This week I chatted with Kristen Corcoran, nurse at Skidmore College and Nationally Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach, as well as owner of KGC Wellness in Saratoga Springs, NY. Kristen shares the negative effects that poor sleep has on our minds and bodies, and a few things that we can do to improve our sleep.

Kristen shares that sleep is the first domino of our day. If this domino falls, it affects BOTH our minds and bodies.

Improper sleep affects our minds by causing poor decision making, accidents, and it affects the relationships we have with the people at home, in the workplace and at school.

It affects our bodies by directly impacting our exercise and nutrition. When we’re tired, we don’t feel like exercising. When we haven’t slept well, we have an increase in the hormone that makes us hungry, and a decrease in the hormone that satiates us, causing us to make poor food choices.

There are three simple things we can do to improve our sleep:

1. Evaluate the quality of your sleep with a sleep app or keep a sleep log.
2. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. This sets our circadian rhythm.
3. Turn off devices an hour before sleep. It affects how much light our brains receive right before falling asleep.

Kristen believes that sleep is the cornerstone of our health, and the greatest thing we can do for our kids is to teach them how to put themselves to sleep and how to fall BACK asleep. KGC Wellness coaches young adults and adults of any age in many areas of wellness, including sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress management, and tobacco cessation. For more information on the services offered, please visit https://kgcwellness.com/ .