How to Improve Your Sleep

So many people out there are spending a lot of effort on training, nutrition, maybe supplements, coaching - this is awesome. But I still see one thing that many, many people neglect, and that’s proper sleep.  Aside from nutrition, sleep is probably the single biggest factor in the kind of results you’re going to get. Even outside the world of fat loss or muscle gain, sleep will improve health, brain functioning, it can help you maintain more muscle while burning fat, you NEED sleep, and good sleep to function at 100%. Sleep deprivation, which most researchers consider anything under 7 hours, is associated with poor recovery, high blood sugar, inflammation, reduced insulin sensitivity, hunger, mood swings, cravings… not fun. Remember that the gym is just a stimulus for your muscles, and the true growth happens outside of the gym. Improving the quality of your sleep will help you burn more fat, build more muscle, and just generally recover better and have more energy for your daily life. Rather than deep-dive into the science and make this a chore to read, we’re just going to jump right in with practical tips to improve your sleep that you can start right now. Turn Off The Electronics Before Bed About an hour or so before bed, try to turn off all the electronics, or at the very least, turn on night mode and dim the screen as much as possible. There is a gland in your brain called the pineal gland, and it’s responsible for regulating your body’s natural sleep hormones. When it gets dark outside, your brain naturally wants to wind your body down and get it ready for sleep.  Now that everyone has a cell phone, this process is disrupted. It’s just not light, but specifically blue light, which comes from TVs, computer screens, and phones. Blue light disrupts your body’s natural cycle and tells it that it’s still daytime. If you’re like most people, and have a habit of scrolling through your phone every night before bed, try a few nights of leaving your phone on the other side of the room, and I bet you’ll immediately sleep much better.  Sleep in a Cold Room If you have the ability to control the temperature in your room, make it cold. Being in a cold environment helps you fall into a deeper sleep, and if you’re lying awake hot and sweating late at night, you’re going to have a hard time falling asleep, and staying asleep through the night.  Eliminate Caffeine This one seems like a no-brainer, but a lot of people are drinking caffeine way too late. Caffeine has about a 6 hour half-life, so if you ingest 200mg of caffeine, 6 hours later you’ll still have 100mg of caffeine flowing through your veins. Even if you’re one of those people who doesn’t “feel” it, and can fall asleep after drinking caffeine, it will prevent you from getting into the deeper sleep cycles that your body needs to recover.  The best thing to do is eliminate all caffeine about 6 hours before bedtime. If you workout in the evenings and like caffeine, try a smaller amount than usual, or maybe some tea - once your sleep improves you probably won’t need a caffeine hit to workout. Supplement with Magnesium Magnesium is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies in our modern world. It’s a mineral that’s extremely important, and is essential to many, many functions of the body. One of the main symptoms of deficiency? Restlessness, anxiety, muscle spasms - all things that make sleep difficult.   Taking magnesium is often very relaxing if you’re deficient, and many magnesium supplements are even sold as sleep aids, or relaxation aids. You can also take ZMA, which gives you zinc and magnesium together, and will help your body relax into a deeper sleep. Try not to take it with calcium-containing foods though, so if you use a protein shake before bed, wait a while before popping the magnesium.  Stretch Before Bed Finally, stretching before bed is a good way to get your body to relax. Techniques like slow, static stretching, or even simple breathing or meditation drills, turn on your PNS. Your PNS is the part of your nervous system that’s often referred to as your rest-and-digest nervous system, the opposite of your stress response, so this will help you chill out and get a good night of rest. Anytime stress is high, your body is going to be wound up, and having a hard time relaxing itself. You may not be able to eliminate all stressors, but actively turning on the relaxation side of your nervous system is a good way to calm your body. Start with bigger muscle groups, like your hamstrings or quads, set a timer, and hold each stretch for about 90 seconds.