Can a good night’s sleep feel elusive at times?
Lack of proper sleep can significantly affect your ability to think clearly and focus, weakens your immune system, impacts your overall mood.
If you’re a runner, sleep deprivation can impair both your performance and recovery. During sleep, growth hormones stimulate muscle growth and repair, bone building, and metabolism. Sleep deprivation slows the release of growth hormones, and when growth hormone levels are down, cortisol (stress hormone) levels are on the rise. Too much cortisol in your system can also disrupt your body’s ability to recover properly. Additionally, lack of sleep can also impact glycogen storage – clearly a big deal for endurance running.
For this week’s Fit Five Friday, I’m sharing some tips to help set you up for a good night’s sleep.
Have a consistent bedtime — A consistent bedtime helps to regulate your body clock. For me breaking the habit of falling asleep on the couch while watching TV, and instead, heading to bed at a consistent hour has been a big help in improving my own sleep.
Unplug from technology — According to the Sleep Foundation, your phone or laptop can impact your sleep by disrupting the production of the hormone melatonin. Melatonin is responsible for controlling your sleep-wake cycle, and when this hormone level is out of whack, you may experience insomnia. So, try powering down your tech at least half an hour before bed (ideally an hour before) to help to keep your body’s circadian rhythm on track.
Is sleep elusive for you? I'm sharing 5 quick tips for this week's #FitFiveFriday Click To TweetKeep your room dark and cool — Did you know that your body prepares for sleep by lowering its core temperature? A cool bedroom may help keep your core body temperature constant, in turn, helping to promote better sleep. And, darkness helps to contribute to the release of our old friend melatonin.
Watch what you eat and drink — Late night snacking, alcohol, and caffeine can all negatively impact sleep patterns.
Relax your mind — I find meditating for 10 minutes or more helps me to unwind. If mediation is not your thing, try journaling or creating a quick brain dump list to help you to clear your mind of your to do’s or any other stresses of the day before turning out the light.
What helps you to have a good night’s sleep?
Welcome to another edition of Fit Five Friday hosted by Darlene, Renée, Jenn, Zenaida, and yours truly!
Here are the guidelines:
- Your link should center around some kind of fitness (exercise, wellness, mental health, nutrition… the possibilities are endless!)
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There have been several nights lately when I haven’t slept well. My problem is usually that I wake up super early and can’t fall back to sleep. I’m bad about electronics before bed. I’ve been trying to go upstairs a little earlier and read before I fall asleep.
I used to be a great sleeper but not so much as I’ve aged, Sleeping in a cool environment and being mindful of what I eat definitely help!
I use pretty much all of your tips!
I also find I need to stop drinking anything after dinner. Which is kind of sad, so many good sleep aid drinks.
I do take melatonin — it took some trial and error, but found one that helps me.
My sleep habits are so bad. Going to bed before I fall asleep watching tv would be a good first step. 😉
Nothing seems to help. I’ve tried it all.
It’s random. I go through bad periods and then not do bad.
I’ve learned to exist on few hours of sleep.
What has helped me is a dark quiet room, melatonin and a good book. Most important is no stress in my life lol
I consistent bedtime really helps me a lot. We have been watching more tv at night though. We keep our bedroom at 66-67 for sleeping and it seems to work. thanks for the tips and link up happy Friday
While I don’t get to bed very early (never before 10:30/11:00), I do sleep pretty soundly most of the time. I hate being cold (which is why I love summer LOL), but I do like a cold bedroom so I can huddle under the warm blankets. I have been making a gratitude list, most evenings, right before lights-out…it gives me positive vibes and it is so nice ending the day on a happy note.
Making the room really cool made a huge difference for me! That, and no late-night snacking. I used to eat a bowl of pretzels and chocolate chips before I went to bed… WHAT WAS I THINKING???
I often have trouble sleeping. Thank you for these good tips. I did take melatonin at one time but I didn’t like the vivid dreams it caused me to have. When it rains and I can hear it on the skylight, I don’t have any trouble sleeping at all!
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I usually sleep pretty good unless I’ve had some coffee too late in the day. When I don’t it’s usually because I have too many dogs sleeping on my bed. 🙂
I try to go to bed early because my cats wake me up very early. Sometimes I take melatonin and that knocks me out. I don’t take it that often because I don’t want to depend on it too much.
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Sleep is a big issue for me. Some nights, I fall right asleep and stay asleep. Other nights, I toss and turn. There’s no pattern to it. I’ve had the most success with that CBD oil and with extended-release melatonin. Hoping once I get on top of my anxiety, the sleep will improve.
I’m an insomniac, so sometimes sleep just doesn’t come. I do my best to try to do all these things, but when I can’t sleep… well, the phone comes back out to try to keep my ind oof all the hours of sleep I’m missing.