Do you always wake up sleepy and lethargic? Well, maybe you’re lucky.
Scientists believe they have created the perfect formula to make you feel fresh every morning.
And the three-step process, developed by some of the world’s leading sleep researchers, doesn’t sell coffee as a panacea.
But it does include “strenuous” exercise and avoiding sugar at breakfast.
Researchers at the University of Berkeley found that what you eat for breakfast, how you sleep and how you exercise are the top three factors in waking up rested.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, said the other part of the “recipe” centers around sleep and breakfast.
Seven to nine hours is ideal for not feeling dizzy the next day, but even a little more can help, the team claimed.
According to author Professor Matthew Walker, sleeping late also helps to counteract feelings of tiredness.
Breakfast should be packed with carbohydrates like oatmeal and bran cereal, as opposed to sugary pastries or store-bought smoothies, the data says.
A “strong” movement the previous day also counteracted the sleepiness.
The formula, published in the journal Nature Communications, was based on an analysis of hundreds of people.
They were given several breakfast meals, wore watches to track their activity and amount of sleep, quality, time and frequency, and kept food diaries for two weeks.
Raphael Vallat, a UC Berkeley postdoctoral researcher and first author of the study, said sleeping longer or later is one of the factors that can increase your alertness
Participants also recorded their levels of alertness from the time they woke up and for the rest of the day.
All the ready meals were muffin-based and packed with a variety of nutrients.
Some just had a muffin, others were with chocolate milk, a protein shake or fiber bars. A dose of glucose was given to some participants.
This was to test the breakdown of a breakfast high in sugar, protein and carbohydrates.
A high-carb, low-sugar breakfast has been found to be the best meal for morning fatigue. A breakfast full of sugar had the worst effect.
A high-carb, low-sugar, moderate-protein breakfast, such as oatmeal with nut butter and bananas, has been found to be the best type of breakfast to combat sleepiness
Participants were asked to fast eight hours before eating and three to four hours after.
They also carried a blood glucose meter.
Dr. Raphael Vallat, study co-author and postdoctoral researcher, said: “A high-carbohydrate breakfast can increase alertness as long as your body is healthy and able to efficiently clear the glucose from that meal, leading to a sustained rise in blood sugar will be prevented, otherwise it disturbs the alertness of your brain.’
The team said a sugary breakfast can spike your blood sugar, clearly blunting your brain’s ability to wake up after sleep.
More sleep, especially good quality sleep, has also been found to contribute to alertness.
Professor Walker said that between seven and nine hours of sleep – the amount already recommended by UK and US health chiefs – is ideal for ridding the body of “sleep inertia” – reduced cognitive and sensorimotor performance on waking .
Sleeping longer or longer than usual, or a combination of both, was found to be essential for study participants to increase their morning alertness (File Image)
- READ: How listening to pink noise can help you fall asleep
- READ: Sleep disorders? Try to get some exercise: Exercise can help prevent tossing and turning at night, scientists say
Getting enough sleep can help eliminate a chemical called adenosine, which builds up in your body throughout the day and makes us feel tired.
Professor Walker said: “Given that the majority of people in society don’t get enough sleep during the week, getting more sleep on any given day could help offset some of the adenosine fatigue debt they carry around.
“Plus, sleeping later can help with alertness for a second reason.”
“If you wake up later, you’re at a higher point on the uptrend in your 24-hour circadian rhythm, which increases throughout the morning and increases alertness.”
The team said it was unclear why exercise helped alertness the next day.
But Dr Vallat noted that it might just make you tired and is a known mood enhancer.
He said: “It is well known that exercise in general improves your alertness and also your mood.
“And in this study, we found a high correlation between the mood of the participants and their attention.
“Participants who are happier on average also feel more alert.”
Dr. Vallat added, “It may be that the better sleep brought about by exercise is part of the reason that exercising the day before, by helping you fall asleep that night, leads to better alertness the next day. ”
Professor Walker said: “Many of us think that morning sleepiness is a harmless nuisance.
However, it costs developed countries billions of dollars each year in lost productivity, increased healthcare utilization and absenteeism.
More importantly though, it costs lives – it kills.
“From car accidents to workplace accidents, the price of sleepiness is deadly.”
He added: “As scientists, we need to understand how we can help society wake up better and how we can reduce the deadly costs of society’s current struggle to effectively wake up every day.”
Researchers in the UK and Sweden were also involved in the study, which included identical and fraternal twins, to see the role genetics play in dizziness.
Only 25 percent of the differences in next-day wakefulness between the twins involved in the study were attributed to genetics.
Professor Walker said: “We know there are people who are always bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when they first wake up.
“But when you’re not like that, you tend to think, ‘Well, I guess it’s just my genetic destiny that I’m a slow-awake boy.’ which can interfere with sleep.
“But our new findings offer a different and more optimistic message.
How you wake up each day is largely up to you, based on how you structure your life and sleep.
“You don’t have to feel resigned to fate to throw up your hands in disappointment because ‘these are my genes and I can’t change my genes.
“There are some very basic and achievable things you can do today and tonight to change the way you wake up every morning, feel awake and free from that dizziness.”
Source link
Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
