From brain performance to mood to gut health, sleep plays an important role in well-being.
According to Dan Ford, a sleep psychologist at the Better Sleep Clinic, there may be a missing piece to improving your sleep and waking you up full of energy – and it has to do with your morning routine.
According to the expert, cited by She Finds, wake up at the same time every morning is crucial. Your wake-up time plays a key role in regulating your circadian rhythm and releasing hormones important for sleep.
When you think of good sleep habits, you think of what you do before going to bed, like turning off electronic equipment and having a cup of tea. But while these are habits that promote better sleep, Dan Ford said a good wake-up routine can also help.
“Although articles on the Internet recommend a bedtime routine, the irony is that the most important habit in all of sleep medicine it’s getting up at the same time every day and trying not to vary by more than an hour”, he said.
“First, when you always get up at the same time, it helps to balance the circadian rhythm,” he explained. This is the “master clock” of the brain, which detects the amount of light the body receives to regulate the organism – thus knowing when to release hormones, for example.
“When you change the wake-up time, you change the signals” captured by the circadian cycle, “you throw them out of synchrony, and the result is similar to the symptoms of ‘jet lag’, of fatigue, nausea, lack of energy”, indicated the specialist.
Sleeping and waking up later than the body is used to can actually have an impact on well-being, making you feel less energetic throughout the day.
But waking up at the same time doesn’t just improve energy levels. It may also help you sleep better. “The reason for this is that the length of waking time determines theaccumulation of adenosine in the body. Accumulation of adenosine influences sleep and its depth,” said Dan Ford.
The longer you are awake, the more adenosine accumulates – and the easier it is to fall asleep. Alternatively, if you sleep to try to “catch up on sleep”, your day will be shorter than usual, and you will likely have difficulty falling asleep – which means you will also have less energy in the morning.
“Most adults will need about 16-17 hours of waking activity before they have enough adenosine to sleep for seven hours (the healthiest amount of hours for an adult),” added the expert.
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