5 tips for better sleep

Optimising Your Sleep: Tips and Tricks for Quality Rest

Whoever you are, whatever your age: we all need sleep, it's a physiological need. Sleep is a mysterious mechanism that's vital for our body and our health.

Here are some tips to help you optimise your sleep:

Go to bed at regular times

The body follows a particular 24-hour rhythm known as the circadian rhythm. Thanks to this rhythm, certain molecules are released at specific times, including, for example, melatonin, also known as the sleep hormone.

By going to bed at regular times, your body can sync its rhythm to that schedule, allowing it to anticipate sleep by releasing melatonin at the right time. This makes it easier to fall asleep.

Temperature

When we fall asleep, our body temperature drops. To make it easier to fall asleep and improve sleep quality, it's important to help your body regulate its temperature. For example, it's recommended to sleep in a room kept at around 19-20°C.

In addition, drinking a warm, non-stimulating drink (herbal tea, etc.) helps lower body temperature and so makes it easier to fall asleep.

Blue light

The circadian rhythm also adapts based on light levels. The more light there is, the less melatonin is produced, and conversely, the darker it is, the more is released. The circadian rhythm is particularly sensitive to blue light.

The more you're exposed to it, the more it throws your rhythm off balance. As a result, heavy exposure to blue light suppresses melatonin release. Since screens are the main source of blue light, it's recommended to limit screen use as much as possible in the hour before going to bed.

Diet

Eating a balanced diet also plays an important role in getting good-quality sleep.

It has been observed that eating a dinner containing carbohydrates a few hours before bedtime increases plasma tryptophan concentration. Tryptophan is an amino acid involved in synthesising serotonin, which in turn enables melatonin release.

Similarly, a meal containing unsaturated fatty acids can improve sleep quality, whereas a meal rich in saturated fatty acids reduces it.

Protein, for its part, supplies the body with tryptophan.

However, meat seems best limited before bedtime because of its high saturated fat content. Too much protein before bed can also cause competition between amino acids and disrupt melatonin release.

Similarly, it's not advisable to eat very spicy food in the evening, as this can reduce sleep quality.

Herbal tea

Many plants are known for their effects on sleep. Drinking herbal teas can therefore help you fall asleep. Here are a few examples of sleep-friendly plants:

• Passionflower
• Valerian
• Lemon balm
• Hawthorn

Bibliography:

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Zhao, M., Tuo, H., Wang, S., & Zhao, L. (2020). The Effects of Dietary Nutrition on Sleep and Sleep Disorders. Mediators of Inflammation, 2020, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/3142874