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Sleep Well! – How to take care of healthy sleep

Most would agree that our mood, emotions, and mental health are closely tied to our physical health. Taking care of our physiological needs—such as nutrition, physical activity, and sleep—is vital for improving and maintaining a positive mood in daily life.

On average, we sleep through 25 years of our lives!

Let’s take a closer look at this physiological activity that takes up a huge part of our lives. Sleep makes up about 30% of our life, which means for the average lifespan in Poland, that’s a total of 25 years spent asleep 😊—not always of the best quality. For much of our lives, due to various circumstances, we neglect sleep in favor of meeting other needs—work-related, family, and social. Since we know that good sleep has a tremendous impact on how we feel, why not implement a few simple rules to improve its quality?

You’re asleep, but your body is hard at work

What happens during sleep that makes it so important for our body? It turns out, quite a lot. While we sleep, in a sense, we switch off our consciousness, reduce brain and overall body activity, but many useful biological processes continue to operate “in the background.” Information is organized, unnecessary memories are cleared, nerve cells communicate with each other to improve brain function, the body regenerates, repairs damaged cells, renews tissues, and produces beneficial amines and hormones. In short—sleep is a valuable time for recharging your batteries. As the saying goes, “you’ve made your bed, now lie in it”—investing your time and effort into improving your sleep will yield surprising returns.

Sometimes getting to the root of more complex sleep issues, which we often can’t even name or categorize, requires effort, time, and potentially the help of a specialist. However, implementing proven protocols—that is, sequences of specific actions related to behaviors that are easiest for us to control—can truly bring amazing results!

3 Steps to Quality Sleep

Here are three rules that will significantly help improve sleep quality, implementing them is relatively easy. Small steps are key here:

Circadian Rhythm – This is the so-called biological clock, which repeats its cycle every 24 hours. It regulates the secretion of hormones like melatonin and cortisol. Their secretion is inversely proportional. Cortisol is secreted in the morning, reaching its peak in the middle of the day, and then decreases, while melatonin levels gradually rise. Cortisol is responsible for waking the body during the day, while melatonin regulates our sleep, especially the moment of falling asleep. The only factor that controls our circadian rhythm is sunlight. There are receptors in our lower eyelids that are activated by sunlight and help regulate the body’s circadian rhythm.

Protocol: Go outside as soon as possible after waking up (within an hour) to wake up your body and ensure its proper functioning throughout the day. On sunny days, 5 to 10 minutes of exposure is enough to activate the receptors. On cloudy days, spend 15 to 20 minutes outdoors. Do the same in the evening, just before or during sunset. Changes should be noticeable after a week. You will naturally start waking up a few minutes before the time you normally go outside in the morning. Sleep will become more regular and deeper. Falling asleep will become easier, as your body will have clearly defined, biologically conditioned sleep hours.

Avoid Caffeine 8 Hours Before Sleep – Caffeine doesn’t give you energy; it “tricks” your fatigue receptors, sending a signal to your body that it’s not tired. To maintain a healthy circadian rhythm, you should avoid caffeine in the later hours of the day, as it can confuse and disrupt the body’s sleep-related functions. This doesn’t mean caffeine is bad overall. It’s very useful if you understand how it works and how to use it properly.

Avoid Artificial Light an Hour Before Sleep – This refers to lights and screens on your phones, TVs, or computers. Of course, it’s unrealistic to walk around your house in the dark just because the sun has set. In the evening, it’s best to use low-intensity lamps placed below head level and directed toward the floor, using red light if possible. It might be challenging to meet all these requirements, but the main thing is to avoid turning on all the lights in the evening and to limit the use of electronic devices, especially right before bed.

These three areas are a really good starting point for improving sleep quality and, in turn, enhancing overall well-being. We’ve tested it on ourselves😊. You can find more information, for example, in Dr. Andrew Huberman’s podcast.