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August 31, 2019 - January 21, 2020
Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
However, if our body clock is on the fritz, and we are not getting enough exposure to natural light, our serotonin production—and our health—is going to suffer.
The Mind-Body Mood Solution,
Even a cloudy day delivers 10 times more brightness than ordinary indoor lighting.”
When compared to office workers who have direct access to windows at work, those office workers who didn’t have access to windows got 173 percent less exposure to natural light and, as a result, slept an average of 46 minutes less each night.
Not only is serotonin rooted in your belly, it is also located in blood platelets, your central nervous system, and even your skin.
Your skin absorbs UV rays from the sun that automatically promote the production of more vitamin D and serotonin.
human skin can produce serotonin and transform it into melatonin.
The body clock is most responsive to sunlight in the early morning, between 6:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Exposure to sunlight later is still beneficial but doesn’t provide the same benefit. Of course, this is going to vary depending on the time of the year, but make it a habit to get some sun exposure during that prime-time light period.
UVB based on where you are in the world through the bonus Sleep Smarter resources at sleepsmarterbook.com/bonus.
phototherapy devices
nighttime iPad readers took longer to fall asleep, felt less sleepy at night, and had shorter REM sleep compared to test subjects who were assigned to read regular printed books.
Dopamine is a brain chemical that’s all about seeking. It’s about the hunt. It’s about finding out what’s coming next.
Dopamine is tied to motivation and alertness, whereas serotonin is tied to contentment and relaxation.
Awareness is the biggest key. Just realizing what’s happening in your brain as you’re scrolling through Facebook starts to break the old pattern. When you realize what your brain is doing, you basically catch yourself in the act of seeking. When you catch yourself inching close to the edge of the Internet black hole, it’s important that you instantly change your behavior because the brain likes to create patterns. And if you continue to do the same thing, it will only make that behavior stronger.
you want to give your body the deep sleep it needs, make it a mandate to turn off all screens at least 90 minutes before bedtime in order to allow melatonin and cortisol levels to normalize. If you ignore this and continue to have problems sleeping, I promise you Jimmy Fallon is not going to pay your hospital bills.
If you want to get the best sleep possible, and take back control of your brain, turning off as many visual and auditory cues as you can will be an instant game-changer.
blue light blocker.
they weren’t actually dipping into normal ranges of REM and deep sleep according to the sleep monitor.
I had her swap out her coffee for a strong caffeinated tea (like Earl Grey, pu-erh, yerba maté, or English breakfast) that has a nice lick of caffeine, but only one-third to one-half the amount that she would find in coffee.
Fiber was another important adjunct combined with the increase in fluid intake. A lot of people lean on coffee for the epic bowel movements it can stimulate.
Go full on as needed. This is where the magical, “when we first met,” experience can happen with coffee and caffeine. On most days, ignore it;
Studies have found that the optimal room temperature for sleep is really quite cool at around 60° to 68°F. Anything too far above or below this range will likely cause some difficulty sleeping.
With the caps, the insomniacs took about 13 minutes to fall asleep, compared to 16 minutes for the healthy control group.
Make sure that the temperature in your bedroom stays close to the recommended 68°F at night.
additional cooling pad
Wear a pair of warm socks to bed if you need to.
sleeping during the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.
For example, you may be sleeping from 1:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and getting 8 hours of sleep, but you are missing out on most of that money time when the beneficial hormone secretions are at their highest. Melatonin, human growth hormone (HGH), and more are secreted in their strongest doses when your sleep is lined up properly.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has now classified overnight shift work as a Group 2A carcinogen.
melatonin has very strong antiestrogenic effects. Many breast cancer drugs actually utilize synthetic antiestrogens because of their ability to inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation.
Authors of numerous studies suggest that the higher rates of diabetes in shift workers are because of the damaging effects this type of work has on insulin.
More injuries, more accidents, and a higher rate of mortality are seen consistently for those who are working overnight.
She’s bringing up the fact that it’s really advantageous to have a consistent sleep schedule no matter what day it is.
For most people, this is going to mean somewhere between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. most of the year.
make a habit of getting some sunlight as soon as possible when you wake up.
Sleep cycles typically last for 90 minutes each and repeat four to six times per night. So, six normal 90-minute sleep cycles would equal 9 total hours of sleep.
Shoot for getting that minimum of four sleep cycles in for a total of 6 hours.
Serotonin is produced in the enterochromaffin cells in the intestinal mucosa. Once it’s released, it activates your system to increase intestinal motility. Serotonin literally helps the ebb and flow of your digestion overall.
What researchers at UCLA were shocked to find was that about 90 percent of the fibers in the vagus nerve carry information from the gut to the
brain and not the other way around. The environment in your gut and the health of your gut is a primary system calling the shots with your brain function. This highlights the fact that what happens in vagus really does not stay in vagus.
It’s really the ratio of friendly bacteria to unfriendly bacteria that matters. You want the good guys controlling your ship, because if the bad guys take over, they will keep steering you right to the fast-food drive-thru and causing a ruckus that keeps you up at night.
•Processed foods: The excessive sugars are
shown to feed pathogenic bacteria.
Selenium:
Vitamin C: A study published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS) revealed that people with low blood levels of vitamin C had more sleep issues and were more prone to waking up during the night.
Tryptophan:
shiitake mushrooms,
omega-3s are chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts, halibut, salmon, and flax seeds.
But the most effective method of safely and effectively boosting your magnesium levels is through topical application onto your skin.
