the science of sleep | #1
Hello Friends,
Welcome to Wednesday Wisdom, where I share the many cool and interesting things that I come across in my pursuit of bettering myself every day. Here are the things that I have discovered while studying this month’s theme and any other cool things I’m excited about. I hope this provides a little bit of entertainment and enlightenment in your life.
April Theme
The Science of Achieving Optimal Sleep
We all know that feeling of a nice restorative night of sleep, we feel amazing and ready to tackle any task that the day has for us! In the health trinity - diet, exercise, and sleep - sleep trumps the other two by far. A night of bad sleep will have much worse effects than a day of bad diet or no exercise. Sleep plays a role in so many different aspects of your mental and physical wellbeing. Sleep is one of my favorite things to learn about and improving your slumber is a low cost way to enhance your health tremendously.
Favorite Sleep Researcher:
Dr. Matthew Walker is a British sleep scientist who is a professor at UC Berkeley. I first started following him a few years ago when I read his book, “Why We Sleep”. This book got me hooked on learning about sleep and ways to improve it. He is also a phenomenal speaker where he engages you in passion filled conversations about sleep physiology. He has his own podcast called The Matt Walker Podcast but I am very excited this month as he is doing a 6 part podcast series with Dr. Andrew Huberman! At the very least, check out his TED Talk where it has over 12 million views!
Sleep and Light:
Light is intimately connected with our sleep-wake cycle or also known as our circadian rhythm. The presence or absence of photons in our eyes determines whether we are inhibiting or producing melatonin, respectively. This means as we wake up we want to get as much light exposure as we can so we can stop making melatonin and feel awake. At night we want to do the opposite and limit the amount of light we are exposed to so we can start naturally producing melatonin and start feeling sleepy. Dr. Huberman has a great explanation in this video, of the biology between your circadian rhythm and light.
Morning and Day:
Light exposure during this time is as easy as going outside and viewing sunlight for 5-10 minutes on clear days, and 10-20 minutes on overcast days. This morning light exposure should ideally be done outside because windows filter out the relevant wavelengths of light we need to stop producing melatonin. Here’s another great post by Dr. Huberman on the importance of early morning sun gazing.
Night:
This is where it gets a little more tricky as the modern age does not care about our circadian rhythms. We are now constantly bombarded by artificial light after the sun goes down whereas our ancestors never experienced that. Blue light from our devices will inhibit melatonin production which will keep us feeling awake. On top of limiting light exposure to my best ability, I use blue light blocking glasses about 2-3 hours before bed to start naturally producing melatonin. As I go to bed I ensure my room is completely dark with black out curtains and a sleep mask.
Additional Finds
Book I’m Reading:
“When The Shoe Fits: Stories of the Taoist Mystic Chiang Tzu” by Osho. This book has been very eye-opening for me and just in the first chapter it has been challenging a lot of my beliefs in life. From Amazon: “The powerful combination of the perennial wisdom of Tao and Osho's insightful and inspirational interpretation makes this a true gem of a book… about the spiritual search, love, acceptance and true peace and happiness. With wonderfully irreverent humour, Osho sets out to pierce our disguises, shatter our illusions, cure our addictions and demonstrate the self-limiting and often tragic folly of taking ourselves too seriously.”
Quote That Struck Me:
"Sleep is the Swiss army knife of health. When sleep is deficient, there is sickness and disease. And when sleep is abundant, there is vitality and health." - Matthew Walker.
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