What happens when you close your eyes and drift off to a place of peace and tranquility? Floating out of reality and into happy pleasant dreams of calm and zen. According to the International Insititute of Anti-ageing, studies on 169 identical have shown that where one of the twins worked night shifts, this twin was twice as likely to report poorer health and sleep proglems. There is evidence that sleep loss is pro-inflammatory and that inflammation is also linked to ageing as a result of the increased production of free radicals.
“Aside from systemic inflammation, it has also been discovered that the stress that sleep deprivation cdauses has an effect on the skin’s barrier funtion.” (Altemus et al, 2001). Tfhe findings showed that the effects could portentially trigger or aggravate inflammatory, hyperplastic skin disorders such as psoriasis, eczema and atopic dermatitis.
Impaired sleep has also been found to have numerous behavioural and phusiologica influences such as momory and cognitive aility, glucoose metaholsim and renal function.
Lets get sleeping…..
1. Ensure your bedroom is calm and organised – conducive to a good relaxing atmosphere. make sure your matress is comfortael – you spend a third of your life on it!!
2. Eat healthily and avoid alcohol close to your bedtime. foods such as chicken, eggs, tna and milk are better nearer bedtime3 – they are linked to the production of the sleep inducing hormones melatonin and serotonin.
3. Exercise really help. it reduces stress and, if you exercise quite hard it will make you a bit more tired! it is found to increase botht he duration of sleep itself and the important perios of slow wave sleep.
More information: International Institute for Anti-Ageing – 020 84507997.