Sleep Better, Live Longer

Interested in living longer like our clients are? Well, let’s talk about how you’re going to boost your sleep for longevity this summer!

We’re in the middle of the summer – it’s high time to hang out on the beach, get plenty of exercise outside, and enjoy other activities in the sun. It’s a time that is traditionally more relaxing than other seasons. But surprisingly, summertime can be hard on sleep. One reason is that our schedules can get off-kilter, disrupting sleep patterns and leaving you with suboptimal sleep.

At the Anti-Aging & Longevity Center, we know how crucial sleep is for lots of things – including energy, mental health, and longevity. You may think this is counterintuitive, but sleep is a busy time for your body. There are so many processes at play that help everything from your brain function to your cardiovascular system to work better. The purpose of sleep is not just to make you feel more refreshed, but to biochemically allow the cells in your body to repair and renew each night. It also helps you regulate your metabolism and helps your body release hormones on a schedule.

So, if you want to be the best version of yourself, making sleep a high priority is the first place to focus your efforts.

Improve the quality of your sleep and recharge this summer with these five tips.

BLUE LIGHT GLASSES

Sure, it’s ideal to limit technology for 1-2 hours before bedtime. This means no television, iPads, smartphones, laptops. But why do we want to limit it? Since exposure to light suppresses the production of melatonin, when our retinas are exposed to light, this makes it harder to sleep. But not all kinds of light are equally as powerful in melatonin suppression. The type emitted from electronics, blue light, actually has the strongest effect, so filtering it out removes much of that effect of melatonin suppression.

But it’s not always feasible to remove the electronics. I know I’m also guilty at times of glancing at that smartphone too close to bedtime. Interestingly, research has shown us that wearing blue light glasses can help people sleep better. As the name implies, these glasses block blue light with specially crafted lenses that filter out the blue light that is emitted by devices. You don’t need to wear them all day; they’re useful closer to bedtime so that your melatonin production increases and you fall asleep and stay asleep.

DEEP BREATHING

The bottom line is, when you feel more relaxed, you’re more likely to fall asleep. So, using deep breathing exercises before sleep has several benefits for your mind and body, including lowering stress and increasing melatonin production. As we know, melatonin is an essential sleep-inducing hormone, and slow, deep breathing has been shown to raise levels which promotes relaxation.

There’s a lot of different techniques but my favorite is the 4-7-8 breathing technique made popular by Dr. Andrew Weil, the namesake of the University of Arizona’s Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. It’s easy to do and takes less than two minutes. First, place the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth and keep it there. Breathe in through your nose for a count of four seconds. Hold your breath for a count of 7, then blow out forcefully out of your mouth for 8 seconds. Repeat this up to three more times. Do this at least twice a day. It’s important to note that when you breathe like this, you should inhale quietly and exhale while making a swoosh sound.

Be patient. It can take roughly six weeks before you start to see the benefits, which include not only improved sleep, but also lowered blood pressure, improved digestion, improved immunity, and increased energy.

GET EARLY-MORNING SUN

Research studies have demonstrated that natural light in the morning will help you sleep better. This is because sunshine regulates your circadian rhythm by telling your body that it needs to decrease your melatonin levels. So, the more daylight exposure you have, the more melatonin your body will make at bedtime.

Best time to get this morning sun is between 8am and 10am, and depending on the shade of your skin, you’ll need anywhere from 5-30 minutes in the sun.

Morning sunlight has additional benefits including maintaining strong bones, boosting immunity, and even keeping weight off.

In addition, it’s clear that exposure to full-spectrum sunlight in the morning improves mood and lowers stress, anxiety and depression. Since morning sun helps regulate melatonin, and this hormone lowers stress reactivity, this will in turn lower your stress level. Also, science has shown us that sunshine helps our body produce serotonin, which is a critical neurotransmitter that improves mood and helps keep you calm and focused.

Getting up and going to bed around the same time each day also helps to create a healthy circadian rhythm.

BLACKOUT CURTAINS

Depending on the season and the hours that you work, you might not be able to coordinate your sleep cycle with the sun. Blackout curtains are a great tool for proper sleep hygiene. They allow you to fall asleep and stay asleep regardless of the light outside your window. Creating an environment for sleep success can also include sound machines, aromatherapy and essential oils, bedtime tea, and Epsom salt baths. These help to calm the nervous system and muscles and prep the body for rest.

MOVEMENT & MINDFULNESS

Making sure that you get adequate exercise on vacation is important. We tend to be more sedentary at the beach, but a disruption in our workout rhythm can also impact our sleep patterns. A combination of cardiovascular activities and strength training is optimal. Science shows that exercise increases the amount of slow-wave sleep that you get. Slow-wave sleep is the deep sleep during which the brain and body have a chance to rejuvenate. Working out also stabilizes mood and decompresses the mind, a cognitive process that is important for naturally transitioning into sleep. It doesn’t take a long time for movement to positively impact rest.

Studies revealed that people who engaged in at least 30 minutes of exercise see a difference in sleep quality that same night. You do need to be mindful of the type and timing of your workout. Because aerobic exercise increases your endorphins, working out later in the evening can be too stimulating for some people. A solid morning or early-afternoon cardio blast is best, whereas yoga or stretching is better after 6pm. The beach offers the perfect setting for settling the nervous system. Mediation and mindfulness practices have been shown to even ease insomnia. A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine included 49 middle-aged and older adults who had trouble sleeping. It found that mediation induced the relaxation response and a decrease in overall stress. This led to better sleep outcomes for the participants.

If you’re wondering what the best sleep duration for longevity is, research shows us that it’s seven to eight hours per night. In one study that followed more than 20,000 twins for more than 20 years, researchers found that if people slept less than seven hours per night, they had an increased risk of death. And this is an important point: Using sleep medications increased the risk of death by one-third.

I hope these simple strategies will promote better sleep this summer. Here’s to hoping that you’re better rested on Labor Day than you were on Memorial Day!