6 ways to support your sleep throughout the day

Plot twist: sleep hygiene isn’t only what you’re doing during the few hours before bed. It can also include choices you make as soon as you wake up in the morning.

Did you know that?

Cultivating a sleep routine and practicing good sleep hygiene is a big part of my work with clients as quality sleep is foundational to wellness. Even further, if you struggle in the sleep department, with symptoms like insomnia, restlessness, trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep, and the like, you are likely experiencing some sort of dysfunction underneath the surface that is manifesting in one of the symptoms listed.

Consider integrating the following six ways you can better support restorative sleep as you navigate your day.

Morning sunlight and light exposure throughout the day:

Getting direct sunlight exposure, ideally without SPF or sunglasses, supports a healthy circadian rhythm. The light is received by your eyes, which alerts the pineal gland that it is time for wakefulness — it’s daytime. This triggers the release of cortisol, our stress hormone, that is meant to peak in the early hours of the day. Conversely, one can imagine how harmful artificial lighting may be in the evening hours, as we are trying to wind down. During the morning hours and throughout the day, it is recommended to take advantage of the natural sunlight and/or UVB lights you may have in your environment to help support alertness and healthy hormone regulation to support sleep.

Keep caffeine intake to before 12:00pm-1:00pm.

We are a caffeine-obsessed. Many people are drinking caffeinated beverages all throughout the day, into the afternoon and evening hours. Or, you’re the type of person that hits mid afternoon and feels a crash and reaches for another cup of coffee. This could be a byproduct or symptom of dysregulated cortisol, of blood sugar concerns, of gut issues, and beyond. There are a number of reasons as to why this mid afternoon fluctuation in energy, or even fluctuations throughout the day, could be taking place. However, the remedy, more often than not, is not another cup of coffee. Caffeine, as one can imagine, has a significant impact on one’s sleep. Caffeine has a half life of 5 hours — meaning, drinking milligrams upon milligrams (~100mg in one cup of coffee or an espresso shot) later in the day, requires quite a bit of time for it to be fully metabolized and out of the consumer’s system.

Move your body in the morning or sometime throughout the day.

The influence of movement spans far and wide! Sleep hygiene is no exception. Moving your body is one of the best ways to support better quality sleep. My favorite morning activity is getting outside to walk for 20-30 minutes with my golden retriever, while I soak up the morning sun. I am not only getting movement and my sunlight to support healthy hormones and restful sleep, Lulu gets her steps in too! My belief system around movement is that ‘one size does not fit all — there is not one prescriptive way to move.’ That said, find what works for you! According to the National Library of Medicine, “Exercise has long been associated with better sleep. Despite surprisingly little experimental research involving patients with significant sleep disturbance or sleep disorders, the available evidence suggests that exercise holds promise as a non-pharmacologic therapy for adults with poor or disordered sleep.” Exercise and movement is a foundational part of a well balanced lifestyle, and I am certain your quality of sleep will reflect that!

Don’t snooze.

While those valuable 5-10 minutes of sleep, post-snooze seem like an eternity first thing in the morning, it is actually not serving you for the remainder of the day. When you wake up and return to sleep after snoozing, your body is initiating another sleep cycle. Disruption of this sleep cycle, maybe 5 to 10 minutes later, will contribute to grogginess, poorer focus, disrupted energy, and more throughout the day. Not only that, snoozing can potentially become a domino effect of stress as you begin your morning. If you’re sluggish to get out of bed, you may shorten your time in the morning to have breakfast, to get ready, to get to work on time or start your day. With that said, your body is already in a space of stress just to get going and this can have profound impact on the your nervous system, your hormones, and the remainder of the day. For the sake of the quality of your day and for better sleep, start to examine how you might avoid hitting the snooze button.

Be mindful of your cortisol.

Cortisol, the stress hormone, is an important part of our physiology. When operating normally, it is meant to promote wakefulness and alertness and it serves to keep us safe. However, nowadays, the stressors of the modern world, such as processed food, refined sugar, sedentary living, sleep deprivation, environmental toxins, and more, have a directly impact on our body’s stress response. As we navigate psychological stressors that inevitably come our way, financial difficulties, relationship issues, work-related pressure, and more, most of us live in a chronic state of sympathetic activation — meaning, the part of our nervous system responsible for ‘fight or flight,’ is activated in perpetuity. By intentionally setting aside time daily and practicing good hygiene for our stress hormones, we can manage the repercussions this may have on our health. Some suggestions of this include:

-Deep breathing and meditation: this acts as a lever to turn on the parasympathetic nervous system, or our ‘rest and digest’ response, and can have profound influence on our physical and mental health

-Drink your coffee after breakfast (ideally 90 minutes after waking): drinking coffee on an empty stomach spikes cortisol and can cause dysfunction for hormone health as a result. Choosing breakfast first, ideally rich in protein, fiber, and fat, can ensure your stomach is prepared to enjoy that first cup of joe!

-Reduce your sugar consumption! Not only does the release of cortisol raise our blood glucose, but sugar, itself, raises cortisol. Sugar is stressful — do what you can do minimize your consumption of it!

-Reduce your exposure to bright lighting/artificial lighting in the evenings. This can have a significant impact on your quality of sleep and circadian rhythm! Exposure to light can signal to the body, incorrectly, that it is daytime. Be sure to prioritize dim lighting in the evenings and set all devices to ‘night shift’ mode, if possible. This filters the screen from blue light instead, utilizing an amber hue.

-Set curfews with your technology use and media consumption! The news, especially in a post-pandemic world, is stressful. Understanding the impact that constant media consumption can have on your stress response and the stress hormone, cortisol, is essential.

Prioritize balanced blood sugar.

Blood sugar stability throughout the day is essential to your quality of sleep at night. When our blood sugar is unstable, primarily due to a consumption of highly refined carbohydrates, it can cause a bumpy ride. Dips in energy, mood swings, irritability, difficulty focusing — all possible symptoms of blood sugar issues that leads you to picking up your third latte for the day or reaching for the candy jar. Ebbs and flows like this throughout the day trickles into your ability to get to sleep and stay asleep throughout the night. To practice good blood sugar hygiene, be sure to always prioritize your carbohydrates with protein, fat, and fiber. Never eat your carbs naked!

If you need support in any of the areas listed above, please feel free to schedule a free consult for holistic health coaching by following the link below!