How to Hit the Reset Button on Your Sleep Cycle

During the day, when we are working and getting things done, toxins, called neurotoxic waste, enter our system. 

To regain mental freshness for the next day, the accumulated toxins must be removed every night. Melatonin, also known as the sleep hormone, regulates the cleaning process of removing neurotoxins. As this can only happen during sleep, it’s crucial that you provide enough hours of sleep for this natural process to take place.

With our conscious mind turned off and our body inactive, all our energy is at the service of the immune system. During this sleep period, all nutrients and antibodies travel via the bloodstream to the places in the body that must be repaired. 

As we were designed to live around the equator with about a 12 to 12 split between day and night, our bodies used to have much more time to do this work.

In modern times, this balance is no longer 12/12 but rather 18/6 or worse. This only leaves about 6 hours to let your cells, organs, and immune system do their work, from restoring insulin sensitivity to building bone weave and breaking down fat cells. 

This explains why chronic sleep deprivation (less than 6 hours consistently) can cause illness over the long term. You have an increased risk of autoimmune diseases and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

You need to understand that being sleep-deprived will not just cause you to be a bit more tired than usual. Sleeping is crucial for maintaining energy, emotional stability, and physiological functions such as insulin regulation and satiety. It replenishes energy stores, stabilizes mood, and ensures proper insulin sensitivity, maintaining blood sugar levels. Additionally, sleep balances hunger hormones, influencing appetite and feelings of fullness. Lack of sleep disrupts these processes, leading to fatigue, emotional instability, impaired insulin function, and increased hunger.

Everybody can power through the day, but nobody can force themselves to fall asleep. If you try, you might even make it worse and end up unable to fall asleep.

We need to be more strategic about it, and here is how.

The Tools

In a previous newsletter, we discussed the importance of signaling to your body using light, exercise, temperature, and the time of day. You can read it here.

While some of these tools take some effort, I want to add a very enjoyable one if you are so lucky to have a partner you love. Feeling your partner under the sheets makes you feel safe and has a stress-reducing effect. This is a prerequisite for a deep sleep and a good night's rest.

Now, let’s get into a potent intervention you can utilize to boost your sleep efficiency.

The Instant Sleep Boost

If you are having lasting problems getting a good night’s rest, there is a potent tool you can implement to set your clock instantly.

It’s extreme but it’s been proven this works better then medication.

All you need to do is set your alarm just past the halfway point of your sleep. For most this will be around 3 am. We don’t want to interrupt the first half, the deepest part of our sleep cycle.

When the alarm clock goes off, you must get up and use a bright light of at least 1,000 LUX. We do this as light is one of the most powerful signals your body has about the time of the day.

Your body will think the sun is up and it’s morning while it’s only 3 a.m. As we know from a previous newsletter mentioned above, adenosine builds up during the day. Adenosine can be described as sleep hunger. 

You are adding 4 hours of buildup in adenosine to your day, which will ensure you can fall asleep when you usually go to bed.

Doing this for one night every week is a powerful hormetic stimulus. The extra hours will also give you an excellent advantage over your competition.