CosBeauty Magazine #76

Beauty
6tips to get
a good night’s
sleep
1.
Have a warm
bath before
bedtime
Normal body temperatures play
off your body’s circadian rhythm.
Temperatures are low during
sleep and at their highest point
during the day. A drop in body
temperature can be a trigger for
drowsiness, and the cooling down
that occurs after a warm bath
facilitates feelings of sleepiness.
2.
Avoid caffeine
and alcohol
Caffeine products such as coffee,
tea, colas and chocolate are
stimulants. They usually remain
in your body from three to five
hours but some of us can still feel
their effects up to 12 hours later.
It’s best to avoid caffeine within
six to eight hours of going to bed.
And, dare we say it, but a glass
or two of alcohol as a nightcap
can make for a very restless night,
not to mention a pesky hangover
the morning after. Alcohol can
also restrict airflow into the lungs
which reduces oxygen in your
blood and can lead to snoring
(and no one likes a snorer).
3.
Get active
We’re not going to be the
thousandth person in your
lifetime to tell you to get more
exercise – but we are going
to warn you about achieving
balance. We all know that overresting
leaves us sluggish and
lethargic, but if you over-exercise
it could cause muscle strain and
burnout, too. Eight hours staring
at a computer screen is standard
these days, and it can wear out
your brain. Just like your brain
shutting down when it needs
to, exercise makes sure your bod
winds down when the moment it
needs to arrives.
Exercise also triggers those
much-heralded endorphins.
Produced by the brain, they
bolster your mood and aid the
production of the hormones that
help you fall asleep.
4.
Choose the right
foods
All those old wives’ tales about
eating before bed are on the
mark, but less important than
you’d like to think. Eating at
the right time, your ‘metabolic
window’, conditions your body’s
metabolism to wake up and wind
down. Within this timeframe you
can give your body an important
message: in your world there is an
adequate supply of food, so it can
sit back and relax into sleep mode
when it feels the need.
Different types of food can
affect how you sleep. Meals rich
in carbohydrates set off a chain
reaction which makes you sleepy.
Carbs trigger the release of
insulin, which increases the level
of the chemical tryptophan in the
brain. From there, it’s turned into
serotonin, and serotonin is a sleep
inducer. Eating proteins has the
opposite effect to carbohydrates
and can make us feel more alert.
A lunch rich in protein may well
prevent the 3pm slump, while
eating carbohydrates at dinner
should help you to sleep.
5.
Chill out
Take some time out to unwind.
Reading a book, meditating or
simply focusing on your breathing
should do the trick. Creating a
calm bedroom environment is also
a must. Televisions are a definite
no-no and put your phone down
already – your bedroom is for
sleep, it’s not an entertainment
centre. Fragrance the air with
a botanical room spray, light a
candle or practise the gentle art
of aromatherapy. Herbs such as
lavender can help you get a full
40 winks.
Humans are hunter-gatherers
and instinctively need to feel safe
106 www.cosbeauty.com.au