The Sleep Anti-Diet: Can You Sleep, Lose Weight, and Feel Happier?
If you have been following my blogs, you will have seen that I have been explaining my own photography processes and reasons for set social media posts or images taken. In the month of May, there are two set ‘Wellness’ and ‘Year Day’ diary days that I wish to combine and discuss within this blog.
These are #BetterSleepMonth & #No-DietDay
To develop my own social media posts I am putting together a catalogue of stock images that clients can download and use within their own social media. So I decided to share my May month plan, with my mailing list and I was approached by Donna Lowe who is a Nutritional Therapist and runs her own company called ‘Menu For Health’ Follow this link for more information about Donna’s company - www.menu-for-health.co.uk
From this connection, we discussed the two diary days listed above and I have asked Donna to provide information on the subject of sleep and how this will or can affect our diets.
The contents of this blog will be a combination of Donna’s theory content and my photograph images to help explain this subject.
Diets can really interfere with your sleep.
AND
Diets rarely work long-term.
We all aim to be fit and healthy, here are some aspects to keep to:
sleep well
manage your appetite and weight
Here are a set of questions to ask yourself, and let’s be honest with your answers:
How do you feel if you don’t get enough sleep?
Do you need more caffeine/sugar to get you up and going?
When tired do you find it harder than usual to resist those high sugar, starchy snacks and treats?
Do you feel less focused, irritable or impatient?
Don’t feel like exercising?
Suffer from an energy dip, headache or brain fog?
I’ll be honest I am a sucker for my morning coffee to get me going each morning and from running through these questions I can answer yes to all of this when I am feeling tired.
REASON FOR LACK OF SLEEP
After answering the questions above, let’s consider the way you are sleeping, how much sleep you need and what could be preventing your sleep. I must admit throughout my own learning, I have always considered that each person needs at least 8 hrs of sleep per evening and I have now learnt that children require more sleep to keep them healthy, as they are growing.
The quality and quantity of sleep we get can vary depending on:
How stressed we have been
What we’ve eaten and drunk and at what times
What time we go to bed and woke up
Our “blue-light” exposure
How much time we spent outdoors and at what time of the day
Medications or drugs we have been using
What we do in a couple of hours before going to sleep
Our use of electronic gadgets/mobile phones/computers
LACK OF SLEEP
You may think that a simple lack of sleep will only affect your body, but take a read of this, on how unhealthy tiredness is and how your food craving damages your wellbeing.
The lack of sleep means we are more likely to crave unhealthy foods or caffeine drinks and this can set up a rollercoaster of blood sugar highs and lows throughout the day. This has an impact on our insulin levels and can encourage our bodies to store fat and making it difficult for us to lose unwanted weight. By giving in to these cravings will raise your cortisol levels (through any kind of stress including uncontrolled blood sugar levels) can have the effect of depressing our levels of melatonin, the hormone needed to help us get to sleep and stay asleep. Naturally, melatonin levels should increase throughout the day, building up the pressure for us to fall asleep at a “sensible” time. Levels of melatonin then gradually reduce overnight while cortisol levels gradually increase to a point where they peak and give us the energy to jump out of bed in the morning.
HOW CAN YOU MAKE SURE THAT YOU GET A BETTER SLEEP?
Ways to enjoy a restorative night’s sleep:
Get outside without sunglasses for at least 20 minutes each day before noon, preferably to exercise.
Balance your blood sugar by eating a good protein-containing breakfast, lunch and dinner
Minimise snacking between meals, but hydrate well BETWEEN meals with filtered water & herbal teas
Have a regular bedtime routine that helps you to wind down for an hour before bed. A warm bath with a mug of Epsom salts; some meditation; chamomile or lemon-balm tea; calm music, are a few suggestions.
Don’t drink coffee after 2 pm or on an empty stomach, and stick to less than 4 cups/day
Alcohol has the same effect as sugar on our blood/stress levels and although it can act as a sedative, helping with initial sleep, it can interfere with our staying asleep.
Ensure we have good levels of vitamin D as it affects the neurotransmitter that stops us from waking up between the different phases of our sleep cycle.
Eat healthy fats such as avocado, salmon, mackerel, olive oil, trout, herrings, nuts and seeds to help our bodies make hormones such as melatonin.
Eat some complex carbohydrates in the evening so that our brains don’t run out of “fuel” overnight. For people on low carbohydrate or low-calorie diets, this can be the stress trigger where the brain wakes us in the night as it triggers cortisol to tell our bodies to supply it with glucose.
Some foods are rich in the amino acid Tryptophan which we can convert into Serotonin and then make Melatonin. Including these foods in our evening meals can aid relaxation and sleep. These include chicken, turkey, eggs, nuts, seeds, lentils, beans, salmon and bananas.
Get some exercise every day, BUT Avoid vigorous activities/exercise or eating within 2 hours before bedtime
As you can see by reading through this list, that prioritising sleep just makes sense. If we can just choose one of these things for the first week, add in another the next week and continue to make small changes. Keep a journal/notebook by the bed and just see which changes have an impact on how you sleep and feel.
After reading this blog, I hope that you remember this one point, that improved sleep will generally mean it’s easier to:
Eat well
Have more energy for exercise and fun
Achieve more at work
Improve relationships.
Here are some useful links to consider:
Connect with Donna Lowe is a Nutritional Therapist and runs her own company called ‘Menu For Health’ - www.menu-for-health.co.uk
Check out my Stock Photography Page
If You Would Like To Have More Information And Learn More, Then Please Give Me Some Blog Suggestions In The Comments Below Or Arrange A 1:1 Photography Session With Myself.
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