SLEEP

Good Afternoon,

I have decided to write a little informative article at least once a month. Some extra information on a topic that is important to all of us. This one is about Stress and Sleep.

Stress!! Such a common word these days, but really what is it? It is the body’s physiological response to environmental influences. Stressors can be both mental and physical. Let’s face it there is no way to knock all the stress out of life. What we can do is teach our bodies to deal with it more effectively while giving it all the advantages to do so. We all know some of the physiological symptoms of stress:

-  Fatigue

-  Suppression of immunity resulting in infection

-  Increased appetite leading to weight gain

-  Sleeplessness

-  Loss of sexual drive

-  Memory Disturbances

-  Mood Swings

-  Anxiety

-  Depression

-  Increase in Cortisol production (a fat storage hormone released in response to stress that has been shown to cause accumulation of fat on the abdomen)

And the list goes on…..

Exercise and sleep are vitally important in combating stress. Exercise you get, but sleep? We all get it, but do we get enough? If we do get enough do we get the real good quality sleep? The kind of sleep that is SO important in proper hormone function and recovery. The sleep deprived will most likely have lower Testosterone, decreased immune system function, a better chance of developing diabetes, and overall increased chance of mortality.
    

So here’s some of Saville’s Sleep Tips:

• Get as many hours of sleep before midnight as you can. There's a belief that an hour before midnight is worth two hours of sleep after midnight.

• Get in a pattern of sleep. Go to bed and wake up at the same times every day. When this pattern changes it does not matter whether actually get more sleep, it can negatively impact on recovery.

• Make your room dark and noise free. That means using dark curtains and closing windows and doors. Your sleep hormone release may be better in a darker environment.

• Engage in a relaxing activity before turning the lights out. You can not go to bed fired up! Some find a warm bath effective and some find reading a book for ten to twenty minutes may help them feel drowsy.

• Once the lights are out, stay on your back until you find you're about to go to sleep and then roll to one side.

• Melatonin and some form of magnesium can be effective natural sleep aids for incredibly sleep deprived people. I wouldn't use melatonin or prescription sleep aides for more than three nights in a row.
 

• A nightly high-dose multi-mineral that includes magnesium. The better quality sleep these kind of natural supplements create go a long way to enhancing recovery from training.

**Remember, if most of your growth hormone release and muscle recovery occurs during sleep, you want the best sleep quality possible!

• If you use an alarm clock to wake up in the morning, your first few hours of the day may not be as good as they could be when compared to a situation where you woke naturally. The ideal situation is to go to bed early and rise early. Like the sun rise and set cycle.