The Stress Solution Read online

  In the evening, however, we don’t want energizing blue light. Instead, we want to mimic the conditions that our brains evolved in. Candlelight is perfect for re-creating the campfires we would have gathered around and red light is the wavelength that has the least impact on our circadian rhythms. You can buy red light bulbs to use in the home as nightlights or, if you can stretch to it, you could try an electronic solution like Philips Hue, whereby the light automatically changes colour during the day, giving out warm oranges and reds as you dip into the evening. Blue-light-blocking glasses are pretty affordable and wearing them in the evening can be game-changing for many (not least my wife, who puts them on at 8 p.m. and begins to feel drowsy within twenty minutes). My own personal favourites are Blueblox and True Dark. I have even bought some for my kids.

  EAT IN RHYTHM

  The circadian might be the most famous, but it’s by no means the only rhythm our body moves to. Digestion also runs on a daily rhythm. Our bodies are optimized to process food during daylight hours but, again, the reality of modern industrial life means we’re living out of sync. In my surgery, I see some of the worst effects of this nutritional de-rhythming in shift workers, a group that has higher than average insulin resistance and more problems with diabetes and cancer. If we want to replicate how our ancestors ate, we should eat the bulk of our food earlier in the day and avoid heavy meals after dark. The old phrase that you should eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper has a huge amount of wisdom packed into it.

  But I get it – life is complicated: many of us have to work unsocial hours and I realize that changing your eating habits may not be possible. Another solution for getting your eating habits back into rhythm might be to restrict the hours in which you eat. There’s recently been some incredible early research on mice done at the Salk Institute in San Diego which has indicated that time-restricted feeding may come with a whole raft of benefits. In the tests, obese mice given a fast-food diet and allowed to eat whenever they wanted seven days a week became morbidly obese. When these obese mice were given the same junk-food diet but were restricted to an eleven-hour eating window, they remained obese – but they became fit. Next, the researcher gave lean mice junk food and let them eat whenever they wanted. Unsurprisingly, they became obese. But intriguingly, when lean mice were given the same fast-food diet but were restricted to eating it in an eleven-hour window they stayed lean and became fit. It was the same diet. It was the same terrible food. The only difference was the mice ate it within a regular, limited window. Finally, the researchers wondered what would happen if they gave lean mice a fast-food diet in a time-restricted manner on weekdays, allowing them to eat as they wished at the weekends, a pattern that is more applicable to the way many of us live today. Even then, the mice stayed lean and fit.

  TIME-RESTRICTED EATING

  I recommend that all of us try to eat our food within a twelve-hour window each day. Of course, you can shorten this eating window if you wish, but for most of us twelve hours is sufficient to reap most of the benefits. Remember, you will, hopefully, be sleeping for about eight of the twelve hours with no food. I regard time-restricted eating to be one of the most important things anyone can do for their health.

  Outside your eating window, stick to water, herbal tea or black tea or coffee. This strategy can also work well for shift workers (see here).

  Research like this is turning our thinking about nutrition on its head. Of course, most of the work so far has been done on mice, and animal results don’t necessarily extrapolate to humans. Sadly, the scientists involved have struggled for years to secure funding for human trials, in large part because there is no profit to be made from the outcome. Thankfully, that problem has been partially resolved and early human trials are underway. Early reports are looking very encouraging indeed. In addition, Dr Satchidananda Panda’s lab is getting real-world results from people all over the world who are eating this way by tracking their progress on his app, My Circadian Clock.fn2

  I find these mice studies fascinating, but they simply echo what I’ve been seeing in my own practice for years. When my patients time-restrict their food intake, I have noticed it help with weight loss, blood-sugar control and general stress levels, as well as digestive disturbances like indigestion and heartburn. I mentioned this concept in my previous book, The 4 Pillar Plan, and have been overwhelmed by how many people have contacted me to report similar improvements.

  The timing of food intake is also one of the biggest contributors to a healthy HRV reading (see here). Interestingly, many of my friends and patients who religiously monitor their HRV tell me that eating your evening meal early results in a much better reading the following morning. Eating late is a stressor on your body. Even if you don’t change what you eat, simply shifting your evening meal back to an earlier time will help move you out of stress state and launch you into thrive state.

  HOW LATE SHOULD YOU EAT YOUR EVENING MEAL?

  Evidence is growing that an earlier dinner time is better for multiple different health parameters such as weight, blood-sugar balance and stress levels. I recommend that you try to finish eating at least three hours before going to bed. For example, if ten o’clock is your bedtime, you want to finish your evening meal by seven. You may find this tricky at first if you are not used to it, but stick with it. Within one or two weeks of starting you will find that your body gets used to this change. Patients often report back to me that their heartburn, indigestion and sleep quality improve as well.

  If you have to work late, consider taking some food with you or eating dinner in an early evening break.

  AVOID LIQUID STRESS

  It’s long been part of our culture in the West that, when we’re stressed, we crack open a beer or have a glass of wine. Because alcohol is a sedative, we’ve allowed ourselves to believe it helps us sleep. Sure, it knocks you out – you’ve got your eyes closed and you’re unresponsive. But the problem with using alcohol in this way is that it disrupts our sleep, increasing fragmentation, which means we wake up more during the night. Alcohol also blocks out vital and restorative REM sleep. We’re having sleep that’s not repairing the damage of the stressors of the day. We tend to use alcohol more when we’re stressed and, unfortunately, it just ends up causing us more stress.

  If you don’t sleep as well as you would like, try reducing (or even eliminating) your intake of alcohol for one to two weeks and see what difference it makes. For many, it can be life-changing.

  If alcohol is one form of liquid stress, caffeine is another. It might surprise you to learn that, for some of us, a quarter of the cup of coffee you enjoyed at lunchtime is still likely to be in your body come midnight. Everyone knows that it’s unwise to have a coffee just before you climb into bed, but that lunchtime coffee is little different from gulping a quarter of an Americano and then turning the light off to get some sleep. Some people can seemingly fall asleep straight after an evening espresso, yet research suggests that, by doing so, they won’t enjoy the same quality of restorative sleep. For many, caffeine is a deceptive and hidden source of stress.

  Excess caffeine can also cause you to wake up early, possibly with a mild headache. I call this a ‘caffeine hangover’. The caffeine in your body has worn off and you are craving more. I fully sympathize with my patients who have this, because I used to get this too.

  If you have sleep issues or problems with anxiety, I strongly recommend trying one whole week without any caffeine at all, or at least limiting your intake to the morning. Caffeine is a powerful stimulant. Use it with caution. For many, caffeine is an MSD that nudges you, sip by tasty sip, into stress state.

  (Note: if you suddenly reduce your caffeine intake, you may suffer from withdrawal symptoms such as headaches and mood swings. It may be better to reduce it gradually.)

  THE FOUR PHASES OF SLEEP

  There are two major types of sleep: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid-eye movement (REM), otherwise known as ‘dream sleep’.
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  NREM STAGE 1: You enter this first stage of sleep soon after drifting off. This phase typically lasts up to ten minutes, during which you’re easily wakeable. Your breathing will slow down and your heartbeat will become regular. If you wake up from this phase, you may feel as though you never went to sleep at all.

  NREM STAGE 2: You spend most of your sleeping time in NREM2. During NREM2 the brain makes room for new memories. By completing NREM stage 2 your ability to learn new things is improved.

  SLOW-WAVE SLEEP (SWS): This is the umbrella term for NREM stages 3 and 4. It’s a particularly deep phase of sleep during which you effectively lose consciousness and are least likely to be woken by noise. During slow-wave sleep, the brain stores memories.

  REM: REM sleep helps you to unlearn and process trauma. Although it is a deep level of sleep, certain areas in the brain are even more active during REM than when you’re awake. If you drink alcohol before going to sleep, this is the phase that will be most impacted.

  THE SIX WHYS OF SLEEP

  1. WHY DO WE SLEEP? Although many of the reasons we sleep remain mysterious, we know that sleep is critical for clearing out the accumulation of waste that occurs during the day. Think of it like a bin man coming round every night to remove your wheelie bin full of physical and emotional rubbish.

  2. WHY DO WE DREAM? Most dreaming occurs during REM, a phase in which certain parts of the brain are highly active. There are many theories as to the purpose of dreams, but the whole truth still evades us. We do know, though, that dreaming improves our ability to be creative and solve problems.

  3. WHY DO WE FEEL SNAPPY WHEN WE’RE TIRED? When we haven’t slept, the emotional brain goes into overdrive. The amygdala – the alarm system responsible for triggering emotions such as fear, sadness, anger or rage – becomes significantly more sensitive.

  4. WHY DO WE STRUGGLE TO CONCENTRATE WHEN WE’RE TIRED? The prefrontal cortex is the rational brain’s CEO. It calls the shots, making all the sensible decisions. You can think of your amygdala and your prefrontal cortex as being in a tug of war. When you haven’t slept well, the amygdala is much more reactive and stronger, which means the prefrontal cortex becomes diminished.

  5. WHY DOES LACK OF SLEEP MAKE US PUT ON WEIGHT? Sleep deprivation is linked with obesity for many reasons. Firstly, it encourages you to overeat by changing the levels of two hormones that are critical to maintaining weight. Leptin is known as the satiety hormone, high levels of which signal that you’re full. Ghrelin is the hunger hormone, high levels of which signify that you’re hungry. Sleep deprivation increases ghrelin, so you feel hungry, and decreases leptin, so you never feel full. This is hardly the best combination!

  6. WHY IS IT HARD TO SLEEP IN HOTEL ROOMS? Many of us know that feeling – we stay in a hotel room and our sleep is restless and broken. Why is this? On an evolutionary level, it’s because a new place to sleep in might contain a threat and we don’t know for sure if it will be safe. Our clever brains therefore resist going into slow-wave sleep, a form of sleep that’s critical for replenishment and restoration and our metabolism. It’s thought that this is the brain’s way of keeping us in lighter sleep so that we can be on the lookout for threats.

  TREAT YOURSELF TO SLEEP

  If you’ve had a bad day, rather than sitting on the sofa eating pizza, washing it down with a half bottle of wine and staying up late into the evening on social media, I’d like you to gorge yourself on a generous portion of extra sleep. Light some candles. Read a magazine or a book (studies show that brain activity during sleep is better regulated after reading a book, compared to looking at a screen). Then, when you start feeling the long fingers of melatonin crawling seductively through your system, round it all off with a hot bath. This will lower your body temperature. When you get in, all your blood comes to the surface of your body so, when you step out, your core temperature starts to drop. This is a stimulus to sleep.

  Resetting your daily rhythm and getting a large dose of relaxing sleep is one of the most effective ways to take you out of stress state and launch you into thrive.

  THE PERFECT BODY-CLOCK ROUTINE

  Although it may be challenging to stick to this routine every single day, the more components you can manage, the more you’ll be living in harmony with your body clock and the fewer stress signals you’ll be sending to your body.

  • WAKE UP AT ROUGHLY THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY, EVEN AT WEEKENDS. If you had a late night, I’d urge you still to wake up at the same time but allow yourself a nap later on.

  • EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BRIGHT, NATURAL LIGHT EVERY MORNING. This will help you sleep at night by helping you set your circadian rhythm.

  • DON’T EAT BREAKFAST IF YOU DON’T WANT TO. Eat if you are hungry, don’t if you are not. However, if, by skipping breakfast, you end up ravenous in the evening and eating late at night, I urge you to change this pattern around. In this case, try eating something for breakfast, no matter how little, so that you can reset your clock and avoid late-night eating.

  • EXERCISE IN THE EARLIER PART OF THE DAY. If you do vigorous exercise within three hours of going to bed, it can push your body clock back and make it harder for you to fall asleep.

  • EAT DINNER AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE, IDEALLY BEFORE 7 P.M.

  • CHOOSE NON-CAFFEINATED BEVERAGES such as water or chamomile tea after dinner, if thirsty.

  • MINIMIZE YOUR EXPOSURE TO BLUE LIGHT IN THE EVENING. Turn off e-devices, such as laptops, smartphones and tablets, around ninety minutes before going to bed. If you must look at your devices, ensure you’re wearing blue-light-blocking glasses or have the appropriate filter on your device switched on.

  • IF YOU HAVE A PARTNER, TRY TO ENJOY AT LEAST THREE MINUTES OF INTIMACY BEFORE BED – this could be as simple as holding hands with your partner. (See here for more information on the benefits of touch.)

  • AVOID ANY ACTIVITY THAT WILL RAISE YOUR LEVEL OF EMOTIONAL EXCITEMENT OR ANGER, such as watching the news or a high-octane thriller, two hours before bed.

  • ONCE YOU’VE DIMMED THE LIGHTS, REFRAIN FROM EATING. Once it’s dark, the sleep hormone, melatonin, is released. In its presence we don’t digest food as efficiently.

  TIPS FOR NIGHT-SHIFT WORKERS

  1. Expose yourself to bright light in the evenings and during the night when working.

  2. Limit your light exposure in the morning after a shift and use blue-light-blocking glasses to prevent sending your body a signal that it’s daytime.

  3. Exercising before a night shift raises levels of cortisol and helps you feel alert.

  4. Eating higher-protein, lower-carbohydrate meals, such as a tuna salad, seems to maintain alertness at night. Try eating a meal like this before you start working.

  5. Avoid alcohol when you’ve finished your shift. It will disrupt any sleep that you have during the day.

  6. Try to sleep as soon as you get home in the morning. Don’t busy your mind with lists of tasks to do.

  7. Eat all of your food within a twelve-hour window. For example, if you work night shifts from eight in the evening until eight in the morning, you could eat at seven thirty before you start, eat during the night while working and stop eating by seven thirty in the morning. This should help set you up for a refreshing sleep in the day.

  The alarm buzzer blares. You turn over in bed and fumble towards the sound. You find your alarm clock on your bedside table and open your eyes a crack so you can see what you’re doing. The first thing you see is the bright light of your mobile phone. In an instant, you’ve gone from being in a deep, restful slumber to being in a state of stressed alertness. Does this sound familiar? If it doesn’t, you’re probably the exception rather than the norm.

  Twenty-first-century living is harming our minds. We’re filling our heads with stressful information, bombarding ourselves with noise and light. Infinite distractions vie for our attention. We think nothing of continually drowning our thoughts in news articles, status updates, health blogs, text messages, notifications or emails. This
information overload is playing havoc with our mental health.

  We all know that nourishing our bodies with the right food is important, but we don’t think in the same way about nourishing our minds. We need to give our mental health the same daily care we give our physical health. Just as bodies need fuel, minds need stillness, yet the thought of relaxing our minds is often seen as laziness. As I mentioned in The 4 Pillar Plan, my patients constantly thank me for giving them ‘permission to relax’. I wish they felt they could give themselves such permission. We need relaxation just as we need vitamins, fat and fibre.

  In this pillar, I’m going to walk you through some simple strategies to help avoid some of the biggest Micro Stress Doses (MSDs) that are being fired towards your mind. Because overuse of gadgets and the internet is now a global epidemic, much of this pillar is focused on technology. Technology is not inherently bad, but we all need strategies in place to prevent it overwhelming us. I am going to provide you with a roadmap so that you can get the best out of tech without it stealing the best out of you. I will also provide some of the simplest yet most mind-nourishing strategies of all: spending more time in nature and getting into the habit of a short but regular breathing practice.

  Chapter 10

  TECHNOLOGY OVERLOAD

  Who can remember the days when a phone was a device for making calls? It doesn’t seem too long ago that text messages were the hot new thing, then came the Snake game that addicted millions of Nokia users. We didn’t realize it at the time, but we crossed a boundary with that game. The purpose of this powerful piece of technology – the mobile phone – had started to blur. Today, phones are less of a voice-to-voice communication device and more of a beautifully engineered jack-in-the-box crammed with harmful MSDs. You pick it up, turn it on, and they fly at your head by the dozen. That slim rectangle of metal, silicon and glass has got to be responsible for more daily stress doses than anything else in your life. I’m not against the technology itself. It’s incredibly powerful and can do a lot of good. But with great power comes great responsibility, and I think the vast majority of us – and I include myself – are shirking it. In doing so, we’re primarily harming ourselves.