How can you track and measure your sleep quality and nutrition habits?

Brain is a junction for many signaling mechanism in the body. It requires various nutrients in small doses regularly. Deficiency of micronutrients can have serious impact on the overall functioning of brain. Similarly, adequate sleep ensures the repair process efficiently. Poor nutrition coupled with inadequate sleep are attributed to declined cognitive skills and reduced focus and productivity.

Taking care of your brain through adequate sleep and a nutritious diet not only enhances cognitive function but also contributes to improved mood, increased productivity, and overall well-being. Prioritizing these habits can lead to long-term brain health and optimized mental performance.

Sleep and nutrition are directly linked. Sleep is known to affect our concentration, decision-making and our mood - all of which can change our decision on what food choices to make. Other chemicals in the brain that guide our food choices may also be affected depending on how much sleep we have. How well you sleep is known as your sleep hygiene and it affects both your physical and your mental health. Good sleep hygiene is all about putting yourself in the best position to sleep well each and every night.

Adequate Sleep and nutritious food are absolutely necessary for optional functioning of the brain and mental health. Nutritious food that is rich in both macro and micro nutrients not only fuels the brain and body but also helps in improving cognitive functions, overall productivity and mental health. While adequate sleep ensures proper repairs, manage stress and overall focus. Thus making both essential for brain health

I applaud everyone who is so into technology that they are turning over their sleep and nutrition to tracking devices. I am a strong believer in feelings: HOW DO YOU FEEL? I am also a very conscious sleeper, and I keep track of how many hours of sleep allow me to wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Part of this came from years with a Holistic practitioner who taught me how to read my body and what my body needs. He also taught me that you can get so caught up in the numbers that you lose the feelings!

By tracking your sleep quality, whether through wearable devices or a sleep diary, you can gain insights into your sleep patterns and make informed adjustments to optimize your sleep hygiene, leading to better brain health and cognitive functioning. Consistent monitoring allows you to identify trends, make necessary lifestyle changes, and ultimately improve your overall well-being

There are so many fancy wearables now, but there are such mixed reviews about them. I tried a couple, but wasn't too impressed. For example, Oura is the fancy ring that all the celebs wear. I've decided not to pay £500+ for that to try it. I have, however, downloaded a free app called Sleep Cycle that basically syncs with my iPhone automatically and gives me all the data of my sleeping patterns. It also has a clever alarm that wakes me up gently, when I'm sleeping the lightest. That way, I'm not mid-deep sleep when I'm woken and so I'm less groggy :)

Some of the easiest ways to track and monitor sleep quality are- •Sleep tracking journals: All you need is a simple notebook/excel sheet wherein you can manually track various components of sleep like the number of hours you slept, the quality, dreams,how many times you woke up, etc. On the other hand these days you do get fancy sleep tracking journals and apps which makes this tracking not just easy but fun too. •Second way is through using wearable sleep monitoring devices that monitor sleep but measuring heart rate, hours, quality as you sleep. Both of these techniques though not very accurate can be a great way to monitor sleep •Lastly, there are Sleep studies which are conducted under supervision.

The easiest way to track your sleep quality is to check , how do you feel once you wake up in the morning . 2nd thing , is your night sleep get interrupted more than once . 3rd do you feel sleepy or easy fatigue in daytime . 4th are you able to maintain consistent sleep wake schedule in both week days and weekends . Check your answers and you can catch a rough idea ,if your sleep quality and quantity both are near normal and doesn't need any screening by your sleep doctor. Dr. Ritu Daga , connect if your answers are not in acceptable range

How do you feel? Pay attention. Feelings embraced can help you 1. Connect with you so that you learn to embrace you! Allow yourself to find what affects you negatively in sleep. You are the best to tell what is happening with your body. 2. Discover your inner peace about how you feel; you become aware of what is normal for you. 3. No matter how you feel, you can move on knowing no matter what happens, you will become empowered with your body and sleep. Trusting yourself opens you up to what is possible with you. 4. Use your intuition to make decisions for you from your heart, your spirit, from your soul. You know what is right for you. 5. You can visualize your own healing, a journey to finding sleep that works for you.

I am a big fan of wearing a device to analyze your sleep. I do believe that we can learn a lot from the data it collects. Yes, how you feel is important, and I would not dismiss that at all, however, a wearable device gives insight to the best times for your personal circadian rhythm. It finds the proper time for you to go to sleep and wake up so that you are resting and waking at optimal times for you. I like to see the effect of things like blue light or alcohol or even if I ate my dinner late, how that might affect my deep sleep, which I value at this stage in my life for my overall well-being.

By utilizing a food diary or a nutrition app, you can gain valuable insights into your eating habits, identify any nutritional gaps or imbalances, and make informed choices to optimize your brain health. Monitoring your nutrition habits empowers you to make adjustments, ensuring you provide your brain with the necessary nutrients it needs to function optimally and support cognitive performance.

I have been using the free Cara Care app to track nutrition and digestive health for about 18 months now. It's a fairly robust app, giving the ability to track food and water intake, multiple aspects of digestive functions (I'll spare you the details on that), as well as supplement/medicine usage, exercise, sleep, and more. You can add favorite foods to streamline the food intake as well. I wish it would sync with my Fitbit to track sleep and exercise more seamlessly, but that's my only complaint.

I used MyFitness Pal and it's FREE :) It tracks all my calories, protein count etc. and it keeps me accountable. I set my own goals and I can see what I'm allowed/not allowed to have. It also syncs my exercise, so if I do a workout, I get to eat more :) Also, I can share my data with a personal trainer who can track it for me and make sure my diet is nicely balanced and I'm doing all the relevant training to hit my weight/fitness goals.

Some of the easiest ways to track your nutrition include- 1. Using food Dairies: These are simple books/excel sheets wherein you note your everyday food intake. 2. Food journals: These include ready to use journals to just keep track of your food intake, timing, quantities etc 3. Nutrition/food apps: Easy to use apps on the phone to track your food intake. Some of these even calculate your calories, macros and micronutrients.. Having said that, it is super important you work under the guidance of a qualified Dietitian to understand your health requirements, how to monitor them and also utilize the monitored data to further optimize your health.

I am an advocate of Food Over Medicine and learning what is good and what is bad not only for everyone but for yourself especially. You can know all of the minutiae but still not understand how any food makes you feel. Once again, I believe in learning what your body is telling you! Dr. Rashid Buttar of Advance Medicine provides an AHEAD MAP and supporting program to allow you to learn your feelings through questions of many bodily functions and how all bodily systems can interact with each other. It is self monitored and you can see for yourself what is happening throughout your total body. BUT, and I do believe this, the AHEAD MAP paired with how you are feeling is a better indicator for you to know how YOU are feeling.

By prioritizing quality sleep and nourishing your brain with a balanced diet, you can create a solid foundation for optimal brain health and cognitive function. Consistency, experimentation, and personalization are key in finding the sleep and nutrition strategies that work best for you, ensuring long-term brain health and overall well-being.

Couple of ways to optimize nutrition & sleep for.brain health include- 1. Aim for regular sound sleep of 7-8hrs. 2. Avoid screen time at bed time. 3. Have a properly planned nutrition schedule throughout the day. 4. Avoid skipping meals, drinking too much tea coffee or caffeinated drinks through the day and mostly around night time

The best way to see and track your overall health picture is through your waking HRV. HRV is a measure of the variation in time between each heartbeat. This variation is controlled by a primitive part of your nervous system called the autonomic nervous system (ANS). It works behind the scenes, automatically regulating our heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion among other key tasks. I use the app HeartWatch for iPhone but I'm sure other apps have it. I use my waking HRV to determine if I need more rest and if I need to practice more recovery before putting my body under more stress. This helps me prevent injuries as I am very active physically.

You need to listen to your body, as it certainly knows best. When you feel exhausted and you've been in bed for 8 hours, check your tracker. Then check your food diary, as there are probably things that are causing you to have a bad sleep. Check which days you have amazing sleeps and you wake up feeling super refreshed. Do what you can to replicate these days and make notes about which foods agree with you and which ones don't. Remember, everyone is different!

Absolutely Your daily healthy eating pattern will undoubtedly lead to good sleeping habits. The majority of calories ingested in the first half of the day offer your body enough time to utilize them properly.

Avoiding high inflammation foods that stress the body and brain, along with consuming sleep promoting and brain nurturing ingredients. Omega-3 is excellent for the brain and can aid in promoting sleep. Eat blanced meals, and adequately hydrate through out the day. Have last meal atleasr 4hours before bedtime, avoid heavy and spicy meals that take prevent the body from focusing on the sleep cycle. It's worth noting that sleep deprivation can lead to poor dietary decisions, with individuals consuming at least 500 excess calories from refined sugars. This occurs as sleep deprivation affects decision-making abilities and skews emotional responses. My book "Sleep Tight" expands on this in the nutrion and sleep chapter.

Start by getting to the roots of your issues and disturbances. How to do that: JOURNAL. It might sound weird or unproductive or straight up not helpful, but hear me out. The more you can sit with your own thoughts and put down on paper what those thoughts are and how you feel about them, the quicker you will start to be in tune with your body and mind. By getting in tune, you're getting to know yourself. You'll learn new perspectives about yourself and you'll learn how to talk to your inner voice. This inner you will then have a clear path to telling you what hurts and what is needed. It will give you an inner sense of peace & balance with the external world. That is step one. From there, sleep will come & eating habits will shift.

Three ways to monitor brain health and performance from home: - keep a productivity journal. Write down all the tasks you completed that day along with how you felt. Ex. Lazy, foggy, crisp, zoned out, focused, energized, inspired, etc. - play memory games on your phone or grab a book of puzzles (cross words, sudoku, etc) and assess how efficiently you can complete them. - practice speaking and relaying information. You can do this by recording voice notes or talking to a friend. Assess how easy, natural, difficult, or slow it is to get your points across and “teach” a lesson.