The Ultimate Guide to Sleep like a Baby – Part IV: THE BEST TACTICS TO OPTIMIZE CIRCADIAN RHYTHM AND SLEEP
1. Bright light exposure in the morning The blue light spectrum of light acts as important zeitgeber. While this equaled sunlight during most of our history, today not everybody can get sunlight exposure on a daily basis. However, also exposure to artificial blue light in the first part of the day improves mood and sleep […]
The Ultimate Guide to Sleep like a Baby – Part III: HOW DOES SLEEP WORK?
What Happens During Sleep Similar to your smartphone, wireless router or microwave also your brain is electrically active and emits electromagnetic waves too. The frequencies of these brain waves can be measured as cycles per minute (Hertz) with an electroencephalogram (EEG). While your smartphone operates with several 100 MHz (1 MHz = 1 million Hz), […]
The Ultimate Guide to Sleep like a Baby – Part II: HOW MUCH SLEEP IS OPTIMAL?
General guidelines for optimal sleep length Although many people brag about only needing 4 to 5 hours of sleep, on average most people require 8 hours of sleep each night for optimal mental performance [2]. On an individual basis this can be somewhere between 7 and 9 hours for adults. The recommendation of the National […]
The Ultimate Guide to Sleep like a Baby – Part I: WHY SLEEP MATTERS!
In spite of the mainstream attitude “I will sleep when I am dead”, sleep is not optional. It is essential for optimal health and a key requirement for mental and physical peak performance. Sleep impacts all body functions from hormone production to immune system to circadian rhythm (described later). This guide explains why sleep matters […]
