According to Ayurveda and chronobiology, our most ideal bedtime is 10pm.
I used to call myself a night owl and stay awake until midnight. 🦉
The truth is, there are no “night owls”.
We self-proclaimed night owls have trained our bodies to disobey the laws of nature, usually with years of practice. We have created a de-synchronized circadian rhythm.
And this has to do with Melatonin: we can unwittingly trick our bodies into releasing melatonin much later in the evening, and that delay prevents us from getting drowsy at the right time. So of course we keep on going until midnight, or whatever arbitrary bedtime we set. And then we awaken drowsy and tired to our alarms in the mornings.🥱
🌟When my patients tell me they aren’t sleepy by 10 PM, here are some typical activities they may be doing at, say, 10 PM: logged onto work, checking emails, scrolling through social media, shopping online, watching Netflix, etc…
If you find it difficult to get to bed earlier, try some of these tricks to begin to release melatonin at the right time:
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- Turn on only dim lights after 8:30 PM.
- Power devices off at 9 PM.
- Read a book or magazine in bed.
- Make sure and get plenty of bright light exposure during the daytime.
- Take a hot shower or bath just before bedtime(around 9:45 PM).
- Write in a journal. Discharge negative feelings and feel more peaceful as you drift off to sleep.
- For the fastest way to reset your circadian rhythm, simply go camping. Studies show that within 48 hours of spending time in nature and sleeping outside, our brains can right themselves very quickly.
⛺️Camping is a shortcut way to get lots of bright light during the daytime and then settle into darkness at the right time.
