What is the Best Bedtime?
This is certainly going to depend on a number of factors, but can really be narrowed down to fit your own lifestyle optimally. The real answer is whenever you are willing to do it since some sleep is better than none, but that is not necessarily give you the most energy and health benefits.
Does the Time Really Matter
Your body follows a circadian rhythm that lasts about 24 hours. What this means is the body does and expects to do certain things at certain times each day. It expects to get to bed around the same time and wake up around the same time each day, but it is also ready to have a bowel movement, exercise, be most alert and many other things at specific times. There are certain things that we can modify and our body will become used to, but for the body to recover with sleep optimally we really should try to follow the sun and our sleeping patterns from when we were young. This includes winding down at night and getting to bed early as well as getting up and at ‘em when we rise each day.
Physical Recovery
As discussed above your circadian rhythm will tell the body when it is time to do something. This is no different when it comes to having the body recover physically. This typically happens between the hours of 10pm and 2am which means that you should not be climbing into bed at 11pm or later and expect your body to perform optimally. By not letting your body repair physically your organs can begin to breakdown and not work as efficiently, your bones and muscles will become weaker and you can even experience more soreness in joints or your eyes starting to perform poorly.
Mental and Psychological Recovery
As we discussed last week this part of sleep is critical for memory and takes place between the hours of 2am and 6am. Here those memories can become ingrained, you can fight off depression and boost your mood, as well as improve emotional capacity and create higher self-esteem. These benefits to seem pretty profound, but are often overlooked as important aspects of sleep.
Now that it has been established that 10pm-6am is ideal how do you get to this point of ideal sleep:
-Work Into It: Start by going to bed 15 minutes earlier every fourth night until you are getting to bed at 10pm. This will allow your body to acclimate to the time, but make sure to keep it pretty consistent when you get there or it will be tough to maintain.
-Find Your Zone: As I discovered I do better when going to bed at 9pm and so I encourage you to find your ideal.
-Limit Stimulation: This is still why most people do not sleep great throughout the night or have trouble falling asleep. They just wind down too late. It is ideal to cut off electronics (TV, cell phone, computer, e-reader) a minimum of one hour before bed as well as dim the lights. Caffeine and nicotine after noon can certainly keep the body wound up as can refined sugar.
-The Nightshift: Sure this is going to be a bugger and certainly has been shown to have detrimental health effects. That makes it even more important to follow the tips above and in the following weeks to optimize the sleep you do get. It will not be optimal, but by really dialing in movement, nutrition and stress among others you can try to make it work for you.
“But Nick, I’m a Night Owl”
Sure you are unique, but probably not from this standpoint. Most night owls are such just because they like to be up late and don’t want to make the change. This is certainly fine, but is going to limit your health, energy and mental performance along the way.
Have a Great Day!
Nick Horowski