How well do you sleep?

Written By Nancy Smay

I’m asking because this is a conversation I have with my clients in the first or second session we have together. I think people are beginning to understand how critical sleep is to every single process in our bodies, but I want to really enforce this as one of three key pillars to overall health. Nutrition, movement, and sleep. These are what keep us strong, vital, and capable as we age. And if you’re prone to thinking maybe sleep isn’t that important? Think again.

There’s plenty of science on this and I’ll let you go down that rabbithole on your own. The result of the conversation I often have with clients is that they tell me they don’t sleep well. Women in peri- and post-menopause often struggle to either fall asleep or stay asleep.

Is this you?

There are lots of resources available. In an effort to help a recent client, I dug into this topic and found lots of fantastic information.

Here’s what I shared with her:

MELATONIN: I have found some surprising things about melatonin not being super helpful overall, and that it's mostly helpful in phase shifting situations (like jet lag) where you have to to try to align your circadian rhythms with a new time zone. Also learned that most people are taking too high a dose and it has a very long half life, so is still in your system during the day and acts as a sedative. That can lead to people over-caffeinating and then ending up in a vicious cycle. So the recommendation I'm finding is 1mg/day max, taken 1 hour before bed.

MAGNESIUM: The research I'm finding is pointing to magnesium gycinate or threonate (not citrate) - no more than 350 mg, an hour before sleep.  Here’s a brand I trust: https://www.livemomentous.com/products/magnesium-threonate

HYGEINE: I always assume the sleep hygiene issues have been addressed, but if not:

  • room at 65-67 degrees

  • total darkness

  • avoid blue light (tech / tv) at least one hour before sleep

  • last meal 2-4 hours before sleep

  • avoid alcohol if possible

  • avoid stimulants (caffeine) after 12pm - this may differ per person, but figure out what works for you and be conservative. I find I can go from 2pm on and be fine, but recommendations for those with interrupted sleep are usually to avoid for 12 hours before sleep.

And then of course, having a standard go to bed and wake up time that aligns with your chronotype (morning or evening person).  Not sure any of that is anything you don't already know... but since the benefits of strength training are magnified significantly by good sleep (that's when we rebuild and restore muscle), it's really important to try to get the sleep thing nailed.

If you’d like to follow my research trail, here are the podcasts I’ve listened to over the past few days to cobble this together. THere’s a LOT more in here that I didn’t include!

Nancy Smay
Next

Protein Cheat Sheet