by Jamie Scott, of Whole9 South Pacific , who lives at 43 degrees south in New Zealand and wakes up to a light alarm.
Last time we looked at the importance of sleep to overall health and touched on three pre-lunch strategies to help your body prepare for the coming night’s sleep.
Today we’ll be taking about after-lunch strategies to improve sleep quality. If you incorporate these things during the day, it will improve your sleep quality at night. First, we have to acknowledge that preparing for sleep several hours prior to going to bed does not come naturally to many people, let alone preparing for bed as soon as you get up. Many people simply cannot think this way, particularly when the strategies they would need to put in place during the day to ensure a good sleep at night put them into conflict with many other aspects of their day – such as work, family, social occasions, and so on. As a general rule, most of us will think and act in the here and now for many of the key decisions in our daily life rather than for something down the track.
Life, however, is full of compromise. So while some of these strategies might be difficult to do if they conflict with other areas of your life, you may need to ask what is more important in the grand scheme of things. Poor sleep, and the negative health consequences that travel with it, are so pervasive and damaging that those sleep-improvement strategies might just be worth it. And nobody ever complained of feeling fully-rested, energised and not chronically feeling under-slept.
Our morning strategies were largely focused on waking the body up properly and using the light and the composition of your breakfast to send all the right wake-up signals to your body, setting the stage for a circadian rhythm that is properly calibrated to the natural light-dark cycle. Doing so has the effect of synchronising your body clock with light and dark cycles so that you get tired and sleepy at the right time of the day (night-time) and that you have the correct precursors there in place to help your body produce enough of the hormone which will induce sleep for you (melatonin).
Having set up these important processes in the morning, the key to the afternoon then, is not to do anything to disturb and disrupt all that good work.
1. Kill the Caffeine
One of caffeine’s effects on our body, and indeed the very reason it helps to wake us up and make us feel alert, is its ability to boost our cortisol levels. In very simple terms, cortisol has a couple of key functions;
- It is the hormone responsible for waking us up in the morning, mobilizing energy and helping our brain fire on all cylinders.
- It is one of our key stress hormones.
If anyone knows anything about sleep, you will know that feeling stressed, even at a low level, makes sleep difficult to come by. Caffeine consumed in the morning is generally okay as the cortisol it stimulates is only minor given the amount which is already in circulation as part of our body waking up. But as we hit the afternoon and our natural cortisol levels are starting to drop, the last thing we need to do is to spike them back up with caffeine.
Caffeine has a half-life of approximately 6 hours (though this varies significantly person-to-person), meaning that it takes this long for your body to metabolise half of the amount of caffeine you have consumed down to half the dose. So if you drink a cup of coffee containing 100mg of caffeine, it will take approximately 6 hours to get it down to 50mg in your bloodstream.
If you are constantly drinking coffee all day, particularly late in the day, you will be increasing your caffeine levels (and thus sleep-destroying cortisol) faster than you can get it out of your system. Drink too much caffeine throughout the day and there is a good chance that you will be going to bed with the equivalent of a shot of espresso still in your system.
There is also considerable variation in how efficiently caffeine is metabolised, with some people carrying a specific genetic variant being able to break down caffeine more rapidly. But don’t get all excited – the majority of people are “slow metabolisers” of caffeine, and thus these guidelines are more likely to apply to you than not.
I have had people assure me that they can still fall asleep even after having a coffee late in the day. However, there is a big difference, qualitatively, between being able to fall asleep and going through all the natural deep sleep cycles you need to throughout the night.
This qualitative distinction is also a reason that alcohol is absolutely not your friend if sleep matters to you, since any significant amount of alcohol within a couple hours of sleep negatively affects the type of sleep you get, resulting in abnormal sleep patterns throughout the night. Being asleep is not the same as being in a deep sleep – something caffeine is very good at stopping you from entering, and alcohol is good at stopping you from maintaining. Red Bull and vodka? The worst idea ever.
To minimise the effect caffeine might be having on your sleep, it is a good idea to quit all sources of caffeine about 6-8 hours out prior to bed. In practical terms, this means you might be able to get away with an early afternoon coffee, but make that your last for the day. If you have any sleep or fatigue issues, we also recommend a Caffeine Holiday a couple times a year, too.
2. Blackout the Bluelight
From the Morning Edition, you will recall that I talked about how light is a key stimulus required to wake you up in the morning (hence why it is easier to wake up in the middle of summer compared to the middle of winter). When we talk about natural light being a stimulus to wake you up, what is specifically meant is the blue light spectrum of natural light. Rather inconveniently (but not by chance), all of our new modern techno toys – computer screens, tablets, smartphones, etc., emit light in almost exactly the right wavelength to stimulate the same process.
In other words, the blue light streaming into your eyes from your smartphone that you are holding right up to your face at 9 o’clock at night as you tell the world, via your InstaTwitFace account, that tonight is going to be the night that you finally get a good sleep, is actually sending a signal to your body that the sun is up and it is time to wake up. Research shows us that blue light (even when very dim) has a significant alerting effect – similar to caffeine!
Research in this area has shown that even just a small amount of use of these gadgets at night can delay your melatonin pulse (the hormone which will put you to sleep) by up to 2 hours. So if you are leaving it until 11pm at night to settle into bed, but you have been using your gadgets all night, it could be well after 12-1am before you really fully fall asleep.
Melatonin, in the normal run of things, starts pulsing at around 7pm and really winds up about 9pm. So, ideally, you would want to avoid overdoing the blue light toys around that time. Yeah, right. If you think asking someone to give up sugar is hard, try asking them to give up their iPhone and MySpaceFace account in the evening. It generally ain’t happening for anyone under the age of 30.
Your ‘hack’, should you find it completely impossible to unplug at night, is to wear glasses with orange lenses (similar to what cyclists wear for low light riding), as these glasses filter the sleep-killing blue light.
3. Improve Your Bedroom Environment
Next on our countdown to bedtime, is a check of your sleeping environment. Specifically, we want to look at the bed, the temperature, and the light. You are going to spend at least one-third of your life in bed, so a comfortable bed and pillows are going to be a good investment. For the bed at least, this isn’t perhaps a quick fix if it isn’t the most comfortable of sleepers, but certainly put it on your long list if you just can’t get comfortable.
Of more immediate concern, however, is the temperature of your room. Humans tend to sleep best in a room a bit on the cooler side, but not too cold. Around 16 degrees C (61-62 degrees F) seems to be optimal. This may necessitate cooling the room in summer or heating the room/bed in winter. Being too hot or too cold is a potent disruptor of sleep.
Try to also kill any artificial light sources – all the LEDs from alarm clocks, flashing notification lights on phones, or light from outdoor sources such as the streetlamps. Alarm clocks should be covered or put under the bed, phones and their notification systems should be off (airplane mode works great for this, too). Use the room layout and/or blackout curtains to ensure external light sources like street lamps aren’t seeping in. It’s also a good idea to avoid watching TV or movies in bed. Ideally, your bed is for sleeping and sex, not reading or watching TV or browsing Amazon on your iPad.
If you live in an area where sound pollution is an issue, a white noise machine is a great tool to help reduce how much sound pollution impacts your sleep. There are also mobile phone apps that work well, too.
4. Create a Bedtime Routine
A bedtime routine is a great way to tell your brain that it’s time to start winding down. For those of you with children, you’ll know that a consistent bedtime and routines help with sleep — this is true for adults as well. Dimming the lights, reading a (paper) book, or drinking a cup of herbal tea are good ways to set the tone for slipping easily into Dreamland. Massage, a warm shower or bath, and sex are all great soporifics. (A soporific is the sleep equivalent of aphrodisiac, and I know you know what that means.) Apply accordingly.
Some people find that gentle exercise such as a walk or a restorative yoga class help with sleep, but I will caution you against very intense or prolonged training within a couple hours of bedtime, as the cortisol response from your 10K run near lactate threshold or your 45 minute circuit training class will likely delay the onset of deep sleep.
That being said, evening exercise is better than no exercise at all, so if you are confined to the late evening hours for training, moderating your intensity and allowing more recovery between sets/intervals may help offset the unnatural schedule of modern life.
5. Reduce Emotional Commotion
One of the most potent simulators of the stress response is interpersonal conflict. Schedule all fights with your spouse before noon, and don’t read work-related emails right before bed. Nothing like that note from your boss to get you all wound up. Action movies or psychological thrillers can really get your heart pounding and make it tough to wind down right afterward, too. Episodes of Game of Thrones are hardly a good evening entertainment choice. Even really rousing books (especially engaging works of fiction) can get your cognitive engines whirring, which may or may not be a good thing right before bed.
As you can see, there is a lot involved with getting a good night’s sleep. When someone complains of not being a good sleeper, rarely have they ticked ALL of the boxes outlined in this before lunch and after lunch sleep strategy series and given them a chance to work. There are other sleep disruptors, yes, but these are the basics which everyone should apply first.
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How about #6… Don’t stress out over the 6 articles, media releases and/or reports I have seen this week (and it is only Thursday) on “the need for more than 5 hours sleep” and just chill and do your best!!!
Regarding point #3 — artificial light sources: I have a young infant who is currently sleeping in the master bedroom so that I can care for her more easily at night. To that end, I’ve been keeping a nightlight on all night as I find that it feels less disruptive to our sleep than turning it on and off multiple times over the course of the night. Any other possible solutions to having the nightlight on all night?
Hi Larissa
We had night lights around the home when I was a kid. They were always very dim red lights. If you are using them, I’d suggest the same.
Why red?
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/harvard_health_letter/2012/may/blue-light-has-a-dark-side/
“Red light has the least power to shift circadian rhythm and suppress melatonin.”
Hey- I thought that was my idea! ;-)
Hi Jamie,
Great article! I have one of the light alarms and I love it.
Do you think these same ideas/guidelines work for children too? I have a 3 year old daughter and she is having a difficult time going to bed AND staying asleep. We’ve experimented with different variables: no TV at night, lots of out door play, bed time routines, change in her diet, and nothing seems to be helping her sleep any better. I came across your article and was wondering if you had any thoughts about what we could try.
Her terrible sleep habits are severely impacting the entire family and I’d like for all of us to get a good nights rest soon!
Thanks,
Angie
I know you said she is 3, but you could check your library for baby and toddler sleep issues. I have also seen a book at Walmart in the baby section called Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. She could just be one of those rare individuals who only needs 5 or 6 hours of sleep. If it really is just her body wanting to stay awake you could try letting her look at books and play with non-battery-operated toys for those times when she wakes up at night. Just teach her that it IS okay that she plays, and that she should turn off her lamp when she is ready to sleep. If you take the pressure off her about sleeping, she may be happy enough to leave everyone else alone when she is up.
Hi Angie
All of these strategies apply to children too (especially the no coffee after noon :) ). Do the basics right, ensure there is enough good quality protein in the diet to make the sleep hormone precursors, and provided your daughter seems well rested each day, then just concentrate on your own sleep. Don’t fall into the trap of waking up and attending to her just because she is awake. Leave her to her own devices.
Jamie
Hi Angie,
Just to add to Jamie’s comments. Sleep intervention with toddlers is a bit like toilet training: you need to buckle up, set aside a few weeks, persevere, and throw everything at it. Here are a few things that worked for me, in addition to the strategies outlined above. I am going to have to disagree with a previous comment that your toddler may just need less sleep. I am yet to encounter any toddler who can survive, thrive and develop appropriately on 5-6 hours a night.
1. Start winding down 2 hours before bedtime. That means no vigorous play, no TV, no screens. Turn the lights down or close the curtains to create darkness. Feed your baby a warm meal rich in starches/tubers, for example lamb shanks with sweet potato mash. Half an hour before bedtime sit down in a quiet room and read a book to her. Remind her cheerfully and calmly several times that bedtime is coming soon.
2. Set a definitive bedtime. 7-7.30pm is a good time for toddlers. Arrange an alarm (nice old style chime works well) that rings at the same time every night signalling it is time for bed. When that rings you drop everything and take your baby to the bedroom (which should already be dark and cool).
3. No distractions in the bedroom. No toys, books, or devices available from the bed. Children are easily stimulated and will fight off sleep if their brain is wound up. Then they get “overtired” and unable to settle.
4. Give hugs, kisses but don’t linger too long after bedtime. Shut the door and walk away no matter what.
5. Make the time past the bedtime boring. Frequently toddlers come out of their room because they feel that they are being left out and there is more exciting stuff going on. If you turn on the TV, start chatting animatedly to your partner, or break off some late night dark chocolate treat – you are sending a message to your baby that bedtime sucks, and Mum and Dad are having a great ol’ time without her. So sit down with a book, keep conversation quiet, make it look boring and non inviting.
6. Don’t make eye contact. That’s a funny one, I know. An old midwife taught me this one and I have found it tremendously helpful. Babies and children thrive on attention. Newborn babies are intensely fixated on their parent’s face and eyes. To minimise stimulation at night time it is frequently advised not to make eye contact with your baby. I have no proof of this but I think it works well with toddlers too. When your toddler comes out of her room don’t engage, don’t interact, don’t scold her or raise your voice. Ignore her for as long as possible. She will inevitably try to attract your attention, maybe even start crying, or try to pull you away from your book. Maintain your poker face, calmly tell her it’s time for bed and take her back into her room. Don’t give her any hugs and kisses this time. Close the door.
7. Be prepared to do this all again, maybe even 5 minutes later. If she comes up with an inventive reason why she needs to be up behave exactly the same way: calm, not engaging, unemotional. If she needs water – water is given to her in her room, not outside where it’s more fun. If she needs water again (they get very “thirsty” at this time of the night) tell her no more water will be given till morning. Remember, you are smarter and have way more patience than a 3 year old!
8. Keep to the same routine, not deviating AT ALL. It may take a few days to break a few bad habits, then another few weeks to establish new ones. Every deviation to the routine at this time will result in total disruption and cause you to start at square one.
Good luck!
(Sorry guys, this was a novel!)
Dr Anastasia Boulais
Whole9 South Pacific
you did not mention how long she did sleep. Does she take a nap?
If I had to cool my bedroom to 62 degrees I would be bankrupt. Also, that would feel like sleeping in the fridge!
WOW! Thank you all so much for your advice, especially the “novel” from Anastasia. We are going to remove the distractions from her room and implement your suggestions. It’s so tough because when we leave her room, she immediately jumps out of her bed and runs to the door crying. We can’t even leave the room before she’s out of her bed. Ugh, so frustrating! We will work on making sure the other factors are in place and see where your advice leads us!
Thanks again, I really appreciate your time!
PS…Jamie, wise words on no coffee before noon! That made me laugh :)!
Angie, I can confirm everything Jamie and Anastasia has said re your daughter’s sleep habits and also the impact on your own. I say this as a two time parent separated by a decade and a bit. While a well intentioned parent first time round pretty much every one of the ‘rules’ we broke. On reflection I think the one around emotional commotion being the most not-followed and consequently the most disruptive longer term. If we were having challenges getting the kids to sleep, the agitation that would create would build a self reinforcing cycle that ended up with all of us tired and cranky. But getting the first 4 in place will go a long way toward mitigating the 5th.
Now, second time round I have a 5yr old who sleeps 7pm to 6.30am like clockwork. We have been sticklers for the routine and the wider habits and have reaped a bright vivacious healthy kid from the seeds we have sown. It has meant compromises with our night time activities but brings into focus the choice and reasons for being a parent in the first place. All the best with your efforts.
Any thoughts/recommendations on waking up too early. I don’t have any trouble falling asleep, but ever since the birds started chirping at 4:30 am last spring, that’s the time my body has decided to wake up. (our alarm is set for 6am) I’m averaging 6.5-7hours of sleep each nigh because of this, and it’s really starting to wear on me. Even now that it’s dark out at that time, my circadian rhythm still hasn’t re-set itself. Strangely, while camping for a week earlier this summer, I did actually stay asleep almost all night and slept all the way until 7am. Sure enough, once we were back home the strange sleep pattern came back. Could this be a cortisol issue?
Hi Brenna
Sounds like you might need a bit more light later in the day in order to shift your phase. It will be cortisol waking you up early (that is its job), so do consider other factors which may be leading to an earlier cortisol spike (such as low blood glucose). But if you notice that when camping, you are sleeping fine (assuming you camp in summer, with sunset occurring a bit later), then you may need to replicate this at home as best you can, by getting as much bright light in the eyes as you can after 12pm, and certainly any last bursts of light after 3pm. You will need to do this consistently to advance your sleeping phase.
I would also suggest advancing some of the other factors which might be adding to the entrainment of your home rhythm, e.g. have a later meal, delay your going to bed a fraction.
Hi Jamie,
Some great tips and advice there. I’m going to check out these light alarms. I use a phone alarm that progresses from quiet to loud so it doesn’t fully rip me from my sleep. I’ve always turned my phone over so that the light doesn’t flood the room.
What do you think of pre workout supplements that people take? These normally have one cup of coffee equivalent of caffeine. Would that also last for six hours roughly?
Thanks!
Hi Jason
Once you move to a light alarm, there’s no going back! Very jarring to wake up to an audible alarm after using one.
Re: Pre-workout supplements. Caffeine is caffeine. It all has to be metabolised through the same pathways and will take largely the same time to metabolise (be if fast or slow depending on your personal status). If you are training in the late afternoon/evening, and want to be able to both initiate and sustain good deep sleep, then my advice would be against using such formulations.
Cheers,
Jamie
HEy Jamie,
Thanks for your reply. For some weird reason I tend to wake up shortly before the alarm so I’m already half awake. Even if I set my alarm an hour earlier I’m waking up before it.
Yeah, when I was training I stopped taking them anyway. Although when I was, I only took a half dose at my trainers suggestion.
Thanks
Jason
I was thinking about the comment on camping. Were you sleeping on the ground, like in a sleeping bag (as opposed to on a cot or in a camper?) If on the ground, have you heard about Earthing – dispelling the body of excess ions by grounding to the earth? (Just like we ground everything electrical.) I try to make sure I get onto actual earth with bare feet every few days. Also regarding camping, often that takes place out in nature, where it is quiet with less light and sound pollution, and EMF’s, which also helps sleep.
Hi Terri,
I try to get my feet on nature at times because I also believe that we gain power through connecting with nature. I haven’t heard about excess ions before. I learnt this from a friend who had me do yoga at 6am in the morning barefoot. Actually, today I was standing by the river in my city with my eyes clothed breathing into my heart. It felt amazing!
Thanks!
Jason
How do you resolve the conflict between blocking out streetlights at night, but needing sunlight to come in through the windows first thing in the morning?!
Hi Steph
You have to balance which is the priority for you – getting to sleep or waking up? We have a similar issue with light creeping into our bedroom. But for us, generally, we have no issue with being able to fall asleep and get into a deep sleep for the first 3 hours. And I actually find the first cracks of light coming into the room in the morning help me wake up more naturally.
However, if you are someone who finds the light is really disturbing your initiation of good deep sleep, you would prioritise blacking out the windows over letting the morning light in. Strategies you could employ include blackout curtains, but switching to a light alarm clock (I can’t recommend them enough – the best way to wake up), or wearing an eye mask, either for the entire night (maybe removing it as you come toward lighter sleep in the morning, near dawn), or taking it off part way through the night, after you have had that first ~3h block of deep sleep.
Jamie
Regarding the routine, you say “reading a (paper) book”. I recently bought a kindle paperwhite (no more room for books!), do you have any idea if they disturb sleep?
Hi Philip
Providing there is no blue-light emitting back light to these, then there shouldn’t be a problem.
Cheers,
Jamie
Any suggestions for those of us who do shift work? I work 7pm – 7am in a very busy, high stress ER. I am also trying to conceive which in the past has caused severe insomnia. Any and all suggestions are more than welcome and greatly appreciated!
Michelle,
Here’s a great article on shift work: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/55156756199/surviving-the-night-shift
And here’s some info for preconception health: http://whole9life.com/2014/09/preconception-health/
Hope that helps!
I have been trying to resolve my sleep issues and really appreciate these articles. I am wondering about the efficacy of a sleep mask. Our bedroom does have some artificial light with a digital clock, so last night I wore a sleep mask which seemed to help slightly. The main thing is that our eyes don’t detect the light, correct?
Trina,
It’s definitely better than nothing if that’s all you’re able to do, but removing the artificial light would be best.
Thanks for the reply, Crystal. I have been using the sleeping mask for several nights now, and I find that it is helping tremendously. Plus it is very comfortable and I feel like a queen sleeping with it. Lol! I quite love it :) Then, in the morning, I pull it off and face the sun! It is so nice!
My husband uses the Tempurpedic sleep mask. Does an amazing job blocking out light. We saw the recommendation on Nomnompaleo.com.