Page 13 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

Six tips for better sleep
HYPE, Continued from page 5

“Patrons walking the track will
soon be able to enjoy a sprawling
view which overlooks the new and Honestly, tell the truth: Is the and vitamin D content. And while
improved fitness area,” Sayed says. quality of your sleep satisfactory? turkey put tryptophan—the amino
But, one thing that won’t change, acid needed to produce sleep hor-
Sayed says, is HYPE’s family-friendly If you’re like most Americans, the mones—on the map, milk, yogurt,
environment. “We are different than answer is no. eggs, nuts, and seeds also contain
Planet Fitness, Edge, and Lifetime. According to the National Center tryptophan. And here’s a relatively
We offer more than just fitness.” for Biotechnology Information, forty unknown contender: Research also
More than just fitness also means percent of people aged 40 to 59 re- gives a nod to tart cherry juice for its
stepping up in a time of crisis. ported that they are getting less than inflammatory cytokines and mela-
Sayed often uses the word agile— recommended amounts of sleep. tonin—ingredients that help with
the ability to think quickly—to char- SleepAdvisor.org reports that 50 to 2. Don’t eat the wrong foods both sleep time and sleep efficiency.
acterize HYPE’s approach to solving 70 million people in the US suffer What we eat and drink prior to
challenges as an organization, and a from one or several sleep disorders. bedtime can greatly affect our sleep. 4. Tune out and unplug
prime example of this was the action And lack of sleep costs the United Of course, we already know to nix Try to disconnect from the out-
HYPE took despite their closure dur- States over $411 billion annually, ac- the caffeine. But do you also know to side world. A lot of us are guilty of re-
ing the shutdown in 2020. cording to Fortune Magazine. say no to alcohol, too? While an alco- lying on electronics to wind
“We said, okay, people are home, So, clearly, many of us are al- holic drink in the evenings may help down—like turning on the TV or
they don’t have access to food, they ready coming up short in the sleep you fall asleep, studies have shown tablet, or by scrolling through social
don’t have access to various things,” department. that it can prevent us from entering media on our phone while in bed,
explains Sayed. “So, we had food And then along comes an addi- the deep stages of sleep that are vital but this can actually have the oppo-
drives [at HYPE in Wayne] every Sat- tional roadblock—like the ending of to restoring our mind and body. And site effect. Turn off devices: the light
urday, which fed over 10,000 fami- Daylight Savings Time—to really then there’s this: High-fat and high- they emit can activate our brain and
lies. We distributed semi-trucks-full screw things up. That’s right, folks: protein foods (steak), as well as cause our body to think it’s time to
of fresh produce, milk, and even On Sunday, November 7, 2021, at 2 those containing high amounts of wake up instead of sleep.
masks.” a.m. clocks are turned backward fiber (broccoli or cauliflower),
HYPE also converted their sites’ one hour. shouldn’t be eaten too close to bed- 5. Get regular exercise
parking lots into drive-thru COVID On one hand, “falling back” early time because these kinds of foods Regular exercise, especially when
testing sites. next month sounds amazing (Yay for take longer for our bodies to digest, done earlier in the day, can help us
“We did these things because and gaining an extra hour!). But this which can cause discomfort while we fall asleep faster and increase the
we’re a service-based organization, change can affect our circadian sleep. amount of time we spend in the deep,
and we have to figure out ways to rhythm and potentially further dis- It’s best to eat dinner earlier in restorative stages of sleep. The key
continue to serve those in need,” rupt sleep patterns. the evening, and if we’re still hungry, is, though, to complete any moderate
says Sayed. “And that’s what we do.” The good news, however, is that have a light snack before bedtime. to vigorous exercise more than three
At its core, HYPE’s focus—as well even small, subtle changes to our Furthermore, spicy foods have to four hours before bed. If done too
as Sayed’s—really hasn’t changed nighttime routine can help us been known to increase our metabo- late in the evening, exercising can
throughout the years. achieve the deep, restful sleep our lism and body temperature, making make falling asleep even more diffi-
Sure, Sayed is no longer a single bodies deserve. it harder to sleep. Some people even cult.
19-year-old—he’s now a husband Here are six tips that can lead to report that spicy foods seem to
and father of four girls. And HYPE— waking up feeling refreshed: cause vivid or weird dreams or night- 6. Don’t stay up too late
with its multiple facilities, array of 1. Establish a routine–and stick to mares that disrupt their sleep. It may be tempting to squeeze in
programs, and unquantifiable it one more hour-long episode of your
reach—has come a long way since its We’re creatures of habit, so if we 3. Do eat the right ones favorite show on the night Daylight
first three-on-three basketball tour- create a routine for ourselves, we Many of us know from experience Savings Time ends, but don’t do it.
nament twenty years ago. will reset our internal clock to expect that few meals make us as sleepy as According to Dr. Ilene Rosen who
But the purpose of both the or- sleep after a certain time each night. a warm Thanksgiving dinner. But serves on the board of the American
ganization and the man—the heart— One way of achieving this is by going other foods can contribute to good Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM),
remains the same. to sleep and waking up at the same sleep, too. Bananas, for example, “One of the biggest mistakes that peo-
Sayed still cites Popeye the Sailor time each day. Another way is to find contain serotonin, a hormone that ple make is staying up later and
Man as his favorite cartoon. And one calming activity that works for helps set us up for sleep. Berries and thinking that they’re going to get an
those classmates from Bryant Mid- you and make that your pre-bed rit- almonds are ripe with melatonin, extra hour of sleep.” That internal
dle School Sayed competed with? ual (i.e., dim the lights, read—even if which is known as the sleep hor- clock of yours is likely to wake you
“Those guys are like my broth- it’s just a page or two, or listen to mone. Fatty fish like salmon may up early that Sunday so don’t count
ers,” Sayed says with a chuckle. soft music). help us sleep due to its omega 3s on an extra hour.
“We’re still super-cool with each
other.” Although things change, in
this case, much hasn’t.
“To me, strengthening the infra-
structure means strengthening the
family, then the block, the neighbor-
hood, then the school, the recreation
center, the city, and so on,” says
Sayed. “It’s all connected.”
The Wayne Dispatch · October 2021 · 13