Sleep is one of the most important pillars of health. Our bodies and our brains are designed to function during the day and rest at night.
Feel Better Live More Bitesize is my new weekly podcast for your mind, body and heart. Each week I’ll be featuring inspirational stories and practical tips from some of my former guests.
This week’s guest is award-winning journalist, Linda Geddes.
Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that are kept in time by light and dark cycles. These rhythms can become disrupted by changing our exposure to light which can affect our sleep and make us feel sluggish during the day.
Exposure to bright light after sunset is a modern phenomenon. Darkness is a signal to our bodies that it’s time to rest and access to bright light and screens at night disrupts these signals.
There are simple things that we can do to help reset our circadian rhythms. Linda shares the findings of her own experiment of getting rid of light at night in her own home.
Finally, she gives her tips on what we can all do to get more light into our days and darken our nights.
Access to sunlight, even in winter, is crucial for living a happy and fulfilling life. I hope you feel inspired to get outside!
Show notes and the full podcast are available at drchatterjee.com/77
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Actionable Insights
1. Prioritize Bright Days, Dim Nights
Actively dim your evenings and brighten your days to align with your natural 24-hour cycle of light and darkness, which can make you feel better and improve overall well-being.
2. Maximize Daytime Light Exposure
Do everything you can to get as much bright light exposure as possible during the daytime, even in winter or when working indoors, to boost alertness and avoid feeling sluggish.
3. Integrate Outdoor Morning Routines
After morning routines like school drop-off, sit outside with your notepad to do your to-do list, or stand in the garden while eating breakfast and drinking tea, to significantly boost your daylight exposure.
4. Exercise Outdoors Regularly
Swap going to the gym in a windowless exercise studio for doing the same kind of exercise outdoors to increase your exposure to natural bright light.
5. Incorporate Outdoor Commutes/Walks
Boost your daily light exposure by walking or cycling to work, or simply going for a walk around the block, as even small amounts of outdoor time are beneficial.
6. Dim Evening Lights Drastically
From 6 p.m. onwards, consider going “cold turkey” on electric light and using candles instead to significantly reduce artificial light exposure and promote earlier melatonin secretion.
7. Optimize Evening Indoor Lighting
Turn off bright overhead ceiling lights and switch to dimmer table lamps, aiming for a soft, warm, orangey, and cozy “romantic lighting” environment in the evenings.
8. Activate Screen Night Mode
When using screens in the evening, make sure to put them on night mode to shift the light to a more orangey, softer, warm tone, reducing stimulating blue light.
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