My name is Helen Barklam and I am a qualified nutritional therapist. I am going to be popping on here regularly to share some tips and tricks and info about food and health and battling common health conditions that plague so many people from a more natural angle. Let me know if you have any requests. This week we marked national stress awareness week and I shared a couple of articles on handling stress. I thought I would start by sharing these with you, if that’s OK?
Firstly, who struggles with sleep?
We all have so many stresses in our life, but some of them we can control or ease with a little bit of help. And that will help us to deal with the bigger stresses that we can’t control. The food we eat can play a big part in stress and it is something that we can control and I will try to take a look at that a separate post. But for tonight, I thought I would share a little tip on sleep.
Lack of sleep is so common in those of us who are stressed, but it can also make us even more stressed if we don’t get enough.
Since I moved to Spain, my sleep pattern has been horrendous, and it has impacted on the way I feel day to day – not just tired but it has almost created its own stress. I was going to bed stressing about whether I was going to sleep.
There are some great food tips for better sleep (I need to listen to my own advice and cut the wine), but something as simple as listening to something calming before you go to bed can really help.
If I say meditation, many of you will switch off. But bear with me. This is just a series of noises from nature and a bit of music all combined – not a strange guy with an annoying voice talking to you as you are lying there. 9 times out of 10, this will have me asleep within 30 minutes. It is calming and inoffensive.
Try it. It might just work.
Good luck and sweet dreams xx
My hubby and I struggle with getting consistent, good sleep. I'm quite anxious by nature so nighttime is my downtime, so when he keeps waking me up at night because he doesn't express his anxieties very well, then I'm worrying again about not getting a good nights sleep. And, yes, we've tried sleeping in different rooms but I just keep waking up. I'm wondering if eating late isn't helping. Since we've moved her we have a tendency to eat later. We're both vegetarians and rarely drink any alcohol and not that much sugar, either. But we eat quite a lot of pasta. I'm wondering if wheat doesn't help sleep, too. It's hard to find pasta without wheat, but there are some options out there now, thankfully. I think it's just a matter of letting go of the days stresses, for both of us, and not getting overwhelmed.
Hi there Jill, I am so sorry about the delay in coming back to you. Sometimes waking up in the night can be to do with your food intake. Try consuming a high protein snack about an hour before bed. This will prevent a blood sugar dip in the night, that will wake you up as your body is tellig you that you are hungry. Or, if you wake up, have a small protein snack then. Pasta is a quick release carb, so just make sure you are eating some protein with it - particularlu if your main meal is what you are having an hour before bed. Meditation is always good to try. For some reason my suggestions didn't post above - try this: https://youtu.be/cwSHzxaYL6Q
Thanks for the advice, Helen. I appreciate it. I hadn't heard about a snack before bed. We are vegetarians so we supplement our diets with protein shakes occasionally.