Sleep: How to fall asleep faster, sleep deeper and wake up energized
Overview:
View sunlight upon waking and in the late afternoon
Avoid bright lights and screens before bed
Consider specific supplementation
Lower core body temp at night and raise it before waking
Avoid alcohol
Avoid caffeine in the afternoon
View Sunlight as Soon as Possible After Waking
Get morning sunlight in your eyes as soon as possible after waking. Go outside and look in the direction of the sun for at least five to ten minutes each morning. Your goal should be to get sunlight in your eyes within the first thirty to sixty minutes of waking up.
A few things to keep in mind. If you wake up before the sun rises, you’ll obviously have to wait. If you can view the sun as it comes up across the horizon, great, but that’s not vital for this protocol to work.
Morning sunlight, as we will review, differs in quality from sunlight at other times of the day. It is best viewed by facing the sun without any physical barriers, like awnings or buildings, obscuring your view. Don’t wear a brimmed hat, as it blocks some of the light that would otherwise reach your eyes from overhead. Wearing eyeglasses or contacts is fine but, alas, this protocol won’t work nearly as well through a window or windshield, as that will filter out many of the relevant wavelengths of light. Skip the sunglasses while doing this protocol. What about clouds? No matter how overcast, there is always some sunlight coming through once the sun is up. In fact, the more accurate way to state this protocol would be “get as-early-in-your-day-as-possible daylight in your eyes,” but that is a mouthful. The point is that the sun provides daylight even on overcast days. Just compare how bright it is at 8:00 a.m. on an overcast day to midnight the night before. So forget the “there is no sun out in winter where I live” argument. There is daylight, and you want to view it. Indeed, this protocol is especially important on cloudy days.
View Sunlight in the Late Afternoon
Get sunlight in your eyes in the late afternoon or early evening. Ideally, go outside and spend at least ten to fifteen minutes there before the sun sets. If at all possible, face or walk west toward the sun. You do not need to see the sun drop below the horizon. That’s a wonderful thing if you can—who doesn’t love a sunset? Alas, most of us don’t live or work in the right place to do so. Luckily, just going outside and getting some ambient light in your eyes in the late afternoon or early evening is beneficial. Seeing the sunset is a bonus.
A few things to keep in mind. As with the previous protocol, it is best to face the sun directly, not through a window or windshield, and without wearing sunglasses or a brimmed hat. Perhaps you can get an unobscured view by going up to a rooftop or by walking a few blocks from where you work or live. From a health perspective, that is well worth it. Again it’s especially important to do this protocol on overcast days.
Avoid Viewing Bright Lights in the Final Hour Before Bedtime
After sundown, limit your nighttime light exposure. You have a few options for how to do that. Which you use will depend on where you are and what activities you need to carry out.
Option 1: Dim the lights. After sundown, dim the lights in your home or wherever you are in the hours before sleep.
Option 2: Use red lights at night. I am a fan of using soft amber or red incandescent (or even amber or red LED lights, which are easier to find nowadays) for indoor lighting after dark as they don’t spike cortisol or suppress melatonin as much as many bright white LED lights do.70 Remember, you want to try to keep your cortisol low in the late evening and especially the final few hours before your bedtime at night. You also want your melatonin elevated then. While this protocol might seem extreme, shifting to amber or red lighting in the final hours before sleep can make a marked difference for some people’s ability to fall and stay deeply asleep, which extends to every aspect of next-day energy, mood, and focus
Find Your Ideal To-Sleep and Wake-Up Times and Strive to Adhere to Them
Find your chronotype to set your schedule. Some people sleep better when they stay up late and sleep in late; others feel best when they go to bed early and wake up early; and most people fall somewhere in between, preferring to go to sleep somewhere between 10:00 p.m. and midnight and to wake up between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m.
Try to stick to your schedule. As long as you sleep for at least six to eight hours a night, pick a sleep-wake schedule that works for you. Even shifting slightly closer to your chronotype will afford you much more restorative sleep.
Lower Your Core Body Temperature at Night
Lower the temperature of the room you sleep in at night. Cooler ambient temperatures facilitate sleep. Keep your bedroom between 65 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit, and a maximum of 70 degrees.
Warm your extremities before bed. A hot shower, hot bath, sauna, or even washing your face with very warm water can help induce drowsiness by warming hands and feet and by triggering a drop in core body temperature in compensation for this heating.
Make sure your feet and hands can be easily exposed from underneath your covers. The skin of these areas is a primary way we shed heat from our body. Exposing them to cool air is one of the most effective ways to decrease core body temperature. So untuck your sheets at the foot and sides of the bed.
Avoid wearing socks while you sleep, especially if you tend to wake in the middle of the night. Socks can stop the natural cooling process that happens through the feet. (People who tend to run very cold at night may want to skip this recommendation.)
Increase Your Core Body Temperature in the Final One to Two Hours of Sleep Before You Wake Up
Program your heating system for the room you sleep in at night. If you have one that can be set to different times, program it to rise one to three degrees above your room temperature, starting one to two hours before your wake-up time.
Keep clothing by your bed. If you wake up one to two hours before your preferred wake-up time or in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, try putting on some socks, sweats, or even a knit cap and go back to sleep until your preferred wake-up time. This can increase your core body temperature, which increases the amount of REM sleep you get and will help you wake up feeling energized.
Consider Supplements to Support Sleep
Find a combination of supplements that support you in getting the best possible sleep. Learn a bit about how each of these works. Consider your specific needs and consult with your physician to ensure that any supplements you take are safe for you and will not interfere with any medications you are currently taking. As stated in the introduction, supplements can have their place but ideally, try behavioral tools first. There is simply no pill to replace poor sleep habits, or “sleep hygiene.” Below is a list of common supplements sold over the counter that can assist in getting the best possible night’s sleep:
Magnesium L-threonate or magnesium bisglycinate.Dosage: 145–250 mg
These two forms of magnesium are interchangeable for improving sleep.
Apigenin, a derivative of chamomile. Dosage: 50 mg
Theanine. Dosage: 100–200 mg
GABA. Dosage: 250–500 mg
Glycine. Dosage: 1–2 g (1,000–2,000 mg)
Myoinositol. Dosage: 900 mg
Kiwi extract. Dosage: 500–1,000 mg
Tart cherry extract. Dosage: 500 mg
Saffron. Dosage: 30 mg
Valerian. Dosage: 50–75 mg.
Melatonin. Dosage: 0.5–1.5 mg of rapid release; 0.5–1.5 mg of sustained release (Note the decimal)
Adjust Your Caffeine Schedule to Improve Your Sleep
Avoid caffeine in the eight to ten hours before bed. As it’s a stimulant with a long half-life, caffeine should be avoided late in the day, especially if you have trouble falling asleep. Some people who are especially caffeine sensitive may have to avoid caffeine in the twelve hours before bedtime. Even those who can “fall asleep after drinking coffee” are likely not getting the best sleep they could. As someone who loves caffeine, I relate to anyone reluctant to stop drinking caffeine in the afternoon. As painful as it can be, I personally avoid it after 2:00 p.m. most days.
If you tend to experience an energy crash in the afternoon despite sleeping well, consider delaying drinking caffeine until thirty to ninety minutes after waking up. This slight adjustment to your caffeine schedule may help you have more sustained energy levels throughout the day and may help you avoid the need to drink caffeine after 2:00 p.m.
Avoid Alcohol Within Eight Hours Before Sleep
Alcohol should not be used as a sleep aid. Alcohol severely disrupts the elegantly sequential architecture of sleep, and reduces both the total amount of deep sleep and REM sleep, so even if it helps you drift off and you sleep for seven to eight hours, it will negatively affect the quality of your sleep.
If you drink, avoid alcohol within eight hours of the time you plan to be asleep. This timing reduces the amount of alcohol in your body by the time you go to bed.
Avoid Screens Before Bed
Avoid screens in the bedroom at night. This includes phones, laptops, tablets, and TV screens.
Avoid consuming information on an electronic device within an hour (at least) of bedtime. Light from phones and other screens can disrupt your circadian clock.
If you opt to read or watch content on a screen in the hour before sleep, dim the screen. I suggest lowering the brightness and/or activating the “red” screen function. You can also wear blue and green (short wavelength) blocking glasses.
