Sleep 101

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How many of us are in awe of those people that sleep through the night? Count me in. Being in awe, that is. I can’t remember the last time I actually slept through the night. Now I know that’s not an ideal way of starting off a blog to help you sleep better (!), BUT, there is no question that the steps I have taken over the last couple of years have definitely improved my sleep. It’s a work in progress, though.

Excess Energy

According to Rubin Naiman, PhD, a psychologist, clinical assistant professor of medicine and Sleep and Dream specialist at the University of Arizona’s Center for Integrative Medicine, we over-consume energy. Specifically, the amount of food and drink we consume, the information we consume and the excess light we consume through our skin and retina (poor indoor light during the day, and significant overexposure to LAN (light at night)), combined with a lack of release for this energy. He feels this excess energy literally heats us up, causing chronic inflammation on many levels, also affecting our circadian rhythms (aka sleep patterns). We are constantly hyped.

Chronic hyperarousal

This state of chronic hyperarousal contributes to the following symptoms, leading to a disrupted sleep cycle:

• Increased body and brain metabolic rates

• elevated heart rate

• elevated core body temperature

• elevated night-time cortisol (stress hormone which should be low at night)

• decreased serum melatonin

• nocturnal sympathetic activation (fight or flight activation)

• overactivation of the HPA axis (hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis) - controls reaction to stress

Sleep basics

In the scheme of things, we know very little about sleep, but there are certain things we do know. Most of our deep sleep happens in the first 3rd of the night. This deep sleep supports our immune system, cleanses our brain and is critical for physical renewal, hormone regulation and growth. Without this stage, people are more prone to depression, weight gain and illness.

And we are all familiar with our REM (rapid eye movement) stage, which occurs in the last 3rd of our sleep. This stage is critical for consolidating memory, information processing and assimilation, learning and emotional healing.

REM and dreaming

Dreaming is as critical as sleep, says Raiman. We are as dream deprived as we are sleep deprived, as often this is the part of our sleep that we miss. It’s when we dream that our brain digests and assimilates information. And when we suppress dreaming (through lack of sleep, getting up too early, alcohol, sleep aids and other medications, etc), it can lead to fatigue, weight gain, depression and emotional imbalances.

Metabolism and sleep

Ideally, we should be getting 7-8 hours of sleep. Among many things, short sleep duration (less than 6 hours/night) disrupts our metabolism. The increased risks of metabolic disruption include:

• impaired glucose tolerance

• insulin resistance

• increased gherlin (the hunger hormone)

• decreased leptin (the satiety hormone)

• increased BMI (body mass index)

Ultimately this can lead to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mood disorders, to name a few.

Nutrition and sleep

What we eat can also affect our sleep patterns.

• Sleep apnea - sleep apnea has been significantly linked to long term chronic inflammatory environments in the body. There are ongoing studies making strong connections about the positive effect of diet and exercise on reducing or eliminating sleep apnea.

• GERD - Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder (heartburn!) - GERD can be a big disruptor in sleep. There are many ways to treat GERD without medication, and diet is one of them. There is evidence that a low carbohydrate diet could help, but this is a topic for another day!

• Gut Microbiome - there is a lot of evidence that the activity in our microbiome is strongly linked to our circadian rhythms. Another reason to have a healthy gut!

• Caffeine and Alcohol - we know that alcohol and caffeine can interfere with our sleep. Alcohol is a stimulant and can raise our cortisol levels, causing us to wake either often during the night, or much earlier than we should. Caffeine of course is a stimulant as well, although affects everyone differently. The rule of thumb is to not have caffeine after 12noon.

What to do?

There are many things that we can do to help us sleep better. Some tips are as follows:

Dark room

Either have a completely dark room with black out drapes, OR wear eye shades.   Your room should be as dark as possible. If you are old school and have an actual alarm clock, cover up the LED panel with something at night to block the light.

Shut down screen time early

Try to leave at least one hour, if not two hours, between the time you last look at a screen (computer, phone, TV) and the time you go to sleep… too much exposure to blue light at night suppresses our melatonin production, the hormone that regulates sleep. If this is impossible, try the blue light blocking glasses.

 Eat earlier

Try to finish eating at least 2 hours, if not 3, before you go to sleep – no snacks if possible.

 Cool temperature

Our sleep, sleep quality and dreaming are driven by our core body temperature and melatonin… we need our bedrooms to be cool so our body temperature can come down at night.

 Develop a routine

A rhythm/routine is very important – going to sleep at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning helps with sleep.

 Be calm

Often people are excessively energized at night, and need to find ways to calm themselves – meditation, reading, no screen time, etc.

Meditation

Meditating helps reduce the “noise” and calms the mind. Most of us know what it’s like to wake up in the middle of the night, not being able to “turn off” the chatter. If you are new to meditating, start with Headspace, or a free app called Insight Timer. Or check out Tara Brach’s meditations.

 Physical exercise and fresh air

Increased activity, especially outside, helps us sleep better (note:  exercise done too late in the evening does the opposite – keeps us up and energized)

 Sleep apnea

As mentioned earlier, many people suffer from sleep apnea, which is often due to long term inflammation in the body.   Suggestions include going on an anti-inflammatory diet or the Mediterranean diet and getting more activity during the day.

Reduce caffeine and alcohol

Try to limit caffeine to 1-2 cups/day - especially try to not have any after noon. As mentioned, alcohol increases our cortisol level, which is supposed to be lowest when we go to bed, so we can sleep… hence the disrupted sleep when we are over-served.

 Gut Bacteria and our Circadian Rhythm

As mentioned, there is a lot of evidence now stating that the activity of our gut bacteria is strongly linked to our circadian rhythms – which of course is critical for sleep.    Feed it good food!

 Breathing Exercises

Breathing helps lower our cortisol levels, helping us relax. Do this breathing exercise when you first wake up and just before you go to bed to help you learn how to relax your body and calm your mind.   It can also help you get back to sleep if you wake up in the middle of the night.

NOTE:  there are many different breathing exercises online to help you sleep better.  

Any other suggestions? I would love to hear them. Let me know via email at gillian@gbwellness.ca or click on Comment below.

If you would like to find out more about how I can help you kickstart your journey to health, please feel free to get in touch with me for a free 15 minute consultation.

Food and Mood

An acquaintance recently confided in me that her son, back in his early 20s, had dropped out of university due to severe anxiety issues.   It certainly wasn’t the first time I had heard that story.   She went on to say that, at home, things continued to go downhill for him to the point that she was VERY worried.  

After a thorough medical examination, her son was told there wasn’t anything physically wrong with him, and he was prescribed an antidepressant.   He chose not to go down that path, and instead, with close guidance, completely changed his diet (no sugar, no dairy, no processed foods, no grains, more vegetables, healthy fats, healthy protein), supplemented with supplements and made some significant lifestyle changes.     

Within three months, his improvement was dramatic.  He was 85% back to his normal self.   Not only has he continued improving his health, he tells everyone who will listen about his experience.   Thankfully, a happy story.

Make no mistake – I don’t take anxiety and depression lightly.  Antidepressants not only save lives, but help make many peoples lives worth living.   What I will say is that food and lifestyle (physical, spiritual, etc) play a big role in brain health.

Our microbiome

There are so many angles to approach brain health, and today I am focusing on the microbiome, our internal ecosystem of bacteria, located in our digestive tract.  

The digestive system (often referred to as our “gut”) is intimately connected to what goes on in our bodies. Our microbiome (or gut bacteria), a naturally occurring community of flora, dictates the health of our immune system, our hormonal health, our metabolism and our brain health… even the clarity of our thoughts.

In very simplistic terms, a healthy gut microbiome is dominated by “friendly”, (good) bacteria, and an unhealthy microbiome is dominated by “unfriendly”, (bad) bacteria. 

The foods we eat, how we sleep, the amount of bacteria we are exposed to on a daily basis and the level of stress we live with all help establish the state of our microbiota.

So where does the brain come into play?

There are multiple pathways between our microbiome/digestive tract and our central nervous system/brain that send signals to one another, affecting our memory, our thought patterns, our moods and our reasoning (1).

If our “bad” gut bacteria starts to overwhelm the good, it can turn into a cascade of inflammatory events, affecting our brain.   It’s critical to note that our gut is not only a home to trillions of microbes, it also:

• has its own immune system, representing 70-80% of our body’s total immune system, AND

• is often referred to as our “second brain” (technically known as our enteric nervous system) as it lined with an extensive network of neurons, filled with critical neurotransmitters (did you know that 80-90% of our serotonin is produced in the nerve cells of our gut?) (2)

Let’s digest this for a second

Our digestive system doesn’t just digest food.   Rather, it’s home to:

1.    An entire ecosystem of bacteria

2.    Most of our immune system

3.    A complex network of neurons

ALL connected via pathways to our brain.  

Food really does matter when it comes to brain health.   As does lifestyle and how we manage stress.

The great news

The great news is that we have the power to dramatically influence our microbiome in a positive way, feeding the good bacteria the nutrients it needs, while starving the bad by staying clear of the food it often so desperately wants (yes, think cravings).  

Even better news!

What I am about to suggest below is identical (although more detailed) to what I suggested in my Food Cravings blog (August 2018).

This is great news because food recommendations for optimal health rarely change (unless you follow a specific diet based on certain ailments or preferences).  

Foods to Indulge:

• More vegetables / rainbow of colours / as many servings a day as you can handle!   Your gut bacteria feeds on the good fibre and micronutrients of fruits and vegetables

• Whole fruit – especially berries, apples, oranges, pears, grapefruit

• Healthy fats – avocados, nuts/seeds, olive oil, coconut oil

• Wild caught fish, grass fed/pasture raised meat and eggs

• Fermented foods – it feeds our microbiome

• Prebiotic foods – artichokes, asparagus, garlic, onions, leeks, bananas, apples – more great food for our gut bacteria

• Ancient grains and legumes/beans

 Foods to Avoid/Minimize:

• Refined carbohydrates and processed grain products

• Dairy products (for many this is a common allergen)

• Conventional meat and poultry (I understand this is challenging for many – one option is to cut back on meat overall, and enjoy grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free meat when you do eat it)

• Refined vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, safflower, peanut, etc)

• Added sugars (found in most packaged goods, breads, condiments, canned items, yogurts)

• Fried foods; packaged foods with more the 5 ingredients

• Juice – eat a piece of fruit instead!

Lifestyle

Stress reduction – yes, easier said than done.   But a few suggestions:

• Meditation

• Yoga

• Walks in nature

• Just allowing yourself to sit for five minutes and do NOTHING

• Physical exercise – any sort of exercise will help 

Supplements

Probiotic supplements are always an option, although nothing will truly work if one doesn’t change their diet or lifestyle

If you would like to find out more about how I can help you kickstart your journey to health, please feel free to get in touch with me for a free 15 minute consultation.

(1)   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139398/

(2)   Adam Hadhazy, “Think Twice:  How the Gut’s ‘Second Brain’ Influences Mood and Well-Being,” Scientific American, February 12, 2010, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gut-second-brain/.

Stress and Weight Gain

I went for a walk with a friend recently and she relayed to me a story that is all too familiar among women, especially women in their mid-years.  

My friend talked about how she had been the same weight for years, being conscientious about what she ate and her daily exercise.  But two years ago she started to gain weight around her mid section.

It took her a while to determine what was different in her life, but after doing some digging she realized it was the severe angst she was feeling over one of her children.

It’s not just about the food on our plate

There is more to consider than just the food on our plates when it comes to our health and feeling good about ourselves. Good, balanced nutrition is a great start and will have a big impact on both our waistlines and mental well being, but can only take us so far.

We also need to address the underlying issues that are affected by things like our relationships, our careers, and our physical and spiritual lifestyles.

Why does this happen - how can our emotions cause us to gain weight? 

And is it only stress in the present, or can it be stress from our past?

What can we do about it?

Weight gain from stress… why?

Cortisol, a steroid hormone secreted by our adrenal glands, has a number of important roles, including waking us up in the morning, and regulating the energy our body needs to meet the physiological demands placed on it.

Under acute stressful circumstances, our adrenal glands flood our body with cortisol to increase our energy immediately, so we can ‘run away from the threat’ (fight or flight response).  And when the threat is gone, our cortisol level dissipates.  

But when we suffer from ongoing, chronic stress and therefore excessive, ongoing cortisol production, it does the following in relation to weight gain:

• Triggers the release of triglycerides (fat) from storage for extra energy, and when the TGs aren’t used (because there is no immediate threat), it stores that fat as visceral fat (fat around our mid-sections)

• Increases blood sugar levels and suppresses insulin.  This can cause cravings as cells are starved for glucose, leading to overeating, especially high calorie foods

• Excess blood sugar, when not used for energy, is also stored as fat

To add insult to injury, our visceral fat cells also secrete cortisol!  And the cycle continues.  

Stressors – both present AND past

It’s very important to note that past events, all the way back to childhood, can play a big role in our present lives and state of mind.   It could be divorced parents or being bullied at a young age, or something as seemingly harmless as a two-year old dealing with grief stricken parents, as I did.  

Being mindful of our inside, critical voice, and/or our thought patterns will often allude to past challenges/stressors.   Once the awareness is there, it’s much easier to understand why our bodies are acting the way they do.

What’s the answer?

Sadly, there is no quick fix, but there are answers.  Meditation, practicing mindfulness, journal writing. yoga and breathing exercises are all very effective modalities.

If one is trying to lose excess weight, working with a health coach is an option as well. A three to six month program, meeting 2x/month, allows time to determine what might be influencing ones weight gain, be it food, stress or a combination of both, and working towards a solution with the support of a coach who will listen, offer nutritional guidance and provide a necessary level of accountability.

Feel free to take advantage of my 15 minute free consultation to help you determine if this approach might work for you.

Bio-individuality

Bio-individuality - a big word with a simple meaning:  what works for one person might not necessarily work for another.  We are all individuals and one size does not fit all.  It's important to do our research before jumping on any bandwagons.

For example, over the last few years the Ketogenic Diet has gained incredible traction; prior to that (and still very popular) it was Paleo. 

Intermittent Fasting has become mainstream over the last couple of years (although it's been around since primitive times).  And of course, "carbohydrate" is now a dirty word!!!  The arguments for, or against, any of the above (and many other) diets can be very compelling.

No matter what, it is so very tempting to get lured into what is working for someone else.

The problem is that we are all individuals, and one person's food can be another person's poison.  Food allergies are raging right now.   Plus our age, our sex, our stress levels, the type of job we have (ie - desk vs construction), our body type, our health... every one of these factors and more will dictate what may or may not work for us.   And so often it simply comes with trial and error.

Of course there are the basics we all know - avoid too much sugar, too many processed grains, too much saturated fat (although some would debate this!), too much processed food... the list goes on.

And perhaps more importantly, good health isn't JUST about the food on our plates.  We also need to consider our state of mind (aka stress) and our physical health.  

In summary:

• One size does not fit all

• Do your homework

• Don't be discouraged if you try something and it isn't working for you. It simply may not be right for YOU.

• Consider what else is going on in your life - are you feel overwhelmed, anxious, stressed? All of these feelings can have an impact on how food reacts in your body. I will address that in my next blog!

Food cravings: No, it’s NOT because you are weak!!!

As women, we are so quick to blame ourselves when things don’t go as well as we think they should.   For me, food cravings are at the top of the list.   We blame ourselves for being weak and not having any willpower – unable to muster the self-control to avoid reaching for the chips, the chocolate or the ice cream… whatever it is that our brain or stomach suddenly demands so loudly that we simply give in.   And then of course it’s a downward spiral – we feel guilty that we’ve “wrecked” everything and often continue on an eating binge. 

Well – the blaming stops here!   It is much more complicated than simply a lack of self-control.  Rather, there are critical elements at play in our bodies that help create these cravings.   And once we understand what they are, and tweak a few things, the cravings will diminish.  

Blood sugar balance:  think protein, good fats and fibre

The more stable our blood sugar levels, the less our cravings.   So how do we do that?    Always have a protein and/or a fat with your meals or snacks.  

Eating just a simple carbohydrate* will get absorbed into your blood quickly as sugar, spike your blood sugar levels, which will then plummet within a couple of hours and throw you into craving mode.   Eating proteins and/or fats with carbs, alongside high fibre foods (green and coloured vegetables, flax, chia, avocado) slows the absorption of food and avoids the spikes and severe drops in our blood sugar levels, which in turn keeps us fuller for longer.  

*Simple carbs are foods that get broken down into sugars quickly in our bodies, spiking blood sugar. Think cereal, muffins, bread, pasta, white flour, etc.

Microbiome:  think fibre and prebiotic foods

You’ve probably heard this term being tossed around a great deal lately.   The microbiome is an umbrella term for the colonies of bacteria that live in our gut (gastrointestinal tract), both good and bad.   They affect our cravings, our moods and can dictate our overall general health.   An imbalance may cause low grade inflammation, contributing to weight gain and difficulty losing weight.   Sadly, extra weight can also contribute to cravings.

The good news is that our gut microbes respond quickly to a change in diet.  Our good bacteria feed mostly on fibre, and the best sources are prebiotic foods.  Note that bad bacteria thrives on sugar and processed foods.

These prebiotic foods include asparagus, artichokes, beans, bananas, broccoli, dandelion greens, jicama, garlic, leeks and onions.  Toss in some carrots, apples, lentils, spinach and berries – your gut bacteria will thank you!

Hormones

Stress, causing high cortisol levels, is linked to food cravings, as are estrogen and progesterone hormonal imbalances.   This is where you may want to seek some additional help.  Many nutritionists and naturopaths are well-versed in the complexities of hormonal health, and can recommend specific hormonal testing if necessary.

In a nutshell:

• Increase your fibre intake (slowly if you are just starting) to approx 30g/day, spreading it throughout the day (Worlds Healthiest Foods or Self Nutrition Data are both good sites providing fibre amounts)

• Increase your water consumption at the same time as your fibre intake

• Always try to balance your meals and snacks with a protein, healthy fat and high fibre food to avoid blood sugar spikes, and to increase fullness for longer (suggestions below)

• Cut back on sugars and processed foods – they throw your microbiome out of balance by feeding the bad bacteria and lead to cravings

• Eat more vegetables!

• Take a multistrain probiotic supplement to help restore balance in your GI tract

• Drink warm lemon water – great at reducing cravings

• See a nutritionist or naturopath to determine the root causes of your cravings

Suggested food combinations:

BREAKFAST

• a poached egg or two, a piece of wholewheat toast, ½ avocado and some sautéed greens (or a green smoothie)

• steel cut oats, plain greek yogurt (2%+) and berries (a green smoothie would nicely round this out!)

LUNCH & DINNER

• Salmon with broccoli and sweet potato

• Stir fry with vegetables and beans/free range chicken/tofu

• Grass fed beef with sautéed vegetables, wild rice and salad w/lemon and oil vinaigrette

SNACKS

• Apple and nuts/seeds

• Celery and nut butter

• Vege and hummus

• Plain 2%+ greek yogurt, chia and berries