Master your sleep with these 10 simple tips
The importance of sleep is widely known. Sleep is key to every metabolic process, it affects so many aspects of physical and mental health. It helps you relax, fight disease, learn new skills, consolidate memories, and prepare for the next day of cognitive function. Your body and mind need quality sleep to reach peak performance. So master it and you’ll see the results in the rest of your life. Whatever your goals, sleep will help you get there.
In this blog, we’ll look at 10 simple steps you can take to improve your sleep. You may be doing some of these already without really thinking about it but learning the science behind your routines will help arm you with the information to understand and maximise your sleep potential.
Why is sleep important?
Getting regular, high-quality sleep not only helps your energy and alertness during the day, it also has a beneficial effect on all aspects of mental and physical health. Sleep allows your brain to reset, sending out signals to heal itself and your body. Regularly depriving yourself of sleep affects your:
Memory
Learning and cognitive function
Stress levels
Mood
Cardiovascular health
Immune system
Lifespan
What makes us sleep?
Our sleep is governed by two main systems: the buildup of adenosine, a molecule which increases the longer you’ve been awake and creates a ‘sleep hunger’, and the all-important circadian clock.
These two systems are designed to help us sleep (for around 8 hours) and stay awake (for around 16 hours) in line with a natural day. But both can be disrupted by external factors. Below are simple steps you can take to maintain these systems’ most natural functions, encouraging your mind and body into their best sleep rhythm.
10 tips for better sleep
1. View morning sunlight
Our circadian clock is set by sunlight, specifically the type of low-angle sunlight that enters our eyes around sunrise and sunset. Research has shown that getting outside to view early morning sunlight is the single most important thing you can do for your sleep. The amount of time you need to spend outside depends on how sunny it is, ranging from 5 mins for bright sun to 20-30 mins for a very overcast day. (As long as you safely can, it’s better not to wear sunglasses too.)
Top tip: If you want to be an ‘early morning person’, you can shift your body clock by setting your alarm and getting outside as close to waking as possible. (Within 20-60 mins works.) This will work even better if you combine it with vigorous exercise.
2. View afternoon sunlight
Similar to early morning sunlight, late afternoon sunlight around sunset activates melatonin production, thereby setting your circadian clock. (For this to work it should be done as close to sunset as possible within 2 hours before sunset or ideally within 30-60mins.)
What’s more, studies have shown that viewing late afternoon sunlight can protect your nervous system from the negative effects of viewing bright artificial light during nighttime hours.
3. Wake up at the same time every day
When we view morning light, a gradual spike of cortisol (the hormone which makes us alert) helps us wake up. This spike also sets the timer for our pre-bedtime release of melatonin (the hormone that makes us sleepy), around 12-14h later. The sooner you wake up and get your cortisol spike, the earlier you will feel ready for bedtime. If you keep these times consistent your body’s circadian clock will run like, well, clockwork.
Try to avoid the temptation to sleep in on the weekend. You may be tempted to sleep in, especially if you have been out late the night before but consistent wake and sleep times (within an hour or so) really enhance the quality and depth of your sleep. If you sleep in for more than an hour, you are effectively giving yourself jet lag. You will find it harder to get to sleep at your usual time and your sleep routine will be easily disrupted.
Mood-boosting tip: Studies have shown that getting this cortisol wave early in the morning has so many benefits for our energy, immune system, and mood.
4. Go to bed at the same time every day
According to neuroscience professor Dr. Gina Poe, a lot of key processes for brain cleaning, memory consolidation, and neuroplasticity happen in the first third of your night’s sleep.
In fact, you especially don’t want to miss the first sleep cycle (approx 90 min), when a large dose of growth hormone is released. If you go to bed later than your usual bedtime, you miss that dose of growth hormone that helps maintain and heal all your cells. This first cycle of sleep is also when your brain cleans itself for optimum cognitive function the next day. If you miss it, your cognitive function will be affected.
How can you optimise this first sleep cycle for improved cognition? Don’t push through that first sleepiness phase in the evening, instead keep a consistent bedtime and your body will be ready to heal itself properly. According to Dr. Gina Poe “one of the best markers of good neurological health when we get older is consistent bedtimes”.
5. Avoid bright light or overhead light in the evening
Evening viewing of bright light, especially blue light, and overhead light, delays your clock and keeps you awake further into the night by disrupting the melatonin in your system. To prepare your body for a restful night’s sleep, place evening lighting on low tables or even on the floor and use low lighting, yellow and reddish tints, or candlelight.
If you must watch tv or read your phone, blue blockers will help, but ideally, you would avoid it completely a few hours before bed.
Avoiding bright light is even more crucial between 11 pm and 4 am. Viewing light between these times activates the habenula, also called the disappointment nucleus. It suppresses the release of dopamine (an antidepressant hormone) and inhibits learning the next day. Over time, regularly viewing light late at night can leave us with mood challenges, anxiety, unreliable focus, and even some metabolism disorders. One of the best ways to support focus, learning, and mood is to sidestep this late-night light exposure.
Top tip: Light can be used to adjust your circadian clock. If you need to consistently wake up earlier, you can view sunlight earlier. If you need to stay up later (eg: for shift work) you can view bright artificial light later in the day.
6. Avoid long or late naps
Some people benefit greatly from a short sharp nap, say 20-30 mins in the early afternoon. If you are going to nap, make sure it is shorter than one sleep cycle (approx 90 mins).
If you find yourself waking up after a nap feeling very groggy, it may be that your nighttime sleep is disrupted so you’re shifting into deeper sleep during your nap. Like caffeine, naps don’t work for everyone, you need to try what works for you. Dr Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep likens late afternoon naps to snacking before a meal, as they take away some of your ‘sleep hunger’ and make it harder for you to sleep later in the day.
Yoga Nidra, also known as non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) meditation, can be as beneficial as napping, shifting you into a state of deep relaxation. The aim is to teach your body to relax so you can draw on this skill whenever you need it. Though this type of meditation can be very beneficial, it can’t replace real sleep. Good quality nightly sleep is extremely important for your long-term gains.
7. Keep your room cool and layer with blankets
To fall asleep and stay asleep your body needs to drop in temperature by 1-3 degrees. If your body gets too hot, you are likely to become uncomfortable and wake up. It’s easier, and far less disruptive to your sleep, to keep your room cool and layer blankets on or off. You don’t want to have to get out of bed to adjust a fan or heating system.
8. Limit alcohol intake
You may have noticed that alcohol affects your sleep, especially as you get older. Alcohol is actually a REM sleep suppressant. It also suppresses the Stage 2 transition to REM sleep that moves memories to the cortex (the brain’s hard drive), consolidating them for future use. Going to sleep with alcohol in your system prevents you from properly consolidating those memories.
Both REM sleep and Stage 2 slow wave sleep are hugely important for neuroplasticity, helping us learn, be more creative, and problem-solve when we are awake. Make sure you get the full benefit of those sleep stages by avoiding excessive drinking, especially late into the evening.
Similar to alcohol, CBD (cannabidiol) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) may help you fall asleep but they will disrupt the architecture of your sleep, affecting you in the long term.
9. Avoid afternoon or evening caffeine
Caffeine affects everyone differently but many people find late afternoon and evening caffeine hinders their sleep. This is because caffeine binds to the adenosine receptors so the synapses can’t be activated, keeping you alert for longer. Once the caffeine wears off your adenosine can get back to work, usually resulting in a ‘caffeine crash’ as the buildup of adenosine hits. The speed of this wearing-off period is different for different people. So as with napping, it’s all about finding what works for you.
Interestingly, some people have a mutant form of adenosine so aren’t affected by caffeine at all and can drink it well into the night.
To avoid caffeine affecting the quality of your sleep, limit your caffeine intake to before 2-3pm. Even if you feel able to fall asleep fine, there are many papers that found a link between late afternoon caffeine and disrupted sleep.
10. Avoid strenuous exercise before bed
It has long been thought that late afternoon or evening exercise can delay your circadian clock, making you want to fall asleep later. However, a recent study found that late exercise didn’t affect sleep unless it was within an hour of bedtime. In fact, the exercise helped people fall asleep faster and spend more time in deep sleep.
Conclusion? Feel free to exercise whenever works best for your lifestyle and routines. Your sleep won’t be affected as long as you avoid strenuous exercise like weight lifting or running an hour before bedtime.
Sleep is a slow process. It takes time to build up sleepiness and be ready to switch off. If falling asleep is where you have trouble, try a wind-down routine to help your nervous system go from alert and awake to relaxed and - eventually - asleep. Trial a few things to find out what works for you. It could be gentle music, stretching, reading, meditation, or NSDR (non-sleep deep rest). I use an app called I AM Yoga Nidra which is great for tapping into NSDR relaxation. Once you’ve found what wind-down routine works for you, stick to it. Our brains love routine!
Of course, it’s easier said than done, but don’t overthink it. If you have a couple of nights of interrupted or short sleep, it’s not the end of the world. But drifting too far from the above routines can make you suffer. Build a routine that works for you, your health, and your wider goals – and you will reap the benefits.
