Mindset

Did you know your sleep quality can be the difference between good results and great results? Poor sleep seems to be very common these days, particularly in women. If the ONLY thing I worked on with a client was improving their sleep, the results they would see from almost any approach they were taking to eating and exercise would increase hugely. The importance of sleep is often very underestimated in terms of its importance for not just getting in shape and losing body fat, but also for keeping your health in good check. With this in mind, here are some pointers for improving your sleep quality. Clearly, the more difficulty you're having with your sleep, the more closely you'll want to follow these points. Many people don't realise that what they do first thing in the morning affects their sleep quality that night. A good nights sleep tonight starts the moment you wake up this morning! Get outside within an hour of waking up. Whatever the weather, get outside and get some daylight into your eyes. You could go for a walk, or just drink a cup of tea outside - this isn't about exercise, its about reminding your body to produce the wake-up hormone serotonin. If you're really struggling with going to sleep at night, a short blast of intense exercise first thing in the morning could be a good idea. It will remind your body that it should have a blast of stress hormones first thing. Eat. I wrote a while ago about how I have changed my daily eating schedule from eating no earlier than 12pm and no later than 9pm in favour of eating around 7.30am and finishing eating by 5pm. Certainly finishing eating earlier has had a big impact on my sleep quality, as my…

How wonderful would it be to always have the get up and go needed to get things done, and not to have to wait for the right moment to strike. Improved clarity and focus is the difference between easily achieving what you want during the day, and either battling through trying to force yourself to get things done, or finding your to-do list growing ever longer by the day. So here are my top tips for improving your mental power. The first, obvious and expected, tip is to improve your diet. Cut the junk, don't over or under eat, and you'll see an almost immediate improvement in your focus. Go a stage further at watch your carbohydrate intake at breakfast and dinner to avoid energy crashes mid afternoon. Have you heard the gut being referred to as the second brain? Keep your gut happy and you will find your brain works better. The next tip is to drink enough water. Our brains are about 3/4 water - if you're dehydrated, it shouldn't be a surprise that you can't think clearly. Don't rely completely on thirst signals to tell you if you need a drink; be sure to have a glass of water with each meal, and more if you feel thirsty. If all you're drinking is tea or coffee, make a change. Use caffeine strategically. Rather than enjoying a cup of coffee 'just because' why not spend 20 minutes having a cuppa, then get on with your task when the caffeine strikes. If caffeine doesn't give you a hit any more, you need a week off! It only take 5-7 days for the receptors in your brain to be re-sensitised. I find one week caffeine free after four weeks of caffeine the right balance - I get the benefit of…