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Nutrition and Lifestyle Section 3

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Sleep/Wake Cycles

The body needs time to recover.  recover from the daily activities of life.  the best time for the body to recover is when we sleep, however, 21st century life style choices dramatically affect the amount and quality of a good nights sleep.

  1. If you scored between 50-90, then this is a high priority.
  2. If you scored between 30-49 then this is a moderate priority.
  3. If you scored between 0-29, then this is a low priority.

The human species for hundreds of thousands of years lived by the sun and moon.  We woke up when the sun came up and we went to sleep when the sun went down and our entire physiological system is set up to work in unison with the sun.

Have you ever wondered why the pituitary gland is located right behind the eyes?  One of it’s functions is to secret the two hormones that wake us up and put us to sleep melatonin and serotonin.  When daylight hits your eye lids first thing in the morning, it causes the pituitary g;land to secrete melatonin which “wakes us up”.  As the sun sets, serotonin is secreted which slowly shuts us down at night.

If you scored poorly in this section, then a simple strategy is to keep a sleep diary to track and monitor your sleep habits and patterns.  You can download a sleep diary by clicking here.

Here’s some other simple strategies to help you lower your score and therefore get a better nights sleep.

  1. Go to bed before 10.30pm.  every hour before midnight is like 2.
  2. Make sure your room is completely dark.
  3. Remove all forms of electrostatic energy from arms reach of the bed.
  4. Computers, laptops, Ipads, TV’s, in fact all LED screens emit a type of light that tricks the pituitary gland into thinking the sun’s just come up, so it releases melatonin, the wake me up hormone.  Avoid these around bed time.
  5. Caffeine, alcohol and cigarettes are all stimulants and should be avoided like the plague, especially at night time.