Have a lie in or hit the gym? The answer might surprise you…
We don’t have to tell you how important a good nights sleep is for your mood, digestion, stress levels and workout routine. And you probably also know that exercise has huge benefits for your mental health and can make you feel more energised. So when your alarm goes off at 6AM, how do you choose pick between rolling out of bed or hitting snooze?
Understanding your sleep patetrn is the key to figuring out what your body really needs. The sleep that you get from 5 am onwards, from an energy perspective, is of limited value. There’s an intelligence built into the design of our sleep – we sleep in 90-minute cycles and each cycle seems to repair the body in a different way.
Eastern studies show that the sleep we get pre-midnight and the sleep we get between 2-4 am are the most crucial hours for restoration. Outside of this, power naps are where it’s at for energy-boosting sleep. “In countries like Japan and China, which are renowned for their productivity, people nap at work in the afternoon. The science shows, from a chronobiology perspective, a 20-minute nap can significantly improve your mental and cognitive performance.
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