Can’t sleep? You’re not alone. A 2019 survey undertaken by the Sleep Health Foundation found that over 60% of Australians experience at least one symptom of insomnia three or more times a week, with 14.8% meeting the criteria for clinical insomnia. The onset of the pandemic a couple years ago served to both exacerbate pre-existing sleep issues and cause new ones, with many of us experiencing peculiar dreams in addition to the typical complaints of insomnia and trouble staying asleep.
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To fully comprehend why sleep is such a fundamental component of our physical and mental wellbeing, it’s essential to understand what our bodies do while we’re asleep. When we fall asleep, body temperature drops and heart rate slows down. Muscles relax, breathing and blood pressure rates slow down. Your body produces and regulates hormones; cortisol – the stress hormone – levels drop while ghrelin and leptin – which work to regulate hunger and satiety levels – balance out. Sleep also provides an opportunity for cellular, tissue, and muscular repair, as well as detoxification in both the body and brain. The catch? To reap the full benefits, you need to go through the entirety of the sleep cycle, with at least 7-8 hours of good quality sleep required to improve cognitive function, keep your metabolism at its prime, and your immune system strong.
In the interest of getting a good night’s sleep, these are the best scientifically-proven ways to boost your sleep naturally.
1. Move mindfully
Getting a good night’s sleep doesn’t begin and end in the bed. “Starting the day with exercising outside will help regulate your circadian rhythm, helping you to feel tired and ready to sleep when bedtime rolls around,” Gabriel Perera, Ora Health founder, tells us. “Staying active throughout the day will help prepare your body for rest, but be careful with the activities you choose to engage with at the very end of your day. Late in the evenings, moderate exercise such as yoga can help prepare you for a restful sleep, but performing cardio straight before bed can increase your adrenaline levels, making it difficult for your system to wind down. Activities such as meditation and breathing exercises are a great way to allow your body to assimilate into a restful state.”
2. Don’t over caffeinate
“While coffee and green tea can be healthy in moderation, consuming caffeine later in the day is an easy route to a restless night,” says Perrera. “The level to which caffeine intake affects our sleep depends on the person, but it’s generally recommended to avoid caffeine for at least five hours before you go to sleep (according to advice from the Australian Sleep Health Foundation).” Resident naturopath at GO Healthy Jess Blair echoes this sentiment, recommending those with difficulty sleeping completely eliminate caffeine after 11am, noting that this also (unfortunately) encompasses chocolate.
3. Get some sun
Exposure to natural sunlight during the day aids in regulating your body’s circadian rhythm, which benefits both daytime energy as well as sleep quality and duration. “If sleep is an issue for you, exposing yourself to sunlight first thing in the morning can help to stimulate the cortisol levels in our bodies,” says Blair. “Cortisol levels peak in the morning to help us to get up and get moving for the day, with the amount in our bodies reducing as the day goes on, which allows us to get to sleep at night.”
4. Ditch the devices
Scrolling on our phones is [one of the key reasons] why people are not sleeping well,” Blair tells us. “Having your phone next to your bed will get you into a bad habit, as well as having a TV in your room.”
Perera concurs, saying that “minimising screen time not only limits the amount of circadian-rhythm-deregulating blue light you’re exposed to, but staying phone-free can also help regulate your hormones by avoiding the dopamine and cortisol spikes triggered by engaging with social media (as reported by The Journal Of Health Communication). Putting your phone away from your bed is an easy-to-implement method for minimising your screen time.”
5. Optimise your sleep environment
Our circadian rhythm, which governs our sleep cycles, is heavily regulated by light and dark. To ensure your bedroom is conducive to restorative sleep, your space should be dark. This can be achieved by putting up blackout blinds or curtains, or wearing an eye mask in the absence of these. A cool environment also promotes better sleep. “Keeping the ambient temperature of your bedroom at around 15C – 19C will also help you achieve optimal sleep, according to a report published by the National Library Of Medicine,” Perera says.
6. Check your hormonal health
“Hormonal imbalance such as increased cortisol or adrenaline can wreak havoc on your sleep, so incorporating hormone-balancing strategies and supplements can significantly improve your sleep quality,” Perera explains. “ The Ora Health Hormonal Balance is designed to regulate hormonal activity, helping the body to operate more effectively across the board, including when it’s time to switch off.”
7. Strategic supplementation
For those continually struggling with poor sleep quality, incorporating certain supplements can be beneficial. Both Blair and Perera cite magnesium as an ideal mineral to aid with improving both sleep latency and quality. Both topical and ingestible magnesium are helpful, with a magnesium salt bath serving double duty to relax the muscles and promote sleep. Supporting stress and mood levels as well as sleep quality, Ora Health Mag Mood combines three types of magnesium with cordyceps, ashwagandha, and lemon balm in a powder which can be consumed before bed. For a capsule option, GO Healthy Magnesium Sleep is formulated to promote a deep, restful sleep. Two types of magnesium meet tart cherry, passionflower, zizyphus, and 5-HTP to relax both the body and mind.
8. Helpful herbs
Certain herbs can aid in reducing stress, nervous tension, and anxiety, and help promote deep sleep. Helpful herbs for improving sleep quality include zizyphus, lemon balm, chamomile, passionflower, kava, and tart cherries. The Ora Heath Profound Sleep Formula utilises light sedative and anxiolytic herbs like passionflower, zizyphus, and chamomile combined with magnesium to encourage restful sleep, while the GO Healthy Go Cherry Sleep hones in on the sedative benefits of tart cherries, which work by increasing the level of melatonin in the body.
Words by AR Staff
Feature image by Bruce Webber for W Magazine
