You’ve Heard Of Clean Eating – But What The Hell Is Clean Sleeping?

You’re no doubt familiar with the term clean eating. How could you not be? It features heavily on every fitness blogger and health enthusiast’s Instagram and has spurned dozens of healthy cookbooks like Deliciously Ella and Sweet Paleo to name but a few.

Clean sleeping though? Well, that’s an altogether different trend, but it’s doing the rounds right now thanks to A-lister and big time health advocate Gwyneth Paltrow.

Thankfully, while Gwynie’s advice has been questionable in the past (remember when she told us all to steam our vaginas? Yeah, um, no thanks…) her latest piece of counsel is one we can definitely get behind.

Essentially, clean sleeping in just a new term for a smart piece of advice that’s as old as time: if you want to look after yourself and perform at your absolute best, you should first look at perfecting your sleeping pattern, and then to honing your diet.

“The lifestyle I lead is based not just on clean eating, but also on clean sleeping: at least seven or eight hours of good, quality sleep—and ideally even 10,” writes Gwyneth in a new column for The Daily Mail.

“Sleep plays such a powerful role in determining your appetite and energy levels that I believe it should be your first priority—even before you think about your diet.”

“My nutrition expert Dr Frank Lipman has explained to me that poor-quality sleep can be unsettling for the metabolism and hormones,” Gwyneth continues, “which can lead to weight gain, bad moods, impaired memory and brain fog, as well as serious health concerns such as inflammation and reduced immunity.”

Gwyneth’s comments back up the findings of a research study that found that the less you sleep the more you eat.

Basically, if you’re feeling groggy AF it’s a whole lot harder for you to make wiser food choices, but the obvious question: How do you make sure you’re getting in those precious hours of kip every night?

Well, in the same way you’d plan out your meals if you were cleaning up your diet, clean sleeping will require you to take a similar approach, and guided meditations, a blanket ban on gadgets in the bedroom and tracking your shuteye, should all be a part of your game plan.

Hey, if it means an extra hour or two in bed, we’re willing to give it a go.

Still not getting enough kip? Check out our handy tips to a restful night’s sleep here.

• body
• Gwyneth Paltrow
• health
• sleep