😴 Don’t sit for hours after dinner. Move your body for better sleep

Intense exercise before bed has long been discouraged because it makes it harder to fall asleep when the heart rate is still elevated.

However, most people sit for hours before bed without doing any exercise.

Surely there must be a middle ground!?

A new study found that light activity before bed can lead to better sleep.

Sitting coupled with 2-3 minutes of exercise every 30 minutes led to 30 more minute of sleep, when compared to prolonged sitting before bed.

Light exercise helped reduce the amount of sugar and fat in the blood stream after a large meal, putting less strain on the cardiovascular system.

The exercises were simple body weight movements that could be done while watching TV: chair squats, calf raises, and standing knee raises with straight leg.

These are great results!

However, you could probably get a similar result if you walked around your house, marched on the spot, or even danced in your living room.

The most important thing is that you get out of your chair regularly and move your body.

🥊 Punchline

Breaking up sitting for long periods of time after dinner with any form of movement can benefit your overall health, and help you sleep better and longer.

🥴 Can sleep be the often overlooked formula for better gut health?

We all know that sleep is important.

If you had just one night of poor sleep or slept 1 hour less, you would know how it feels.

But can poor sleep effect our gut health?

New research has found that irregular sleep patterns are associated with harmful bacteria in your gut.

The social jet lag - the shift in your internal body clock when your sleeping patterns change between workdays and free days - was linked to poorer diet quality and habits, which in turn affected gut health.

A 90-minute difference in the timing of the midpoint of sleep - the halfway point between sleep time and wake-up time - was associated with differences in the gut microbiome composition.

The poorer dietary choices consisted in higher intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages and lower intakes of fruits and nuts. Basically, more sugar and less whole foods.

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Sleep is a key pillar of health. Maintaining regular sleep patterns (when we go to bed and when we wake up) is an easy behavioural change within our control, that may influence your gut and overall health for the better.

🌾 Not all grains are equal: Why barley is better than wheat

The Western diet is dominated by staple starchy foods, like rice, wheat and potatoes.

All these are rich in carbohydrates, but stripped of most other nutrients (mainly fibre) during food processing.

Naturally occurring fibre, especially fermentable fibres, as very important because they slow down stomach emptying and the absorption of nutrients, preventing high blood sugar levels.

This is evident when comparing barley (naturally rich in fibres) with processed wheat or other grains.

Whole foods like barley have been shown to reduce blood sugar levels, appetite and risk of cardiovascular disease because of their fibres, despite their high carbohydrate content.

The fibre from whole foods reach the gut, stimulating the increase of good bacteria and the release of important hormones involved in appetite regulation and insulin sensitivity.

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The benefits of whole foods go beyond the macronutrient content. Swapping the staple processed grains with whole grains rich in fibre, like barley, will help with satiety, gut health and better regulation of blood sugar levels.