Long term sleep deprivation can be one of the most destructive health issues in which our bodies have to cope. Our 24/7 lifestyle is now more “plugged in” than ever, so it’s becoming more difficult to fully commit to rest. Even an hours less sleep a night will leave us cognitively impaired. Add that on to a few weeks or a few months and you could start making fatal errors at work or in the car. In fact, it’s a wonder how society survives on so little sleep. If we look at sleep patterns on a wider scale, it is the Netherlands who sleep the most and Japan and Singapore the least. Possibly hardly surprising knowing work hours in the Far East. The UK comes somewhere in the middle, but we are still not getting enough sleep as a nation. Matthew Walker, the director of the Centre for Human Sleep Science at Berkeley says we are in the midst of a catastrophic sleep loss epidemic.

So why are we sleeping so badly? Well first we electrified everything, then there are the very blurred borders between work and home, together with longer commuter times. We are more lonely, depressed and anxious and relying on alcohol and caffeine to fill the void or keep us awake. We don’t want to lose out on what precious time we have with our families, so sleep can get sacrificed. We desperately need to put a good nights sleep as a priority and understand how important it is to repair our bodies and brain. Longer term sleep issues are diagnosed as insomnia which can take the form of not being able to fall asleep or waking during the night and not being able to get back to sleep. Some cases of insomnia can be the symptom of an underlying medical disorder and can often be attributed to depression, stress, grief, night sweats or pain. Jet lag of course has its part to play for those frequent flyers. Additionally copious amounts of caffeine and use of certain drugs can cause problems with sleep, which ironically are the very crutches people use to try to get them to sleep in the first place. Lack of sleep can impact your mortality, mood, relationships, learning and memory. In addition sleep deprivation can impact your immune system, blood sugar, hunger hormones and leave you vulnerable to insulin resistance and inflammation

Your Circadian rhythm

Our circadian rhythm is a process in a 24 hr period which gives your body its inherent ability to regulate its own sleep/wake cycle. The master of this clock is the hypothalamus in your brain. If rhythm is disrupted everything can get out of sink. For most adults, the biggest dip of the cycle happens in the middle of the night, between 2am and 4 am and just after lunchtime, between 1pm and 3pm. Those times can be different if you’re naturally a night owl or a morning person. You also won’t feel the dips and rises of your circadian rhythm as strongly if you’re all caught up on sleep. It’s when you’re sleep-deprived that you’ll notice bigger swings of sleepiness and alertness. Outside factors like lightness and darkness can also have an impact. When it’s dark at night, your eyes send a signal to the hypothalamus that it’s time to feel tired. Your brain, in turn, sends a signal to your body to release melatonin, which makes your body tired. That’s why your circadian rhythm tends to coincide with the cycle of daytime and nighttime (and why it’s so hard for shift workers to sleep during the day and stay awake at night).Your circadian rhythm works best when you have regular sleep habits, like going to bed at night and waking up in the morning around the same times from day to day. When things get in the way, like jet lag, or binging on Netflix until the small hours, you can disrupt your circadian rhythm, which makes you feel out of sorts and can make it harder to pay attention .

Can food help us sleep?

Foods high in tryptophan can aid sleep.Tryptophan is an amino acid that interacts with those brain chemicals important to sleep and the timing of your biological clock’s sleep/wake cycle. Tryptophan increases serotonin, which also increases melatonin (a hormone made by the pineal gland). These neural “gateways” regulate sleep and mood chemicals. When either serotonin or melatonin is disrupted you can suffer insomnia and symptoms of low mood. Foods containing tryptophan that can be eaten a few hours before bed include: Milk, Bananas, Nuts, Turkey, Eggs and Oats. That warm milky drink before bed is not an old wives tale after all! However eating incorrectly can also impact your sleep. A heavy rich meal before bed might keep you up with indigestion. Avoid coffee after lunch time as caffeine can take quite a while to get out of the system. This is also the same for dark chocolate with a high cocoa content ie 70% and over. Scientists now believe there is a link between your gut microbes and your sleep, although not fully understood. Our gut microbes may effect sleep related physiological functions in a number of ways shifting circadian rhythms, alternating the body’s sleep wake cycle and altering our hormones. Additionally if we eat badly we most probably sleep badly. Eating a rich variety of foods will help the gut microbiome. Taking probiotics of adding prebiotic foods to your diet can only help. Eat foods containing garlic, leeks, shallots, bananas, artichokes, as many different varieties of vegetables or try a probiotic plain yogurt. Getting a good diversity of microbes is important and that means eating real food and avoiding processed foods, artificial sweeteners and hydrogenated fats.

Flying and sleep

For those of you that fly quite a bit, you know that flying takes its toll on your circadian rhythms and sleep cycle. You don’t adjust to sleep changes as easily as you think. When you travel across many time zones or work night shifts you confuse the body’s sense of time, making sleep difficult and inhibiting some necessary sleep functions. For every one to two hour time changes it takes your body one day to adjust. This means it could essentially take your body 6 to 12 days to adjust to a trip from New York to China. One airline has recently launched on of the worlds longest commercial flights – a 17 hr journey between Perth and London. Airlines are now trying to make these long haul flights tolerable for passengers. They are doing this by experimenting with lighting, cabin temperature and menu times to help travellers cope. Cabin humidity and cleaner air are being looked at together with rescheduling food served at the start of the journey to synchronise more closely with meal times. The on board menus have lighter menu options and herbal teas to encourage relaxation and a bedtime hot chocolate. Light settings are being changed to help mange passenger biorhythms – either to fall asleep or wake up. Lower temperatures can help passengers doze off. If the temperature can be adjusted to 60 – 68 degrees that can help passengers core body temperature drop, helping regulate circadian rhythm.

Resetting your rhythm – Kate’s top tips

• Get up and expose yourself to daylight every morning
• Work during the day near a window if possible
• Remove all phones, laptops, ipads and phones from the bedroom
• Try not to eat too late. Leave at least two hours before going to bed.
• Not drinking too late at night can stop night time trips to the loo!
• Alcohol effects REM sleep- although you initially can get to sleep you may find your sleep is restless and you wake early
• Practice mindful breathing techniques
• Make your bedroom a zone for sleeping and sex only
• Get as dark as an environment as possible – try black out blinds
• Invest in a good quality mattress and wear cotton clothing
• Wake up to a gentle alarm and preferably not on your phone. Buy a good old fashioned alarm clock.
• It sounds obvious but go to be when you are tired
• Do not stay in bed if you are not sleepy.
• Try a warm bath before bedroom
• Learn to keep your worries out of the bedroom
• If you’re having a really tough time sleep, there is no shame in taking a sleeping tablet if it gets you out of a cycle of sleep deprivation. Speak to your GP about this and how lack of sleep is impacting your life. There are many ways to get you to sleep in terms of medications, even anti histamines can be used. Getting out of the cycle fast is key to returning to health.

If you would like help with sleep issues/insomnia or any other health issue please contact Kate on 01323 310532/737814 or katenut@aol.com or go to www.katearnoldnutrition.co.uk for more information.