The Key to Higher Energy, Better Performance, Enhanced Focus and Learning, and Less Pain

Resilience represents your ability to bounce back and recover from a physical or psychological stressor. There are many aspects of your lifestyle that support resilience. Nutrition plays a role. Socialization and support from friends and family influence it as well. Over time, exercise contributes to expanding your resilience.

Probably the most impactful and important is sleep and the quality/quantity of sleep.

Sleep also enhances learning which important for younger athletes that must also perform well in school. It increases tolerance to all stressors, so it decreases aches and pains that occur more often when we are tired. Obviously, it provides us with more energy to put into any and all of our activities from work to play.

To help you understand how to determine whether you’re on the right track with your sleep hygiene, here’s an excerpt from All Gain, No Pain:  The Over-40 Man’s Comeback Guide to Rebuild Your Body After Pain, Injury, or Physical Therapy 

Sleep Quality Assessment

Why is this important: Sleep hygiene is one of the simplest, most powerful and impactful elements of healthy behavior. Unfortunately, it remains one of the most underappreciated and overlooked aspects of stress management and a healthy lifestyle. A number of behaviors can positively or negatively impact your sleep quality and a few simple changes can make all the difference in your health, movement quality, and physique. We’ll look at sleep and its impact on the All Gain, No Pain program more in Chapter 15.

What does it test: This Sleep Quality Assessment provides a representation of our sleep behaviors that lead to successful sleep hygiene to enhance resilience. Answer the following questions honestly.

• Do you have a consistent bed/wake time?
• Do you typically have trouble falling asleep?
• Do you sleep at least 7 hours/night?
• Do you wake rested and energized in the morning?
• Do you drink alcohol before bed?
• Do you eat within 2 hours of bed time?
• Do you need regular naps to catch up on sleep?

Your goal: Adapt one behavior at a time to change your answers to a more supportive behavior to improve your sleep hygiene. Start with any of the behaviors below.

• Have a consistent bed/wake time
• Establish a nighttime ritual to avoid having trouble falling asleep
• Sleep at least 7 hours (kids need 2-3 hours more than that)
• Avoid alcohol before bed (this one’s for the adults)
• Avoid eating 2 hours before bedtime
• Take regular naps to catch up on sleep

Once you’ve locked one in as a habit, just pick another one until your sleep rituals are just a regular part of your evening, and you’re getting that high-quality restful sleep.

Photo: ID 113573287 © Pitiphat Kanjanamukda | Dreamstime.com