I know, friend. You’re not sleeping well. You’re frustrated. Take a deep breath. Help is on the way.
The power of light
Did you know that the things you do throughout the day have an impact on the quality of sleep you get each night? Well, it’s true. Things like diet, exercise, and stress management are all important keys to getting a good, restorative night’s rest.
But there are two things that should happen each day that will have a BIG impact. And they’re simple. Ready?
#1: Bright light in your eyes within 30 minutes of waking. Preferably the sun.
#2: Limit the amount of light getting in your eyes after sunset.
I said they were simple, but that doesn’t always mean easy.
But you can do this. I know you can.
These two habits have HUGE potential for keeping your circadian rhythm healthy and helping you get deep, restful, restorative sleep each and every night.
Ready to dig in?
Circadian Rhythm: What it is and why it’s important
Have you noticed how God’s creation has a rhythm to it?
And I don’t know about you, but I find these God-ordained rhythms beautiful, worthy of respect, and downright holy.
There are seasons that dictate the rhythm of the years.
And there is our heartbeat that dictates the rhythm of our life.
And you know what? There are sunrises and sunsets that dictate the rhythm of our sleep. Or at least they should.
Encyclopedia Britannica defines circadian rhythm as “the cyclical 24-hour period of human biological activity.”
There are important things that happen biologically while we are awake and equally important things that happen biologically while we are sleeping.
And if those biological processes that happen while we’re sleeping are important, we want to make sure we’re giving them the best chance to “do their thang” every night, right?
Yep, absolutely.
So how the heck does our body know when to sleep and when to wake up? The biggest influence is…drumroll…
LIGHT.
How light affects our sleep
You want the simple facts? Light (ideally bright light from the sun) tells our body it’s time to wake up and do all the biologically appropriate daytime things. Darkness (specifically a lack of light in the blue/green spectrum) tells our body it’s time to sleep and do all the biologically appropriate nighttime things.
That’s the most basic explanation you’ll get.
But for those of us who want a little more meat, here you go…
As I was doing research for this article, I came across a German medical journal called Somnologie. Thankfully, I found an English translation.
This journal has an article titled “Effects of Light on Human Circadian Rhythms, Sleep, and Mood.” For those of you who are familiar with my story, you can probably guess that I was super excited to find something that felt like it was written FOR ME. Scientific research about sleep and mood in the same article?! Friends, I may have actually started drooling. 🙂
Here are some key points; feel free to skip down to the next section if you’re not excited about the science-y stuff:
(Here’s a link to the article in case you want to read the whole thing for yourself.)
• “Our circadian pacemaker, the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) in the hypothalamus, is entrained to the 24-hour solar day via a pathway from the retina and synchronises our internal biological rhythms.”
• “SCN neurons adjust their circadian phase (of neural activity) according to the input of ambient light levels and its spectral composition and communicate this information via humoral and autonomic nervous system signals to the rest of the body.”
• “The SCN also projects to the pineal gland, where the sleep-facilitating hormone melatonin is produced during the biological night, thereby modulating the diurnal variations between wakefulness and sleep.”
That part that I have in red is critical. The light around us and where that light falls on the spectrum is something that our body pays attention to.
And therefore, my sweet, beautiful, sleep-deprived friends, so should we.
The benefits of bright light in the morning
So if our bodies have internal clocks that pay attention to the light around us, what advantage does getting bright light in the morning (as soon after waking as possible) give us?
Well, in simple terms, it tells our brains it’s time to start the day. And the closer to our waking time our brain receives that message, the better off we’ll be in the evening.
“Natural daylight at high intensities as experienced outside buildings has previously been shown to (1) advance the timing of sleep to earlier hours, (2) affect the duration of sleep, and (3) improve sleep quality.”
Cindy’s summary: If you’re having trouble falling asleep at night, staying asleep, or sleeping deeply, get your adorable little tush outside first thing in the morning and get some natural daylight in your eyes.
To clarify, this doesn’t mean looking directly AT the sun. Let’s not damage our eyes here, folks.
What I’ve found most helpful is to get outside within 30 minutes of waking and face east. Most of the time, that means going for a walk and starting in an easterly direction. But I’m not looking at the sun. I’m looking at the birds, the trees, the flowers, the uneven Marietta sidewalks, or my faithful old-man dog Stewart stopping to sniff and pee for the 427th time.
But for at least the first half of my walk, I’m facing the sun. My eyes are being exposed to the most natural daylight possible. And I’m not wearing sunglasses. 🙂
Next yummy tidbit:
“Beyond this, sleep quality is also related to light exposure during the day. Several studies report that daytime exposure to white light enriched in short-wavelength content was associated with increased evening fatigue, and sleep quality, decreased sleep-onset latency, and increased slow-wave sleep accumulation…”
Okay, that quote says basically the same thing as the first one but with some different, fancy, sleep-nerd words. 🙂
You want to fall asleep quickly, stay asleep, and wake feeling rested? Expose thy face to the light. Preferably outside. In the morning. As soon as possible after you wake up.
What if getting outside first thing in the morning isn’t possible?
Great question. This is definitely something to think about and plan ahead for.
If you can’t get outside first thing in the morning for whatever reason, the best way to ensure that you have bright, full spectrum light in your eyes is with a light therapy lamp.
You may have heard of these before, but basically they’re lights that mimic the full-spectrum nature of sunlight as closely as possible.
It’s not as effective as getting outside in natural light, but it’s absolutely a gazillion times better than not getting ANY bright light in your face in the morning.
So if you’re looking for a recommended light therapy lamp, I highly recommend this one by Verilux. It’s the best mixture of quality and good pricing.
The problems with bright light in the evening
Okay, we’re convinced that bright light (either via natural light outdoors or a light therapy lamp) is the bomb. Got it. Check. What’s next?
Well, we gotta talk about that stinkin’ problem of too much light in the evening.
Chew on this (also from that same cool Somnologie article)…
“Rather recently, the availability of artificial light has substantially changed the light environment, especially during evening and night hours. This may increase the risk of developing circadian rhythm sleep–wake disorders (CRSWD), which are often caused by a misalignment of endogenous circadian rhythms and external light–dark cycles. While the exact relationship between the availability of artificial light and CRSWD remains to be established, nocturnal light has been shown to alter circadian rhythms and sleep in humans.”
Oof. Let’s face it. Artificial light has become an enormous part of our modern-era evenings. But we need to be intentional about limiting it.
Why? Well, because most artificial light is full-spectrum or pretty close to it. That means it mimics the sun and is capable of tricking our brains into thinking it’s daytime and therefore preventing our bodies from doing all those super important nighttime things (like releasing melatonin).
Have you ever noticed that most sunsets have a warm glow to them and are mostly pink-ish orange? Yep, that’s by divine design to help signal to our bodies through our eyes that it’s time to start transitioning from daytime biological activities to nighttime ones.
Let’s fix it…
So what does it look like to limit our exposure to artificial light in the evening?
Well, it looks like turning off full-spectrum lights, using dim, warm-tone lights (including candlelight!) , and turning off the TV, computer, iPad, etc.
I know some of you are groaning right now at the idea of limiting your screen usage in the evening. I get it; it’s pretty counter-cultural. But there are some work-arounds.
First of all, if you MUST be on your devices after sunset, I highly recommend using Night Shift on your phone and other electronics. Here’s an Apple support article about how to turn it on.
Secondly, invest in a pair of blue/green light-blocking glasses. Clear ones are okay, amber ones are better (here are some clip-ons), but the red ones are ideal. And the wrap-around style are most effective.
I know, I know, you think you’ll look like a doof. But you’ll be a well-rested doof, so #winning.
On a personal note, one of the last things I do in the evening is a crossword puzzle. But I like the crossword puzzles on my phone. So what’s a light-dimming, circadian-rhythm-respecting girl to do???
I utilize the red screen function on my phone. Here’s an easy-to-understand article on how to activate that setting on your iPhone.
The Summary: Change your habits; become a sleep rockstar.
It’s a pretty sweet deal actually. Nothing expensive. And so, so, so much potential for amazing results.
Here’s the drilled-down version:
• Find a way to get bright light in your eyes within 30 minutes of waking. Your best bet is to get outside where light is the most intense, even on cloudy days. If that isn’t possible, either because you’re getting up before the sun or because the weather just won’t allow it, it would be wise to invest in a light therapy lamp.
• When the sun goes down (or about 2-3 hours before you want to sleep), turn off the full-spectrum lights in your house, utilize warmer, more orange-y lights, use blue-light blockers (like these), and limit screen usage as much as possible.
A healthy circadian rhythm is good for more than just sleep
A quick search on the internet will show you that a healthy circadian rhythm is also important for productivity, mental health, and even such things as cardiac health and our immune systems.
So sweet friends, it is absolutely 100% worth the time and effort to make some habit shifts to support your circadian rhythm.
I’d love to hear which ones you’ve tried.
A prayer…
Father God, thank you that in Your infinite wisdom, you have created a rhythm to life. Thank you for the creation of nighttime that reminds us to slow down and that we aren’t supposed to just keep going and going and going.
As we process changes we may need to pursue in this area of better respecting Your rhythms, will You guide us and give us wisdom in this area?
Remind us that Your ways are good and that You can always be trusted.
And to YOU be the glory today and always.
We pray these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.