Sleep can be the key factor that will either help boost your weight loss or make it more difficult to reach your goal. Sleeping 7-9 hours a night is recommended to reach the full beneficial aspects of sleep. Sleep not only improves your concentration and memory, but it helps curb inflammation, regulate hormones (especially those the craving causing hormones), improves athletic performance, and helps regulate your blood sugar. With this in mind, here are a few recommendations to improve your sleep:
Fruit before bed
Eating before bed can be a surprising tip for most people, especially if a carbohydrate is recommended. However, Dr. Goglia recommends fruit, such as raspberries, before bed to help increase your sleep quality. He explains that the fruit will spike your blood sugar and shortly after, it will spike down. This will help you fall asleep much faster. And we can all agree, limiting the time tossing and turning is ideal to maximize your sleep.
Dim down the lights
Lighting can be another deal breaker when it comes to sleeping quality. Melatonin, which is the hormone naturally produced in the body that is responsible for feeling sleepy, is often referred to as the darkness hormone. This is because melatonin is often triggered for production when darkness falls. By dimming lights in your home or switching to warmer lighting in your bedroom can help with melatonin production. Some electronics have features that can create a “reddish” tint to the screen that can also help reduce disruption of sleepiness.
Turn off electronics
Regardless of activating the “reddish” feature on electronics, it is common to get enthralled in social media apps, videos, or work – and before you know it, a couple of hours that could have been used for sleeping just slipped passed you. By setting an alarm to turn off electronics can be an ideal way to reduce distractions. Put the phones, iPads, and laptops away and see how much more sleep you’re able to get.
Limit Caffeine
Aside from the usual morning cup, or two, of coffee, caffeine can definitely be a key factor in keeping you awake at night. Creating the habit of enjoying an afternoon cup of joe or that nightcap cup of coffee after dinner can leave you restless and wide awake when it’s time for bed. In a healthy adult, caffeine takes up to 3-7 hours to fully metabolize. So, if you plan on making that extra cup of coffee, give yourself another time to make sure the caffeine is fully digested by the time darkness falls.
Whichever recommendation you take, being able to improve your sleep time and quality will create noticeable benefits to your life. By limiting obstacles that prevent you from reaching a weight loss goal, reaching maximum performance, or being able to concentrate, you will keep yourself empowered and in control of your life goals.