We live in a society where sleep deprivation is like a national sport.
Sleep deprivation is the cause of many of our behavior and mental health issues. Your brain has a specific schedule and when we break the schedule our internal repairing doesn’t happen or it is incomplete.
Our brain performance affects our overall body functionality. If we don’t sleep the hours our body needs, we are not able to fully refill, restore, and repair everything that has been damaged throughout our waking hours. I’m sure you are aware of this, but it is worth reiterating. During our sleep the brain stores information, gets rid of toxic waste, nerve cells communicate and reorganize, which supports healthy brain function, and the body repairs cells, restores energy, and releases molecules like hormones and proteins. Our body requires us to be in a horizontal position, prepared to sleep for a length of 7-8 hours during nighttime. Anything outside of these parameters is a potential problem on the horizon.
Unfortunately, we live in a society where sleep deprivation is like a national sport. Our work schedules aren’t designed to support our health and well-being. Our circadian rhythms are completely thrown off. Sleep deprivation is the cause of many of our behavior and mental health issues. Your brain has a specific schedule and when we break the schedule our internal repairing doesn’t happen or it is incomplete.
Bedtime should always be 9:50 pm
Sleep time should be 10:00 pm
At 10:00 pm our brain is supposed to be in the dark, meaning our eyes are shut down and there is no light in the room. Your brain will start the repairing/restoring processes.
Daily we lose billions of cells and our brain works as hard as it can to restore what is missing every night from 10:00 pm to 2:00 am. This is the time our sleep is deeper, the reason is that our brain is busy with other things.
From 2:00 am to 6:00 am our body and brain rest and everything that has been restored and repaired settles in. If we sleep these 8 hours our body feels fully rested the next day. If we don’t, the next day we get up tired, foggy and our performance during the day won’t be excellent. You probably have experienced being in a bad mood if you had a poor night of sleep or you are short on your answers, maybe you are angry or exhausted throughout the day just because you had an awful night.
This is a very important habit to start to develop and the results will show up from day one. Now, for some people, it is really difficult to do this simple behavior, WHY?
Many of us spend too much time in front of a screen right before bed. Lumminic stimulation keeps your brain believing it is daytime and it won’t release the sleep hormone, melatonin. In order for your brain to start the restoring process, it needs to have the right amount of melatonin otherwise melatonin gets out of balance creating the opposite effect, waking you up!
This is a choice you make every night. You can start sleep hygiene at 9:30 pm to prepare your brain to get ready for a restorative night by turning off all screens, dimming the light in your room, taking a warm shower scrubbing your body with a small towel, which is incredibly relaxing. Make sure the shades in the room are down, the room temperature is low and your pajamas are minimal or completely gone. This will set your brain for an amazing night of sleep.
If you are like me, you might need some extra help to slow down your brain after a busy day full of responsibilities. What I do is to have a light dinner, not later than 7:00 pm. I will take 800 milligrams of magnesium with a warm cup of almond milk with 2 tsp of raw cacao powder and if it is one of those days where you feel over-stimulated I will take Melatonin 3 milligrams before bedtime.
That will ensure your brain’s efficient work. The next day you will feel so rested and ready to go that you won’t believe it. Try it!
Listen to this week’s Make it Brain podcast episode #10 Longevity. Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcast.For Spotify click here For Apple Podcast click here
Pre-order the book The Fabulous Brain here