Yahoo Lifestyle 
Huge sleep mistake you're probably making on weekends
What keeps you up at night? It’s a simple question with a complex answer, ranging from socio-economic issues to the impact stress has on your physical and emotional health.
But a consistent lack of refreshing, deep sleep can have significant impacts on your physical and mental well-being.
Paul Taylor, a former British Royal Navy Aircrew Officer and founder of The Mind-Body-Brain Performance Institute, is on a mission to help you avoid burnout and get better sleep.
How sleep repairs you
Paul says to understand why sleep is so important, we need to look at the physiology of what happens to our cells when we are awake versus when we are asleep.
“When awake, all cells in your body are accumulating damage from expression of DNA and cellular metabolism,” the former TV host and Neuroscientist tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
“At night is when that damage gets dealt with. That’s when our body is removing waste products. Science shows the damage to DNA is what induces the need for sleep.”
RELATED:
And it’s not just humans who repair the day’s damage to our bodies by sleeping.
“All species sleep,” says Paul. “And scientists believe this is to clean out the accumulation of damage that has been done throughout the day.”
As you can imagine, with no sleep or very poor sleep, our bodies simply don’t get the repair they need.
How to optimise deep sleep
Paul says to optimise your chances of getting great, refreshing sleep, the most important thing is having a good sleep hygiene routine in order for your circadian rhythm (sleep/wake cycle) to be regular.
And don’t shoot the messenger, but those lazy weekend lie-ins may be doing you more harm than good!
“Having the regularity of going to bed and getting up at the same time is beneficial,” says Paul. “You sabotage your repair by changing your sleep/wake time. Get into the habit of going to bed at the same time each night and most importantly, waking up at the same time every day.”
A 2019 sleep study in fact, found that a weekend lie-in conferred no benefits to metabolic health for subjects with a weekday sleep deficit. Other experts even suggest that weekend lie-ins may cause insomnia.
Caffeine - The gift that keeps on giving
Many of us reach for a nice cup of coffee in the morning to help wake us up after having a poor night’s sleep, but Paul says you may want to rethink how often you caffeinate.
“Caffeine is a brilliant stimulant, they give it to fighter pilots in times of war to keep them awake. But it has a half life of about 6 hours, so 12 hours after you’ve consumed it, you still have a quarter of that caffeine in your system. Limit caffeine rich drinks and food to 3, and be done by 2:00 pm so your brain isn’t stimulated 24/7.”
Digestion and sleep
When it comes to sleep and digestion, Paul says when you eat is just as important as what you eat, as scientific and anecdotal evidence shows us that having your evening meal no later than 7:00 PM is optimal for better digestion, and better sleep.
“The research is showing the process of digestion goes on for hours after we eat and can impair sleep. Your digestive system takes a good amount of energy for digestion, so if you have your last meal at 9 or 10 at night, your body is going to be using energy to digest that food instead of doing the DNA repair work your body needs.”
Top Sleep Hygiene Tips
Mental Stillness. Paul, who is currently completing a PhD in applied psychology, advises that you have 30 minutes of a wind-down routine every evening that doesn’t require technology. “Turn off all devices; read a book, do some breathing exercises, stretching, yoga etc…all will help the brain calm down and prepare it for sleep.”
Make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary. Ban technology from the bedroom. “There’s strong evidence to suggest if your phone is by your bed, your brain is hyper vigilant. Getting devices out of the bedroom can have the single biggest impact on your mental health. This is especially important for kids. Kids who have phones in the bedroom sleep on average an hour less than their peers and have double the risk of developing mental health issues. And if you don’t want to over-sleep and rely too much on that early morning wake-up call, Paul says going old-school is best. “Get an alarm clock!” Paul laughs.
Never miss a thing. Sign up to Yahoo Lifestyle’s daily newsletter.
Or if you have a story idea, email us at lifestyle.tips@yahooinc.com.
