If lack of sleep is ruling your nights, it can really disrupt your days and cause premature ageing. So how can you make your sleep more restorative?
Enjoying restorative sleep is a challenge for some people. You may find yourself tossing and turning, as anxious thoughts disrupt your sleep.
In Switzerland, 1 adult in 3 sleeps less than the amount of sleep they need.
Lack of sleep has a negative long-term effect on health. It results in difficulty concentrating, memory loss, mood swings, and impaired cognitive function.
Yet enjoying a healthier life and delaying age-related decline as much as possible is something everyone wishes for. It's not only through growing older that our body ages. Oxidative stress and lack of sleep lead to an excess of free radicals, which in turn cause premature ageing.
The consequences of a lack of restorative sleep
A lack of sleep weakens our immune defences and can lead to an increased risk of stroke, obesity, diabetes, and heart attack. It also has a negative effect on skin quality and worsens the signs of ageing.
Poor sleep increases the risk of diabetes, being overweight, and obesity. Weight gain can therefore be linked to lack of sleep.
A lack of restorative sleep can also lead to burnout or even depression. Sleeping less causes fatigue, both physically and psychologically, and thereby affects mood: it then becomes harder to think positively.
The benefits of restorative sleep
Ageing comes with an important process: weakening, the loss of vital strength. Well rested, the body grows stronger. Indeed, sleep allows us to recover both mentally and physically. In addition, our immune system uses our sleep time to recharge.
Also, restorative sleep allows the body, and therefore the cardiovascular system, to rest. Without a good night's sleep, the heart and arteries are constantly under strain. Heart disease is then more likely to appear in people who don't get enough sleep.
Consolidating memory is one of the benefits of sleep. Our brain uses this time to organise and store new knowledge acquired during the day.
How can you get back to restorative sleep?
Good restorative sleep will give you a significantly better quality of life day to day. It will strengthen your immune defences and reliably help you avoid all the serious consequences mentioned above.
The good news: you can get back to restorative sleep with good habits and simple, natural means.
1. Understand and respect your internal clock
Our body has an internal clock that lets us know when it's time to go to bed and sleep, and when we need to stay awake. This circadian rhythm is what determines whether your brain knows it's time to sleep or to stay awake.
Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioural changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. These are natural processes that respond mainly to light and darkness and affect most living things, including animals, plants, and microbes.
To reset your circadian rhythm, you therefore need to expose yourself to bright light or sunlight every day. This will not only help you sleep at night, but will also give you more energy throughout the day.
2. Reduce your screen time and exposure to blue light
TV, smartphones, tablets… it can be really hard to ignore all the notifications and messages we receive by the dozen (or hundreds) every day. Indeed, looking at your phone stimulates the brain to make us more active and alert. As a result, just one quick notification can engage your brain and delay sleep.
If you're prone to anxiety-fuelled insomnia, scrolling through headlines and social media before bed (or worse, while you're in bed) won't support healthy sleep habits.
In addition, the blue light emitted by your smartphone isn't just bad for your eyes, but also for your brain. Indeed, there's a correlation between suppressed melatonin levels and exposure to blue light. Melatonin is the hormone that controls the sleep-wake cycle. When your body lacks it, you may suffer from insomnia, daytime fatigue, and irritability.
The blue light from your phone is an artificial colour that mimics daylight. That's a good thing during the day, since it makes you feel more alert, but it's the exact opposite of what you need in the evening, when you're getting ready for bed. Exposure to blue light can affect your internal body clock and disrupt your circadian rhythm. This rhythm follows light and darkness. That's why you feel more tired in the evening as the sun starts to set, and more energetic in the morning when it's light out.
Ideally, try to set yourself a curfew one to two hours before going to bed and switch off your electronic devices to wind down for the night.
3. Adopt antioxidant-rich foods
Diet plays an essential role in sleep quality. Diet is directly linked to serotonin, a key hormone for restorative sleep.
It's recommended to eat foods that calm the body, raise serotonin levels, and prepare you for restorative sleep. In the same way, the fight against free radicals starts with a good diet. 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day is good. 10 is even better!
The best sources are prunes, raisins, blackberries, blueberries, garlic, kale, and strawberries. Choose fish, seafood, spices, and limit red meat (maximum once a week).
4. Practise yoga, exercise
Psychological stress is a major driver of oxidation. To fight anxiety, yoga is among the best remedies. It helps you focus on the present moment and bring body and mind into harmony. An ideal remedy for burnout.
Regular physical exercise offers many benefits: it can reduce the risk of illnesses such as cancer and diabetes, and contributes to better physical fitness and a better quality of life.
Exercise also improves sleep for many people. Specifically, moderate to vigorous exercise can improve sleep quality in adults by reducing the time needed to fall asleep and the number of times they stay awake in bed during the night. In addition, physical activity can help ease daytime drowsiness and, for some people, reduce the need to take sleeping pills.
5. Restoring sleep
If your sleep difficulties persist, ask your doctor for advice.
In conclusion
A lack of restorative sleep isn't inevitable. With a few common-sense tips, a good diet, and a healthy lifestyle, it's possible to get back to quality sleep, and thereby improve your quality of life and fight the ageing of the body.
