How to Sleep Your Way to Good Fitness

This article has been originally published by Elaine on BookMeditationRetreats.com. Give them a visit when you want to get a bit more chilled out. I have added my routines and life hacks so that you can get started on sleeping better to get fitter.

Do you have trouble sleeping? Are your heart and mind racing when you go to bed? Does ental exhaustion keep you from sleeping?

You might be one of the many people who does not pay enough attention to their sleep. Many of my friends are not getting the 8 hours of sleep a night they should. I also only get six hours and I will get to that. Where are you on this spectrum? How many hours do you really get on average a week?

A lack of sleep can be very harmful to the body. Lack of sleep hinders the ability of the mind to relax. This leaves your brain in a constant fight or flight mode. Your health will suffer in this state.

Why is Sleep Important?

My university years probably were the worst in terms of health. I wrote my assignments in the middle of the night. I kept things to the very last moment and got stressed about them. In my free time, I sat at the poker table for long hours.

Alcohol, energy drinks and lack of exercise did the rest. The result was a fat version of myself having constant nose bleeds. To top this of my mind was not in a healthy space. All of this was spralling our of control until I met my wife. Since then I am exercising more and have better sleeping patterns.

Adequate sleep is important to your body because you need rest. Chronic sleep loss can put you at risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke. Lack of sleep also impairs your brain. You will be less alert, concentrated and your reasoning will suffer. These are skills you use on a daily basis.

When I do not get enough sleep I tend to get at least one major task for the day less done than when I am well rested. It also affects the next day. I usually can not get out of bed early to go the gym. So one night of lack of sleep makes two days of my week a lot less productive.

So how do you get a good night’s sleep? Here are some effective tips:

Stick to A Schedule

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One of the best things you can do is getting into the habit of going to bed early and getting up early. Most people go to bed late and get up late. This already sets you up for success as you are beating the crowds. There are less poeple in the gym in the morning. You get your workout done quicker. There are less people on the commute in the morning. You can work more focused and prepare for the day.

Once your body clock has adjusted, you will find it a lot easiert to stick to this schedule. Consistency is key. Human bodies are not well equipped for constantly changing sleep patterns. Come up with one that suits your lifestyle and stick to it.

The general rule of thumb is that you need eight hours of sleep. At the moment I think I am doing quite well on six hours a day. Thatcher and Mandela were known for only sleeping five hours a night. Remember that the healthier your other life choices are, the more likely it is that you can operate with less sleep. IT might also have something to do with your genes how much sleep you actually need.

Currently, I go to bed at 10pm and unwind for an hour. I get up at 5.00am to 5.30am. I start work at 8.30am to 9.00am. I hit the gym at 6.30am to 7.00am after meditating and brain training.

If you want to get up earlier too, I have a tip for you. Start gradually! I used to get up at 8.30am to rush to work to hit the desk at 9.30am. No morning ritual included here. Also I had to fight the crowds on my way to work. To get the new wake up time I gradually got up earlier. This was a lesser shock to my system. Here is what I did:

Alarm clock goes:

Week 1 8.00am
Week 2 7.30am
Week 3 7.00am
Week 4 6.30 am
Week 5 6.00am
Week 6 5.30am
Week 7 5.00am

This is a way better plan to implement the change than directly going for 5.00am. You have milestones to reward yourself. You can also start to fill the gained time with a useful morning routine. This has less potential for failure and more positive reinforcement in it.

If you want to get to bed earlier take a good look at your activities before bed. For me and my wife, it worked to cut back our Netflix consumption (average subcriber watches 600 hours a year) from 3 episodes a night to one. This already gives you back half an hour to two a day.

Sometime your partner does not want to cooperate with getting up earlier. Srtick to your guns in this case. A Fitbit can be a good investment in these scenarios. IT will wake you up without blaring a loud alarm through the entire house.

Get A Relaxing Ritual Going

Being relaxed before going to sleep helps. Relaxation promotes the natural production of melatonin in the body. Melatonin is essential for deep and restful sleep.

Your body reacts to your environment. I dim the lights and switch to the bedroom. I eave my electronic devices in the living room to charge for the night. I do not charge them in the bedroom as my fitbit wakes me up.

To relax myself even further I read one to two chapters of a book that I keep at my bedside locker. Keep this reading light. Nothing work related. You should enjoy the text and learn from it without having to exhaust yourself.

When I go to sleep I use the breathing techniques I learned from my morning meditation. This calms me down even further. Headspcae is a good app to learn proper mindfulness techniques.

Exercise Regularly

An exercise regime with as little as ten minutes a day will dramatically improve the quality of your sleep. Exercise reduces stress by releasing endorphines in your body and tiring you out. It also has been linked to a positive impact on restless leg syndrome and sleep apnea.

Whatever you do to keep yourself fit to make it last for twenty minutes. This the best ratio in terms for value for money. It won't create elite athletes but better sleepers. I found that the early morning hours are way more likely to get a good workout in than in the evenings. The people who could keep you from your routine are usually not awake at 6.00am.

Lead a Healthier Lifestyle

Food choices highly impact yur general well being. When me and my wife have a lot of sugar, alcohol and fast food on a Friday, Saturday turns out to be an ugly beast. You probably remember some of the bad nights you had which were direct results of bad lifestyle choices.

Eating acidic and spicy foods may cause heartburn. This does not help a healthy sleep pattern. High fat food like burgers send your digestive system into overdrive. Same goes for meals rich in carbohydrates.

What helps me to stay healthier on the food side of things is to follow intermittent fasting. I have a bulletproof coffee in the morning and wait until 1pm for the next meal. I have lost weight and got stronger long term by implementing this change.

You can also choose to eat more fat and reign in your carbohydrates. Having no dessert or second helpings is another easy way of getting a bit more healthy on weekdays. On weekends I like to enjoy myself when I go out with my wife.

Conclusion

Good sleep is all about having a good day first. Stress through exposure to negativity, bad food and being rushed is the enemy. Minimize these influences in your life and discipline yourself. This will lead to more regular, unbroken sleep. When yu are rested it is way easier to be happy and conquer your goals.

Elaine is a Contributing Writer for BookMeditationRetreats.com. She is a firm believer in meditation and sets aside at least an hour a day for silence.