Your body needs water all day. And nighttime is no exception!

But when the question of water comes up, invariably someone will inquire about the embarrassing problem of getting up to use the bathroom. After all, if you’re going through 20 or more glasses of water a day, that water’s going to go somewhere.

First off, relax. If you’re bothered by waking up during the night to urinate, you might want to slack off some a couple of hours before retiring. In other words, if you go to bed at 11:30, you might want to stop taking in water (except for sips) after 9 p.m. In other words, load up earlier in the day, and begin easing off after eating in the evening, and just stop drinking glassfuls after a certain point.

I will point out that there is nothing life-threatening about getting up during the night to urinate. In many cultures around the world, people routinely awaken and go back to sleep several times during the night. Our problem, bluntly, is electrical. That is, electrical lights. See if your routine isn’t something like this. You wake up during the night, needing to urinate. You get up, turn a light on, and go about your business.

The problem is a little substance called melatonin. To make a complicated story a tad more simple, your body manufactures it during sleep. And it makes you feel more rested when you get enough, and considerably less rested when you don’t get enough. But the instant there’s light, the body’s melatonin making slows down or quits. Now that’s no problem if we’re talking about the light you normally get come morning. But the problem is when you turn on a light at 3:30 in the morning in the process of taking care of nature’s call. Your body stops making melatonin, and you feel lousy the next day.

So, a couple of sleepy-time rules that may help you feel better. (Remember, I’m a nurse. I’ve dealt with — when I was still practicing hospital-based nursing — trying to ensure that patients got enough sleep. When I was doing that, I was probably working nights myself, and so I was having to sleep during the day. You learn quite a few tricks that help you sleep). In the first place, don’t turn on lights. Now since I don’t want you breaking a leg in the dark and complaining to me about it, you might want to invest in a nightlight or two — preferably one that’s dim. But whatever you do, if you wake up — for any reason — don’t turn on a light. Don’t decide you’re going to read or watch TV or whatever. Just stay there in the bed. That’s the logic behind counting sheep — to bore yourself so badly that you’ll just fall back asleep.

The next rule is don’t look at the clock. In the first place, what difference does it make? I’m not going to scold you about how Americans are obsessed with clocks (although as a nation, we are), I just want you to ask yourself why it is so important for you to know that you woke up at 3:14 a.m. to use the bathroom. (Listen in on morning conversations at work: people will actually talk about it). But the bigger problem is that by checking the time your mind starts in operating big-time. You start thinking about what you have to do in the morning, or that bill you have to pay, or whatever. Don’t allow yourself to do that. Sleep-time is for sleeping. Use it for that. And don’t worry if you occasionally have to wake up to heed nature’s demands.

But how does water actually help you sleep better?

In sleep, your body is actually going through many (not all) of the processes that are happening during waking hours. Adequate hydration means that all of those processes are able to work well. Your body is digesting food (preferably not too much: that’s why heavy meals before bedtime make for a bad night’s rest — your body is working hard when it should be resting), delivering oxygen to the body, etc. Enough water is especially important to your mouth and oral passages, which can become dry during the night. We keep a full glass of water close by, so we can take a sip if we wake up during the night. That prevents that dry and craggy feeling in your mouth that sometimes happens. You are also less likely to snore if your mouth is adequately moist.

Jim Huffman, RN specializes in natural and alternative healing therapies. His first book is ‘Dare to Be Free: How to Get Control of Your Time, Your Life, and Your Nursing Career,’ and is aimed at helping other nurses find satisfying, dynamic careers. His website is NetworkForNurses.com NetworkForNurses.com and his health blog is at shababa.blogspot.com shababa.blogspot.com

So, you’ve figured out your diet. You’re eating frequent small meals that are high in protein, whole grains and vegetables. Now, you’d like to add a few supplements to your diet. (Make sure your diet is rock solid before adding supplements—because a “supplement” is just that “an add on, not a base”). However, with so many supplements out there and a limited budget, how do you know what to purchase and what should be disregarded as marketing hype? Well, below is a list of supplements in order of importance:

Daily Multivitamin

A lot of people may overlook this supplement, but it is nonetheless the most important. Vitamins and minerals contained in multivitamins are essential to many functions of the human body. These include regulating hormones, metabolism, proper digestion, and immune functions.

Whey Protein

We know that a high protein diet is very helpful in gaining muscle and losing body fat. Whey protein is great post-workout because it enters the bloodstream the fastest when your muscles need that protein the most. On the other extreme, casein (which is found in diary products) is a slow release protein and is great before bed because you are not getting any nutrition during the seven to nine hours you’re asleep. I would not recommend a casein or nighttime protein supplement though, because it would be much more cost effective to drink a glass of skim milk.

Creatine

If you are looking to get stronger, creatine will definitely help. It is used in muscle to store energy for explosive movements such as weight lifting. It enhances recovery and ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate is the primary energy currency of the body) replenishment, which will allow for the creation of an anabolic state in your body. The efficiency of creatine delivery is greatly increased if it is consumed with simple carbohydrates, which spike the insulin. In turn, insulin helps to deliver the creatine to your muscle where it can be used to hydrate and replenish ATP levels. I recommend five to ten grams post training with a generous serving of simple carbohydrates. Creatine should also be cycled (try eight weeks on, four weeks off) as oppose to protein which you can take continuously.

Glutamine

What is the most abundant amino acid in your muscles? That’s right glutamine, and it supports protein synthesis and immune function, enhances recovery, glycogen & glutamine replenishment and reduces catabolism (muscle breakdown).

Thermogenetics

I personally do not take any of these supplements as I am an ectomorph. However, they do increase your base metabolic rate and help burn body fat.

ZMA

If you want to try it zinc magnesium aspirate, research has shown that it may aid in sleep and increase growth hormone. Many athletes are deficient in zinc and magnesium, and this supplement will help correct that issue.

Other supplements

Some other supplements you might consider include BCAAs (Branch Chain Amino Acids), essential fatty acids, and nitrous oxide. BCAAs are essential amino acids, however, I personally have not seen any improvement when supplementing with these. Essential Fatty Acids are healthy fats such as flax seed oil. I try to keep my diet high in fish, nuts, and olive oil, but you might consider this supplement as well. Lastly, I’ve heard mixed reviews about nitrous oxide (which supposedly gives you a better pump when lifting) but I have never tried it myself, so I can not attest to if it actually improves performance or not.

Well, there you have it. In order of relative importance, these are the supplements you might think about taking after you’ve solidified a rock solid diet.

I have been working out for nine years and I want to share my experiences and research. I can be found at workoutreview.blogspot.com/ workoutreview.blogspot.com