SHARPEN up your wellbeing! - Sleep

To help both mine, and my clients' progress towards feeling and looking better all the time - superhealth - there's a range of areas we'll develop:

Sleep

Hygiene

Awareness

Relaxation

Posture

Exercise, and

Nutrition.

These are all under your control and dramatically influence your current and future health - how you look, feel and function! We use a more detailed system for each element but here’s a brief run down of the idea behind developing your own superhealth.

Sleep

Want to burn fat, reduce blood pressure and stress, remember more, learn better, have more energy, control you appetite, live longer and feel more alert and alive? All you need to do is ... sleep! We live such complicated lives, and actually have such complicated metabolisms, that we need to get recuperative downtime each and every day. If we get too little, your mind, body and emotions can't restore fully day to day. 

The ideal sleep for adults is 7-8 hours a night. Sleep is one of the most valuable allies you have for amazing health, and is totally the easiest thing you can do to improve so many aspects of your health and wellbeing! It's not just about the quantity either - 8 hours of sleep interrupted by mobile phones, stress before bed or bright light can leave you feeling groggy and unrested. 

Some tips for getting enough quality shut-eye:

 * Treat your sleeping area like a sanctuary. This is where you go to recharge, so keep it free from clutter, lights and noise where possible. 

 * Close all blinds. 

 * If you get erratic noises at night (traffic, dogs howling etc) then try a white-noise generator like an air filter or radio tuned between stations. 

 * Opt out of mobiles, LED alarm clocks, TV standby switches that remain on, or anything else that will cast light into your room. At the least, turn any of these small sources of light around so that when lying down, you can't see them alight.

 * Mobiles are some of the worst sleep quality offenders. Turn it to airplane mode, or at the very least onto silent and have it face down. Whilst you might not physically wake up to it chiming, or the arrival of an email/facebook status update/random SMS, part of your mind will pay attention, meaning you will limit how deeply you sleep.

 * Checking news or emails before bed is a no-no too. Your last hour or so before bed should be all about pleasant reflection and relaxation! This will help your mind wind down too. Emails before bed can have an equivalent effect to caffeine.

 * Get into a bedtime ritual. It might be : chamomile tea - shower - brush teeth - get into pyjamas - read a book for 10 minutes in bed - beside lamp off.

Any process that you do regularly just before bed that helps you wind down, will let your body and mind know it's sleepy time. 

 * Likewise going to bed and rising at the same time each day will work wonders for your energy levels, sleep quality, hormone levels and stress. In fact, this is probably the most powerful recommendation I could make for sleeping your way towards superhealth. 

Grab a Mate and Get Moving During Men's Health Week

Physical Activity Australia is challenging all Aussie men to take a good hard look at their lifestyle habits and make two small changes during Men's Health Week (10 - 16 June 2013). Firstly, we want men to commit to doing 30 minutes of physical activity every day this week. Physical Activity Australia CEO Fiona Bailey says, "It doesn't have to be strenuous physical activity, just some form of activity every day can make a big difference to your life. You can break it down into two 15-minute blocks, as long as you get your 30 minutes in." Secondly, we want Aussie blokes to 'man up' and talk to their mates about their health and activity levels. "Women love talking, but it's about time for men to experience the mental health benefits of a good chinwag with their mates," Ms Bailey says. Did you know? Men take their own lives at four times the rate of women - that's five men a day, on average.    "Regular physical activity improves sleep quality, tolerance to stress, sense of happiness and reduces your risk of developing life-limiting conditions such as diabetes, stroke, cancer, heart disease and depression - and it can pay dividends quite quickly!" Ms Bailey says. So go for a walk around the block or the park while the kids are at training, play golf, go for a swim or get some mates together for a bike ride or a casual game of footy. "It's a great way to catch up with your mates and do something positive for your health at the same time," Ms Bailey says. So go on, grab a mate and get moving! Need someone to be active with? ActivityBuddies can help! www.ActivityBuddies.com.au is a new, FREE initiative of Physical Activity Australia which connects people to help them get motivated and be physically active. There are over 250 different types of physical activity options available, so there is something for everyone. Physical Activity Australia is a national charity organisation established in 1982. We work with and support many charities and organisations all with the same aim of getting every Australian, every day, physically active.