Sleep is a huge part of our lives. The quality of your sleep can dictate your moods, cravings and productivity of the next day. In order for your body to have adequate rest and recovery, you need to be averaging around 7-10 hours of sleep a night. Sleep is one of the easiest and one of the most important forms of recovery. Having a good night’s sleep can do both your mind and body wonders. Having an amazing night of rest can result in a very productive day being able to do more and have more energy to complete your daily tasks and power through your workload. Whereas a restless night’s sleep can cause a negative chain reaction resulting in naps during the day, foggy brain and even sugar cravings.

When our body is restless, we are always looking for a ‘pick me up’. As a result we turn to either high amounts of caffeine or sugary treats to help ‘boost’ our energy levels. We have all had those moments in life where our sleeping pattern has been disrupted and this tiny disruption has toppled over into the next day not giving you that spring in your step. 

When our sleeping pattern is out of whack and we have not had enough quality sleep this is where the appetite controlling dynamic duo hormones ‘Ghrelin and Leptin’ don’t work optimally. When we have not received good quality sleep this causes the hormone Ghrelin to be constantly triggered it causing you to be constantly hungry and leading to you eating more food throughout the day, than you normally would. But it doesn’t stop there; whilst Ghrelin is working in overdrive Leptin takes a back seat. When we have had not had enough sleep your Leptin hormone is suppressed and doesn’t tell your brain that you are full even after you have devoured your entire pantry.

We need sleep; it is a vital part in our life and the repercussion of being constantly exhausted can lead to thing far more serious things than napping during the day.

The benefits of sleep are outstanding. Everyone loves to have an amazing night’s sleep giving your body the rest it needs. There is a powerful connection between sleep and recovery. When our body has completely shut off for the day and we are achieving adequate quality sleep regularly, not only does it allow our mind to lay to rest, it allows our body to rest.

However there are a few things to think about when we want to achieve complete rest and truly encompass all aspects of recovery. Although your body is asleep and your eyes are closed sometimes our subconscious is still awake. Our mind can stay overactive for hours and in times of high levels of stress your mind can be awake whilst you are trying to rest. If your mind is overactive and you are thinking about things such as work, family etc. then your body is not fully resting and recovering. To achieve complete recovery your whole body needs to shut off allowing it to fall into deep sleep.

Tips to help you achieve a great night’s sleep and allow your body to fully recover include:

• Turning all electronic devices off around you; do not reply to messages on your phone.
• Have a nightly ritual to help you get into the correct headspace.
• Avoid coffee after 12:00pm lunchtime as caffeine can interfere with your sleep quality.
• Sleep in a silent room.
• Sleep in pitch black.

Our bodies need rest to have the energy you need to do all of your tasks both big and small.

• Coach Emilia