The best things in life are, of course, free – and the best things for your body are no exception. Time in the bedroom is just as important as killing it in the kitchen or gym when it comes to improving health, performance and body composition. Quality shut-eye keeps you happy, mentally healthy and lean, while chronically bad sleep messes up your hormones and makes it likely that you’ll pack on fat. So are you getting enough?
You may know someone who claims to get by on five hours a night – but unless they’re in the genetically gifted 1-3% of the population that scientists call the “sleep elite”, they’re probably exaggerating (or just tired all the time). Most people need at least 7½ hours, and studies suggest that people who sleep fewer than six hours a night gain almost twice as much weight over a six-year period as people who get in a regular seven to eight.
It isn’t entirely clear why this happens, but one suggestion is related to appetite. Sleep upregulates the production of fullness-hormone leptin, while down-shifting hunger-hormone ghrelin. There’s also evidence that it wreaks havoc with your insulin levels, affects cognition and ruins mood. Time to fix it.
Change your environment
If your curtains are still letting in light from outside, it might be worth finally making that trip to IKEA you’ve been putting off. Making your room as dark as possible helps your body’s production of melatonin, the hormone that triggers sleep. If you’ve got standby lights in your bedroom, either turn the devices off entirely (preferable) or cover them with duct tape.
Drink more water
Don’t down a full pint before bed but do stay hydrated because it’ll keep all your body’s systems online, including regulation of the hormones you need for sleep. Keep water near the bed, and if you overdo it to the point of needing a night-time trip to the bathroom, keep the lights off – you’ll get back to sleep faster by not sending your melatonin production screwy.
Get more sun
Sunlight keeps your circadian rhythms online, which means your body releases serotonin at the right time to aid sleep. Your body clock’s most responsive in the hours from 6-8.30am, so you’ve got another reason to walk at least a bit of the journey to work.
Turn off your phone
Or at the very least, put it in a drawer. Automatic notifications from social media trigger the release of dopamine, the “seeking” hormone, which keep you awake and alert. If you insist on using it, turn the brightness down – glare from blue screens is another thing that wrecks melatonin production.
Unload your brain
If you’ve got a lot on your mind before bed, you’ll find it hard to shut down, so get it out of your head and on paper. Write a to-do list for the morning, including emails you need to send or reply to, calls you have to make, things you need to finish and any creative thoughts you want to remember.
Tidy your room
Apart from tripping you up during early-hours wanderings, studies suggest that clutter can affect your mindset. Take a minute or two before bed to throw clothes into the laundry basket, put books back on shelves and chuck spare power cords in a drawer. No obvious space for something? Make some – or get rid of it.
Shift your mindset
Change starts in your brain. Instead of seeing sleep as an obstacle to work around, look at it as a special treat – an extra half-hour of glorious downtime, instead of the usual post-11pm Netflix trawl. Look forward to your early nights – don’t avoid them.
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