A few tips on how to get better sleep, exercise and healthy food
Mark A. Mahoney
According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep is when important processing, restoration and strengthening occur throughout your immune, nervous, skeletal and muscular systems.
Improving our sleep
Good sleep benefits your whole body including your heart and brain with effects such as improved mood, memory and reasoning.
Marie-Pierre St-Onge, an associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University in New York City and a prominent sleep researcher notes that, “Sleep affects all aspects of life and the body.”
Although the amount of sleep each individual need varies, the National Sleep Foundation provides some general recommendations as follows:• 14-17 hours for newborns (0-3 months)• 12-15 hours for infants (4-11 months)• 11-14 hours for 1- and 2-year-olds• 10-13 hours for 3- to 5-year-olds• 9-11 hours for 6- to 13-year-olds• 8-10 hours for 14- to 17-year-olds• 7-9 hours for adults• 7-8 hours for adults 65 and older
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
St-Onge notes that, “Quality sleep needs to be of adequate duration, restorative so you feel energized in the morning…”. That means you need several continuous hours of restful sleep each night.
The five sleep stages start with feeling drowsy and advance through deeper sleep until you reach rapid eye movement or REM sleep — when your brain is the most active and dreaming occurs. It’s during this stage that learning and memory are affected.
St-Onge advises to keep specific bedtimes and wake-up times and stick to a consistent schedule as much as possible. Adding schedules (routines) help regulate hormones and take advantage of your body’s natural circadian rhythms.
If sleeping problems persist despite one’s best efforts to remedy the situation, one should consult a qualified health professional to rule out breathing or other health issues.
Recommendations for getting better sleep include making your bed as comfortable as possible, keep your room at a cool temperature and avoid unnecessary bright light and technology use before bedtime.
Staying physically active
Justin Canada, Ph.D., a clinical exercise physiologist and Assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University notes that physical activity is a key element.
Cardiorespiratory fitness is a measure of how well our body uses oxygen when we are moving. Improved cardiorespiratory fitness allows us to better prevent and tackle disease. Therefore, this can be considered to be a key clinical sign which provides a key indication of one’s physiological health.
Think about taking some simple initial steps to add a little more physical activity into your life so as not to fall into the “new-normal” you may be experiencing.
- Being physically active doesn’t mean you have to do an intense exercise regimen. It’s as simple as parking your car a block or two away from where you would normally. Just think about how you can fit an extra few minutes of walking into your day. The key is being purposeful and intentional with your movements.
- Try to undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week which can be spread out over several days. Taking a brisk walk where you may breathe a little heavier, your heart beats a bit faster and you may even sweat but not be short of breath is one example. Regular physical activity of this type can decrease the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes and help with your ability to control high blood pressure.
- Anxiety and stress reduction occur through regular exercise as well as an improvement in the functioning of the immune system. Undertaking physical activities such as walking outdoors (while socially isolating at a safe distance), exercising indoors with (or without) videos, gardening or other activities can produce health benefits.
Don’t lose sight of the fact that some physical activity is better than none. Your psychological and physiological health can reap positive impacts when you get out and move a little.
Maintaining a healthful diet – some tips
As we move into 2025 the importance of eating better is an important lifestyle consideration which can help lead to a healthier you.
Healthy eating emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and protein. Dairy recommendations include low-fat or fat-free milk, lactose-free milk, and fortified soy beverages.
Other plant-based beverages do not have the same nutritional properties as animal’s milk and soy beverages. Protein recommendations include seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans, peas, and lentils), soy products, nuts, and seeds.
Most people in the United States need to adjust their eating patterns to increase their intake of dietary fiber, calcium, vitamin D, and potassium, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-20.
At the same time, we need to consume less added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium. Check the links out in the resource section below for more in-depth information including healthier eating recommendations.
Additional resources
Check out the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 for more complete information.
Health Eating Tips from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) are available at:cdc.gov.
The National Sleep Foundation provides a more in-depth look at the importance of receiving adequate sleep. Check out their resource on sleep topics at thensf.org.
Mark A. Mahoney, Ph.D. has been a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist for over 35 years and completed graduate studies in Nutrition & Public Health at Columbia University. He can be reached at [email protected].
link
