Sleep and weight control
The "internal clock" and the day-night rhythm
Restful sleep is very important for your health and well-being. Current research shows that poor sleep leads to increased cravings, poor nutrition, and insulin tolerance, thus promoting obesity.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, one third of all people living in Germany now suffer from sleep disorders.
The classic: You wake up tired in the morning, feel tired all day, and long to go back to bed. Then, when you lie in bed at night, you can't fall asleep. You're mentally exhausted and physically wide awake, or physically exhausted and mentally alert.
The reason for this is often that our "internal clock" is out of sync. This regulates our wake and sleep cycles via the sleep hormone melatonin. Our internal clock is controlled by darkness and daylight, as well as the correspondingly produced sleep hormone melatonin. In light, melatonin levels drop, and we wake up. In darkness, melatonin levels rise, and we become tired.
In addition, the quality of the light (wavelength) also has a significant influence on melatonin production. It is now known that bluish light inhibits melatonin production more than yellowish light. This discovery led to many screens and smartphones emitting yellowish light in night mode. Incidentally, the discoverer was Satchin Panda – a leading figure in intermittent fasting research.
We spend around 80% of our day indoors
This, of course, means significantly less time outdoors and, at the same time, a direct lack of daylight. In the evening, we tend to stare at high-contrast screens and illuminate our rooms, which almost reverses the melatonin secretion! This often results in us not feeling properly tired and not sleeping well.
To reduce melatonin production, we need to expose ourselves to bright sunlight as much as possible during the day. Here's a breakdown of different brightness values (unit "lux") depending on the light source:
- Candlelight has about 10 lux
- A desk lamp has about 400 lux
- A neon ceiling lamp has about 500 lux
- Daylight lamp has about 10,000 lux
- Daylight (cloudy) has 5000 to 60,000 lux
- Daylight (clear sky) has up to 100,000 lux
In the evening, lights should be dimmed and bright light avoided. Smartphones and tablets now offer a "night mode" that filters out blue light, which significantly inhibits melatonin production.
Coffee and tea keep us awake thanks to their caffeine content. Short-chain carbohydrates and sweet drinks activate us through their sugar content. It takes several hours for the caffeine to be broken down, and sugar can take a very long time as well.
Simple “light games” for better sleep
- Spend at least 60 minutes outdoors during the day
- Use as little and as yellowish/orange light as possible in the evening
- Use smartphones and screens less in the evening or, if possible, set them to “night mode”
- After sunset, it is best not to eat anything and especially avoid sugar, alcohol and cigarettes
Full throttle during the day and finish early in the evening!
Stress is known to be a major cause of restlessness and a sleep deterrent. Stress leads to the release of adrenaline and, in the long term, cortisol, which in turn raises blood sugar.
Stress stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, the activator of our autonomic nervous system. This leads, for example, to an increase in heart rate when you're internally agitated. It's practically impossible to fall asleep while you're under high stress levels.
That's why it's not a good idea to fill your head before bed... Emails, work, the news, or difficult phone calls are avoidable sources of stress, at least in the evening hours. Besides, with a clear head, you can usually get more work done the next morning, with better quality and less time.
8 hours of sleep is (simplified) a good guideline, although there are big differences between us all - some are early risers ( larks ) and some are nocturnal ( owls ).
Find out your chronotype
In the Salufast app, you can take a short test to find out whether you are a lark or an owl and when exactly you should eat accordingly.
