Music & the Brain: Choosing the Right Playlist

💥🗞️Hot off the press!!

If you have any interest in improving your sleep👋, listen to this:

🎶 A brand new study found that listening to music for 30 minutes before bedtime may improve sleep:

Participants downloaded an app called *Music Star* and listened to music for at least 30 minutes at bedtime for 4 weeks.

👉 They experienced better sleep quality and longer sleep than people not listening to music.

The Music Star app is designed as a multicolored star, with each corner of the star linking to a different tempo of music:

🔵 Blue playlists are the quietest

🟢 Green playlists are more lively

🔴 Red playlists are the most upbeat

⚪ Gray playlists are more for focus

So, if you’re trying out new ideas for a bedtime routine, maybe you could think about adding music to the mix 🎶

Know a friend who might want to hear this? Tag 3 people in the comments to share ⤵️

P.S. For the detail-oriented: The study was called MUSTAFI: Music to Improve Sleep Quality in Adults with Depression & Insomnia. It was presented in March at The European Psychiatric Association 2023 Congress.

Foods to Help You Sleep 🍒

✨ Foods that help you sleep ✨

I don’t recommend eating right before bed. It can disrupt digestion, slow your metabolism, and contribute to weight gain.

But if you find yourself feeling hungry early in the evening and want a snack that will support better sleep, here are some backed by science:

🥜Foods high in magnesium (to calm the nervous system):

Oats

Almonds

Cashews

Chia Seeds

🥣 Foods containing tryptophan (to make serotonin):

Pistachios

Sesame Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

Cottage Cheese

🍒 Foods that support melatonin production:

Kiwis

Oranges

Bananas

Pineapples

Tart Cherry Juice

Do you have a favorite evening snack? Let me know in the comments! ⤵️

5 Things that Sabotage Sleep 💤

🚫 Stop doing these things if you want better sleep 🚫

Who doesn’t want better sleep? It’s the key to more energy, weight loss, mental clarity, and just feeling GOOD. 

Check your habits first. Do you do any of these 5 things that could be secretly ruining your sleep?

❌ Alcohol. Even though alcohol initially calms the nervous system, it disrupts the normal phases of the sleep cycle as it wears off during the night. 

❌ Sugar. Eating sweets and refined carbohydrates causes blood sugar fluctuations that disrupt sleep.

❌ Late-day caffeine. It can take up to 10 hours for caffeine to completely clear from your system, so pay attention to when you drink that last sip of coffee.

❌Sitting around. Movement and exercise are key to healthy hormones, a regulated internal clock, and quality sleep. 

❌ Nighttime Screens. The blue light that emits from your phone, tablet, or TV  interferes with your natural production of melatonin, the hormone needed for sleep.

Before you grab a pill (even something natural), take a look at these habits and see if you notice better sleep when you stop them. 

If you found this helpful, leave me your favorite emoji in the comments!

Sleeping Less than 5 Hours Per Night? Read This.

💤 Sleeping 5 hours or less per night? 

New research on the health of 70,000 men and women in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, showed a link between 5 hours or less per night and disease risk. 

Compared with those who slept 7 hours per night, those who slept only 5:

⬆️ were 20% more likely to be diagnosed with a chronic disease at age 50

⬆️ were 40% more likely to be diagnosed with 2 or more chronic diseases over 25 years

⬆️ had a 25% increased risk of death over 25 years

The study was published in PLOS Medicine. It relates to the series we’re doing this month on circadian rhythms and is a good reminder of how important it is to get a good night’s sleep!

If you need help with sleep, please book an appointment so we can help!

Reference

Séverine Sabia, Aline Dugravot, Damien Léger, et al. Association of sleep duration at age 50, 60, and 70 years with risk of multimorbidity in the UK: 25-year follow-up of the Whitehall II cohort study. PLOS Medicine, 2022; 19 (10): e1004109. [link]