Hey hey! We’re currently going into (what feels like) week 47 of quarantine and I know a lot of you are struggling with sleep quality and/or quantity. When our daytime schedules are all over the place, it’s easy for our sleep to get out of balance as well. I’d like to let you in on one of my best tips to improve sleep.
#1 sleep tip
Are you so excited?! Outstanding! The #1 tip I use and give clients is 30 minutes of sunlight within 1 hour of waking in the morning. Pretty great, right? Not a potion, supplement, or product. It cost no money and only takes 30 minutes. Win! Let’s break it down a bit, shall we?
The most important part of your circadian rhythm is the light-dark cycle of the sun. Morning sun helps to increase cortisol in the morning, thus increasing melatonin production at night. Cortisol and Melatonin are two hormones that work opposite of each other. We want cortisol high in the morning for optimal energy and melatonin low, so we’re not sleepy. In the evening you want the opposite, cortisol low and melatonin high for yummy, relaxed sleepiness. And if you’re saying, “Hold the phone, Amber, I thought cortisol was bad?!” As with most things we put a good/bad label on, it’s more important that cortisol is balanced. This means high in the morning so we’re not a zombie and low at night for optimal sleep. Now for a few more tips to optimize your sun consumption.
You have to be outside. This can’t be through a window since windows block some of the suns rays and we want full spectrum.
Multi-task it! Go for a walk, have your tea or coffee outside, do yoga or workout on your deck or at the park.
If you need to be somewhere before the sun rises or the winter is gross, then you can use a full spectrum light like a HappyLight.
It’s important that the light gets into the eyes, but without looking directly at the sun/light. I’m not sure if having contacts in or wearing glasses will impact light going into your eyes, but if you can safely skip both, then give it a shot!
Have as much skin showing as possible.
Getting my morning sun while I was in Mexico for work in Feb/March!