Dogs have the right idea about balance between enthusiastically embracing life, and recovery. Take them for a run along the beach and they will throw themselves at the task, tail wagging madly. But when they get home you can almost hear them thinking “golly, that was hard work – I think I’ll just take a nap”. Once rested, they’re back into the day with enthusiasm.  We could learn a lot from our canine friends about how to balance work and play more effectively.

Our modern, fast pace of living doesn’t easily support a good balance between work and play. Mobile phones and email make it possible to contact anyone, anywhere, anytime, and with that comes an expectation that you will be available at any time. It can be increasingly difficult to take enough time out to rest, recover and rejuvenate. This can make you feel like life really is all work and no play.

Your body is likely to send you signals when you’re over-working and under-playing:

-          Your sleep can be disrupted, with waking during the night, or difficulty getting to sleep. That’s because your adrenal glands are pumping out stress hormones when they should be calm.

-          Being so tired that you drag yourself out of bed in the morning, with little enthusiasm for the day.

-          Craving sweet food or caffeine for an energy ‘lift’ to get you through the day.

-          Catching every cold and bug that’s going around because your immunity is so low.

-          Feeling like everyone wants a piece of you, and you’re not being rewarded for your contribution to the world. Resentment is a big red flag that you’ve been overworking.

-          Being grumpy, irritable and impatient.

What can you do to bring balance back into your life when you’re feeling over-worked?

-          Make sure you have at least some time every day just for you. Some people find that daily meditation or yoga gives them the time out they crave. Others prefer a walk in nature, or listening to favourite music.

-          Be unavailable for some time every week. Switch off your phone. Ignore your emails.  Leave a message that you’re unavailable if you need to. Then take time out to do something that pleases only you: Like a walk on the beach; or a massage; or diving into a good book.  

You’ll return from your time out feeling a little more refreshed and ready to take on the world again.

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What could be worse – not being able to get to sleep, or not being able to stay asleep? I’m not sure, but a disrupted night’s sleep feels awful, dampening your enthusiasm for the day, and hampering your creativity. By the end of the day you can’t wait to crawl back under the covers; except that you know that, like most other nights, just being in the bed hasn’t help stop you staring at the ceiling, tossing and turning.

So what’s going on? Lets look at the major reasons why people can’t get a refreshing sleep.

Lack of exercise. Although you may feel tired, a fitness training session may be just what you need to burn off some stress. Counter-intuitive as it sounds, using up energy in exercise will actually give you energy. For people who have trouble sleeping, the best time of day for training may be afternoon. Why? Its all to do with cortisol.

Cortisol is a hormone produced by your adrenal glands that helps wake you up in the morning. Your body’s cortisol production should peak between 6-8am, then decline slowly through to the evening. As night falls and your cortisol levels drop further, then melatonin (the hormone that helps you fall asleep) is released by the pituitary gland in your brain. In the morning the reverse happens: melatonin secretion declines as cortisol helps wake you up. (Light helps wake you up too, but that’s another story - shift workers may enjoy this article)

People who are feeling stressed tend to have higher circulating levels of cortisol. They need to burn it off to get to sleep; and exercise will do just that.

People who are exhausted when they wake but get a burst of energy late at night (when they really should be asleep) ("tired but wired") can sometimes be suffering adrenal fatigue, where their cortisol production has become exhausted. This condition requires professional treatment. Read more about adrenal fatigue here

A wind-down routine may help you get to sleep. That means switching off the computer, the television, and going through a routine like stretching, meditation, peaceful music. These kind of activities will give your brain the message that its time to stop for the day. A regular bed time and regular wake up time helps too. Your internal body clock will gradually adjust to the steady routine.

Watch out that caffeine, the ‘wake up’ drug found in coffee and energy drinks, isn’t keeping you awake. If you think it might be, try stopping all caffeine at midday and see if you find it easier to get to sleep over the next few days.

So there’s your checklist for improving your sleep:

• more exercise, 
• a regular sleep time, 
• a wind down routine,
• avoiding caffeine. 

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