7 Hacks to Improve Your Sleep and Your Life
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Exercise, diet, sleep, and stress management are the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our health. It impacts recovery, mood, stress, sense of well-being, and more. It’s also highly under our control! However, it often doesn’t get the focus that it deserves.
I used to get poor sleep regularly, waking up after 8 hours and still feeling groggy, lethargic, and not at my best, even hours after waking! If you’re in a similar situation and want to improve how you feel and perform in your waking moments, this article is for you.
Whether you’re having a challenging time falling asleep, staying asleep, or truly getting deep restful sleep, these strategies can make a difference across the board. Getting enough sleep is only part of the equation. Sleep quality is where you can really move the needle, do more with less, and change your life for the better.
These four lifestyle factors play the greatest role in the quality of your sleep and will be the focus of this article:
1. Light
2. Temperature
3. Food
4. Stress
So how do you manipulate these factors into tangible actions that can improve your sleep? Let’s get into it!
One of the primary mechanisms that our bodies use to calibrate our circadian rhythm (‘biological clock’) is with light. We have photoreceptors on our skin and in our eyes that facilitate biological process inside your body when they’re exposed to light. Getting direct sunlight daily within 2 hours of waking into your eyes (not through a window or sunglasses) can ‘reprogram’ your circadian rhythm, which results in various downstream physiological effects.
One of the relevant factors that impacts sleep is the secretion of melatonin, the ‘sleep hormone’. You’ll produce more melatonin at the right time in the evenings if your circadian rhythm is set correctly by getting light exposure in the morning, which will help you fall to sleep and stay asleep. Strive for at least 10 minutes of direct sunlight into your eyes every morning.
Light in the morning is your friend, but light in the evening is not! Applying the same mechanism as discussed earlier, light exposure calibrates your circadian rhythm and modulates melatonin production. Exposure to bright light in your eyes in the evening can suppress melatonin production and make it more challenging to fall asleep and sleep restfully.
Blue light is demonized, but bright light is where most of the damage is done. Wearing dimmed glasses, such as orange-hue blue light blockers, can help reduce light exposure to your eyes. Dimming the overhead lights in your home, removing (or at least reducing the brightness) on electronics, and implementing a ‘digital sunset’ (use the natural light outside as your guide) can improve your sleep dramatically.
Light isn’t the only associated factor with our circadian rhythm. Our body’s core temperature follows a 24-hour circadian clock – peaking in the late afternoon and bottoming out in the early morning before waking. The temperature at which you sleep can play a profound impact on your body’s ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.
In order to descend into deep, slow-wave sleep, your core temperature needs to drop from its basal temperature (~98.6° F) by ~2° F. If the ambient temperature in your room or from your bed is too warm, your sleep may be disrupted (melatonin secretion and core temperature are linked)! The optimal ambient temperature range for sleep is 60-67° F.
One technique to reduce your body’s core temperature without jacking up the AC in your room is to use a cooling pad. I’ve had phenomenal success with my Chilipad to actively cool my heat-retaining memory foam mattress.
You might be wondering why exercise is on this list because daily exercise is generally associated with improved sleep. However, the timing of the exercise is important! This ties into the same mechanism discussed above with core temperature and sleep quality. When you exercise intensely, your core temperature increases for hours.
Your Central Nervous System (CNS) is also heightened from the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) induced from exercise. Both of these factors can inhibit sleep. Exercising at least 3 hours before bedtime can mostly resolve this issue. If you’re going to exercise late in the evening, keep the intensity relatively low!
Late-night eating can be beneficial or detrimental to your sleep, depending on the context. The process of digestion is energy-intensive and increases your body’s core temperature. Avoiding large meals within a few hours before bed can play a large role in sleep quality.
For some people, their circadian rhythm is closely tied to when they eat. For individuals prone to stress or anxiety specifically, moving up your last meal to the late afternoon or early evening can help with sleep. For others, eating a modest meal high in carbohydrates late in the evening, but still at least a couple of hours before bedtime can improve sleep latency (ability to fall asleep) and quality.
The ingestion of carbohydrates can improve serotonin production, which can induce sleepiness. If your goal is to maximize muscle growth, eating protein in the evenings can be beneficial. I’d suggest eating a modest meal in protein and carbs while limiting dietary fat (dietary fat can slow digestion).
When we consume caffeine, the brain is directly impacted, which can trigger alertness and hyperactivity. These effects usually peak 30-60 minutes after caffeine is ingested, but the compound can stay in your system for hours (the average half-life of caffeine is ~5 hours)!
For example, if you consume a standard 8 oz cup of coffee (~150 mg of caffeine), 5 hours later, there will still be ~75mg of caffeine in your system! It’s important to note that we all respond to the effects of caffeine differently. Some of us are fast metabolizers and others are slow metabolizers, but most of us fall somewhere in between. If you’re sensitive to caffeine, it’s even more important to limit caffeine late in the day.
We know with confidence that if caffeine is rampant in your system, your ability to fall asleep and stay in restful sleep is impaired. Generally, it is advised to eliminate caffeine at least 5 hours before bed, but to play it safe, I’d suggest removing afternoon caffeine altogether.
Similar to exercise (a form of physical stress), psychological stress also induces a sympathetic nervous system response, shifting your brain and body into ‘fight or flight’ mode. Your mind and body are impacted in similar ways when presented with physical stress and psychological stress, so there’s a similar downstream effect in your body when either occurs. Your core temperature elevates and your CNS is stimulated, which can negatively impact sleep.
Avoiding late-night work at least an hour before bed can prepare your mind and body for sleep. Practicing slow nasal breathing (inhale for 4 seconds in, take a 2-second pause, and exhale for at least 6 seconds out) can reduce the stress response, stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system (‘rest and digest’), and prepare for sleep. Even doing some light stretching or reading before bed can be relaxing and shift your mindset into ‘sleep mode.’
I challenge you to reflect on how these considerations currently fit into your lifestyle. This shouldn’t alarm you but empower you on how to have a better awareness of how your actions and behaviors can impact your sleep. Some of these may be weaknesses, some may be strengths.
If you have a long way to go to perfect your sleep, don’t worry about implementing them all at once! Focus on one at a time. As they compound, your sleep will get better and better, and your life will change in so many ways!
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