Sleep is one of the most important determinants of our health (see Sleep and Disease Risk: Scarier than Zombies!). You’d think that something so essential for our physical and mental wellbeing and that we all enjoy doing (hello sleeping in on the weekend!) would be easier to get! Unfortunately, even when we do make time for a little extra zzzz’s, getting the high quality sleep that we really need can be elusive!
Here are four easy things you can do to improve your sleep immediately. For a more comprehensive resource, be sure to check out Go To Bed: 14 Easy Steps to Healthier Sleep!
1. Consume Coffee in the Morning ONLY
Caffeine makes us feel more awake and energetic by blocking the sleep signal generated by adenosine, a protein waste product that accumulates over the course of the day. Unfortunately, when we consume caffeine, our levels of the stress hormone cortisol increase (dependent how well we manage stress management and how much caffeine we consume) which can stay elevated for up to 6 hours (see How Stress Undermines Health, How Chronic Stress Leads to Hormone Imbalance, and Why Exercising Too Much Hurts Your Gut).
In habitual consumers of caffeine (a huge majority of us!), cortisol increases much more dramatically in response to stress (like that guy cutting you off in traffic) compared to someone who doesn’t consume caffeine. With daily consumption, our bodies can adapt somewhat to not produce quite as much cortisol in response to caffeine, but complete tolerance does not ever occur. If you have difficulty managing stress or falling asleep as it is, caffeine is not your friend.
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In addition, recent studies showed that caffeine intake disrupts circadian rhythm by pushing it back (see Regulating Circadian Rhythm (and why that’s important)); so, even if we’re tired and want to go to bed early, consuming caffeine later than noon might make that goal impossible.
2. Love the Sun (or Sun Lamp)!
Most of us are familiar with the fact that our bodies make vitamin D in response to ultraviolet light from the sun (see Why Sun Exposure Is So Important and Fructose and Vitamin D Deficiency: The Perfect Storm?). But, when it comes to sleep, there’s another effect of sunlight that is far more important: when special cells in the retina of the eye are stimulated by blue light from the sun, they directly affect the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus regions of the brain to entrench circadian rhythm (our body’s internal clock, see Regulating Circadian Rhythm (and why that’s important)). Proper regulation of circadian rhythm is crucial for quality sleep, stress management, and the healthy cyclic pattern of so many hormones in the body.
One important circadian rhythm hormone that is regulated by sunlight is melatonin. In addition to being critical for quality sleep, melatonin is a powerful antioxidant, is important for intestinal function, and can help prevent depression. Exposure to sunlight during the day helps increase melatonin production in the evening (called dim light melatonin production) which helps prepare our bodies for sleep and ensures adequate restorative deep sleep, especially during the first half of the night.
How much time we need to spend outside depends on our personal body chemistry, how much skin is exposed, what time of day it is, what time of year it is, clouds and air quality, and where we live. It’s best to aim for as much as possible (taking care not to get a sunburn!), but at least 20 minutes most days is a good rule of thumb (if you notice that you sleep better with more, make however much that is part of your routine instead). And while we’re stuck inside? Studies show that spending time by a bright window can be helpful.
For shift workers, inhospitable weather, northern climates, long work days, and other barriers to being outside during the day, a great biohack is a light therapy box. Choose one that is at least 10,000 lux; either white or blue light boxes work equally well. Use it (placing it a foot or two away from your face in your peripheral vision) for at least 15 minutes (30+ minutes is better) at roughly the same time every morning or midday (and if you are a shift worker, use the light box during whatever time of day is your morning or midday). A great option is the very compact NatureBright Sun Bliss 2-in-1 Portable Light Therapy and Wake-Up Light which you can get on Amazon.
3. Eat Starchy Veggies with Dinner
Keeping up with all the news on carbs can be tricky these days, but there is evidence that monitoring the timing of our intake could be just as important as the amount! Our bodies seem primed for slow-burn starchy carbohydrates in the evening. We produce more starch-digesting enzymes in the evening, and studies show that eating a decent quantity (say something like 30g) starchy carbs from whole food sources at dinner significantly improves sleep! Fiber intake also improves sleep quality and latency (how long it takes us to fall asleep) in addition to all the other good things fiber does (see The Fiber Manifesto–Part 1 of 5: What Is Fiber and Why Is it Good? and Because Fiber Wasn’t Awesome Enough: New Science Suggests Fiber Improves Sleep Quality!). The great news is that we can kill two birds with one stone with a veggie-rich dinner that includes starchy veggies like sweet potatoes, plantains, cassava, taro, or acorn squash!
4. Change Up Your Light Exposure in the Evening
Just as it’s important for our bodies to get the signal that it’s daytime during the day (or your day, if you’re a shift worker and using a light therapy box), it’s important to tell our body it’s night time once the sun goes down. Our brains start releasing melatonin about two hours before we normally go to bed, which makes us feel sleepy and lowers our body temperature. But melatonin production can be inhibited by exposure to bright indoor lights in the evenings. This means avoiding blue light and sticking with red and yellow wavelengths of light as well as keeping the overall light level much (much, much) dimmer.
Probably the best biohack for supporting evening melatonin production (more technically called dim-light melatonin production) is to wear amber-tinted glasses for the last 2-3 hours of the day. In fact, several scientific studies show that these goofy glasses improve sleep quality and melatonin production. What are amber-tinted glasses? Quite simple: glasses with yellow (or orange) lenses! These could be driving glasses, glaucoma glasses, or safety glasses. You can get yellow or orange safety glasses for as little as $3 at most hardware stores or these Uvex ones from Amazon. My favorite amber-glasses are Swannies because they’re stylish enough that I can run to the grocery store in the evening wearing them and not feel like a weirdo.
The good news is that the quality of our sleep is very responsive to small changes we can make during the day! And these 4 biohacks are a great place to start!*
Want more great tips on improving your sleep? Check out the completely upgraded Go To Bed: 14 Easy Steps to Healthier Sleep!
For the same low price, the Go To Bed online program now includes: a 350+ page guidebook packed with information and inspiration, plus 14-day sleep challenge, 58-page quickstart guide and a great resource toolkit that includes sleep journal printables, nutrients for sleep printable, and a sleep meditation track!
Citations
Dodd FL, Kennedy DO, Riby LM, Haskell-ramsay CF. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating the effects of caffeine and L-theanine both alone and in combination on cerebral blood flow, cognition and mood. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2015;232(14):2563-76.
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Lane JD et al. Caffeine effects on cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses to acute psychosocial stress and their relationship to level of habitual caffeine consumption. Psychosomatic Med. 1990; 52(3):320-36.
Lovallo W. et al. Caffeine stimulation of cortisol secretion across the waking hours in relation to caffeine intake levels. Psychosomatic Med. 2005;67:734-739
Lovallo WR et al. Stress-like adrenocorticotropin responses to caffeine in young healthy men. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 1996;55:365–9.
Miller B, O’connor H, Orr R, Ruell P, Cheng HL, Chow CM. Combined caffeine and carbohydrate ingestion: effects on nocturnal sleep and exercise performance in athletes. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2014;114(12):2529-37.
Mccarty DE, Chesson AL, Jain SK, Marino AA. The link between vitamin D metabolism and sleep medicine. Sleep Med Rev. 2014;18(4):311-9.
Qi Q, Zheng Y, Huang T, et al. Vitamin D metabolism-related genetic variants, dietary protein intake and improvement of insulin resistance in a 2 year weight-loss trial: POUNDS Lost.
Sofer S, Eliraz A, Madar Z, Froy O. Concentrating carbohydrates before sleep improves feeding regulation and metabolic and inflammatory parameters in mice. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2015;414:29-41.
Miller B, O’connor H, Orr R, Ruell P, Cheng HL, Chow CM. Combined caffeine and carbohydrate ingestion: effects on nocturnal sleep and exercise performance in athletes. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2014;114(12):2529-37.
TPV Podcast Episode. 203, Cyndi O’Meara and the What’s With Wheat Movie