Often, I hear how people can’t sleep at night or how they use to sleep so well, but those days are long gone. So, today I want to give you two tips on how to improve your sleep or the quality of what you already get. In order to do that, I am going to have to explain a little bit of the theory behind why these tips exist.

Tip 1. Turn down/turn off the lights 2-3 hours before your bedtime.

Years ago, when we didn’t have rave parties or worked all night in a factory there wasn’t much to do during the nighttime. It would actually have been quite dangerous to be running around pre-industrial revolution, because we didn’t want to get eaten by something outside. So, what does that have to with the lights in your home? Well, just like the sky during the daytime, your lights emit blue light and increase light saturation to your eye. Now this light saturation affects your circadian rhythm and master clock process(aka body clock), where your body slows its energy process down as the day winds down to nighttime. When you expose your eyes to excessive blue light at night it pushes this process back. This inhibits your body to begin the necessary steps to go through the stages of sleep. SOOOOOO, turn down or off those lights that emit blue light.

Tip 2. Lower your activity level 1 hour before bedtime.

Just as important as reduction of blue light, you need to be careful of how active you are before you head to bed. Now, this may seem simple, because most people when they get home eat dinner and relax or unwind from the long day by watching something or doing a bit of work they just had to finish before bed. Problem is, this is still activity or requires a level of stress response in order to complete. The fact is your body just recognizes stress, it doesn’t care whether its physical exertion or mental, it just winds itself up and then needs to come down. So, slow your role and give yourself a true hour of nothing to do or think about before you head to bed.

So there you have it, decrease the amount of blue light 2-3 hours before bedtime and lower you activity about an hour before hitting the hay. There are a thousand other things you can do for sleep hygiene but these two are the most easily controlled. In the end this is not a cure all to your sleep problems, but could set you on the path to a higher level of quality sleep. If you are consistent with these two steps you should notice some change to your overall sleep pattern. Happy bedtime!