, like mid-day head bobbing and black circles under your eyes, the silent damage you’ll experience with sleep deprivation is a real killer – literally.
Our body uses sleep to rest and repair our tissues. Our brain requires sleep to process the information from the day (and, during sleep is when your body clears out ‘metabolic waste’ from the brain – yes, the ‘trash’ within your brain cells/tissue needs to be cleaned out and it happens during sleep).
Critical sleep cycles involve hormone balancing that affects everything from your energy and moods to your metabolism and ability to regulate your body weight.
The lack of both quality and quantity sleep will place another layer upon the already multi layered and faceted stressors that you continually take on every minute of every day. This zombie like sleep deprived condition leads to your body trying to cope to get through each day. You become just like the new mum looking after their newborn. As this stress upon the body increases, so too does blood pressure; cholesterol; inflammation; infertility; blood sugars; anxiety and depression.
Rather than looking to what is in the medicine cabinet, maybe it’s time to take a good hard look at your lifestyle? Or perhaps, consider visiting an experienced chiropractor for advice on physical wellbeing and sleep improvement techniques. We can also help you learning and implementing effective neck pain treatment techniques, and for now here some tips you might want to start with…
TIPs:
- Create a proper sleep schedule.
·No screen time 30 mins – 1 hour prior to bed ·No eating 2 hours prior to bed ·Make your room cooler ·No light to enter your room through curtains, and no light from clocks ·Leave your phone in another room. ·Read from a novel; play cards or a board game; plan out tomorrow·Journal · Take a bath with Lavender oil or Magnesium salts. Additionally, investing in a good pillow can significantly improve your sleep quality.
- Think about waking up 20 minutes earlier every morning refreshed, so as you can craft some time that you thought that you did not have. By waking early, you are already ahead of the pack. Waking up early gives you time to:
· Exercise · Plan your day ·Work on your business, your family or yourself ·Be more productive·Meditate · Journal
This one life hack will give you more time to not only achieve your goals, but more importantly the ability to decrease the toxic effects that a lack of quality sleep and it’s physical and emotional stress places upon your life.
