If you’ve been having trouble falling asleep at night, the solution might not be what you do at bedtime—it may be what you do (or don’t do) first thing in the morning.
Your melatonin production correlates with the amount of light that you’re taking in. Not everyone knows this: getting natural sunlight on your face first thing in the morning actually sets your melatonin production clock for that evening. Your body needs that morning light signal to know when to start producing sleep hormones 12-16 hours later.
The trick is to get outside and get some sunlight on your face early and throughout the morning, and you’ll get your melatonin production clock going.
Caution: The detrimental effects of blue light, especially at night.
If you have light exposure in the evening, especially blue light from screens, it delays or pauses your melatonin clock. That’s why research shows we should not be watching screens before bed.
In the modern world, not watching screens for two hours before bed may not be realistic for most people. One thing that can help is to wear blue light glasses in the evening.
Also, make sure you don’t have any white light bulbs in your house. Make sure everything is yellow light, which is much more similar to natural light.
Best Practices for Better Sleep
- Get 10-30 minutes of morning sunlight on your face within the first hour of waking, and throughout the morning if possible
- In the evening, dim your interior lights, use night mode on your devices, and even use blue light glasses to help minimize your blue light exposure, especially if you’re using computer screens
- Try to stop looking at screens in the hour to two hours before you go to sleep
Bonus tip: Go to bed on the earlier side of your natural rhythm and keep it consistent.
Most of your deep, physically restorative sleep happens in the first half of the night, so protecting those hours pays off.
My Experience with Sleep Hacking
I’ve been targeting increasing the amount of deep sleep I get nightly, tracking via Apple Health. I’ve gotten it Consistently into the range of an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes per night. I started out in the 10-40 minutes range.
I get up and walk and exercise at dawn every day. I think this is part of it. There are other things I do throughout the day to help me. I’ve written a post on sleep hygiene that includes more strategies.
Bottom line: This is one of the simplest, free biohacks you can implement—no supplements, no gadgets. Just get outside in the morning and protect your evening light environment.
I’m a health hacker/ biohacker from way back. I offer life coaching, including health and fitness hacks here:Book A Call with me