Hearing recommendations for getting enough sleep is probably not a new concept for many of us. We likely know the benefits of sleep on our mood, health, energy, and productivity. When it comes to dealing with chronic inflammation or autoimmune diseases, sleep is a major player and is as important, if not more important, as our diet. Sleep can make or break a healing plan.
Our body depends on restorative, quality sleep to heal. Sleep helps to reduce stress, promote immune system regulation, decrease inflammation, and reduces our risk of disease.
People with chronic inflammation or autoimmune disease symptoms may feel like they are doing a lot work around their diet and other areas of their healing plan and yet they still feel symptomatic. While there are many reasons for symptoms continuing, like a leaky gut or chronic stress for example, lack of good quality sleep could be the culprit stalling the healing process. That was my experience.
When I was in the throes of trying to heal my body after my Celiac Disease diagnosis, my life was pretty chaotic. I was traveling full time for work, which sometimes meant 3-5 business trips per month when things were busy, some lasting a couple of days, some 5-7 days or longer. Staying up late packing, getting up early to catch a flight, long travel days, sleeping in hotels night after night, long days, staying up late preparing for the next day, long travel days home, only to crash and burn for a few days before doing it again, all took a major toll on my body. It wasn’t uncommon for me to sleep for 10-11 hours on the weekends after crazy work trips. I thought I was helping my body catch up on lost sleep, but research shows you can’t make up for lost sleep. It affects us on a cellular level. Now, there were many factors in addition to lack of sleep that were affecting my health during this time, including tons of stress. More on that another time.
People whose autoimmune disease symptoms or chronic inflammation are in remission may find that a period of time of lack of sleep can cause them to be symptomatic again. Many people with autoimmune disease claim that lack of sleep and high stress throws them into a flare more so than diet. This is my experience too. Now that my body feels good, it only takes one night of lack of sleep for me to feel out of whack. A few days of lack of sleep causes me to feel achy and the joints in my hands to swell, among other symptoms.
People who are either easing themselves or perhaps jumping right into an elimination diet to combat chronic inflammation or autoimmune disease will greatly benefit in making quality, restorative, sleep a priority through the process. It’s one of those things that will never fail the body. We won’t experience negative effects from getting enough sleep, and the benefits could be life changing.
Some people may even find it harder to change sleep habits than diet. I have experienced firsthand how beneficial sleep is to my healing and how detrimental it can be to my immune system, and yet, I am still working on being better disciplined when it comes to sleep. It’s gotten worse since becoming a Mom. I’m either losing sleep because my daughter needs me or I end up staying up way too late because I enjoy the peace and quiet at night to do whatever I want when I don’t have a little person hanging on me or anyone needing anything. I end up reading a book or magazine, scrolling social media, or catching up on Grey’s Anatomy or Fixer Upper episodes. Before I know it, it is midnight and I’m still wide awake. The next day I pay for it big time. I really feel like it’s because my life is so crazy now being a Mom and I’m pulled in so many directions that I enjoy the moments of peace and quiet at the end of the day. I do however, recognize how lack of sleep makes me feel and honor my body when it calls for it. I know when to dial it back and get back on track, but it’s just not a consistent behavior for me to have a great sleep routine. It’s a work in progress.
Quick tips for getting restorative sleep:
1. Determine how much sleep your body needs: On a weekend, or during a time when you are able to sleep in, allow your body to wake-up naturally without an alarm. See how many hours you slept and use that as a current guide. It may decrease as the body heals and doesn’t need as much restorative sleep. If this isn’t a realistic process, aim for at least 8 hours per night.
2. Determine your bed time: Back track from the time you need to be awake to figure out an ideal bed time.
3. Make a commitment to your established bed time, especially while the body is healing: Go to bed at the same time every night.
4. Get outside during the day: Sunshine and daylight help to set our circadian rhythm and our internal clock.
5. Limit screen time an hour before bed: Turn off the T.V. and put phones and tablets away. This will allow the brain time to wind down.
6. Make changes to your bedroom if needed to optimize sleep: Get a sound machine to drown out disruptive noise, blackout curtains to keep it nice and dark, and a mask to block light in your sleep area to keep it from interfering with sleep.
7. Establish a bed time routine that helps you relax: Take a hot bath, write in a journal, read a book, or meditate.
8. Make sleep a priority, especially during the healing process or an immune system flare-up, periods of high stress, if you have Celiac Disease and have been “glutened”, or any other time you feel your body is being taxed.
If there is something missing in our diet, or our lab work shows we are deficient in something, we can often take supplements to make up for it if needed. Unfortunately, there isn’t a supplement we can take to make up for lack of sleep. The only way we can reap the benefits of sleep is to…sleep!
