When I don’t eat well, I don’t sleep well. Why is it that we feel so poorly when we don’t get a good night’s sleep? The answer lies in our hormones. Our bodies need to work properly, and the best way to hormonal health is through our food. Whole foods! Foods left in their original form like fruits, vegetables, legumes, seeds and ancient grains. This is because processed food in and of itself can cause stress.

Two faced cortisol

Have you ever been late for a flight at the airport? Many of us have had that harrowing experience rushing into the airport, dashing to the check-in counter, and then eyeing the long line at security. All the while constantly looking at our watch and wondering how we can possibly get to our plane on time. You have to figure out how to get on that plane, and fast. Think of the extra energy your body seems to find. It’s commonly referred to as “fight or flight” mode (pun intended). Where does it come from? It’s a so-called stress hormone called cortisol. It makes us more aware and more alert.  It cranks up energy fast.  It helps us perform at higher levels —important for professional athletes. But there’s a downside—stress is not helpful for sleep.

Let’s look at another example. If I cut my hand, the injured area would turn red, swell, and feel warm. It’s the body’s natural response to heal. Like the airport scenario, cortisol is added to the equation to help regulate my injury. Why is cortisol involved in both situations? Stress! Our bodies will respond with cortisol whether you’re late for a flight, cut yourself or—you guessed it—eat a poor diet. Stress is stress. Our body doesn’t know the difference between one stress and another. Each time, our brain’s natural response is to flood our bodies with cortisol.

High cortisol levels and a good night’s sleep are simply not good bed companions. Constant stress creates abnormally high cortisol levels that can cause us to “burn out” and crash. We have trouble fighting off being sick. It reduces our glucose metabolism during sleep and fails to break down our food into energy. Neither I, as a professional athlete, nor anyone else, can be successful if we don’t recover from our daily activities with proper sleep.  A first step to balance cortisol levels and recover during sleep is to eat well.

High cortisol levels and a good night’s sleep are simply not good bed companions

Let our bodies do the work

After a restful night’s sleep, I wake up feeling rejuvenated and strong.  Why? It’s because I gave my body a chance to repair itself. I allowed Growth Hormone (GH) to do its job. It repairs and strengthens our bodies at night during a phase called “deep sleep”. But getting into “deep sleep” is no piece of cake (yes, another pun). We have trouble getting into a deep sleep if we have eaten sugar.

I have trouble sleeping if I have high stress. To avoid stress, I eat foods low or absent in sugar. Sugar is quick energy, and our bodies have a desire to use it immediately. But the body has something in there called insulin that sucks up sugar.  More sugar means more insulin.  High insulin mean lower GH levels, and when you have low GH levels it can’t do its normal repair work. Lower GH levels mean we typically wake up groggy and tired.  And it’s often a product of unhealthy foods. A tired brain is a sloppy brain. That’s why at night we don’t crave a vegetable. We want a cookie. We want sugar.  Our sleep deprived brain resorts to primitive instincts. It wants energy now! That’s why we instinctively reach for comfort foods that are high in refined sugar and unhealthy fat. Poor food choices can cause a rather unhealthy sleep cycle.

Whole foods to the rescue

First and foremost, eating whole foods isn’t about one or two specific foods. Yes, foods like tart cherry juice and kava tea can help you sleep. But that’s using a band-aid when you need a more significant treatment. In other words, you need to eat whole foods throughout the day. Whole foods will keep you energised all day and naturally encourage sleep as night approaches. Eat whole foods rich in fibre. High fibre foods like Savi seeds or almonds help dull the effect of the sugar we already have in our diet.

Secondly, healthy fats are important. They help keep energy levels up during the day. Shawn Stevenson, the author of Sleep Smarter, compares our metabolic system to a fire. Eating simple carbohydrates is like putting strands of paper on the fire. It will quickly turn bright, but it will then burn out equally fast. It cannot sustain the fire. However, eating healthy fats is like throwing a wooden log into the mix. The fire will burn for a very long time. Healthy fats are also healthy for our immune system. Eat avocados, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, flax and hemp seed, olive and coconut oil. They all make for a healthy immune system that can help us recover quickly during sleep.

Eating healthy fats is like throwing a wooden log into the mix. The fire will burn for a very long time

Thirdly, supplement your healthy fats with protein. There was a study in 2008 where healthy men were fed a high fat/protein diet and a low fat/protein diet. (High fat/protein meant 1% carbs, 61% fat, 38% protein. Low fat/protein meant 72% carbs, 12.5% fat, and 15.5% protein.) The diet with higher fat and protein content increased all stages of deep sleep. The second diet did just the opposite; sleep quality was decreased. The following are great examples of meals with a combination of healthy fats and protein:

• Grains with Legumes – Sample Meal: Lentils and rice
• Nuts with Legumes – Sample Meal: Black bean and cashew salad
• Legumes with Seeds – Sample Meal: Lentil Dal and sunflower seeds
• Grains with Dairy – Sample Meal: Goats cheese and rice pasta

I may be small but I pack a punch

It’s time to start talking about some little guys that can really be game changers in the sleep world: Micronutrients. These little guys are the building blocks of healthy hormones and can give you some serious ZZZs. They include minerals, vitamins, enzymes, trace minerals, and phytonutrients. A former doctor of the United States Navy Seals found that emphasising the importance of micronutrients drastically improved his soldiers’ sleep quality. His name is Kirk Parsley and, as a new doctor to the Seals team, he had many soldiers coming to him complaining of sleep problems. They were taking medications so they could sleep. He began by taking blood samples from his soldiers and found shocking results. Physically, they appeared to be in peak physical condition. But Dr. Parsley said that “metabolically, they looked like crap.” The tests came back with low testosterone, low growth hormones, low insulin sensitivity, and high inflammatory markers. He realised his soldiers were lacking proper micronutrients. In addition to promoting the importance of whole foods, he came up with a drink consisting mainly of vitamin D, magnesium and tryptophan. His nutrition plan worked.  The majority of his soldiers no longer needed sleeping pills.

Final thought

All athletes get the same professional advice about eating and sleeping, and the average person might think they’d adhere to the rigid rules. But rules are meant to be broken, even by athletes who should know better. I know some who spend time in the middle of the night eating pizzas. Some have the occasional extra beer. We, too, struggle with always putting the right foods in our bodies. Eating correctly is constantly changing and a lot depends on what’s right for each individual. However, through my career I’ve learned that a good night’s sleep starts as soon as I get up in the morning. Fuelling my body to aid in sleep shouldn’t be limited to a certain meal or snack. It’s a routine. My advice is don’t get overwhelmed and start drastically changing your diet. Change isn’t overnight. Good nutrition habits take time; even for those whose careers depend on it. Improving sleep patterns through nutrition is not about perfection. It’s about being aware.

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Why do we persist in thinking that it’s efficient, effective, and macho to function on as few hours of sleep as possible?

For one, we simply don’t understand the importance of sleep and the serious deleterious consequences of sleep deprivation on health and performance. These include a significantly higher risk of high blood pressure [heart attacks and strokes], type-2 diabetes, depression, influenza, skin and allergy conditions, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and obesity. Furthermore, sleep deprivation disrupts cognitive processing, including acquisition, retention and recall of information, as well as diminishing our creativity, and critical thinking skills.

Along with not understanding sleep’s importance, many of us suffer occasionally from one or more of the 89 known sleep disorders and are unaware of the proper treatments. In a culture that devalues sleep, we think we can accomplish more if we sleep less. Nothing could be further from the truth. After 16 hours of being awake, we are incapable of performing efficiently and effectively; mistakes are made and accidents and illness often follow. The bottom line is that most of us have no clue as to what constitutes good sleep hygiene and how to obtain a great night’s sleep for a better tomorrow.

Here are five golden rules of sleep:

1. Determine your personal sleep requirement

How many hours of sleep do you get per night? The majority of us are moderately to severely sleep deprived. In fact, 71 per cent do not meet the recommended 7.5 – 9.25 hours per night.

Determine and meet your sleep requirement every night. It’s hard-wired, not adaptable! There are individual differences that are genetically determined. For example, if both of your parents are short sleepers, you may be one of the lucky five per cent of the population who can perform satisfactorily on less than six hours of sleep per night.

An adequate night’s sleep should leave you feeling wide-awake and energetic all day long, with little to no need for an afternoon nap. If you experience daytime sleepiness, start by adding 15 minutes to your normal routine each night until you feel fully rested all day long. This is your set point for a great night’s sleep.

The majority of us are moderately to severely sleep deprived

To test your finding, you should subtract 15 minutes of sleep for a night to see if it affects your energy levels the next day. If you are a bit sleepy, you’ll know that you are not quite meeting your required amount of sleep. Most people will find they should add at least one more hour to their current sleeping time. If that’s you, you’ll quickly realise that you never really knew what it’s like to be fully alert and at your best physically, emotionally and cognitively. We need to value sleep. To be healthy and a peak performer, sleep is not a luxury; it’s a necessity.

2. Establish a normal sleep/wake schedule

While you may be tempted to make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping longer on the weekends, this can be very disruptive to your circadian rhythm. Instead, try to go to bed and get up at, or near, the same time every day. We only have one biological clock that determines our wakefulness and sleepiness, not one for the weekday and one for the weekend.

We must synchronise the sleepy phase of our biological clock with the hours we spend in bed and the waking phase for the hours we are out of bed. If we vary our sleep/wake schedule, it has the same effect of eastbound jet lag. We will have daytime sleep inertia, feel drowsy and lack mental clarity throughout the day.

Take a hot bath, do some easy stretching, yoga, or meditation before sleeping to help you relax

3. Use these proven strategies for great sleep

Get plenty of exercise everyday, even if it’s just taking the dog for a 20-minute walk after dinner. Avoid heavy cardio workouts within an hour of bedtime. Eliminate caffeine after 2pm. Even decaffeinated coffee contains small amounts of caffeine, so avoid that too if possible. Refrain from drinking alcohol within three hours of bedtime. Alcohol in large amounts is a stimulant, not a sedative. Therefore, while you may feel that alcohol helps you fall asleep, it actually disturbs your sleep every 90 minutes thereafter.

Be sure to avoid the use of electronics within one hour of bedtime. Television, computer screens, and iPads contain blue daylight spectrum light that blocks the secretion of melatonin, thus making it more difficult to fall asleep when you turn off the lights. If you must watch these screens, be sure to use blue daylight spectrum blocking glasses. Make sure that your bedroom is quiet, dark, and cool. You can also take a hot bath, do some easy stretching, yoga, or meditation before sleeping to help you relax.

4. Get one block of continuous sleep

To give you adequate nocturnal sleep in one block of time, avoid naps and falling asleep in the reclining chair after dinner. Those with insomnia must avoid any napping. Continuous sleep does not mean totally uninterrupted sleep. It’s completely normal to wake up several times during the night. Don’t worry if you can fall back to sleep within 20 minutes. If you do find yourself awake for longer, you might remain awake for as long as 90 minutes. Get out of bed, keep the lights low and read a book or do some light housework rather than toss and turn in bed.

Sleep loss doesn’t disappear by itself—you have to pay it back

5. Make up for lost sleep

For every hour you are awake, you increase your sleep debt. It takes one hour of sleep to make up for every two hours of being awake. If you are up for 16 hours, you need to sleep eight hours that night to fully restore your energy.

Sleep loss doesn’t disappear by itself—you have to pay it back. Compare your sleep to a bank account; if you make a withdrawal, the balance is reduced until you put money back into your account. Similarly, if you have a sleep debt, your loss accumulates. Therefore, make up for lost sleep as soon as possible. You can’t do it all at once, but after a week of adequate sleep you should be back on track.

Lauren Sietz is pursuing a Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies.
Emily Coolen is a certified personal trainer and sleep educator.

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We think that the time when we are asleep is a complete waste. So the less sleep we can do with the better it is. It does not occur to people that sleep might have a contribution to make to the deeper processes of life.

We have not even noticed that the cause behind all the illnesses, all the disorders that have entered man’s life is lack of sleep. The person who cannot sleep right cannot live right. Sleep is not a waste of time. The 8 hours of sleep are not being wasted; rather, because of those 8 hours, you are able to stay awake for 16 hours. Otherwise, you would not be able to stay awake all that time. During those eight hours life-energy is accumulated, your life gets revitalised, the centres of your brain and heart calm down and your life functions from your navel centre. For those eight hours of sleep, you have again become one with nature and with existence—that is why you become revitalised.

Sleep deprivation is a torture

If you want to torture somebody then the best method—invented thousands of years ago—is to prevent him from going to sleep. It has not been possible to improve upon this method so far. During the last war in Germany, the most popular method of torturing prisoners was prevention of sleep. You simply don’t allow the person to sleep. This is torture beyond all limits for the person. So guards were put next to the prisoners to disturb their sleep.

The Chinese first discovered this method some two thousand years ago. Not allowing a person to sleep was a very cheap method of torture. They would make the man stand in a cell so small that he could not move at all—he could neither sit nor lie down. They would then drip water from above, which would fall on his head, drop by drop. After a maximum of 16 – 18 hours the man would start shouting and screaming—“I will die! Save me! Get me out of here!” Then they would ask the man to reveal the information he was concealing. After three days, even the most courageous person would give up.

Hitler in Germany and Stalin in Russia did the same with hundreds of thousands of people. They kept them awake, would not let them sleep. One cannot experience a worse torture than this. Even if you kill a person, he does not suffer as much as when you do not let him sleep—because it is only in sleeping that he regains what he has lost. If he is unable to sleep, then he goes on losing his life-energy and does not get anything back. He becomes totally dried out. We are dried-out people because our doors for attaining something are closed, and our doors for losing everything have become more and more open.

Make your own sleep rules

Sleep needs to be brought back into man’s life. Really, there is no alternative. It is very important for you to see to it that you sleep properly and enough. Another thing to be understood is that the right sleep will be different for everybody. It will not be equal because the body has needs which are different for everyone, according to age and many other factors.

So each person should discover the best arrangement for him or her. For three months each person should experiment with his work, with his sleep and with his diet, and should find out what are the healthiest, most peaceful and most blissful rules for him.

Everyone should make their own rules. No two persons are alike, so no common rule is ever applicable to anybody. Whenever someone tries to apply a common rule, it has a bad effect. Each person is unique and incomparable. Only he is like himself, there is no other person like him anywhere on the earth. So no rule can be applicable for him until he finds out what the rules for his own life-processes are.

Excerpted from The Inner Journey. Courtesy: Osho International Foundation | www.osho.com

This was first published in the November 2013 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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As a society, we are shortchanging ourselves on sleep by about 60 – 90 minutes a night. If you wonder whether you’re getting enough, here are some criteria to help you decide:

• Do you need an alarm clock to wake you up in the morning? Or, two alarm clocks—one close enough to hit the snooze button and one across the room to make you get out of bed?
• Do you wake up feeling refreshed or tired?
• How is your daytime energy? Do you run out of steam by late afternoon?
• How much sleep do you get when you don’t have to wake up [on weekends or when you’re on vacation]?
• How quickly do you fall asleep at night? This is the criterion used by sleep researchers and it’s called the ‘sleep latency period.’ For normal, well-rested people, this transition period takes fifteen to twenty minutes. If you fall asleep in less than five minutes—or even 10—you are, by definition, sleep deprived.

When patients complain about fatigue, I always begin by asking two questions:

1. How much sleep are you getting at night? The answer is often ‘six to seven hours.’
2. How much sleep do you need to function at your best? [Not how much you can get away with, but how much you really need to be at the top of your game.] The answer is usually ‘eight.’

Even a medical student could make the diagnosis: not enough sleep!

How much sleep do we need? Most adults need eight to nine hours a night, which is what people were getting until 1913, when Thomas Edison perfected the tungsten filament incandescent light bulb—artificial light. Today we average about seven hours a night, even though we haven’t changed physiologically since Edison’s time. We’re cheating ourselves of sleep in order to work, watch TV or socialise. It hasn’t been a very good tradeoff.

What’s the cost of sleep deprivation?

The damage is much greater than we realise. We fall asleep while driving. We become more prone to infection because our immune system is stimulated during sleep. We make mistakes on the job, causing injury or financial loss. Our concentration and short-term memory are impaired, and intellectual function is diminished.

In a 1999 Toronto Star article on sleep, Dr. Stanley Coren, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, said, “One hour’s lost sleep out of eight results in a drop of one point of IQ and for every additional hour lost, you drop two points. And it accumulates. So if you cheat on sleep by two hours a night over a five-day week, you’ve lost 15 points.” Also, significantly, sleep deprivation affects our mood. We become irritable and depressed.

Note that many of the symptoms of sleep deprivation are also symptoms of stress. But, in addition, tired people are less resilient when handling stressful situations. So lack of sleep is a double whammy. Going to work without proper rest is like starting your day with one foot in a hole.

Sleep debt

The difference between the amount of sleep we need and the amount of sleep we get is called ‘sleep debt.’ If you need eight hours a night but only get seven, you have a sleep debt of one hour. As Dr. Coren points out in his wonderful book Sleep Thieves, if this continues for a week, you then have an accumulated sleep debt of seven hours. The effect is much like losing all seven hours in the same night. The good news is that you can repay the sleep debt. So if you fall behind, a few consecutive nights of full, uninterrupted sleep will usually return you to full function.

Five years ago I stopped setting my alarm and simply woke up when my body was ready. Of course, I had to go to bed early enough to wake up naturally and still be on time for work. But the result has been dramatic. I feel profoundly better every day for doing this. And so do my patients who have started getting the sleep they need.

A good night’s sleep is the best way to start your day-don’t leave home without it!

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