Category Archives: SLEEP

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What’s Really Making Us Sick?

Did you know there are a zillion things that can contribute to us getting sick?

Well, maybe not a zillion, but certainly many … some of which are mentioned in the list above.

Thankfully, our bodies have an incredible in-built system designed to keep us healthy.

It’s called our Innate Immune System.

However, it needs us to make good diet and lifestyle decisions in order to support it.

If not, it’s unable to help you to thrive.

  • Your energy will be flat.
  • Your mental clarity will be impaired.
  • You will struggle to walk up stairs without puffing.
  • Your limbs and muscles will become stiff and sore.
  • Any “bug” that comes on the scene, will knock you for six … and so on.
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Do You Eat The Same Things, Over and Over?

Do you tend to eat the same type of meals over and over again? Maybe you’ve got a close relationship going on with your breakfast cereal?!!

Well I’d like to inspire you to live on the edge a little … and add some colour and variety to your plate (or bowl!)

Why?

When we eat a more diversified diet, particularly one that is rich in plant-based foods, it helps to feed the trillions of microscopic bugs in the digestive tract.

Now these microscopic bugs (which comprise of bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses – yes you read that correctly, even viruses), they don’t just hang out in your belly, doing nothing.

They are responsible for producing important neurotransmitters such as gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, for short. GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter which helps to calm the nervous system, needed to facilitate sleep.

They also produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter which is the pre-cursor to the sleep-regulating hormone, melatonin.

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Does Your Job Involve Sitting Inside All Day?

Does your job involve sitting inside all day (and maybe night?) Have you spent years on a weight gain-weight-loss-weight-gain roller coaster?

Could lack of sunlight be a contributing factor? My simple answer to that is “yes, most definitely”.

Without sufficient vitamin D, AKA vitamin “daylight”, your body thinks you are hibernating.

It thinks winter is coming.

So what does it instinctively do as a response?

It slows down the metabolism, encouraging you to eat more, and store lots of fat to help you to “see through the winter”.

Even when it’s not winter!

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How To Eat on Night Shift to Reduce Fatigue?

Back in my Uni days of studying to become a nutritionist, I remember overhearing a discussion between a lecturer and student about what would be the ideal meal option for someone who work’s the night shift.

The lecturer’s reply was:

“Just get them to flip their meals around. As in have their big meal around midnight and 1am”.

The thing is, that never really sat right with me.

Given the functionality of our circadian rhythm varies enormously between that of the day versus the night, I instinctively knew that nocturnal food intake, especially in large quantities, was bound to cause havoc on our digestive system. Not ideal, given most shift workers are plagued by gastrointestinal complaints at the best of times!

However, it doesn’t stop at the digestive system.

It can affect our cognition, amongst other things, which if your work involves making complex decisions, operating machinery or performing surgery, can be extremely important.

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Does Your Workplace Have A Lollie Jar?

I was speaking at a conference on the weekend, and I asked the attendees the following question:

“Do you have a lollie jar stashed in a drawer at work? There were quite a few nods in the room, and one guy even said they have a Lollie Locker!

Whooska. Well, at least he was honest.

The thing is, they’re pretty much in every shift working workplace on the planet.

Incredibly, (but not surprisingly), they line the drawers of most hospital wards … but don’t get me started about the food in the hospitals. I’m going to save that for an entirely different email!!

Anyway, I digress.

Getting back to the lollie jar. Does your workplace also have those “fundraising choccies” that make several appearances throughout the year??

It’s for a good cause, right?

Well … yes, I’m not going to disagree with that, but at what cost to those who are consuming these sugar-laden treats?

You see, when we’re constantly sleep-deprived our bodies are essentially in a state of ‘fight or flight’ which leads us to crave sugar.

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