8 Steps to better Sleep....zzzzzzzzz

Sleep....zzzzzzzzz, we all love it, never get enough of it apart from on a Sunday when we try and make up for the 10 hours we've lost in the week. But does this work?

How do you feel when you wake up?

Bright, alert, full of energy?

Do you wake up before your alarm?

Are you filled with enthusiasm for the day?

Or is it more like this:

ALARM goes off, you hit snoooooze. You get up 15 minutes late. You rush to get ready for work. You leave the house, forgetting your mobile. You go back in and now you’re pushing 25 minutes late for work. The rest of your day is stressful and rushed just because you couldn’t get out of bed.

It doesn’t have to be like this. There is another way!

We need 8 hours sleep a night. There’s a good reason. Between 10pm and 2am your body produces the greatest concentration of melatonin, the hormone that makes you drowsy and is used in body repair. After this time melatonin decreases. If you cut into this time you reduce the time that melatonin has to repair the stresses and strains placed on your body through the day.

Prolactin is produced in the latter part of your sleep, and peaks during REM sleep and in the early morning. If however by going to bed late you push prolactin production into the waking part of your day it will stimulate your cravings for carbs. Eat more carbs, gain more fat.

Not only will you be craving more but as Prolactin suppresses Leptin, the hormone which makes you feel full, you won’t know when to stop!

So are you starting to see why we need 8 hours sleep?

By changing just this one factor, (nothing else), in a client’s programme last week, saw my client start to lose weight again after hitting a plateau. So give yourself a break, get to bed before 10:30pm, sleep through till 6am and see the difference it makes to your week.