If you want more energy throughout the day, improving your sleep quality is one of the most important things you can do.

Sleep is essential for balancing your entire system, as it allows our bodies to restore overnight and rebuild our resources and energy levels to function well the next day. However, in the modern world, many of us are lacking in energy to do the things we love, even if we are getting 8 hours sleep.

“Sleep is essential for balancing your entire system, as it allows our bodies to restore overnight and rebuild our resources and energy levels to function well the next day.”

This is because the quality of sleep is equally as important as the amount of time spent sleeping. I’m talking about quality, energy-producing, body-healing sleep.

Our Sleep-Wake Cycle

The key to getting quality sleep is by balancing your autonomic nervous system. This is the part of your nervous system you have no conscious control over.

Our autonomic nervous system controls our sleep-wake cycle, which is our natural circadian rhythm. Our circadian rhythm is naturally in tune with the sun, where your cortisol levels are higher during the day and lower at night. In contrast, your melatonin levels should be lower during the day and higher at night.

“Factors like stress can raise cortisol levels which throw your circadian rhythm off balance, stealing your energy.”

Factors like stress can raise cortisol levels which throw your circadian rhythm off balance, stealing your energy. To get great quality sleep you want to try and maintain a balanced circadian rhythm as much as possible.

Let’s take a closer look at how stress impacts our sleep and what you can do about it:

1. Avoid stimulants

Consuming stimulants during the day such as coffee, alcohol, processed sugars and processed grains can impact your cortisol levels keeping them high, while suppressing melatonin levels. In fact, taking stimulants at any time of the day will impact your quality of sleep.

“Taking stimulants at any time of the day will impact your quality of sleep.”

If you’re lacking in energy you can nourish your sleep quality by avoiding these stimulants. Instead of running for caffeine or a sugary pick-me-up, nurture your body with plenty of water and proactively manage your stress better with these stress reducing tips. Also be aware that intensive exercise at night may stimulate cortisol release, which will keep you awake later than normal.

2. Calm your mind

Stress is one of the biggest culprits of our mental and physical lack of energy. This is because when our minds are constantly active and thinking, this stimulates the release of hormones, including our sleep-wake hormones. This response starts by sending messages from the hypothalamus, down to the pituitary gland and through to the adrenal glands, based on what’s lighting up our brain.

“Stress is one of the biggest culprits of our mental and physical lack of energy.”

Calming the mind is very beneficial for quieting the physiology of the body and activates your parasympathetic nervous system. Meditation, restorative yoga and massage therapy are all great ways to help calm your mind, reduce your body’s stress levels and enhance energy and wellbeing. If you’d like to try meditation we recommend using these apps, 1 Giant Mind or Insight Timer.

3. Practice breathing exercises

Simple breathing exercises can help us cultivate a healthy relationship with stress, giving you more energy in your life.

This is because, while we don’t have any conscious control over our autonomic nervous system, we do have the ability to directly tap into it by controlling our breathing. Your breathing can directly change physiological parameters such as blood pressure and helps to switch off your ‘flight or fight’ response, activating your ‘rest and digest’ parasympathetic nervous system. There are many breathing exercises you can try from diaphragmatic breathing, belly breathing and yogic breathing to name a few.

Your lack of energy could also be due to lack of key nutrients

4. Increase magnesium

Magnesium is not only important for muscle relaxation, it’s also vital for good quality sleep. Plus, it’s a double win for our energy levels, as it also helps to boost energy at a cellular level.

Research has shown that magnesium increases sleep time, sleep efficiency, increase sleep time hormones melatonin and decrease serum cortisol concentration. So it’s incredibly important we have good magnesium status.

“Research has shown that magnesium increases sleep time, sleep efficiency, increase sleep time hormones melatonin and decrease serum cortisol concentration.”

Population studies of magnesium deficiency show that over 50% of people are deficient. To ensure your magnesium levels are at optimal levels, I’ve formulated BePure Magnesium Restore which contains the highest quality, most absorbable forms of chelated magnesium to effectively support the renewal of depleted magnesium stores.

Alongside nutritional support, make sure you include magnesium-rich foods in your diet. And yes, this does include dark chocolate! (Probably one of my clients favorite suggestions… try this nourishing chocolate bites recipe) Other good sources of magnesium are almonds and green leafy vegetables.

5. Increase zinc

Zinc is incredibly important for sleep, as the ability to make melatonin (our sleep-time hormone) is zinc dependent.

This means including zinc in our diets is essential for our bodies to synthesise melatonin. Melatonin not only helps you get to sleep, you also need it to stay asleep.

Increasing your dietary intake of zinc is important for maintaining your zinc levels, find out what your levels are with this zinc taste test. If you are zinc deficient it's very difficult to get your zinc levels up from food, as the absorption of zinc relies somewhat on zinc. BePure Zinc Restore is designed to get your zinc levels back up and then be able to maximise your zinc from food sources.

Good food sources of zinc include oysters (the number one!), other seafood, red meat (especially beef), chicken and pork, cashews, chickpeas and hard cheeses.

Nourishing great sleep will help to boost your energy levels, making it possible to have the energy to do what excites you most. And having energy to do what you love is the most important gift you can give yourself.

To understand your body and to unlock the energy you need, a good place to start is to take the BePure Energy and Stress Questionnaire. This questionnaire is designed to give you a personal snapshot of your current energy and stress status.