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SLEEP YOUR WAY TO BETTER HEALTH Sleep is a vital part of staying healthy. If you regularly miss out on sleep, it can impact your brain function, waistline, fertility, immune system and hormone balance. It can even place you at risk of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes. So why aren’t we getting enough sleep? It could come down to technology. As amazing as they can be, online devices have created a culture of being “always on”, meaning we’re working longer hours, sending emails from home, getting notifications at all hours and generally finding it tough to switch off. It’s easy for sleep to be the first thing that suffers. SO HOW MUCH SLEEP DO WE ACTUALLY NEED? Ideally, the average adult needs between seven and nine hours, but everyone is different. Some people can cope with much less sleep. The amount of sleep you need can also change during different life stages. CAN YOU EAT YOUR WAY TO BETTER SLEEP? Lack of sleep can also make you feel hungrier and often
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grumpier. When you don’t get enough sleep, your level of ghrelin (a hormone that makes you feel hungry) goes up and your level of leptin (a hormone that tells your brain you are full) goes down. Eating and drinking to promote a better sleep goes beyond avoiding caffeine and
