You’re struggling with sleep? I want to help.
Sleep is a FOUNDATIONAL piece of our health. Our brain, metabolism, immune system, digestive tract, detox systems, and hormones all work better when we get good sleep. If we’re not getting enough sleep, or good quality sleep, that can be a big barrier to healing and seeing progress even if we’re doing all the right things with food, exercise, and supplements.
If you’re struggling with sleep, or just want to optimize and get deeper sleep, here’s 10 things you can work on.
Pick ONE and start being consistent with it this week (use a random number generator if you can’t choose!). You don’t have to do all 10 tonight, but I’d love to know if you see changes in sleep quality as you start to incorporate more of these.
1. Sleep in a cold(er) room. Our evenings are starting to cool off, and the sun is setting earlier and rising later. It’s considered “sleeping weather” when the nights are cooler, because we actually sleep BETTER when the room temperature is closer to 65-70º.
2. Get off your screens and dim your lights an hour before bedtime. I know this isn't the first time you've heard how screens can impact your sleep. There’s an unbelievable amount of research on the effect that screens have on melatonin levels and sleep quality. Harvard researchers found that blue light (found in screens) suppressed melatonin levels for about 3 hours and shifted circadian rhythms. Yes, 3 hours!
3. Spend more time outside. In a way, the sun “charges” our melatonin during the day, in order to use it overnight. This study looked at the effect that increased sun exposure (time outside) had on sleep quality after just 5 days. The early morning sunlight in particular, is helpful for entrenching and strengthening our circadian rhythm, which in part dictates our sleep-wake cycles.
4. Increase protein and vegetables, and reduce refined carbohydrates in your evening meal. One paper showed the association of low protein diets (<16% calories from protein) with poor quality of sleep and difficulty initiating sleep. Complete proteins contain an amino acid called tryptophan, which is particularly high in poultry and salmon. Tryptophan is a building block for serotonin (one of our feel-good hormones), and serotonin is a precursor for melatonin. This study showed that young women with low vegetable intake experienced an increase in sleep quality after a 3 month period of increasing fruits and vegetables. The science about how blood sugar works plays a role too - when we overeat refined carbohydrates (rice, pasta, bread, sugar) without adequate balance with protein, fiber and healthy fats, that leads to blood sugar spikes and crashes, which can disturb sleep or prevent you from getting into deep sleep.
5. Put your nervous system to bed. And by that I mean, play around with a practice before bed that allows your nervous system and stress response to “turn off”, and switch into a rest-and-digest state. For ~16 hours a day our brains are constantly checking notifications, responding to requests, scanning for danger, or solving a problem. Our brain needs the cue that it’s OK to power down for 8 hours. A guided sleep meditation, or EFT/Tapping routine before bed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjc6_bDzdMs) can be a powerful way to relax the nervous system and turn off the busy thoughts running through your brain as you try to fall asleep, or that wake you up from a deep sleep.
6. Limit water consumption after dinner. If you’re someone who wakes up to pee, and then has a hard time falling back asleep, this is for you! Firstly, I want to be clear that peeing during the night is not a direct result of water consumption. If we’re in deep sleep, we won’t pee, pretty much no matter how much water you drink before bed. Blood sugar, stress, and other disturbances tend to keep us from getting deep sleep, which is when we wake up to pee. However, if we can limit the chance of getting out of bed, that will allow us to fall back into sleep more easily between sleep cycles. Of course, drink water if you’re thirsty, but try to front load your day with hydration so you’re not playing catch up in the evening.
7. Track your sleep! Are there days of the week you sleep better or worse than others? Are there points in your cycle (my menstruating friends) where sleep is better or worse? Are there seasons of the year (winter vs summer) where sleep changes? Does morning vs after-work workouts impact your sleep? Does eating breakfast or finishing dinner earlier help with sleep (yes, it probably does!)? When we track, we can see patterns, and when we see patterns, we can develop strategies.
8. Change your meal timing. Elaborating on that last one, not only what you’re eating for dinner (from #4), but WHEN you eat dinner can influence sleep quality. Finishing dinner ~3+ hours before bedtime can mean the difference between a body that’s ready for sleep, or a body that needs to prioritize digestion. This study showed that eating dinner <3 hours before bedtime increased nighttime wakings and sleep disturbances, and another study showed that it increased the time it takes to fall asleep (called sleep latency).
9. Switch to half caff, or stick to only 1 cup of coffee in the morning. Caffeine changes our cortisol output and cortisol levels are intimately connected to our sleep quality. Even if you only drink caffeine in the morning, try reducing it to half of what you normally drink. I, too, am a coffee drinker! So I don’t take “ditch the coffee” lightly. BUT, I switched to drinking half-caff or decaf about ~4 years ago and it’s made a huge difference in my sleep. If your priority is sleep, consider your coffee/caffeine intake.
10. Nicotine and alcohol will also impact your circadian rhythm and disrupt sleep. Alcohol, like coffee, is an unpopular target for my sleep crusades…but I would be doing doing you a huge disservice if it didn't make it onto this list. Even 1 drink for women, and 2 drinks for men can reduce sleep quality by 24%, and more than 1 drink can decrease sleep quality by 39% (Sleep Foundation).
11. [Bonus!] Make time for sleep. Just like we make time to go to the gym, get to work on time, or do anything else we know is good for us or necessary. Sleep isn’t just something we do to fill the time before our next busy day and work, with friends or family. Sleep needs to be prioritized in its own right! I recommend carving out at least 9 hours, to ensure you have time to wind down and fall into 8 hours of restful sleep. Make time for rest, or your body will make time for you.
I hope you’re brimming with ideas for how you can get a more prompt, longer, and deeper night’s sleep.
If you need more support or continue to struggle with sleep, despite having everything above in place, I’d love to hop on a call and see what else might be missing and causing sleep issues. Book a complimentary discovery call here.