Why quality ZZZ’s are essential for good health

I have always been fascinated by and love the quote, ‘Just because it is, doesn’t mean it should be”

I first heard the quote years ago from Nicole Kidman in the movie Australia, and have found myself quoting it pretty often since then.

I think it very aptly describes circumstances or experiences that we come to accept as normal because they commonly occur, rather than because they should be occurring at all.

As  Functional Medicine and Lifestyle coach, Sleep is one of these for me!

So many of us accept waking up feeling tired and unrefreshed as the norm or perhaps you’re one of those who hasn’t yet stopped to consider the quality of your sleep  and whether it is negatively impacting your health and energy levels.

Sleep has been underestimated as a contributor to both mental and physical malaise, dysfunction and disease symptoms. More often than not, visits to the GP or even a specialist are unlikely to involve a consideration of or questioning about sleep quality, and the impact of poor quality sleep on the reason for the visit!

Signs your sleep quality needs to improve:

1. You take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep after you get into bed
2. You regularly wake up more than once a night
3. You lie awake for more than 20 minutes when you wake up in the middle of the night
4. You spend less than 85% of your time in bed asleep
5. You regularly wake up tired
6. You  have to drink caffeine to stay alert
7. You skin is breaking out
8. Your eyes are puffy and red, or developing dark circles or bags
9. You feel hungry more often, especially for junk food and are gaining weight
10. You feel stressed out, emotionally exhausted and are quicker to anger than usual
11. You’ve had a diagnosis of insomnia

Sleep is all about rest, repair and restoration of body systems – from their functioning and exertion of the day. The hormone melatonin, our rest and repair hormone, is released at night and plays a significant role in healing and repair of tissues. Melatonin is produced in the pineal gland from the amino acid tryptophan. Melatonin is essential to the timing of our circadian rhythms (24-hour and seasonal internal clock) and with sleep quality.

It is interesting to note that the brain shrinks to 66% of its size at night to enable the lymph tissue (glymphatic system) surrounding the brain to expand. This is because detoxification of brain tissue by this glymphatic system is essential to reduction of inflammation and optimal brain functioning.

So many many MANY! people are getting either insufficient sleep (less than 7-8 hours per night) or poor quality interrupted sleep. Research studies have shown that just one night of poor sleep results in the same negative consequences physically and mentally as being extremely drunk.

Most people don’t realise that sleep is a keystone of health. When we’re sleep-deprived, it’s really hard to eat well or to have the energy to exercise. It’s hard to think straight. It’s even hard to stay in a good mood or have a positive outlook on life.

Regular poor sleep puts us at risk of serious medical conditions including obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, depression, sexual dysfunction and diabetes. Chronic poor sleep also lowers immunity and shortens life expectancy.

It’s probably pretty clear now that paying attention to the quality of your sleep and ensuring you get a good solid night’s sleep every night is essential for a vibrant and healthy life.

From a Functional Medicine and Lifestyle perspective, the five fundamental pillars of health include:

1. The quality and variety of nutritious food
2. The quality and quantity of fluid
3. Daily rest and relaxation
4. How much we move
5. Quality and quantity of sleep

Twelve essentials for good quality, restful, restorative sleep

1. A comfortable mattress and breathable bed linen are a no brainer
2. Make sure the temperature of the room is cooler rather than warmer
3. The room should be completely dark. No lights from TV’s, chargers etc (our skin cells have ‘eyes’ & being exposed to light at night can block melatonin production.
4. Your bed should only be for sleeping…and sex. Working or watching TV in bed creates the wrong association patterns in the brain.
5. Pick a suitable bed time and stick to it; same time, every night, for at least a month.
6. Pick a suitable wake up time and stick to it; same time, every morning, even on weekends
7. No caffeine after 2pm
8. Hydrate well during the day and drink a warm cup of camomile herb tea before bed
9. Magnesium glycinate improves both anxiety (monkey mind) and insomnia
10. No bright light or blue light exposure within two hours of bed time (blue light is stimulatory, bright light reduces melatonin production)
11. No exercise within three hours of bed time
12. IV drip at the DripBar with the IV ingredient Peaceful Four containing Taurine, Theanine, GABA and Magnesium

And that’s why quality ZZZ’s are essential for good health.

The time has come to heal. Time to wake up from unhealthy patterns. Time to break up with foods, people and habits that don’t love you back.

This Blog post has been created By Chantal Du Chenne, Functional Medicine and Lifestyle Practitioner, Founder of the DripBar and owner of a Kombucha brewery which produces the brand of ‘booch’ called theFarmacy. The blog contains information that is not designed to substitute, or replace any form or method of professional or medical advice and treatment or medicine. All content is the author’s opinion and is not intended to diagnose and remedy. Any facts and figures contained in this document are presented solely for informational and educational purposes only.

BIO:

Chantal is a B.Sc.Hons allied health with an international certification in Functional health & Lifestyle Medicine. Chantal is a passionate Gut Health advocate, specialising in the management of inflammatory conditions associated with leaky gut and dysbiosis (imbalance) of the gut microbiome. These include but are not limited to anxiety, depression, auto-immune conditions, cancer, type 2 diabetes etc.

Over her 25 year career, Chantal has held various positions within the health and wellness industry – including 10 years as the Executive Head of Vodacom’s corporate wellness & mobile health programs.

Chantal is a competitive cyclist, a plant strong vegan and mom to two grown up girls.

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