The truthful insights by sleep expert, Julie Mallon
Hey JOLTers!
Guess who’s back, back again? (Sorry, we’re just excited about Eminem’s new album.) If you didn’t see on our socials, Russell has been chatting about how we can lengthen our health-span, with sleep expert Julie Mallon, to understand how we can get the most out of our time in the sack, the ins and outs of circadian rhythms and to uncover the real reasons we might be feeling like we’ve died and had to come back to life, every time we open our eyes.
We had one pressing takeaway from Russell and Julie’s chat, a mistake we are definitely guilty of making and we reckon you probably are doing it too! Now, it seems rather harmless, but a simple morning pick up of your phone, whether it’s snoozing your phone’s alarm, or just checking your notifications from through the night, you’ve failed the perfect night’s sleep checklist after you’ve woken up!
What’s the big issue?
Julie explains that the blue light that shines from our phones is the issue here (and no, turning your brightness down doesn’t get you off the hook apparently). The blue light disrupts your circadian rhythm (your body’s personal clock) which regulates your sleep-cycle over a 24 hour period. The ideal scenario here, is that your brain should think it’s 6:30am when you wake up, however as soon as you expose yourself to that blue light, you are tricking your brain into thinking it’s mid-afternoon. As you can imagine, your brain is now pretty confused, and in response, it throws off your entire sleep schedule, making the next night quite the challenge to catch your zzz’s.
This goes for your bedtime routine too. We recommend staying off the screens at least an hour before bed (we know, how will we doom scroll now?!) However, by swapping these out for a different evening activity, we not only feel the benefits the next day, but we also increase our longevity and health-span. A study published in the journal ‘Sleep Medicine Reviews’, found that exposure to blue light before bedtime significantly reduces melatonin production, a hormone crucial for sleep. Stick with us… the solution is coming.
Understanding your circadian rhythm:
Your circadian rhythm is your friend here, it is simply a natural process that repeats roughly every 24 hours. It is influenced by a number of external factors, such as sunlight and temperature. This rhythm not only controls sleep, but also eating habits, digestion and body temperature.
So it’s only right we treat it with some TLC. You should aim to keep a regular meal schedule, monitor your core body temperature and get involved in some daily physical activity.
The simple solution:
We would never just hit you with a problem, so here’s the deal. Julie suggests, instead of reaching for the phone as your first move of the day, we should spend just 3 minutes outside to start your day. Don’t cheat on this, the window doesn't count! In fact, being next to the window is 40% less effective than sitting outside. This is because exposure to natural light helps strengthen and reset your circadian rhythm, setting you on the right foot for the rest of the day.
Now that might be a lot to take in (sorry, not sorry). But here at JOLT, we know the importance of a good night’s kip.
That’s all from us for now, so, until next time, sweet dreams.
The JOLT Team.
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