HOW TO MANAGE YOUR SLEEP DISORDER WITH DIET & EXERCISE

Why You Should Manage Your Sleep Disorder

Sleep disorders come in many shapes and forms. They can be both a cause and an effect of another health problem.

This article will primarily discuss how to manage your sleep disorder with diet and exercise. But first, let’s put the problem into context.

Most of us know that a good night’s sleep is healthy; but do we really take that advice seriously?

Granted, there are many sleep disorders that require different treatments. In fact, some require medical diagnosis and treatment. However, one of the biggest reasons you can’t manage your sleep disorder is that you brush it aside.

You brush aside a full night’s sleep due to your busy schedule and need for “down-time”.

What you don’t realize is that lack of sleep can result in more than just tiredness. By the way, tiredness is bad in and of itself as it can dramatically affect your productivity. But beyond tiredness, medical experts warn that chronic sleep deprivation can have serious effects on your health.

Likewise, failure to manage your sleep disorder is detrimental to your health.

Health problems related to lack of quality sleep

Here are some health problems that may result from lack of sleep.

Cancer

To be clear, not all cancer risks are affected by lack of sleep. But studies show that breast and colon cancer risk is greatest for those who work night shifts.

Apparently, the exposure to light in the night-time hours reduces the body’s production of melatonin. Melatonin is a brain chemical that helps promote healthy sleep, but it may also reduce tumors and protect against cancer as well. The less you sleep, the less melatonin your body manufactures.

Heart Attacks

Failure to get enough sleep or manage your sleep disorder can increase the chance of heart attack. Statistically, heart attacks occur more often in the early morning hours. Experts believe this may have something to do with the way that sleep and waking affect the cardiovascular system. Studies show that lack of sleep exacerbates the health problems that often lead to heart disease.

Unhealthy Relationships

When you don’t get enough sleep, you tend to be moody and irritable, which is not good for any relationship. Failure to manage your sleep disorder can lead to resentment for one or both partners. As a consequence, it may lead to partners sleeping separately. This kind of tension may affect any children in the family as well.

Impaired Cognition

An inability to think straight or think constructively is a problem associated with sleep deprivation. You may have trouble remembering things, too, if you don’t get enough sleep, or can’t manage your sleep disorder.

Injury

Sleep deprivation is known to cause all sorts of accidents and injuries – from automobile to job accidents. If you can’t manage your sleep disorder, the brain just does not react as quickly or efficiently. The resulting clumsiness and mistakes leave you accident-prone.

Read: The 6 Common Sleep Disorders.

Using Diet to Manage Your Sleep Disorder

The various connections between what you eat and how you sleep are gaining attention. Research is showing that what you eat or don’t eat can, in fact, affect your sleep. There are recommendations on what food to eat or avoid to manage your sleep disorder. Here are some ideas as to how food affects your sleep.

Sleep and Weight Gain

Multiple studies show that learning to manage your sleep disorder and getting quality sleep may contribute to weight loss. On the flip side, lack of enough sleep may contribute to weight gain.

There are those who believe they can eat less to offset weight gain from lack of sleep. But interestingly, according to a large-scale, long-term study on sleep and weight gain, it doesn’t work. This may be because lack of sleep or failure to manage your sleep disorder may affect your metabolism. When you don’t get enough sleep, you produce the stress hormone cortisol, which could make you feel hungry.

Stimulants

Eating chocolate, sugar, refined grains, or drinking caffeine during the day and into the evening can have a stimulative effect. For some people, artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives can disturb sleep. You may need to get a diagnosis for some of these things to know for sure. But it’s common knowledge for other things such as caffeine, which should be avoided.

In addition, experts recommend other foods you should avoid, particularly in the evening, and right before bed. They include:

Alcohol – Ironically, alcohol can disrupt your sleep patterns and make for poor sleep quality. Its diuretic effect (particularly beer) can also disrupt sleep.

Excessively salty foods – Kidneys work to rid your body of the excess salt. Thus, you will probably find yourself getting up to go to the bathroom during the night.

Tea, coffee, or cola – The caffeine in these drinks contain stimulant to your nervous system. Additionally, it may stimulate the kidneys.

Spicy and/or greasy, fried foods – These may cause heartburn.

What Should You Eat?

Experts recommend the following foods if you’re trying to manage your sleep disorder or simply get enough quality sleep.

Magnesium-containing foods, such as almonds, seeds, black beans, salmon, dark leafy greens. However, if beans give you uncomfortable gas, you should avoid them. Magnesium is crucial to muscle and nerve function, particularly muscle relaxation.

Whole grains and other complex carbohydrates may also promote sleep as they stimulate the sleep-inducing serotonin.

Yogurt – Plain, low-fat yogurt with raw honey makes a good bedtime snack. Yogurt contains calcium, which is also important to muscle relaxation. Calcium also helps with the production of sleep-inducing melatonin in the body. Raw honey promotes sleep and even weight loss.

Low-fat cheese can also help promote sleep. Whole grain pasta with a little Parmesan, for example, maybe a good night-time meal.

Using Exercise to Manage Your Sleep Disorder

You can indeed manage your sleep disorder with exercise. However, the impact of exercise on your sleep is not always for the better. How much, when, and where you exercise all have an effect on your sleep quality.

Many experts point to this basic lifestyle adjustment as being key to sleep improvement.

Generally speaking, an exercise in the mid to late afternoon is ideal. For one thing, it gets you past the sleepy time in the afternoon. This is helpful where taking a nap can result in your not feeling sleepy at bedtime. Late afternoon exercise gets your body heat up and your circulation going. And as your body temperature cools, it seems to get the body ready for sleep.

If you eat dinner early, exercising after dinner may work for you. But it’s best to give your body at least four hours of cool downtime before bed.

A vigorous workout in the evening shortly before bed means you are trying to raise your body temperature. Avoid this if you’re trying to manage your sleep disorder or get a good night’s sleep. Studies have shown that a cooling body temperature is most conducive to sleep.

If morning is the only time you have to exercise, of course, that is better than no exercise at all. Exercise is good for the body overall, and not just for sleeping. It improves all body systems, from circulation to muscle tone. A well-toned body ultimately promotes a good night’s sleep.

Exercise also relieves tension and thus can help you manage your sleep disorder. A 2008 study pointed out the relaxing benefits of exercise and the subsequent benefits of better sleep.

What Kind of Exercise Is Best?

For the most effective sleep promotion, most experts agree that cardiovascular exercise is best.

A vigorous cardio workout that lasts at least 20 minutes is sufficient to raise body temperature. That should, get your heart pumping, and enhance circulation. There are cardiovascular exercises you can do at home or nearby.

Examples:

* Walking (vigorous, fast walking)

* Jogging

* Jumping rope

* Aerobics

* Bike riding

The key is to make the exercise continual and vigorous.

Yoga and other meditative exercises may be helpful before bed because they can relieve tension, without raising your temperature.

In fact, some experts say that stretching periodically throughout the day may be of benefit. Muscle tension is kept at bay and is less likely to “take hold” and cause tension and pain this way.

For more about exercise, go here>>>

Further reading:

Nine benefits of healthy eating

Home exercise for beginners

The 6 most common sleep disorders.

Why you’re suffering from sleep deprivation

How to help your baby sleep