Can You Eat Your Way to Better Sleep?
You’ve heard that, “You are what you eat,” but did you know that there’s some truth to, “You sleep how you eat?” There are many ways to promote better sleep, and diet is one of them.
How to Help Your Family Get Healthy in 2022
Food. Water. Air. Sleep. Our bodies need to be fueled properly to stay healthy and strong. They also need time to regenerate and restore. Sleep is an active state that promotes health in every organ of your body, especially your brain and your heart.
If you want every member of your family to feel their best and function optimally in 2022, they need to be able to sleep long enough to detoxify their body and restore their cells. Dana J. Rockey, DMD, is a dental sleep specialist in Newport Beach, California, and Prescott, Arizona, who’s devoted his life to helping patients achieve a healthier lifestyle, including better sleep.
Here he provides a guide on how to optimize health and sleep for everyone you love in 2022.
Fuel up right
The trillions of cells that make up your body need the right kind of fuel to function optimally and help you achieve your goals. Filling up on the wrong kinds of food (i.e., nutrient-poor and processed foods filled with chemicals or toxins) is like trying to run your car on water instead of gasoline.
Dr. Rockey recommends a whole-foods diet that emphasizes the kind of nutrient-rich foods that helped our ancestors thrive and evolve.
Concentrate on choices like these for your family’s menu:
- Fresh or frozen plain vegetables
- Fresh fruits
- Grass-fed and pastured meats, poultry, and eggs
- Wild-caught fish
- Whole, sprouted grains
- Well-cooked legumes
- Herbs and spices
You and your family can learn about new flavors and textures by exploring world cuisine in your own kitchen. Cooking together might even become a favorite family activity. In addition to adding in more whole foods, gradually (or quickly) cut out non-foods and imflammatory foods such as:
- Sugar
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Fruit juice
- Refined grains
- Trans fats
- Processed meats
- Processed foods
- Junk food
You can even experiment and find healthy alternatives to unhealthy favorite treats that may taste good but don’t help your body thrive.
Use it, don’t lose it
Your muscles, joints, heart, and brain all require activity and exercise to keep them limber, nimble, and working at their peak. When you stop challenging yourself — physically or mentally — you start to decline.
Dr. Rockey helps you and your family members find fun, invigorating activities that you can do, alone or together, that keep your family active.
Separately or together, you and your family might:
- Play sports
- Join teams
- Take family walks or runs
- Take a dance class
- Cycle together
- Swim together
- Lift weights
- Use resistance bands
- Take yoga or tai chi
Regular exercise builds strength and flexibility in your muscles, which protects your bones as you age. It also strengthens your heart and keeps oxygenated blood circulating to your brain.
Recharge and restore
Unfortunately, in the last few decades, our society has developed an aversion to sleep, as if getting enough sleep each night was somehow a sign of being lazy. Luckily, this misconception is reversing itself as entrepreneurs and biohackers — including Arianna Huffington— realize for themselves the health benefits of deep, long sleep.
Even if you or your family try to sleep through the night, if any of you has a sleep breathing disorder called sleep apnea, you’re not getting the fully restorative rest you need to detoxify and fuel your cells. Sleep apnea is a common condition that affects about a quarter of adults in the United States. Children can also be affected as well.
Apnea is a pause in breathing, which can take place hundreds of times a night. Apnea can interrupt your sleep and prevent your body from resting fully and restoring itself. You might wake yourself by snoring or gagging if you have sleep apnea. This is referred to as interrupted sleep and is not serving to restore your body as sleep should.
Adults and children with sleep apnea might also grind their teeth at night, a condition known as bruxism. If you or someone in your family has sleep apnea, Dr. Rockey may recommend a custom-designed oral appliance that holds your lower jaw forward to keep your airway open as you sleep. The appliance also protects your teeth from grinding.
To get on the road to optimal health in 2022, contact us today about healthy lifestyle choices and better sleep. Call us at 949-558-0554 in Newport Beach, California, or 928-235-6925 in Prescott, Arizona, to schedule a consultation, or use our online message form.
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