“Sleep is the golden chain that ties our health and bodies together,” Thomas Dekker.

One of my favourite times of the day is bedtime. 

I’ve always had a gift of falling asleep quickly.  

Just ask my friends and family.  If there were an Olympic medal awarded for falling asleep fast, I would win the gold!

But for many people, falling and staying asleep for the entire night is not always straightforward. 

While extra sleep feels easy to get at this time of year with the clocks going back an hour, the quality of your sleep might tell a different story.

Everyone’s sleep needs are unique.

Most people need between 7-9 hours every night to function at their best. 

Adequate sleep has a lot to do with your overall health, your ability to fight disease and your waistline. 

Lack of sleep can boost your body’s production of the stress hormone cortisol.

When cortisol levels increase, it causes your body to store fat, particularly around your midsection. 

Sleep deprivation can also make you less likely to be active.

Think about it – when you are already tired, the last thing you want to do is exercise (or play), especially when it’s cold and dark outside. 

Lack of exercise or over-training, high-stress, combined with increased cortisol levels, can deliver a severe blow to your efforts to live a healthy lifestyle. 

It’s a delicate balance.

What can you do to improve your sleep hygiene and be 100% confident that your body is rested?

Understand your sleep score.

One part of my job as a health coach is helping my clients learn more about the critical relationship between sleep and their health.

How?

It certainly helps that there has been an explosion in on-demand health monitoring products come into the market.

From Apple to Google, many companies are releasing their versions. 2020 has undoubtedly shifted the idea for many people that its’ time to take their health into their own hands. 

For me, nothing out there compares with WHOOP because behaviour change is at the forefront of what the data feedback gives.

WHOOP helps my clients learn things about their daily habits and how it affects their bodies in ways they never knew, especially their sleep quality.

Every night sleep is monitored not only by the total time spent in bed but all of the stages of sleep that your body goes through – from awake moments (that you are not likely to remember), light, rapid eye movement (REM) and slow-wave sleep (SWS).

There is WAY more data too – which I will save for another time.

Every morning you get a sleep performance score based on the hours of sleep you got versus what you needed.

It also recommends what time you get to bed for the next night too. 

“When we don’t sleep well, the side effects can stay with us until we can make up for lost sleep. WHOOP monitors your sleep trends and will let you know how much sleep you’ve missed so you can aim to course correct.”*

Even though I’m a play expert and love to exercise, you can never underestimate how rest and recovery matter as much as play to obtain optimal health.

Not only does getting the right amount of sleep to improve your ability to recover from physical and emotional stressors, but it also helps keep your brain and body functioning optimally.

Let’s face it: the day-to-day responsibility of our well-being has to come from inside each of us as individuals.

We all have to be our own best advocates for our health. 

Don’t allow a lack of sleep to undermine your health and future quality of life.   

Play on!

Coach Jan

P.S. Whenever you are ready, here are a few ways I can help:

• Join the FREE 7-Day Healthy Habits Course to build fun, sustainable, yet simple habits in just one week, no matter how busy or stressed you are.

• If you know someone that could use help with their habits, use this link http://join.whoop.com/janetomstead to purchase a WHOOP with $30 off.  

• Want a WHOOP plus coaching to help guide you along? I’m offering a special introductory package that might interest you. Book a FREE discovery call, and let’s see how I can help you be the healthiest version of yourself.

*https://www.whoop.com/experience/sleep/