As humans, we are meant to sleep after the sun goes down and wake when it rises. There are a whole host of hormones in your body that also follow and rely on this cycle. It's not unique to us either, pretty much every animal and living thing on the planet (including trees) rely on this reliable cycle of the sun setting and then rising again. 

We’ve been following this pattern for thousands of years, it is only recently with modern light and electronics that we have started to stray. The natural cycle of sleeping when the sun goes down and waking when it rises is called the circadian rhythm. 

Getting into the habit of heading to bed by 10:30PM almost every night is one of the best things I’ve ever done for feeling good and improving my energy. This is the time of night where everything just starts to "click" if you can consistently switch your body and mind off at this time. 

We can also use sunlight in the morning to help reset our internal clocks. Exposure to sun in the morning will trigger daytime hormones and this will actually make it easier for our body to know when to activate the night time hormones as well.

The spectrum of light that the sun emits represents the best source of light for our bodies to absorb. 

Each morning, make an effort to exposure your body to natural light from the sun for at least 15 minutes. ​

 I used to be a night owl and a late riser. I was never a morning person and never thought I could be. 

I’ve now turned this totally around... I LOVE being an early riser now.  When you start your day full of energy by 7am you can simply just get more done then those who don't. 

Now there will of course be nights where you go to sleep later but try to aim to hit this 10:30PM target 90% of the time.

The beauty of consistently going to bed at the same time each day means you will also begin to consistently wake up at the same time each day.  I naturally tend to rise at 6:00am if I'm lights out by 10:30. No more stressful, loud and annoying alarm cock needed. 

LIMIT EXPOSURE TO SCREENS BEFORE BED

As we keep exposing the light receptors in our eyes to artificial lights through TV, mobile phones and tablets, the hormones in our body interpret that as "the sun is still shining" and keep producing daytime hormones. 

The light receptors in our eyes are particular sensitive to blue lights which just so happen to be the strongest on all these screens we look at and led lights that light up our homes and offices. During the day it's less of a problem, however as the sun goes down the intake of these lights suppresses the production of melatonin and our bodies can't properly prepare for sleep. 

Is it possible our bodies will adapt to this overabundance of artificial light in the world now? Probably... but this tends to take thousands of years and we've only had electricity for around 140 years. We are not quite there yet.

The best thing to do to reduce this effect is to limit exposure to these types of lights a couple hours before bed. Personally, I find reading a book for an hour before bed under a low, red spectrum light works incredibly well. 

If you do need to view screens, wear blue light glasses or try a few of the tools listed below which reduce the blue light on our phone and computer screens. 

This also includes any LED or blinking lights in your bedroom. These have all  been researched to still be absorbed by the body, so if you can move all these outside your bedroom.  Your bedroom should  be for two things only, sleeping and I think you know what the other is...

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