Overlooked Ways of Getting Better Sleep: Sleep Smarter Book Review

The book, “Sleep Smarter: 21 Proven Tips to Sleep Your Way to Better…” is an extremely practical guide for optimizing sleep.  Many people have given up on improving their quality of sleep because they think that getting eight hours of sleep and going to bed earlier are the only considerations.  The book lists a number of helpful strategies that individuals choose to focus on.

Here are my take-aways…

Daylight sun exposure – get thirty minutes of direct sun exposure during the day to normalize your light cycles and melatonin production.

The most important factor is getting sunlight light exposure during the critical period of 6:00am – 8:30am.   A dawn simulation lamp can be used for people that cannot wake up to natural sunlight.

The programmable alarm clock utilizes gradual sun exposure over a thirty-minute period that will wake you up without a starting and disruptive sound of an alarm.  An alarm can be set as a fail safe after the 30-minute sun exposure period.

The combination of going outdoors during your lunch break and waking up to some sun exposure can do wonders for your sleep.

Avoid blue light exposure  – ninety minutes before bedtime.  Blue light emitted from computer screens and mobile devices is best avoided to ensure that melatonin is secreted before bed.

If you need to use a computer before bed there is a great program for the computer called F.lux that filters out blue light.

Set a caffeine curfew – Caffeine has a half-life of 5 to 8 hours and disturbs sleep if used up to six hours before bed.  Setting a ‘caffeine curfew’ at 2pm can greatly improve sleep.  Another strategy is to go two days on and three days off.

Stay cool – ideal room temperature is 60-68 degrees, this drop in body temperature initiates sleep.

Get to bed at the right time – The most beneficial sleep period is from 10pm to 2pm.  This explains why some people that get eight hours of sleep still do not feel refreshed.

Optimize your sleep cycles – sleep cycles last ninety minutes and repeat four to six times per night.  Deep sleep, non-REM, and REM sleep make up this cycle.  If your alarm goes off during on of the sleep cycles (90-minutes) it is more likely you will be groggy in the morning – regardless of how much sleep you get.

“If you go to sleep at 10pm set your alarm for 5:30 am (for a total of seven and a half hours of sleep) and you’ll likely find that you feel more refreshed when you wake up than if you set the alarm for 6:00am and interrupted another sleep cycle.”

Take Magnesium – magnesium deficiency is likely the number one mineral deficiency in our world today.  One of the symptoms of magnesium deficiency is chronic insomnia.  Magnesium is also needed for muscle relaxation.  The author recommends a topical form of magnesium, but I have found that many people can benefit from a high dose magnesium powder called, “Natural Calm.”

Black out your bedroom – a blackout curtain helps remove external light coming into the bedroom.  A rolled up towel under the door can also help prevent light from coming into the room.  A good test to see if your room is dark enough (to allow for melatonin production) is to look at your hand when laying in bed – you shouldn’t be able to see your hand.

People that travel can use black electrical tape to cover phone chargers and electronic devices that emit blue light into the room.  This is one of the most underutilized methods of improving sleep quality.

Meditate before bed – numerous studies have confirmed the benefits of meditation on the body and mind.  Meditation provides access to the deeper brain waves that we enter into during deep sleep.  A ten to fifteen minute practice of meditation before bed is a great start to a practice that has many benefits – including deeper sleep.

– Kevin Kula, “The Flexibility Coach” – Creator of FlexibilityRx™ – www.FlexibilityRx.com

Related Resources

Sleep Smarter: 21 Proven Tips to Sleep Your Way To a Better Body, Better Health and Bigger Success (link)

Natural Calm (link)

Phillips Wake Up Light (link)

Tags: black electrical tape, blackout curtain, dawn simulator clock, magnesium, shawn stevenson, sleep smarter