Use Your Mornings to Improve Sleep at Night

Don’t you love when you wake up after a solid night’s sleep, well-rested and ready to embrace the day? 

How often does this actually happen for you?

Lack of quality sleep is a big concern for many people and one I hear frequently from my clients and members of my community  In fact 50% of adults over 60 are affected by insomnia and 61% of menopausal women complain of insomnia. 

We know that poor sleep comes with a host of problems: lack of energy, anxiety, irritability, stress, difficulty focusing, headaches, weight gain, and gastrointestinal issues.  Lack of quality sleep also affects the immune system.  And if your body needs to heal, sleep is when that happens.

I don’t need to convince you on the importance of sleep, but I do want to help you improve your sleep in my next series of articles.  

The focus of this article is how to improve your sleep by beginning with your mornings.  Yes, this may surprise some people, but how you start your day has an impact on your sleep that night. 

Why are mornings so impactful on our sleep?  We have a beautiful dance going on in our bodies.  Hormones like serotonin, cortisol and melatonin are released in different amounts throughout the day in accordance with our own circadian rhythms. There is an intricate balance between these three hormones which have such a profound affect upon our sleep and these are affected by our exposure to light.  

First let’s look at serotonin. For best sleep, serotonin levels should be highest during the daytime, since serotonin sets up the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. Exposure to sunlight boosts the production of serotonin.  The best time to get sun exposure to set up a favourable circadian rhythm? Morning! 

Next up: cortisol.  Most people think of cortisol as “the stress hormone” but we need some cortisol in our system. Naturally, cortisol is tied to natural light cycles.  In other words, cortisol should be up in the mornings and drop off as the day progresses. One thing that can mess up cortisol cycles is not getting natural light exposure.  Once again, morning sun exposure can help set up cortisol production that can improve sleep. Cortisol levels also increase with exercise.  Therefore mornings are the best time to exercise in order to get cortisol production going.  

Lastly, let’s consider melatonin. Melatonin is a key sleep regulator.  The production of melatonin is nearly opposite that of cortisol. When cortisol is up, melatonin is down and vice-versa. And since serotonin controls the production of melatonin, improving serotonin production will lead to improved sleep.  

Source of diagram: https://www.thepaleomom.com/regulating-circadian-rhythm/ 

Getting the dance between these hormones is key in how to improve sleep.  

Here’s how your mornings can help get the timing of this dance perfectly tuned: expose your retinas to natural light as soon as possible in the mornings, within the first 30 minutes of waking if possible. Also, getting morning exercise is linked with improved sleep.  Even 10-20 minutes of morning movement can improve sleep. 

How about trying to get morning sunlight AND morning movement everyday?  Perhaps you could do a 20 minute walk outdoors first thing in the morning or yoga, tai chi or qi gong out on the lawn. Whatever you choose, try this habit a try for a week and note if your sleep improves. I am willing to bet that you WILL improve your sleep!

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