March is an important month to eat, sleep and be healthy

March is a biggie for health awareness. It’s National Nutrition month, and right in the middle we’ve got National Sleep Awareness Week. Lots of awareness this month. And in case you weren’t aware of it, sleep and nutrition closely intertwine. The right combination plays a crucial role in disease prevention, weight management, and overall health and longevity. 

Quality Sleep

It’s important to try for about 7 hours of restful sleep a night. Studies show sleep deprivation sets in for those who get fewer than 7 regularly. 

Being sleep deprived contributes to major health issues like heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease. It’s a major factor in obesity and depression.

Chronic sleep deprivation can affect your brain function, and can contribute to an increased risk of dementia.  

But getting too much sleep can be as bad as not enough. More than 9 hours of sleep a night is associated with many of the same chronic illnesses that come with too little sleep. 

Just like everything else in life, balance is the key

Nutrition and Sleep

What you eat and when you eat it can have a profound impact on your quality of sleep, on maintaining a healthy weight and ultimately your health and longevity. Quality sleep helps regulate your blood pressure. It promotes heart and brain health, helps stabilize your mood, your metabolism and your energy level. 

A healthy diet of real food that avoids junk can be a major factor in how well you sleep.

Nutrients like tryptophan in foods like poultry, eggs and dairy and magnesium from leafy green vegetables and nuts, and melatonin found in cherries and berries eaten during the day a few hours before bedtime, promote quality uninterrupted sleep. 

Timing your meals on as regular a schedule as possible and eating smaller lighter meals at dinnertime can help you form consistent sleep patterns.

Plant-based foods like whole grains, fruits and veggies are full of antioxidants and healthier monounsaturated fats can help give you a peaceful sleep.

Avoid stimulants like caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime. They can wreak havoc with your sleep pattern. Stay away from saturated fats, refined carbs like white bread and pasta at dinner. These will have you waking up in the middle of the night. And eating too many calories can lead to sleep apnea. Alcohol, within a couple hours of bedtime, will get you up in the middle of the night.

Clearly, nutrition can have a tremendous impact on how much sleep and the quality of the sleep you get. But it also works the other way around.

Sleep deprivation can lead to increased production of stress hormones, like cortisol, that make you crave stuff that’s bad for you like too much fat, sugar and salt. 

Sleep deprivation can disrupt the balance of Ghrelin, the "I’m hungry hormone" and leptin, the I’m full hormone. When your Ghrelin is up, you’ll feel hungry and stressed. You crave junk and you’ll eat more of the wrong things and probably gain weight.

Poor eating habits caused by poor quality sleep lead to deficiencies in vitamins and other micronutrients like iron that are essential for bodily functions. It can impair your body’s metabolism and lead to metabolic issues like diabetes.

Move

Regular exercise can help with both sleep and nutrition. It promotes quality sleep and healthy eating habits.

Exercising during the day, but not within 3 hours of bedtime, helps reduce the time it takes you to get to sleep and helps you stay asleep.

It helps regulate your circadian rhythm, your natural nightly sleep cycle. It reduces stress that causes sleeplessness. 

Getting on a regular exercise program that includes 30-plus minutes of cardio, at least 20 minutes strength training and stretching the muscles you worked three to five days per week will get you fit, give you more energy for life, keep stress at bay, help you sleep like a baby and promote overall health and longevity. 

Investing your time and energy in regular workouts gives you an incentive to eat better and eat less. Your body naturally craves more nutritious foods after exercise, and junk is less appealing. Exercise improves your digestion and nutrient absorption. 

You can see how interconnected this all is. It’s not just this or that. It’s about building a healthy lifestyle one small change at a time and balancing. I hope I haven’t put you to sleep but rather given you a head start on a healthier approach to eating, sleeping and moving.

Mirabai Holland is CEO of NuVue LLC, a health education and video production company. She is a certified health coach, exercise physiologist and wellness consultant for Manatee County government employees and has a private practice. Her wellness programs are implemented in hospitals, MD practices, fitness facilities, resorts and corporations worldwide. She is also an artist who believes creativity enhances health. Visit mirabaiholland.com Contact her at AskMirabai@movingfree.com