As of late i’ve been reading up and researching on how to improve sleep quality for my upcoming book ‘Sleep Zen: Your Go-To Guide For Quality Rest & Recovery’ and i’ve been learning a lot of interesting tips that are counter-intuitive but quite affective for improving the quality of your sleep when you implement them. The book should be released sometime in April and I will definitely write about it and share it here on the website and facebook page.
One thing that I have recently learned that negatively affects your sleep is the type of lighting and brightness of lighting used before you go to sleep. As the sun sets we should too. “Sleep With The Sun” could be the catchphrase of my upcoming book, Sleep Zen. The importance of sleeping with the sun helps you get higher quality, deeper sleep because your body is resting when it is genetically wired too.
When the sun rises in the morning and light hits our eyes it notifies our bodies to make shifts to balance our circadian rhythms. What is your circadian rhythm? your circadian rhythm is your biological clock that creates changes within your body as darkness and light enter your eyes. Think of light and darkness entering your eyes as food entering and leaving your digestive system. Your body processes food, extracts nutrition and removes the waste. Your digestive system has a cycle to work when it needs too and to not work when it doesn’t need too.
Same with your energy levels, hormones and body as a whole and the circadian rhythm is the rhythm that monitors and gauges these aspects in your life. Have low levels of energy? your circadian rhythm could be off. Have hormonal imbalances? your circadian rhythm could be off once again. If your circadian rhythm is not balanced and working properly a whole set of problems could occur in your health that confuses the hormonal, energetic and even your temperature. You want your circadian rhythm to be balanced just like you want your hormones to be balanced, your pH to be balanced etc.
So What Happens When The Sun Goes Down And Rises In The Morning?
When the sun sets and darkness begins to surround you, your eyes recognize this and it sends this information, this signal to the brain to notify your brain to produce melatonin. Melatonin is a ‘sleep hormone’ that allows your body to relax and fall into a state of rest and sleep. When the sun rises in the morning your body recognizes the light and because your eyes sense this light, the pineal gland produces serotonin and vitamin D.
Serotonin is a hormone that wakens your mind, makes you feel happy and engaged and ready to start your day. Have you noticed that on days that are sunnier when you are outside you feel more energy? This is because your levels of serotonin and vitamin D are elevated. When it’s cloudy out and there isn’t much light for your eyes to recognize as ‘daytime’ the Pineal gland doesn’t produce as much serotonin and vitamin D for energy and mental clarity.
So How Do We Use This Circadian Rhythm Information To Our Advantage To Improve Our Health?
When the sun sets, we should use as little amount of light as possible. Ideally we should be going to sleep when the sun sets for the most optimized and healthiest sleep that we can get, but sometimes we don’t have the time to do so! So what can you do? You can use candlelight which is nice but if you don’t have a good source for natural candles it isn’t that healthy and can get pricey.
I recommend switching your lights to lights that more closely represent the sun and create a more relaxed mood in your environment. What kind of lighting is that? Himalayan Salt Lamps are lamps made out of himalayan sea salt which are a duller form of lighting that are orange-like in their color, which more closely represents and resembles the sun as opposed to a light bulb that contains white light.
Not only that, but himalayan salt lamps are great EMF busters. The heat from the lamps through the himalayan salt creates negative ions which are good for grounding/earthing as well as helping to break up electromagnetic frequencies in your environment to create a more calm and stress free atmosphere, which is better for sleep. On top of all of that, the cherry on top is that these lamps help to clean the air by using newly bonded negative ions to attach to particles in the air to cause them to clump together and fall to the ground.
So basically, you have better lighting for your circadian rhythm, these lamps create negative ions beneficial for blocking EMF’s and creating an environment that is more free of geopathic stress as well as an air purifying lamp.
They have a calming, relaxing, purifying and environmentally pleasing affect that helps to prepare your body for rest. I recommend having these all over your home and especially in your bedroom so that before sleep your eyes and environment is exposed to this positive environment that properly prepares you for sleep.
I got my lamps from the himalayan salt shop, I have a pyramid, a globe and an essential oil burning salt lamp in my bedroom (as you can see below) and absolutely love them.
Hopefully you get to experience these lamps and enjoy them and benefit your sleep like I have!
Until next time, Pura Vida!
– David Benjamin
P.S. Also, if you can just go to sleep earlier and make it a habit to go to sleep earlier, closer to when the sun sets basically so that you can awaken when the sun rises. Your circadian rhythm will thank you and you will feel better because of it.
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