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Regulating light has had a major positive effect on sleep onset


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So I was listening to podcast about adjusting to jet lag, and how to effectively shift your circadian clock. The main take away is LIGHT. To keep your sleep stable it's best to go outside and get sunlight right when you wake up, and conversely you want to avoid light at night. It sounds pretty damn basic but it's so easy to screw up. Light from our tv's and screens are bright enough to delay sleep.

 

So I ran an experiment and decided on getting an hour of light in the morning and avoiding all light after sundown besides my computer screen. I just reduced the brightness on my monitor screen, used F.lux to block bluelight, and an additional app to further dim the screen again. After the second day I was consistently falling asleep within 15 mins! 

 

Amazing! I always knew light and it's effect on sleep, but I wasn't reducing enough light at night and was paying the price. I still follow good sleep hygiene, and practice a body scan meditation 30 minutes before bed, by the end of the session im usually nodding off!

 

Podcast link:

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[5b...]

For me it doesn't make a lot of difference. I have RGB Bulbs in my bedroom, and I dim them to 15%, and turn them amber 2hr before bedtime. I do the same with my monitors (I dim them to the lowest brightness they are capable of).

 

Does not seem to make much difference to me, but people are different thought, and since I already have the bulbs and the routine, I keep on doing in anyway.

 

In the morning, I sit by the window on a sunny day, take 2mg b12 sublingually, and eat my breakfast, getting as much natural light as I can.

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You just jumped off so ymmv. I've been off for 2+ years.  That being said I first started doing two hours outside (by the window is not as effective) and 4 hours of darkness. Very extreme but I wanted to elicit the effect first, then see how much light is needed/reduced. You can still be getting way too much light at night especially.

 

I've tried things like trazodone, melatonin, meditation, magnesium,  yoga, walking, hot showers, cold showers, sauna, and red lights and this blows it out the water for me personally.

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So I was listening to podcast about adjusting to jet lag, and how to effectively shift your circadian clock. The main take away is LIGHT. To keep your sleep stable it's best to go outside and get sunlight right when you wake up, and conversely you want to avoid light at night. It sounds pretty damn basic but it's so easy to screw up. Light from our tv's and screens are bright enough to delay sleep.

 

So I ran an experiment and decided on getting an hour of light in the morning and avoiding all light after sundown besides my computer screen. I just reduced the brightness on my monitor screen, used F.lux to block bluelight, and an additional app to further dim the screen again. After the second day I was consistently falling asleep within 15 mins! 

 

Amazing! I always knew light and it's effect on sleep, but I wasn't reducing enough light at night and was paying the price. I still follow good sleep hygiene, and practice a body scan meditation 30 minutes before bed, by the end of the session im usually nodding off!

 

Podcast link:

Absolutely. Fantastic advice and especially the piece I put in bold. I've actually heard this advice a few times recently from several different places. Getting those lux in within 2 hours of waking is a big deal. This is the single best thing you can do for your circadian rhythm. If you chose to make this a 30 minute walk, that's even better.

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Yes this is good advice if u are further out. I walk 1.5 hrs as soon as I wake up in full sun, then read at night so no screens and minimal light (I use an amber headlamp) and the last 2 nights 1.5 hrs sleep. So for this of us almost off or just off it probably won’t help but good advice once some healing takes place
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Yeah the old clock is a bit broken in those states  ;) it’s still good to set up a good day time routine tho, can’t hurt right x
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Yes,

that is the one thing I miss , being able t fall asleep in front of the TV .. I always loved to do that but no more . Not since I jumped. I have to sleep in a DARK black dark quiet room , with maybe some asmr on low on my laptop thats turned away with the screen light turned all the way down .. Its a trip .

I think I will be this way for a long while .

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Me too blue. Miss it so much. I doze in front of tv but I can still hear everything. Now the room has to be dark, window open, stars aligned, wind blowing in the right direction  >:(
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  • 2 months later...

Thanks for this link.  Huberman has lots of information on circadian rhythms that can apply to lifestyle adjustments many of us need to acknowledge and implement.  Very complex systems we are.

 

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As a side note, and not trying to "school" people, but according to sleep expert Michael Breus, your Circadian Rhythm and Sleep Drive (a lot like hunger) need to be in sync.

 

When a cell in your body "eats" a piece of glucose something comes out the back end and that's adenosine.  As adenosine works it way through your blood stream, it goes into one particular spot in your brain with particular receptor sites.  As these receptor sites receive or fill up with more and more adenosine, you get more and more sleepy.  This is your Sleep Drive.  When adenosine binds to its receptors, neural activity slows down, and you feel sleepy

 

The molecular structure of adenosine and caffeine are only off by one molecule!  So caffeine fits perfectly into that receptor site in your brain and blocks adenosine from attaching and making you sleepy.  That's why caffeine keeps you awake.  And that's why many get a "caffeine crash" or feel tired and sleepy after the caffeine leaves the receptor sites and adenosine comes rushing back in.

 

Sleep Drive isn't the only system for sleep.  You also have your Circadian Rhythm.  Just like most people tend to get hungry around breakfast, lunch and dinner time, most people start to get sleepy around 10:00 - 11:00 pm at night.  Some earlier, some later but regardless this is your Rhythm.

 

When your Sleep Drive is high and your Rhythm is locked, sleep occurs fairly easy.

 

However, if either one of these (Drive or Rhythm) is off, you can have a sleep disorder.

 

You can have a high sleep drive but a "low" Rhythm or vice versa.  Then sleep is hard to come by.

You can get in bed and feel exhausted (high sleep drive) but your Rhythm is off so it's hard to fall asleep

 

Adenosine binds to G protein-coupled receptors in your brain. There are four known types of adenosine receptors in humans: A1, A2A, A2B and A3

Adenosine binds best to A1 receptors.

 

Benzodiazepine treatment may diminish A1- receptor binding in-vivo by inhibiting adenosine uptake or by direct occupancy of the A1 adenosine receptor recognition site. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1359103/)

 

This could explain how Benzos induce insomnia!

 

 

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[5b...]

As a side note, and not trying to "school" people, but according to sleep expert Michael Breus, your Circadian Rhythm and Sleep Drive (a lot like hunger) need to be in sync.

 

When a cell in your body "eats" a piece of glucose something comes out the back end and that's adenosine.  As adenosine works it way through your blood stream, it goes into one particular spot in your brain with particular receptor sites.  As these receptor sites receive or fill up with more and more adenosine, you get more and more sleepy.  This is your Sleep Drive.  When adenosine binds to its receptors, neural activity slows down, and you feel sleepy

 

The molecular structure of adenosine and caffeine are only off by one molecule!  So caffeine fits perfectly into that receptor site in your brain and blocks adenosine from attaching and making you sleepy.  That's why caffeine keeps you awake.  And that's why many get a "caffeine crash" or feel tired and sleepy after the caffeine leaves the receptor sites and adenosine comes rushing back in.

 

Sleep Drive isn't the only system for sleep.  You also have your Circadian Rhythm.  Just like most people tend to get hungry around breakfast, lunch and dinner time, most people start to get sleepy around 10:00 - 11:00 pm at night.  Some earlier, some later but regardless this is your Rhythm.

 

When your Sleep Drive is high and your Rhythm is locked, sleep occurs fairly easy.

 

However, if either one of these (Drive or Rhythm) is off, you can have a sleep disorder.

 

You can have a high sleep drive but a "low" Rhythm or vice versa.  Then sleep is hard to come by.

You can get in bed and feel exhausted (high sleep drive) but your Rhythm is off so it's hard to fall asleep

 

Adenosine binds to G protein-coupled receptors in your brain. There are four known types of adenosine receptors in humans: A1, A2A, A2B and A3

Adenosine binds best to A1 receptors.

 

Benzodiazepine treatment may diminish A1- receptor binding in-vivo by inhibiting adenosine uptake or by direct occupancy of the A1 adenosine receptor recognition site. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1359103/)

 

This could explain how Benzos induce insomnia!

 

Very interesting. This could explain why the body feels exhausted but your brain doesn't. It would also help to discredit that GABA receptors alone are damaged, and that GABA supplements are bad.

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Yes, I always wondered if feeling wired was only because GABA was down regulated and Glutamate ruled the day and night?

 

The role adenosine plays in sleep and with your brain feeling wired makes a lot of sense and is most likely a co-contributor to the overall insomnia mess created by taking Benzos and/or Z-drugs?

 

 

 

 

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I took adenosine at one stage and it didn’t help but maybe because it doesn’t cross the blood/brain barrier in supplement form.
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Yes, this helps a lot! Sleep was always problematic for me and I have the same strict regiment, but I want to add something. While watching t.v. (my boyfriend watches t.v. and I really want to spend the evening together) I put on really dark sunglasses. T.v. screens can emit a lot of lights as well and don't have f-lux filters. Also absolutely no bright light is allowed. I have a luxmeter on my phone to check lights. And sometimes mid-summer I even close the curtains. I think this, combined with getting enough bright light in the morning has helped my sleep.
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