Five Sleep Hints

By Filipa Bellette

Are you burning the candle at both ends by staying up late at night trying to meet deadlines? Or maybe you’re going to bed on time, but you’re finding yourself lying awake at night, mind racing with the to-do list, or ruminating on problems? Whatever camp you’re in, you can feel your energy levels and productivity in your business dropping, and you know you need a good night’s sleep. Here are five sleep hacks you can implement, to help you get a more restorative sleep at night.

1. Identity & support body system imbalances

There are some key body systems that can burnout and lead to sleep issues. The top three I always think about are:

Adrenals - When your stress hormones cortisol and DHEA are imbalanced, they can directly impact your production of melatonin (your sleepy hormone) at night, because excess cortisol will suppress melatonin. Overworking during the day or at night will keep your cortisol levels pumping.

Brain - If serotonin levels are depleted (often a result of chronic stress), it can compromise your sleep. Serotonin is especially helpful for deep sleep and a balanced mood throughout the day.

Detox Pathways - Are you waking up between 2-4am and struggling to fall back to sleep? Your liver works hardest at night during these times. Often people with detox issues will have disrupted sleep, and can also experience intense dreams and nightmares. Detox issues are more and more prevalent these days, due to overconsumption of caffeine, alcohol, processed foods and environmental toxins.

To discover where your imbalances lie, work with a functional medicine practitioner to test your body systems.

2. Ten minutes of sunlight when you first wake up

Research shows getting outside or in a well-lit spot in your home can support better sleep at night. This is because natural morning light will help you to secrete cortisol in the morning. This not only helps you to feel perky, energised and happier in the morning, but it will also support proper melatonin (sleepy hormone) production at night. You could try eating breakfast outside or do some morning breathwork or journaling. Even if it’s cold, rug up with a dressing gown and beanie. Your night time self will thank you!

3. Turn screens off an hour before bed

Staying on brightly lit screens (TV, computer, smart phone) after the sun goes down really interferes with your melatonin (sleepy hormone) production. Blue-light will suppress melatonin, and will jack up cortisol (stress hormone). This can affect your ability to fall asleep, and the quality of your sleep, leaving you feeling flat, groggy, fatigued and crabby in the morning. If you do need or choose to use screens before bed, there are blue-light filtering apps you can use to reduce exposure, as well as blue-light blocking glasses (the orange-tinted ones are more effective at night time).

4. Reprogramming beliefs behind your behaviour

If you’re in the camp of business owners who stay up late trying to get more work done, or zone out on Netflix after a long day of work then this one's for you. Even though you “know” sleep is important for health and productivity, you keep staying up late, and it’s ruining you. What must you believe about yourself in order to continue behaving this way? Every behaviour has a belief underneath. What are your poor sleep patterns saying about you? Dysfunctional behaviour always comes back to a deeper unconscious core belief like not being good enough, weak, incapable, undeserving, a failure. For example, if unconsciously you believe you’re no good, this could show up as overdoing, trying to prove that you are good enough by what you can achieve. Identifying deeper beliefs and reprogramming will naturally lead to healthier work patterns and better sleep.

5. Go to sleep at the same time & wake up at the same time

Your body loves a regular sleep-wake routine. If you go to bed at the same time every night, and wake at the same time, you will reset your natural sleep-wake cycle, which will lead to more restorative sleep and a happier mood in the morning. Knowing your chronotype can also be helpful. Dr Michael Breus showed there are four distinct chronotypes:

Lion - ideal wake time is 6am, ideal sleep time is 10pm

Bear - ideal wake time is 7am, ideal sleep time is 11pm

Wolf - ideal wake time is 9am, ideal sleep time is 1am.

Dolphin - ideal wake time is 6:30am, ideal sleep time is 11:30pm

Filipa Bellette, author of Ending Body Burnout ($29.95), is an accredited Clinical Nutritionist, Functional Medicine Practitioner, Coach, Trauma Therapist & PhD Scholar. She is co-founder of multi award-winning health practice Chris & Filly Functional Medicine, best known for ending body burnout (for good!) in “busy” people with energy, mood & gut issues. www.chrisandfilly.fm