When we sleep, our bodies repair and reboot.
Sleep deprivation is linked to many chronic health problems including low mood, concentration difficulties, poor immunity, hormone imbalance, weight gain and metabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.
If you’ve ever had a few nights’ broken sleep, you’re probably familiar with some of these symptoms.
When we sleep, we form pathways between our brain cells which help us retain learned information.
Sufficient sleep supports immune function and helps us fight infection.
Disturbed sleep can alter our appetite hormones, as well as those which help us use sugar. Too little sleep means we’re more likely to store sugar as fat, and we’ll eat more.
When we sleep, our bodies repair and reboot.
Sleep deprivation is linked to many chronic health problems including low mood, concentration difficulties, poor immunity, hormone imbalance, weight gain and metabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.
If you’ve ever had a few nights’ broken sleep, you’re probably familiar with some of these symptoms.
When we sleep, we form pathways between our brain cells which help us retain learned information.
Sufficient sleep supports immune function and helps us fight infection.
Disturbed sleep can alter our appetite hormones, as well as those which help us use sugar. Too little sleep means we’re more likely to store sugar as fat, and we’ll eat more.
Our sleep/wake cycle, or circadian rhythm, is regulated by light and dark. As the evening wears on, we release a hormone called melatonin which tells us it’s time to sleep.
Our stress hormone cortisol should be highest in the morning, to give us energy, and decline gradually through the day. Between 10 pm and 11 pm cortisol should be low, while melatonin rises. This means it’s an ideal time to turn in. However, at least a fifth of us here in the UK don’t go to bed until after midnight.
If we’re stressed, our cortisol will be higher during the evening, making us groggy in the morning and full of energy late in the day, interfering with sleep.
We sleep in cycles of around 90 minutes in length. These cycles consist of non-REM sleep, which is made up of three stages of progressively deeper sleep, followed by REM sleep, when we dream. Ideally we need all four stages of sleep and should complete five or six cycles during the night. The longer we spend in bed, the more sleep cycles we can complete.
Early in the night, the cycles consist mostly of deep non-REM sleep, later in the night changing to increased REM sleep. The deep sleep is especially important because it’s when our tissues repair. This is why sleep earlier in the night is more restorative.
Good quality sleep means falling asleep within a half hour or less of going to bed, sleeping through the night with no more than one wakening and falling asleep again within 20 minutes.
Poor quality sleep leaves you tossing and turning, waking throughout the night and early morning. You’re missing out on deep sleep, so it’s associated with poor functioning regardless of how many hours you spend in bed.
Functional medicine is concerned with the causes of poor health, so recognises quality sleep as crucial for a well-functioning body. Your practitioner will investigate the reasons for poor sleep and provide you with strategies to improve quality sleep. Functional testing can examine your hormone levels and any nutritional deficiencies which may be contributing to sleep problems. Lifestyle and dietary modifications along with personal support can help you along the road to better sleep.
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