COVID-19 AND SLEEP, GLORIOUS SLEEP

1 January 2022

PLEASE SHARE


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.????

MORE FROM OUR BLOG

CONTAGIOUS ANXIETY

1 May 2022
In my nutrition and functional medicine clinic, in Worcestershire, a vast majority of my clients suffer with anxiety. In the main, a large factor of their anxiety is their health. It is weighing on my mind. At the moment, with the threat of an unknown, infectious and fatal disease, anxiety levels are likely high for

COVID-19 NEW FINDINGS

1 April 2022
PLEASE SHARE: Today I have been reading some very interesting findings regarding Covid-19 and how it expresses in humans as compared to how it expresses in bats, and what we can learn from this in the management of the infection. When infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, bats initiate an inflammatory response but then in response

COVID-19 AND DIET

1 March 2022
PLEASE SHARE Having shared more lifestyle medicine tips recently, I thought today you might appreciate some dietary influence. The science of SARS-CoV-2 is rapidly unfolding, science journals are giving special priority to publishing papers on the topic and the brains of the cleverest researchers and analysts are whirling like the sufi dervishes. In my work it is critical to have the backing of solid scientific evidence for everything we suggest, and above all to comply with the hippocratic oath of “First ,do no harm”. And so, right now with insufficient evidence, the only way of assuring no harm is to support the body with diet, in preference over supplements. Here are a few little factoids and ways that diet can support us in this tricky time. Antibodies are proteins that are used by the immune system to neutralise pathogenic bacteria and viruses. So let’s provide them with the precursor ingredients and eat enough dietary protein. You don’t need to eat a huge amount but vegans and the elderly can be underprovided. Plants provide us with phytochemicals, many of which have seemingly magical characteristics. Of particular note are those that bind the same receptor that covid-19 does, thus reducing it’s capability to infect. In particular, let’s target garlic, citrus fruits (including the pith and peel), turmeric, ginger, onion and green tea. Inflammation makes the body more susceptible to infection, so now is a critical time to reduce chronic inflammation, something that is so prevalent and yet a silent affliction, you can be inflamed without knowing it. All refined carbohydrates and processed foods will instigate inflammation. So let’s cook from scratch, eliminating anything with flour or sugar. Avoid processed foods as the fat in them is very damaging, even if the quantities might seem small. And yet tuck in to good fats. The fat found in wild caught oily fish stimulates the same anti-inflammatory pathway as anti-inflammatory medication. How naturally cool is that?  Whilst no science has yet uncovered any direct effect of probiotics against covid-19, it has been recognised that a strong microbiome can enhance the immune system where its greatest capacity is, within the digestive tract. So eat fermented foods, a variety of colours of vegetables and fruit, and bone broth is enormously healing to digestive inflammation. And the scary note to end on is the strong correlation between obesity and covid mortality. This is the perfect time to learn to cook, to spend time providing sustenance for your family, to take joy in eating together and to lose a few pound whilst we have a non-existent social life. Come out of your hibernation looking like you’ve blossomed. With love, until next time, Kate
Share by: