is crucial for your body. During sleep our body undergoes all sorts of essential activities. Doctors recommend we aim for between 7 and 9 hours per night – any less than this counts as sleep deprivation, which can have many negative health consequences. So getting good sleep is crucial.
One of the most positive changes we made was to improve our sleep. We used to get up early to hit the gym, even if it meant getting only 5 or 6 hours of sleep. We were spending our days sleep deprived, trying to catch up at the weekends.
But after learning about the impact sleep has on physical performance, we made time to sleep properly. Now we get 7-9 hours of good-quality sleep most nights and the difference to our lives has been incredible. Even if we hit the gym a bit less often, we see more benefits from the times we do go, and we eat more sensibly during the day too, as we’re less likely to need a quick energy boost.
Being sleep deprived is detrimental to your health. It can impair brain function, memory and empathy. It negatively affects your mood and increases stress hormones. It is also more likely to cause us to make bad food choices, and since we’re tired, we are more likely to skip exercise. Being tired impairs our body’s ability to grow muscle, and conversely, makes us more likely to put on fat.
Of course, there are some jobs, such as doctors, nurses, chefs or shift-workers, which require long and erratic working hours, or night shifts. This can make a regular sleep pattern an impossibility. In this case, getting the maximum sleep possible and the best-quality sleep you can (even including naps) will help you manage your rest time.
After a good night’s sleep you’ll reap many benefits, including more energy, higher concentration and stronger learning ability. You’ll be more likely to make good food choices and your body will be better at building muscle or burning fat. Your immune system and bodily repair systems will also improve. In his trailblazing book, Why We Sleep, Matthew Walker shows that you’ll have better memory, increased life expectancy, lower stress levels and more empathy. In addition to the food you eat, sleep is one of the biggest things we want to help you with.
How to sleep well.
Create a bedtime ritual. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day – even at the weekends – if you can.
Keep your mobile phone and TVs out of the bedroom, using something else as your alarm clock. Ian likes to use a light alarm clock, and Henry likes to wake up to a motivational podcast to get him up and raring to go! We set up a charging point in the hallway for phones.
Reduce your caffeine Intake. We used to drink up to five cups a day – that’s too many! Have your coffee in the morning, or at lunchtime, then it’s out of your system by bedtime.
Reduce exposure to bad light at bedtime. Looking at your phone or a computer screen late at night can make your body think it’s morning, due to the bright blue light your devices emit. Try to turn off technology an hour or so before bed, or if you really can’t do that, use an app that will dim the light of the screens. These are available on most mobile phones, and you can download laptop applications to do the same thing.
Put yourself on a strict sleep routine. Aim to get 8 hours of sleep a night, for a week, at the expense of all else (even exercise). See how amazing you feel. Then take it from there!
Aim to get your room as dark and quiet as possible at bedtime. If your room isn’t completely dark, try fitting blackout blinds or using a really comfortable eye mask. And ear plugs are great for helping keep sounds out – get the best ones you can.
Keep your room cool. Around 18˚C is a good temperature. If you find you are sweating, or tossing and turning, consider investing in a duvet with a lower tog rating.
Make your bed each day. Your bed should be as inviting and as comfortable as possible. Invest in some quality fitted sheets and bedding that you love.
Embrace napping. Napping is great, and it is a skill that can be learned. A 20-minute daytime nap can do wonders to revive you; even a 5-minute nap can leave you feeling refreshed. Sofas, car seats, or even at your desk at work can be great nap spots, where you can bring yourself back to alertness if you’re a little low on sleep.
Get outside first thing in the morning and get 20 minutes of daylight on your skin (not through glass, and not wearing sunglasses!). We find exercising in the morning (usually running or cycling) is a great way to do this, but see what works for you.
MOVE.
There’s a test called the sit-to-stand test, or sit-rising test, which is usually conducted on the over 50s. It analyses your overall mobility and balance, and is used to make predictions about how long you are likely to live based on your performance in the test. It involves going from standing to sitting on the floor, and then back up to standing without using your hands, arms, knees or the side of your leg to support you. When Henry was 30, he realised he couldn’t perform the simple movement in that test. It was at this point that he started regular exercise, including strength and mobility work.
Regular exercise is one of the top factors in ensuring a healthy body. Movement doesn’t have to be overly taxing, even just walking briskly for 30 minutes throughout the day counts towards an active lifestyle. The NHS recommends adults aged 19-64 aim for 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week, as well as strength exercises on two or more days a week. So, whether you’re walking, running, stretching or lifting, regular movement is crucial.
As the saying goes, ‘use it or lose it’.
Most able-bodied toddlers can perform an excellent squat; humans are born with great mobility. Over time, in the West, we lose that ability – squatting just isn’t something we do on a regular basis, compared to places like India and south-east Asia where squatting to sit is common, and you’ll find most people can still perform a perfect squat. If you’re not making full use of a range of motion, it will gradually stop being available to you.
The same applies to our muscles. Your body is an efficient machine, and if you’re not using muscles, they will start to deteriorate. These changes are not immediately noticeable, but before you know it you can get a sprain from performing a simple task. Your muscles need to be adequately maintained across their whole range of movement, otherwise even a small movement outside of their norm can end up causing damage.
In addition to loss of mobility and strength, overly tight and inflexible muscles can cause damage elsewhere in your body, as you may be holding yourself awkwardly to compensate. Back pain is often actually caused by tightness in the legs and glutes, and the longer tightness is left, the harder it is to solve with stretching or conditioning.
Exercise is also the number one way to look after your heart. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is one of the best measurements of health, and also serves as a good indicator of how well your heart is working. Increasing your heart rate on a regular basis will help preserve the heart’s health.
The best gift you can give your future self is that of agility and strength. Look after your body, as it’s the only place you have to live.
Move daily.
Make an effort to move on a daily basis, by including it in your daily routine. This may involve active hobbies, like going to the gym or a class, or could be simply walking to the bus stop twice a day. Just make choices that involve your body moving as much as possible.
A cool way to track this is with a smartphone or smartwatch. 10,000 steps is commonly used as a target to aim for each day, and trackers for this can be found on almost all smartphones and smartwatches now. You could use a wall chart instead, and simply note down 30 minutes