How to Improve Your Sleep for Better Health and Performance

Sleep is essential to long-term health and achieving your exercise goals.

Most people already know this. But many still struggle with the quality and/or quantity of their sleep. This can be a result of lifestyle factors and behavioral choices, or it can be a symptom of an underlying health issue.

Knowing how sleep, circadian rhythms, and hormones are related can help you improve your sleep for better performance in your work, hobbies, and daily living.

What are Circadian Rhythms?

Circadian rhythms are present in living organisms and consist of physiological changes that occur in response to the light and darkness within the 24-hour cycle.

Circadian rhythms influence physical, psychological, and behavioral changes. Humans are diurnal creatures, which means we’re most active during the day and sleep at night.

Staying up late, changing time zones, inconsistent eating patterns, and other factors affect this natural response.

Over time, this can lead to fatigue and chronic exposure to the body's stress response, which can limit your ability to recover from exercise.

Hormones and Sleep

One example of the effects of circadian rhythms is the rise and fall of cortisol levels in the body. Cortisol, one of the primary stress hormones, is highest during the early morning and gradually decreases as the day goes on.

If cortisol levels are high in the evening, you might struggle to get to sleep on time or find yourself waking up at odd hours in the night. This can also reduce the amount of human growth hormone (HGH) released in the body, which decreases your ability to repair tissues.

The graphic below shows normal hormonal responses. The black line represents the catabolic (breaking down, stress response) hormones, and the bright blue line represents the anabolic (growth, repair) hormones.

Catabolic hormones are highest in the morning as we awake and begin to attack the day. Anabolic hormones are at their lowest levels.

As the day progresses, the anabolic hormones should rise as the catabolic hormones decrease. This is a normal response.

But an exaggerated stress response—due to factors that include poor lifestyle choices and long-term exposure to artificial light—results in higher levels of catabolic hormones later in the day and evening.

This reduces the release of anabolic hormones, which should be elevated at night, and can disrupt the physical and psychological repair that occurs while you sleep.

The release of melatonin also occurs during sleep, as it increases with the onset of darkness. When a person is exposed to daylight, melatonin decreases.

Deep sleep is that stage in which physical repair occurs. Blood is supplied to muscles and other tissues, and HGH is released to support the growth and repair of the body.

REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the stage in which dreaming occurs, supports learning and the development of new skills. It can also contribute to emotional and social development.

So sleep is essential for the health of both body and the mind.

Is Modern Life Getting In the Way of Your Sleep?

The introduction of mobile devices has likely played a major role in many of the sleep-related issues we see today.

This creates a shorter night cycle and affects the quantity and quality of sleep. As a result, many people rely on caffeine and other stimulants to get going in the morning and fight the fatigue resulting from poor sleep.

Many people take their phones to bed and reach for them immediately after waking up in the morning. This can become a habit that slowly chips away at valuable sleep time.

Stress and anxiety can also interfere with sleep. Whether it's worrying about your finances or ruminating over a conflict you had with a co-worker, our "monkey minds" can keep us from winding down at night.

Nutritional factors can also come into play. Failing to meet your metabolic needs can push the body into a state of stress. Low blood sugar can lead to a release of adrenaline, which can cause you to wake up at 3 a.m. wondering why the heck you can't go back to sleep.

Creating Healthy Sleep Habits

What you do at night before you go to bed and in the morning after you wake is critical to getting better sleep and improving your health in the long run.

Here are some suggestions to consider:

Evening Routine:

• Go to bed at a consistent time each night.
• Avoid screen time 2-3 hours before you go to bed.
• Reduce the lighting in your home in the evening.
• Use a white noise device/app or soft music to help you unwind at night (I like to keep the white noise on while I sleep, and most apps have timers you can set to shut them off).
• Avoid the news or any content that can wind you up at night (politics, disasters, crime reports, etc.) I promise they'll be there waiting for you when you wake up tomorrow.
• Have a light and healthy snack before bedtime. This can help regulate blood sugar while you sleep.

Morning Routine:

• Wake up at a consistent time every morning...yes, even on the weekends.
• Do NOT reach for your phone immediately after waking.
• Take a shower as soon as you get up to help jump-start your body and brain (I'm a fan of cold showers in the morning)
• Have time carved out for breakfast. Give yourself enough time to relax while you eat.
• Read, listen to, or watch something inspiring, uplifting, or educational. Be aware of the information you feed your mind on a daily basis.
• Exercise is a fantastic way to start the day. It can be something simple like a stretching routine or bodyweight exercises.

If you don't already have an evening and morning routine, put some of these steps into practice.

There are plenty of other ways you can improve your sleep. Start easy and make gradual changes as you go.

The goal isn't to be perfect...just better.

For now, take a look at your sleep. How do you think you're doing? Do you see a link between some of the health challenges you've been experiencing and your sleep habits?

Benjamin Franklin famously said, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

I can't promise these changes will make you wealthy...but I can guarantee you'll start to feel healthier...and maybe a little bit wiser, too.

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References:

• Timmins, William G. The Chronic Stress Crisis: How Stress Is Destroying Your Health and What You Can Do to Stop It. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2009.
• "Circadian Rhythms Fact Sheet." National Institute of General Medical Sciences. November 2012.

Image Credits

• Featured Image by Hernan Sanchez on Unsplash