It’s pretty obvious that sleep is more than necessary for overall health. We don’t need scientific evidence to show us the simple truth. Recall a time you missed your beauty sleep — how beautiful did you look the next morning? It’s okay, I’ve had my share of eye bags too.

For whatever reason, we have this tendency to resist things. We fight bedtimes rather than embrace them with nightly rituals — regardless that we all know a peaceful routine would improve the quality of our sleep and health.

It’s been shown that quality of sleep matters more than the amount of sleep you get, but what are the best ways to our sleep? Better yet, what are we doing that is destroying our sleep?

Here are a few major sleep destroying habits:

  • Unhealthy Light Exposure: Before electricity, iPhones, computers and alarms we were entertained and maintained by Mother Nature. Though technology has it’s benefits, most of it doesn’t belong in the bedroom. Blue light from these devices interferes with mitochondrial energy production, slowing the metabolism and increasing stress hormones that rob us of good quality sleep.
  • Not having a Routine: Good sleep requires a rhythm. However, many adults will resist having a routine and bedtime in general. This is likely because as kids, we resisted naps because we were being forced to, not free too. Now, because were too busy too nap, we crave them. When we have to do things, we are not free to. However, take a look around, no one is stopping us from enjoying the sweet rewards of a peaceful nights sleep but our own minds. So if you’re resisting having a bedtime cause it makes you feel like an old person, just realize skimping sleep will make you old, faster.
  • Keep stimulated- Stimulation is not the same as energy. Hormones like cortisol and adrenaline impair metabolism and increase the stress hormone melatonin, which is not necessary for good sleep but actually impairs sleep by slowing the metabolic rate. Exercising late, taking caffeine in large doses, drinking and smoking amongst other factors that stimulate us are recipes for insomnia.
  • Stay up later than the Sun- While the Sun is a great promoter of energy production and good sleep, there is a reason it sets. Staying up late into the evening, especially staring into blue light is a horrible idea if you want to sleep. But don’t take my word for it, just stay up until 3 am for a few nights and see what happens. I wouldn’t recommend it though.
  • Think about the next day. Planning is essential for cultivating good luck. We are typically either planning to fail or planning to succeed. However, the time and place is not bedtime. This creates endless thinking that typically yields no actual helpful results considering  your brain is functioning fragmentally because well…it’s bedtime and it’s trying to shut off. Save planning for the morning, when you’re brains actually working. You can do like me and create a “6 impossible things before breakfast” list, where you put down 6 things that if you did that day would produce 80% or more of your desired outcome and happiness. All fueled solely by Bulletproof coffee, before any solid food 😉

My Top Effective Yet Simple Sleep Hacks

Whether or not you currently have trouble sleeping, there are actually quite a bit you can easily do to improve your sleep. These are the most basic yet most critical activities that will help you improve both the quality and quantity of sleep so you can properly rejuvenate every night. Best of all, they cost nothing!

  1. Get Daily Sunlight & Use Red Light Before Bed: Real light (from the sun) is essential for ensuring a fast metabolism, which is our best defense against stress and ensuring restorative sleep. In the presence of darkness, our metabolism slows and there is an increase of stress substances that ruin good sleep. In fact, chronic darkness damages the mitochondria, where as Sun Light and Red Light activates them. For example, bight light activates the key enzyme, cytochrome oxidase, which turns on energy production.Now it is important that you avoid Blue Light from electronics; however, one easy thing to do for improving sleep is getting daily sunlight. If you can spend all morning/day in the sun, I bet you will sleep like a baby. Otherwise, if this isn’t possible due to location or season, then try three bright incandescent lights (250 watt BR40 bulb with 10” metal surround) or a Red Light Machine on your skin before bed to turn up the metabolism and turn down the stress hormones.
  2. Create a bedtime ritual. Start winding down at least two hours before bed. Most importantly, give yourself permission to relax! The work never ends, let’s face and accept that — there will always be more. Now that we can own that, let’s start getting out of our heads and creating a life worth living. Design a bedtime routine that excites you as much as vacation does. One that starts about 2 hours before bed, filled with essential oils, love making, classical music, massages, candles, writing and good non-fiction books. This is the time to start shutting off the lights. You’d be surprised what little odds and ends you can pick up for a ritual sacred for little to nothing.
  3. Eat Sugar Before Bed: Cortisol regulates blood sugar, so when blood sugar is low, cortisol rises, which turns down the body temperature. You can effectively suppress the stress response by eating ripe fruits, fresh orange juice, milk or raw honey before bed. Most of these also contain anti-stress minerals (magnesium, potassium, and calcium) that improve energy production and sleep quality.
  4. Go to bed by 10:00 p.m. The body creates an extra surge of cortisol after 11 p.m. to keep you awake if you push it past 10 pm. A good general rule of thumb is to make it to bed before 10 pm. This way you avoid the “wired and tired” syndrome. This is best for restoring our natural rhythms and keeping our immunity at peak. Not to mention, sleeping truly does make you beautiful!
  5. Don’t exercise within 2 hours of bedtime: Exercise can be a stress and promote a release of many stress substances. Exercise depletes glycogen, which is used to balance blood sugar while sleeping, to lower cortisol and to prevent the of carbon dioxide. When exercise chronic and exhausting, it can increase cortisol and lower sex hormones that promote sleep quality and lead to hypothyroid.Here’s a tip; exercise is least stressful when the metabolism is at its highest, using in the afternoon from 11 to 3 pm usually. However, if you cannot work out during this time, take 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 50 mg. of niacinamide, with some vitamin k before and after working out to reduce the stress from exercise.
  6. Consider These Supplements: While you can address most of the hormonal imbalances that ruin sleep with lifestyle and diet, there are a few clinically proven supplements that address the high stress chemicals. First is l-theanine, this is an amino acid that induces GABA and reduces cortisol. L-gylcine, found in Collagen/Gelatin also works the same, lowering cortisol by 20%. Consuming salt before bed can lower the adrenaline, putting an end to that racing mind.

Honestly, I say this time and time again health is not about what you put in, it is about what we can comfortably and happily take out. This rings true for our sleep as well, it is less about what we do and more about what we don’t do. These are sleep basics that are easy to implement immediately and most cost no money.

More on Food and Sleep

Your brain uses a lot of energy while you’re sleeping for releasing rest and repair hormones.  That being said, adequate nutrition is a powerful tool for improved sleep. We’ve covered a few dietary tips for sleep already, but here are a few more…

Dietary Tips for Great Sleep:

  1. Avoid PUFA: Polyunsaturated fats a.ka. PUFA are promoted as the “healthy fats”, yet they are highly toxic to the human physiology. They impair energy production and metabolism, they suppress immune function, lower the body temperature, damage the brain and heart, inhibit protein digestion, increase estrogen and even attribute to cancer, while impairing our detoxification systems.Not to mention, PUFA are the basic breakdown products that make up the inflammatory prostaglandins, isoprostanes, and lipid peroxides. Excess consumption of PUFA will not only ruin good sleep, but they are associated with many diseases including cancer, hair loss and diabetes.

     

  2. Eat 1-2 Tbsp. Raw Honey Before Bed. Your brain uses liver glycogen at night, and raw honey replenishes this supply and can create stable glucose levels for hours.
  3. Try Grass-fed Collagen Before Bed. This is perhaps one of my favorite’s because it has so many additional benefits other than lowering cortisol and increasing GABA. These supplements improves skin dramatically, thickens hair, and repairs joint and muscle tissue!

Here’s my pro-sleep tonic:

  • 1 cup warm, non-homogenized milk
  • 2 tbsp. raw honey
  • 2 scoops gelatin
  • dash of salt

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