Tired of being tired?

I love that that feeling of waking up feeling great after a stellar nights sleep. It now seems as if people will go to the greatest extremes to get that feeling. With the importance of sleep now well researched, businesses make big bucks selling specific drugs and remedies that will 'aid' your sleep or make you feel less tired. I actually pinched the title of this post off an advertisement I walked past for a sleeping drug.

Before adopting the high-carb vegan lifestyle I was dependent on caffeine to feel awake and alcohol to get to sleep. In reality, I was just suppressing the symptoms of fatigue instead of addressing them.

Over time I have realised there is an easier way! Waking up with that fresh feeling can and has become an everyday feeling for me, and here are a few realistic, simple and cheap tips on how. 

1. If your tired...sleep

This is a very simple solution, but the most important and also most overlooked and disregarded. If I feel tired I will go to sleep, within reason obviously! I make sure I am in bed and reading most nights at 9pm so that I get at least 7 hours sleep, but if I am really tired I will get into bed earlier. My mates have tried to give me stick about how my sleeping patterns are similar to that of a child, but I have also heard one of my mates say he 'slept like a baby' after describing his good nights sleep....

2. Avoid stimulants

So, you have just had a nights sleep that feels shorter than the length that Steven Gerrard managed against Manchester United before being sent off. You have a big meeting at work or a full days teaching ahead, time for a cup of coffee right?

Wrong, if you want long term success with your sleeping pattern you need to can the caffeine. I too became dependent on it, and I always felt ever so slightly wired from it when going to sleep later that night, and that is the major problem as I never caught up on my fatigue.

Alternatively, what works for me was just to suck it up for the day, accept I was tired and look for other sources to wake me up e.g. Fruit juices,  smoothies, high-carb cereal and plenty of water. Even going out for a quick run or cycle if you have the time can be the answer. Cold showers have also been a quick-fix when I am short for time.

This way, when you return from your days graft, you will have set your body up for a stimulant free slumber that will recuperate your fatigued soul. In the long run this will prevent the same scenario from occurring too frequently and solve your insomnia.

Hydrate- and then some more

Water is always your friend, and certainly when it comes to sleep, I make sure my urine is as clear as tap water before I go to bed. You may think that having to wake up in the night because you need a wee is counter-productive in terms of sleep quality but I find it helps a lot!

A misconception of a good quality nights sleep is one which has no breaks, however research has shown that the blood levels of the hormone 'human growth hormone'(HGH- hormone responsible for the repairing and rebuilding of the body) are at its highest in the first 2 hours of your sleep, after this time it begins to fall significantly, so actually waking up through the night to go to the pisser will keep your HGH at higher levels throughout the night. This technique is actually used by professional athletes to maximise their recovery!

Carb up
When I was intermittently fasting I used to stop eating at 6pm in fear that sleeping with a full stomach would lead to weight gain. At the same time I also drank a lot of coffee throughout the day to keep me going as I had a crap nights sleep. 

Now I make sure I am full up to the brim with carbs before retiring to bed to ensure that I have a high quality sleep. I have found that if I am eating the right food consistently, the gap between stopping eating and going to sleep doesn't effect my weight gain/ loss. More importantly, giving those glycogen stores a good topping up before a slumber will prepare you for an exercise filled day, allowing you to burn more fat, tone up your body and just be all round more awesome throughout. Any clean method like this of improving my fitness is music to my ears!

In addition, it is well known that melatonin, the hormone responsible for  feeling tired is released after eating a carbohydrate dense meal, so really it makes good sense to put it to good use and go to sleep soon after.

Exercise... But at the right time

I am a big advocate of exercising every day in order to feel good and to sleep well. If I have done exercise during the day, I feel like I have earned my sleep just before I drift off. Its a pretty content moment in the day. A word of caution though...

I used to play Football 5-a-side on a Wednesday night between 8-10 pm. I would get back home at about 10:30 and would find that I just couldn't get to sleep because my brain was still buzzing with adrenalin from the competitive high intensity nature of 5-a-side football. It actually felt similar to trying to sleep after having a coffee in the day. It would take a good couple of hours for me to finally switch off. I have learnt from this experience now, and make sure that my training schedule does not pass 8pm, and if it is close, it will consist of low intensity exercise, such as light jogging/ cycling. Any high intensity work will be conducted straight either before (5am) or straight after work (4pm). This way my body can balance its hormone levels before attempting to sleep.

So there you are, my top tips for getting better sleep. Tell us what you think, do you have any other tips?