SCIENCE, HEALTH
In Week 1 of this Gut Health blog series, we discovered ways to give our diets a makeover to support our Gut Health.
Week 2 had us exploring how stressors affect our gut microbiome, and ways to reduce stress to support our gut.
During Week 3, we learned how alcohol can affect our gut health, and discovered tips on how to protect our gut while consuming alcohol.
If you didn’t catch Weeks 1, 2, or 3 of the blog series, check them out here: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3
Keep up the good work!
Sleep is INCREDIBLY beneficial for our overall health. It affects our energy levels and ensures our body’s systems and organs function optimally. Even DIGESTION is massively impacted by a lack of sleep.
It turns out that a good night’s sleep is just as important for your health as good nutrition and regular exercise.
We have two hormones, ghrelin and leptin, that control hunger and satiety. Being sleep deprived triggers increased levels of ghrelin and decreased levels of leptin, which causes you to become more hungry while blocking your body’s ability to tell you when you are full. So, a lack of sleep will have you reaching for more food, and being awake for longer gives you more hours of the day in which to eat.
When tired, we tend to reach for foods that give us a quick, yet short-term energy fix. Think sugary foods, or foods high in refined carbohydrates and trans fats. As we discovered in Week 1 of this series, sugar and processed foods wreak havoc in your gut by helping the bad bacteria to thrive, thus causing an unhealthy imbalance. Chronic fatigue causes chronic dysbiosis in the gut.
Melatonin is the delightful hormone in our circadian rhythm cycle that puts us to sleep. If we aren’t in a regular sleep/wake cycle, then we may be low in melatonin. Not only does melatonin help us sleep, it also helps to regulate gastrointestinal mobility. A lack of melatonin keeps us awake at night, and can also lead to GERD since mobility is disrupted in our gastrointestinal system.
As we discussed in Week 2 of this blog series, stress can cause chaos in our gut. Stress leads to an increase in cortisol. An increase in cortisol can cause permeability of the gut lining (also known as ‘leaky gut’). This brings about food particles and toxins ‘leaking’ from the digestive tract into the bloodstream, causing lots of issues including bloating, stomach pains, food sensitivities, inflammation and disruptions to the gut microbiome.
It’s advised to not eat within 3 hours of going to bed. The body doesn’t like to be burdened with digestion and absorption when it needs to be resting and completing housekeeping tasks. If we do eat close to going to bed, it can disturb our sleep and cause us to feel restless. It can also mess with our digestion and cause disruptions in the gut microbiome. Then, not feeling rested the next day can have us reaching for less desirable food choices…. It’s a crazy cycle!
So, how do we get a good night’s sleep?
Our circadian rhythm puts us into our wake and sleep cycle. Bright light (especially in the morning, within 30 minutes of waking) actually triggers our circadian cycle to begin. This means that the cycle finishes nicely around the time we want to go to sleep, with a burst of melatonin release. So get outside in the morning, even if it’s not sunny, and without sunglasses on. Alternatively, an artificial bright light bulb can have a similar effect.
Light exposure during the day is good, but in the evening it’s not ideal. Blue light (from phones, TV’s, computers and other devices) trick our circadian rhythm into thinking it’s daytime and stunt our melatonin release, preventing us from falling asleep. Blue light blocker glasses are helpful while using devices after sundown. However, the most important thing for our sleep quality is to turn off all devices at least an hour before we hit the sack (ideally 2 hours). That way, our body winds down and knows it’s time to sleep.
As mentioned, our body needs the circadian rhythm to wake/sleep, and our body likes consistency.
Caffeine has a half life of 12 hours. This means that if you have a cup of coffee at noon, half of the caffeine is still in your body 12 hours later at midnight. Consuming caffeine after lunchtime can severely impact your sleep.
Alcohol interrupts our melatonin production which messes up our circadian rhythm, and therefore our sleep. Alcohol also exacerbates sleep issues like snoring, sleep apnea and general sleep disruption.
Make your bedroom a place you want to be in. Decorate it in a way that makes you feel calm and happy, choose comfortable bedding and pillows, and set the temperature to one that works for you (a little on the cooler side helps with sleep). Remove any non-sleep related clutter and avoid having any tv’s or computers in there… screen free is ideal!
I live in a studio, so this isn’t fully possible, but I do have a very calm sleeping area, and I turn off screens 2 hours before bed. This has improved my sleep immensely. I also find that setting my phone to airplane mode at night has improved the quality of my sleep.
As mentioned earlier, our bodies like consistency and to be in patterns or cycles. We can train our bodies to know that it’s time to sleep. Experiment with what works for you. Maybe a hot bath, meditation, a book, deep breathing, visualization, or a calm playlist can help signal that it’s time to wind down. The trick is to do this relaxing routine every evening before bed. The body will learn that it’s time.
Being physically tired from movement is a brilliant way to help your body get the rest it needs. Exercise helps you fall asleep, and stay asleep. It is better to exercise earlier in the day if you have trouble sleeping. Exercise releases stimulating hormones, like epinephrine and adrenaline, and these may keep you awake if they’re surging through your body as you’re trying to wind down.
This concludes the 4 part blog series on gut health! To summarize, here are the ways you can improve your gut health:
If you want to heal your gut and enjoy better overall health, join Relish Life today! Your personal Health Coach will help you heal your gut and jumpstart your weight loss journey!
Melissa is a British-born Health Coach who knows firsthand how difficult it can be to manage the emotions that surround weight. After decades of weight control and yo-yo dieting, Melissa studied to become a Health Coach and effectively coached herself through the process. Through learning how to eat intuitively, Melissa gained a new perspective and shifted her focus from ‘dieting’ to nourishment. She also learned how to recognize and address trauma and stress in her life. The stubborn weight she had held onto for years just melted away.
Melissa LOVES to help others figure out and conquer their own personal health and wellness goals. Following a life-long enthusiasm for alternative medicine, Melissa trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where she received in-depth training in nutrition, health and wellness, and coaching skills.
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