Do you feel low in energy and not healthy enough to stay positive despite clean eating and exercising? What could be the reason for the inability to function normally, when everything that concerns a healthy person is in place?
It is because when it comes to maintaining overall health it is important to look at the four pillars of lifestyle: food, activity, sleep and the major player, stress. While everything else can be taken care of with lifestyle changes, stress is a dominant part of our lives. But we have to look at managing it well by diverting our minds toward more positive things. The one root cause for increasing stress is not getting enough sleep, which can have a severe impact on our physical and mental health.
Quality sleep matters
While at times stress is temporary and goes away once the issue is resolved, off late, with the pandemic, lockdown and the other uncertainties around us — it has led to an immense increase in stress among individuals. This results majorly in a lack of sleep. A sound and undisturbed sleep makes us feel relaxed, energetic and rejuvenated, however, lack of sleep can contribute to stress, which can constrain our body’s ability to relax, restore, detoxify and heal. It can also add to losing and gaining weight, and low immunity. An unstable sleep cycle — and here it’s not about the number of hours of sleep — it’s about the quality of sleep and the depth of each cycle of your sleep, can alter the hormonal balance of our body, which leads to low energy and stress.
No to gadgets
We all have known that melatonin is processed by our brain to help us improve our sleep cycle. But when you are glued to your mobile phones or TV for long hours at night it affects your body’s natural ability to produce melatonin. It is advisable to keep the light-emitting gadgets away from yourself at least an hour before your bedtime. This will gradually improve your melatonin production and sleep quality. Similarly, many of our bad habits start affecting our sleep cycle as well as our immune system. Most of us like to have coffee in the evening or after dinner which should be avoided as caffeine keeps your brain alert which affects sleep. Let’s make sure you time your coffee in such a way that the caffeine is out of your body and it doesn’t come in the way of your sleep.
Dine healthily
When it comes to achieving an undisturbed sleep, it is important to consume foods that are a good source of tryptophan, magnesium and vitamin B. These are all micronutrients that help in inducing sleep. The best and most recommended source for all these nutrients is A2 milk. We all have grown up drinking turmeric milk before going to bed which is said to improve immunity and sleep. However, unfortunately, this routine isn’t followed in many houses anymore. You can choose from consuming A2 milk with turmeric, black pepper or nutmeg powder, all three ingredients are equally beneficial to improve the quality of sleep. We should understand that amino acids are important to improve our sleep as they are the primary source of tryptophan.
Here, it is important to note that if you have stomach issues or autoimmune conditions, it is advisable to stay away from A2 milk and try almond milk with a pinch of nutmeg powder before bedtime.
Many people need quick fixes to overcome their sleep issues but they just look at managing the symptoms, whereas we have to look at the root cause and try natural remedies which will ultimately lead to stress-free days and nights of sound sleep.