How to Work With Your Body Clock to Get Better Sleep

Sleep is one of the essential elements of human and animal life. The importance of getting higher quantity and quality sleep has slowly become part of the mainstream conversation.

However, few people get the sleep they need to ensure their physical and mental health. The key to getting better sleep is to work with your body clock, which is a natural guide and more sustainable. The following is how you can do so:

Follow Natural Light Circles

Your body naturally knows that it is time to get up when the sun rises and time to sleep when it is the night, also known as the circadian rhythm.

If you want to work with your body clock to get better sleep, you should recognize natural circadian rhythms and how they affect your body.

Daily light and darkness cycles act as cues for your body clock to signal your brain to perform actions such as producing melatonin to tell your body when to rise and when to sleep. You can manipulate the lights in your home so that they help you adhere to a natural circadian rhythm.

Understanding How Your Cortisol Levels Affect Your Sleep

Cortisol is a hormone produced by the human brain that is mainly responsible for the stress response. Cortisol can be good, for example, when you are in danger, but it can also be harmful, for example, when trying to fall asleep.

Unfortunately, most people have too much cortisol due to having too much stress. To better work with your body clock to get better sleep, you should understand how cortisol levels affect sleep.

The most important thing to know is that excess cortisol leads to sleep loss. Once you know that, you should take active steps to reduce your cortisol levels. Too much cortisol will put you in a state of chronic stress.

Actively reducing stress through meditation, working out, reading, listening to music, yoga, and other activities will help get better sleep.

Exercise Regularly

Another great way to reset your body clock regarding sleep is to get daily exercise. Your body tissues, including muscle, are inextricably linked to your body clock.

Therefore, when you work out, your tissues become aligned to your natural circadian rhythm, which results in a huge health change. Exercise will also stimulate melatonin production, which will help your body have better sleep patterns.

You should aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. However, avoid working out too close to bedtime.

Avoid Eating Close To Bedtime

Your body clock is also tied to your food and, more specifically, when you eat. If you want to adjust your body clock and get better sleep, you should eat earlier.

Aim for three hours before bedtime, which is ideal as your body will have already digested the food you ate and will be ready to rest.

Having a set time when you eat early in the day is part of creating healthy sleeping habits and will be very beneficial. You should avoid stimulating foods such as those with sugar and nicotine before you sleep regarding the foods you eat.

Create A Cool Environment

Your body has an easier time falling asleep in a cool environment than a hot one. The reason is that your natural circadian rhythm is based on the sun, and it is cooler and night than during the day.

You should keep the area where you sleep cool to help with the reduction in body temperature your body experiences at night.

The ideal temperature will depend on you, so you should get a thermostat to adjust the temperature to where you feel most comfortable.

Your body clock is what tells your body that it is time to rest. Unfortunately, most of us ignore it in favor of other things. Listening to your body clock will help you get better sleep. The above tips will help you, but there is much more you can do to be in tune with your body clock.