Dr Chalmers Path to Pro - Sleep tips for day light saving
Daylight saving time can easily throw off your sleep schedule, but with a few simple adjustments, you can stay well-rested and feel your best. Learn how light exposure, bedtime habits, and even phone use can affect your body’s natural rhythm. Setting a consistent wake time, creating a calm environment, and supporting healthy melatonin and serotonin levels can make a big difference.
You’ll also get practical tips to improve sleep quality like adjusting your lighting, avoiding late-night meals, and keeping your liver and hormones balanced. If you’ve been having trouble falling asleep, waking up in the middle of the night, or just feeling out of sync, these suggestions can help you get back on track and make the most of that extra hour.
Highlights of the Podcast
00:04 - Daylight Saving and Sleep Impact
01:14 - Light and Brain Function
02:37 - Other Sleep Disruptors
03:20 - Waking in the Middle of the Night
04:20 - Final Advice
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:04] All right, so it is a daylight savings time and everybody should be super excited about it. Yeah, I hate daylight savings times. So we’re full back, so we’re gonna gain an hour of sleep which is generally okay. But the big thing is that this kind of brings up all the damage that not getting enough sleep gets you. It’s easy things to walk through if you’re trying to figure out. How to do sleep properly, the easiest thing to do is not set a bedtime but set a wake time. If you figure out when you need to get up you can then do the math and back up however many hours you need go. That’s when you want to be asleep. So let’s say you’re going to be like I want to get up at 6 a.m. I want eight hours of sleep. That means you need be asleep at 10 not getting in bed at 10. So if it’s going to take you 20-30 minutes to go to sleep, great. They need to be in bed ready to go to sleep at 930 because that’s how math works. That does not mean in bed at 9.30, staring at your phone. The light from your phone, your eyes are brain tissue, let’s start there. So any light that hits your eyes is going to directly affect brain function.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:14] And if one of your problems that you’ve got, trying to get to sleep is turn it off your brain, then you need to deal with light. LED lights, by the way, I know you think they’re constant, but they flash. And you can’t perceive it, but your eyes pick it up and it kind of wakes you up a little bit. So. If you can turn off all those LED lights, if you guys can get incandescents, that’s beneficial. If you cant get incanescents just turn them off. You know, you can use, what we have a lot of people do is there’s a whole meditation technique I walk people through with candles. You know, dim the lights, turn them down, turn them off, get different light sources. If you’re talking about your phone, those, those true dark glasses that guys like Dave Asprey talk about, those are beneficial. You can use those. There’s new settings on your phone on the iPhone, at least that can help kind of set that as well. There’s apps you can get that change the colors, but getting off the phone, getting the light out of your eyes helps when you’re the way your eyes are designed. Is that as the sun comes down and it gets darker, your body produces more melatonin. As the sun come up and it get’s brighter, your body produce more serotonin. Melatonin helps you sleep, serotonine helps wake you up. If it’s midnight and your LED lights are on and flickering at 5,000 K, your body’s like, it is most definitely nude. We gotta keep the serotonins flowing.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:37] We gotta make sure we don’t put the melatonine out because we get tired. And then you go in and you stare at your phone for 10 minutes and you lay down, you’re like, why can’t I go to sleep? So that’s one of the issues. Eating right before bed is going to be another issue that’s going to create a lot of issues for most of you guys and then lack of methylated B vitamins is going be another one because B vitamins help break down catecholamines and that helps you go to sleep. So keep that up but getting any sleep rhythm of I go to bed at this time, I wake up at this will help tremendously. Your body really does have an internal clock which is why a lot people will tell if they set their alarm at whatever time. They will wake up at whatever time, usually right before their alarm. They’re like, isn’t that weird? It’s like, no, you have actually have an internal clock. Your circadian rhythm is super important to your health. So you guys are having trouble falling asleep or having sleep issues, especially around daylight savings time. There’s a whole bunch more of that. Take that into account. If you’re waking up in the middle of the night, there’s a number of different reasons for that, one of which is liver. Liver detoxifies between two and four in the morning. So keeping your liver nice and clean. Helps that out.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:46] There’s a whole list of things we do for liver detox, liver clearance, liver feeding. But if you’re having trouble with the sleep, look at those things first. There is also a lot of information on how hot or cold your bed is. That’s a big one, so take that into and then hormonal function. So, you know, making sure your hormones are where they’re supposed to be is really beneficial especially to you women. Who are around perimenopausal stuff. So you have that 35 to 50 range. If you’re having hot flashes and night sweats, it’s probably messing with your sleep a little bit too. So get those corrected. But those are some of the big things that we gotta have to focus on around sleep. So make sure you’re getting your sleep. It’s super critical. And if you guys are gonna be, taking in that extra hour, great. But just realize that it’s going to kind of alter what’s going on the rest of your week. Make sure you are getting all the time that you need. So it is daylight savings time. So. I guess, suck it up and deal with it. So, all right, if you guys have any other questions, hit us up at questions at chalmerswellness.com. You guys have a fantastic day.
As always if you have any questions, please send them to Questions@ChalmersWellness.com
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Dr. Matt Chalmers
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Before taking any action based on this information you should first consult with your physician or health care provider. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions regarding a medical condition, your health, or wellness