Episode 14 – How to Have a Good Night Sleep

Shownotes

Getting enough sleep is important and additionally, there is an increasing body of research which supports that circadian rhythms play an important role in regulating human physiology. In this episode Anna talks through how circadian rhythms impact the immune system and lifestyle practises that you can cultivate to modulate your immune system and sleep better.

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How to Have a Good Night Sleep

Welcome back to the chronic fatigue and burnout podcast. I am your host Anna Marsh, and today, I’m going to be talking about all things sleep, specifically what you want to be thinking of and how you can support your body to get a good and restful night’s sleep. We all know that we feel so much better, and life feels much more manageable when we have had a good sleep.

Unfortunately, many of us, whether we have a chronic health condition or not, can still really struggle with sleep. So the purpose of this podcast today or this episode today, shall I say, is to give you an overview of how the body’s sleep rhythms work. And then talk a little about things you could think of as you work to support your body to optimize those rhythms.

I’ll also be throwing in some Chinese medicine philosophy because it’s interesting. We will be talking about sleep practices or some supplements that could be supportive, the use of light exposure, whether you should be napping in the afternoon, and a little bit about the immune system and how that can impact sleep. Where I would like to begin is helping you first and foremost to understand the importance of healthy biorhythms.

For your cells to function properly, they need the right materials in the right place at the right time. Healthy functioning cells are likely to produce energy in the form of ATP much better than unhealthy cells. There are 1000s of genes which have to be switched on and off in a specific order, and proteins, enzymes, fats, carbohydrates, hormones and other compounds have to be absorbed but broken down, metabolized and produced in a specific rhythm.

Energy must be obtained and then distributed appropriately to allow for growth, reproduction, metabolism, locomotion, and cellular repair. When this network of systems is disrupted, your biology becomes compromised. This is what is experienced as poor health.

So disruption to the workings of our inner biology, our inner biochemistry, is created when our circadian rhythms are disrupted through our light and dark exposure in our sleep and wake cycles. It is the disruption of our natural circadian rhythm that can impact sleep. Still, it can also have a knock-on effect on impacting blood sugar regulation, the immune system and, therefore, inflammatory responses, neurology, the health of our brain and how fast we age.

Two main hormones govern these internal biorhythms. The first one is cortisol, which is the stress hormone. You may already be familiar with cortisol. The second is melatonin. A healthy person will natu...