10 Ways to Sleep like a Baby: Honoring Your Circadian Rhythm with Quantum Biology Practices
What's the foundation of an ecstatic life? A good nights rest.
Bedtime is a 12 hour thing around our house.
Yes, you read that right - I spend half of each day doing nothing but getting ready for bed, sleeping and waking up.
Why? Because, sleep is super important.
But, it’s not really just “sleep.” Your circadian rhythm (your body’s natural clock) regulates your hormones, appetite and digestion, body temperature, immunity and more. A crappy night’s sleep doesn’t just set you up for a crabby day, it triggers a cascade of negative events throughout your body that, if not corrected, can lead to disease (especially obesity, cancer and cardiovascular disease.) Not to mention, negatively affecting your mood, concentration, clarity (can we say, “mom-brain”?) and more.
Our daily cycles of light and darkness most profoundly contribute to setting our circadian rhythm. In times before electricity, we rose and went to bed with the sun. In our modern era, we not only have access to light at all hours, but we also have technology that produces unnatural light that harms our bodies. Particularly, the blue light produced by electronics (cellphones, tablets, computers and TVs) severely disrupts our circadian rhythm.
But, it’s not just our exposure to blue light. Our modern way of disconnected-from-our-bodies, fast-paced living also heavily contributes to our disrupted sleep schedules. I was definitely guilty of this for many years! Thinking I could burn the candle at both ends; being a do-it-all super mom - and suffering the consequences.
Until I’d finally had enough of feeling like literal dog shit most days and began searching for solutions.
And it definitely isn’t just us moms suffering from sleep dysregulation. Our kids, especially teens, are really suffering these days. But, what do we do? It isn’t feasible for most of us to go back to living like we're the cast of Little House on the Prairie. (And I wouldn’t be able to be producing this blog right now if I were to turn my back on technology, now would I?) There are totally doable steps to restoring a healthy circadian rhythm. So, let me save you months of research and break down the top 10 I’ve found have worked best to reset my family’s internal clocks and improve our clarity, mood, focus, immunity and more.
Even adopting just a few of these suggestions will work wonders on you if you’re like the millions of other moms out there suffering from lack of quality sleep.
Avoid screens at night.
This is my #1 suggestion for regulating your circadian rhythm! I try to spend a 12 hour stretch each day without looking at devices at all. I put my devices to sleep at 8:30 p.m. when I start bedtime and try not to pick them back up until 8:30 a.m. (This rule is super strict for my young children!) Your devices will likely have a “Digital Wellbeing” setting in which you can control when and how your device is usable.
However, for many of us (myself included at times) avoiding screens at night is not possible. If you do need to use a device at night, you can change your settings to “Night Shift” or turn the light setting to “warm light”. Most devices have these settings in “Display and Brightness.”
Blue light blocking glasses are also supposed to work wonders. However, at the time of writing this blog, I do not own a pair myself. It is imperative that you buy the high quality ones, though! The cheap ones do not block the most damaging wavelengths. For more info, I suggest listening to this very insightful podcast.
Turn off your WiFi router and leave your devices in another room at night to avoid EMF exposure.
Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are an environmental toxin that have been shown to cause harm to our bodies - including insomnia. Your WiFi router is a huge source of EMFs! I unplug the one in my office at bedtime. I also leave my devices as far away from my bed as possible. I used to put my phone in a faraday cage at night. But, since I now work in the birth field and must be on-call at times, I can’t do this anymore. So, now I leave my phone on, but in the office, rather than near my bed.
Observe a 12+ hour fasting cycle.
Many functions of digestion, absorption and metabolism follow a daily rhythm based on cycles of light and dark. Not only will restricting your food intake to less than 12 hours (called intermittent fasting) improve your sleep, but it is also connected to cardiovascular health, weight loss and longevity!
It is also recommended to stop eating about 2-3 hours before bed. This gives your body time to digest the dinner you’ve eaten, but isn’t so long that you will begin to feel hungry before retiring. Giving up your evening snack can be tough. But, I’ve personally noticed that when I follow this rule, I wake up LESS hungry and make healthier eating choices for breakfast, leading to weight loss.
Avoid caffeine and other stimulants 8 hours before sleep.
Everyone should know that stimulants, like caffeine and even chocolate, can keep you awake. (Duh, that’s why we use them!) So, avoiding them for the 8 hours before you fall asleep in order to be sure they have been metabolized will, of course, improve your ability to fall asleep.
This one is particularly hard for me… I do like an afternoon coffee and chocolate desserts! I have found that 4 p.m. is my cutoff for coffee and that afternoon chocolate should be limited. Anything later than that, and I do experience more difficulty falling asleep.
There are schools of thought that believe caffeine and other stimulants should be avoided altogether. I have personally drastically cut my caffeine intake over the years of my health reclamation. And I now find excess caffeine usually causes me to feel really yucky! Listen to your own body and respect your own boundaries!
Observe sunset and sunrise.
I try to make it outside first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening to feed my chickens barefoot. This habit not only ensures I get my grounding in, but it exposes me to the natural light of the morning and evening that are the cues for a cascade of hormones that help regulate sleep.
Observing the sunrise and sunset are key to setting your circadian rhythm. If you cannot get natural light at these times, it is recommended that you replicate the experience by slowly raising and lowering the brightness in your house in the morning and evening.
Make your house colder at night.
Cooler temperatures help your body produce more melatonin, which is a core hormone in regulating sleep. In fact, cooler temperatures actually signal to your body that it is time to fall asleep. Cooler temperatures also increase your sleep quality, your metabolism, and your fat burning capabilities.
Optimal sleep temperature for adults is between 60-67° according to studies. While the optimal temperature for babies and toddlers is a bit higher at 65-70°. At our house we keep the AC at 82° during the day and 78° at night. This may not be “optimal according to studies,” but since my family are all from South Florida, I figure 78° is pretty damn cold for my genes!
Gradually turn the lights off at bedtime.
As stated above, observing sunset is key in signaling to your body that it’s bedtime. Even if you observe the natural sunset, it will still mess with your sleep cycle if you then come inside to blaring indoor lights! After dinner, I begin lowering the light in my house, systematically, until bedtime, when I extinguish all lights.
It is also important to avoid the use of fluorescents and LED lights. I try to always use warm incandescents in all of my sockets, but they are becoming harder to find, unfortunately.
For many years people would have been using candlelight in the evenings. Since introducing a routine of lighting candles feels like a lot at this juncture of life, I light my bedroom and bathroom with salt lamps in the evenings instead. This gives a nice, warm glow and they can be turned down gradually with a toggle switch.
Use blackout curtains if you live in an area with light pollution.
I live in a rural area with very little light pollution. However, most of us have close neighbors and can't dictate when and how they use their electricity! For those of us exposed to light pollution, employing some blackout curtains at bedtime can do wonders for better sleep. Draw them on all windows in your bedroom at bedtime and open them first thing when you wake.
Use routine & sleep cues.
We know our children thrive on routine! And so do we. Routine and “sleep cues” tell your body it's time to prepare for sleep. My routine is intrinsically tied to putting my children to bed, but it always works to make me sleepy, too!
This is what my bedtime routine looks like:
After dinner and clean up, I begin turning the lights and the AC down. I give the children a bath. We put on pajamas and brush our teeth. We get in bed and read stories by just the light of our salt lamp. Then, it's lights-out and we sing songs, talk about what we want to have sweet dreams about and say our prayers/give gratitude for our blessings. This routine takes about an hour to an hour and a half on a normal day. I generally go to sleep right after my kids do!
Wake up slowly.
You know that feeling of waking up to a blaring alarm, feeling groggy and kind of hungover even if you hadn't partied the night before? That's the feeling of a dysregulated circadian rhythm! I especially notice this now, since I don't really drink alcohol anymore. When your circadian rhythm is off, you’ll feel it in the morning!
Let's say you’ve done everything listed above, but you’re still waking up feeling tired. Maybe it’s your morning routine that’s hurting your sleep. Here are some tips for waking up in a way that honors your circadian rhythm:
Try to wake without an alarm. If you really need an alarm, make it soft and gradual, not loud and blaring.
Adjust your bedtime to accommodate your wake time. If you need at least 8 hours of sleep to feel good the next day, go to sleep 8 hours before you need to wake up.
Don't jump straight out of bed, jolting your body awake. Get up slowly and mindfully.
Don't turn the lights on immediately. Open your curtains and get some natural light first. Allow your eyes to slowly adjust to the light.
Don't check your phone or other devices first thing! Ignore your notifications for as long as possible!
Wake up your digestive system with some hot tea and step outside to get some natural light while you drink it!
I wake up slowly each morning by practicing my meditation and manifestation before rising. This is a perfect time, as the space before fully waking, when you're still more tapped into Source, is ripe for creating a new reality for yourself! (Sometimes this practice actually puts me back to sleep, though!)
I also try to always get in a good snuggle with my kids when they first begin to wake. The morning snuggles while they’re still half awake are the most precious! (And this is why we homeschool!)
A BONUS for the overachievers, like me!
Take a deep dive into what they're saying in the field of Quantum Biology (the study of quantum mechanical effects within the human body) about our circadian rhythm! I like this podcast.
So, maybe you’re saying, “Yeah, easy for you. But I’ve got a 9-5 job and kids to get to school!” or “Well, that’s fine in the woods. But, where I live, that kind of lifestyle is impossible.” And, if that’s what you believe, that’s what will be. But, I challenge you to look at each of these 10 suggestions and push yourself to try and integrate them in any way you can. Your body will thank you!
If you adopted any of these habits and it changed your life, DM or Message me - I would love to hear about it!
*A special note about honoring your sleep cycle during pregnancy and postpartum:
Pregnancy and postpartum come with their own sets of challenges and needs around sleep. I highly recommend signing up for Nikko Kennedy’s newsletter. She is an expert in circadian rhythm during conception through postpartum, for both mamas and babies.
