Your Sleep Operating System: Building Rhythms That Restore Your Body | Sleep Hygiene

In the last blog we discussed the positive impacts of sleep hygiene; cleaning up the time and space around your sleep schedule to allow the body to find rhythm and set daily expectations. 

Click here to read the previous blog on Sleep Hygiene

Today, we are going to follow up on these ideas with more suggestions, as well as some warnings about a common sleep aid, Melatonin. First, let’s discuss the preparation for sleep by starting to understand our circadian rhythm:

The body has rhythms on rhythms on rhythms, and the older we get the more those rhythms determine our mental and physical flexibility from day to day. The brain is designed to make sense of the reality it inhabits, and once it understands those rhythms it seeks to reduce energy expenditure by optimizing all of the little details that go into making a given activity happen. Example: Sitting all the time and staring at a computer? The brain regulates muscle tone to ensure sitting positions are comfortable and easy to maintain (often to our detriment). The same goes for our behaviors, moods, etc.

The circadian rhythm is an umbrella term for our 24-hour light-dark dependent sleep cycle, which encompasses all of our hormone release, moods, and especially sleep. If you do not have a regular rhythm, the body will always be fighting to understand the context of its existence, which is EXHAUSTING. So the first thing to do to affect your sleep is to establish a consistent routine leading up to bed. 

Suggestion 3: Establish a sleep Standard Operating Procedure

All tasks are rewarded by the brain with hormones like dopamine and serotonin. These hormones help us determine our drive, enjoyment, and satisfaction with a task. Habits are just behaviors that are reinforced by these hormones in a way that they begin to feel compulsory. When formed positively and intentionally, sleep habits can drive highly regulated sleep and make it easier to fall, and stay, asleep. 

In science and engineering, standard operating procedures (SOPs) are very common and help when you are trying to optimize a process. The first thing you need to do to optimize something is to standardize it. In other words, start doing the same thing over and over first, before you start changing everything. This starts with establishing a regular bed time, even on the weekends, whenever possible.

What might this look like? 

So, let’s say you are planning on being in bed to fall asleep at 10 PM. You’ve already taken suggestion 1 and 2 to heart and leave your phone to charge in the living room and are avoiding artificial light starting around 9 PM. You have decided to do 30 minutes of recreational reading from 9-9:30 PM. In that last 30 minutes before bed, you can brush your teeth, drink a little water or herbal tea, and then maybe stretch for a few minutes. Crawl into bed at 10 PM, and then let the magic happen. 

Day 1 might be tough to forgo light. After a few days it will feel more natural. After a couple of weeks, the body recognizes the context of that light reading. It recognizes the context of that herbal tea, of when you brush your teeth and when you stretch. One the rhythm (habit) is formed, the brain will prioritize the right hormones at the right time to send you to sleep when it expects the safety of the bed. 

Everyone’s life is different, and you may have larger or smaller hurdles to the exact times you can sleep, but as often as you can try to stay consistent with the things that you do leading up to laying down. Over time, you may find that you are out before your head even hits the pillow. 

Public Service Announcement: Melatonin

The final item that I would like to discuss is the potential danger of acute or chronic melatonin use. 

Quick fact: This is the ONLY over-the-counter hormone that EVERYONE has unfettered access to. Melatonin is released in the brain to help regulate the circadian rhythm and has MASSIVE downstream effects once released. If you then supplement this hormone at random intervals, the brain gets confused and is unsure when to release it innately. 

Think about how birth control or testosterone replacement works, clinically: A doctor often prescribes these items under regulated conditions, and asks you to stick to VERY stringent schedules (+/- 30 minute window for both on daily or weekly basis) otherwise you risk massive health impacts. Melatonin is no different, yet we are told it is some cure-all that helps us sleep. 

Side effects of chronic melatonin misuse: insomnia (seems counterintuitive right?), depression, drowsiness, vivid nightmares, and other sickness-like physical symptoms. 

I want to caution you against the use of melatonin without regulation and purpose. Do not give it to your kids to help them sleep for the night, do not take it randomly to “fix” a night of sleep. Understand your SOP and optimize it over time, and if you are interested in taking melatonin then please take it under the regulation of a qualified doctor, just like you would with any other hormone. 

To recap: 

1. Get away from light at least an hour before bed

2. Avoid activities that are not related to sleep

3. Establish a sleep SOP

4. Don’t use melatonin

Sleep well, Method Friends! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me (Cole@methodstrong.com) and I’m happy to chat more within my scope of practice!