Food, Exercise, Anti-Stress, Sleep
Paleo needs to be a lifestyle choice to work. To only focus on a single part of the cycle will ultimately end up in failure. To keep the biochemistry simple:
Food: energy/nutrients in
Exercise: energy/nutrients out, for some people this works to help lower stress levels
Anti-stress: needed to lower "fight or flight" hormones which cause us to use energy and nutrients incorrectly
Sleep: helps to lower stress levels, allows for the body to recover, allows for the mind to recover
Sleep
So easy a baby can do it- a lot. Unfortunately we are the demise of our own technology. TV, computers, electric lights all interfere with our natural sleep patterns that should be roughly inline with the rising and lowering of the sun. Living in England this can be a bit of an issue where in the summer it gets dark at 10pm and in the winter it is 4pm. However keeping a steady sleep schedule of 8+hours a night allows your body the time to restore and repair itself- and the brain needs it to work correctly! (Why pulling an "all nighter" is stupid)
Giving yourself a chance to unplug, rest and relax before bed will ensure that you can fall asleep. If you struggle to fall asleep be sure to give yourself some resting time in bed that isn't part of your sleep time calculation. Even better if you have a means of releasing a large amount of feel good hormones to help you drift off... do it!
Once you have learned to fall alseep and sleep through the night- next comes waking up. No one enjoys waking to an alarm and the joys of the snooze button have been celebrated the world over (a few too many times for some). Or if your someone who can just sleep through any noise (what is that mysterious ticking noise?)- there is hope. It will get easier to wake up as you have a regular schedule and your body adjusts. But now that you are waking up regularly almost without an alarm at 6:30am what do you do? How about a nice walk or jog? A tasty breakfast? Bulletproof coffee? Get to work early so you can actually have a real lunch hour to relax?
As someone who personally still struggles with sleep I will discuss more later when I figure it out- until then here are some additional resources:
Sleep, Sleep, Sleep! How Artificial Lighting And Cortisol Impact Zzz's- Robb Wolf
Sleep: An Undervalued Ergogenic Aid- Whole 9
Get Your Sleep- Everyday Paleo
Paleo needs to be a lifestyle choice to work. To only focus on a single part of the cycle will ultimately end up in failure. To keep the biochemistry simple:
Food: energy/nutrients in
Exercise: energy/nutrients out, for some people this works to help lower stress levels
Anti-stress: needed to lower "fight or flight" hormones which cause us to use energy and nutrients incorrectly
Sleep: helps to lower stress levels, allows for the body to recover, allows for the mind to recover
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| Original chart from via catalystvalley |
Sleep
So easy a baby can do it- a lot. Unfortunately we are the demise of our own technology. TV, computers, electric lights all interfere with our natural sleep patterns that should be roughly inline with the rising and lowering of the sun. Living in England this can be a bit of an issue where in the summer it gets dark at 10pm and in the winter it is 4pm. However keeping a steady sleep schedule of 8+hours a night allows your body the time to restore and repair itself- and the brain needs it to work correctly! (Why pulling an "all nighter" is stupid)
Giving yourself a chance to unplug, rest and relax before bed will ensure that you can fall asleep. If you struggle to fall asleep be sure to give yourself some resting time in bed that isn't part of your sleep time calculation. Even better if you have a means of releasing a large amount of feel good hormones to help you drift off... do it!
Once you have learned to fall alseep and sleep through the night- next comes waking up. No one enjoys waking to an alarm and the joys of the snooze button have been celebrated the world over (a few too many times for some). Or if your someone who can just sleep through any noise (what is that mysterious ticking noise?)- there is hope. It will get easier to wake up as you have a regular schedule and your body adjusts. But now that you are waking up regularly almost without an alarm at 6:30am what do you do? How about a nice walk or jog? A tasty breakfast? Bulletproof coffee? Get to work early so you can actually have a real lunch hour to relax?
As someone who personally still struggles with sleep I will discuss more later when I figure it out- until then here are some additional resources:
Sleep, Sleep, Sleep! How Artificial Lighting And Cortisol Impact Zzz's- Robb Wolf
Sleep: An Undervalued Ergogenic Aid- Whole 9
Get Your Sleep- Everyday Paleo
