COVID-19 AND SLEEP, GLORIOUS SLEEP

Jan 01, 2022

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I always like to practice what I preach, so today I feel a bit of a fraud. I freely admit, sleep and I aren’t exactly bed partners. I’m in awe of sleep, I think it’s one of the most beneficial things for health, if not THE best thing you can do for health.


Did you know that most health practitioners, yes, even those whose primary field is nutrition, feel that out of the health trinity of diet, exercise and sleep, sleep is the most important?


But sleep and I don’t always get what we want from each other, so I freely admit to being a work-in-progress. For personal interest, I have read pretty much everything I can get my hands on about sleep. I have tried every trick in the book. I may not be a good sleeper but I’m better than I was and, partly thanks to my avid late-night reading, my knowledge about it is pretty deep!


Critically, for this post, poor sleep is the ruination of your immune system. Even when given a vaccine, sleep-deprived twins were found to raise less of an immune antibody response, and greater susceptibility to infection, than the sufficiently slept identical twins.


Now the contrary thing is that during the threat of coronavirus and quarantine, our stress levels are high and with it the quality of our sleep is likely poor. I will come to stress management in a later post but would strongly suggest exercise, deep breathing techniques, distancing from the news, and laughter as ways of countering your stress and thus enhancing sleep.


Matthew Walker, the author of Why We Sleep, suggests 10 commandments for good sleep and they are:-


  1. Establish a regular bed time and wake time, that remains the same on work days and weekends.
  2. Try to avoid daytime naps, but if they are a habit, try to limit them to 45 minutes a day.
  3. Avoid excessive alcohol 4 hours before bed, and don’t smoke.
  4. Avoid caffeine 6 hours before bed, including tea, coffee, some fizzy drinks and chocolate.
  5. Exercise regularly, but not close to bed.
  6. Use comfortable inviting bedding.
  7. Keep your bedroom well ventilated, and find a constant temperature on the cooler side.
  8. Avoid heavy, spicy, sugar foods within the 4 hours before bed. A snack before bed can help some people, can worsen sleep for others.
  9. Block all distracting noises and keep your bedroom as dark as possible.
  10. Keep your bedroom for sleeping and sex only.
  11. I would however add on one critical one… limit exposure to screens with blue light in the evening, this stimulates your wake hormones, as does the blue natural light in the morning. But natural light turns amber and red in the afternoon and evening, which stimulates the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone.


So sleep well, my followers, and I’ll be back with another tip, bright and breezy tomorrow.????

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