Do you find that you’re tired all day, you don’t have the energy to get through the day, and then you hit the pillow and you can’t sleep? This is hugely frustrating and very common. What can you do about it? Firstly, let’s talk a bit about the autonomic nervous system, which is a part of the body that controls a lot of our autonomic movements like breathing. There are two branches to the autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic, which is your classic fight, flight, freeze, and your parasympathetic, which is your classic rest and digest. What we want to do as we move towards bedtime is move from sympathetic dominance into parasympathetic dominance so we’re ready for sleep, and the body has had time to wind down. One of the ways that you can do that would be to control the amount of caffeine that you have during the day. Depending on your sensitivity, two cups maximum in the morning is as much caffeine as you should really be taking in. Controlling the amount …

We tend to think that gaining weight is something that happens with ageing, but this isn’t the case. It is, however, really important to monitor your body composition as you get older, to avoid putting yourself at risk of things like diabetes and other types of metabolic conditions. Here are four things you can do to avoid gaining weight into your 40s. 1. Monitor your energy balance (calories in versus calories burned from exercise). If you have less energy being expended, then you need to monitor and reduce the amount of energy that’s going into the body. Take a look at your food consumption and ensure that you’re not eating the diet that you were still eating when you were much more active. Also, try to include the following: More daily life movement – This could include taking the stairs not the escalator or walking 10,000 steps a day. Moderate exercise – Combine more daily movement with moderate exercise three to five times a week e.g. a light jog or lots of brisk walking. High intensity exercise …