Do you get enough sleep?
Two hours of sleep before midnight is worth four hours of sleep after midnight to your adrenals.
Our body follows a natural rhythm to light. We’re meant to slow down, relax and get ready for bed as the sun sets and awake and get ready for the day as the sun rises.
Our stress hormones and repair hormones also go through a cycle throughout the day. The diagram below from Paul Chek’s book ‘How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy’, shows a healthy circadian rhythm. As the sun rises, cortisol (the black line) rises – this is our wake up hormone and peaks in the morning.
As the day progresses, cortisol drops and melatonin (the white line) rises. Melatonin release helps us to wind down and get to sleep.
Lots of things interfere with these rhythms – coffee, sugar, alcohol and other stimulants will elevate cortisol and depress melatonin as will bright lights and electronic devices like television, computers and phones.
Physical repair generally happens between 10pm and 2am and psychological repair between 2am and 6am.
If you have high levels of physical stress like illness or a long term injury, get to bed by 10pm
If you have high levels of psychological stress, try to make sure you don’t get up before 6am.