Get More Natural Energy - The Essential Equation
If you feel tired a lot, you may think you need more sleep.
However, there is a basic equation that we often miss when it comes to getting more energy.
Light + Darkness + Sleep = Sustainable Energy
In our modern world, we often forget that we are a part of nature.
We forget that we evolved for millennia living outdoors.
In fact, we are so finely calibrated to living outdoors that our internal bodily environment depends on cues from the outside world to properly run the show inside the body.
To provide an analogy - imagine you are the CEO of a company and you had no idea what was going on outside your company. How well would your company do? Well, it would be out of business very soon.
The body is a bit more forgiving but slowly degrades over time without cues from the environment to tell it what is going on outside.
So who is the CEO in the body?
The pineal gland. This is where a daily signal is sent to tell the body to say one thing.
Is it daytime or nighttime?
Based on this signal, the body reacts appropriately.
We don’t just sleep at night. The body is busy cleaning out toxins from the day’s activities.
Because we are rarely outdoors during the day, or in real darkness after sundown, the body is not getting this signal.
And now we are suffering.
Many of us are not living at our full energetic potential due to a disorder that comes from living indoors all the time.
It’s called Circadian Rhythm Disorder.
In the absence of outside cues from living in nature, we become less energetic, less healthy, and over time more easily succumb to disease.
We can reverse this by getting the right amount of light and darkness at the right time.
Let’s start by looking at daylight.
Our body clocks are set primarily by light exposure.
The body runs on a daily rhythm that tells it when to be alert and active, when to wind down, and when to sleep.
We call this body clock our circadian rhythm.
We are attuned to day and night, the rhythm of the earth orbiting on its axis around the sun.
A whole sensory system for picking up light and translating that signal into appropriate hormones drives the quality of our days and our nights.
This rhythm reigns over not only how we feel - how alert, how energized, how sleepy - but also how healthy we are and how long we live.
To give you an idea of the scope of our attunement to the rhythm of day and night, roughly half of our genes are affected by our circadian rhythms.
Daylight tells our bodies that it’s time to be active.
This triggers us to produce the hormones we need to feel that “get up and go” for daytime activity.
When we don’t have exposure to daylight, we fail to produce enough activity hormones (like cortisol) and we continue to produce our “sleepy time” hormone, melatonin.
This can make us feel sleepy during the day.
We don’t get enough bright blue light during the day and we get too much at night.
Getting enough outdoor light during the day is only part of the equation.
We also, paradoxically, in our modern world, get too much light!
Too much light at night.
In the evenings we light up our worlds with LED lights and the screens of our computers, TVs, and mobile devices.
These contain a lot of blue light, signaling the body to “wake up”.
Our poor bodies get confused!
We are meant to follow a 24-hour cycle. We have adapted to signals from the sun to regulate our hormones. Our internal rhythm is finely calibrated to the degree of brightness - and also the type of light.
Natural daylight includes a lot of blue spectrum light.
In response to bright light on the blue end of the spectrum, our “energy” hormones are activated and our “wind down and sleep” hormones are suppressed.
In the evening, natural light is more on the red-orange end of the light spectrum. Think of an evening sky or sunset. In the not-so-distant past, the only light after sunset would have been firelight or candlelight.
When we get orange-red light in our eyes, our bodies respond by producing the “wind down and slow down” hormone, melatonin.
Melatonin is produced in darkness. Ample melatonin is necessary for high-quality sleep.
When blue light suppresses melatonin, we fail to feel sleepy, so we stay up later.
Also, with not enough melatonin in our systems, when we do sleep, it is not high-quality sleep - we don’t sleep as deeply and may wake up more often.
Want to get more energy?
Our energy is dependent on the right light at the right time.
As creatures who evolved in nature, we depend on the rhythm of natural light and darkness to trigger the internal mechanisms that tell the body when to be alert and when to wind down and go to sleep.
The lack of energy many people feel is fundamentally connected to the indoor lifestyle we have adopted and exaggerated in recent years. Compounding that are our gadgets that disturb darkness at night.
In order to have more natural energy, we need to brighten our days and darken our nights.
To get more natural energy, here are five things you can do.
Energy Solution #1: Get outside:
Getting outside during the day is ideal.
The best time, from a circadian rhythm perspective, is the morning, soon after you wake up.
That way you are signaling your body to suppress the sleep hormone melatonin and activate your “wake up" hormones.
Ideally, you would get outside at regular intervals over the course of the day. Even a few 10-minute outings will make a big difference to your energy and the quality of your sleep.
I know - you are already strapped for time!
Can you get up 15 minutes earlier? Can you sit out on your balcony with your morning beverage? If you live in the cold north as I do, maybe you will find yourself shoveling snow and clearing the car before you can get anywhere.
Here are a few ideas to help you get outside during the day:
Park your car further away from your office or shopping destination;
At work when you feel “stuck” and are not feeling productive - instead of going for a coffee - go outside for a walk.
Schedule phone calls for when you can get out for a walk.
After lunch, go for a power walk.
Energy Solution #2: Use a Light Therapy Lamp
It’s not always practical to get outside first thing in the morning. Or it may not yet be light out when you get up at certain times of the year.
In that case, there is another option - light therapy.
Light therapy lamps were originally developed for people suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).
SAD is a depressive disorder caused by a lack of light during the winter. You can also use a light therapy lamp to mimic the morning sun to kick in the signal needed for your circadian rhythms.
The way you use a light therapy lamp is to sit within 2 feet of it for up to an hour in the morning. Put it on your desk or at your breakfast table.
Energy Solution #3: Ensure you have good ambient lighting during the day
Research has shown that bright light installed in workplaces has a positive impact on productivity and alertness.
Ensure your working environment is bright. Ideally, you would have access to a window with ample natural light. Daylight spectrum LED light bulbs help.
My own office is north-facing and I used to dislike going there because it was so dim. Once I installed daylight spectrum LED light bulbs overhead, I found my office more bright and cheerful. I also started getting more of the light needed during the day.
Energy Solution #4: Protect yourself from blue light at night
The artificial lighting we are exposed to at night includes a lot of blue-spectrum light.
This mimics natural daylight, signaling the body to stay awake.
Then we don’t feel sleepy when it’s time to go to bed.
Exposure to blue light at night also causes less restful sleep.
Here are some suggestions to protect yourself from blue light at night:
Turn off LED lighting throughout the house. LED lighting is at the blue end of the spectrum. Bathrooms are often lit with blinding LED lights. Consider installing a dimmer switch or using a nightlight. In other parts of the house, turn off overhead lights and use floor and table lamps instead. Replace LEDs with incandescent bulbs.
Turn off computers and phones when winding down for sleep. Using computers, phones, and tablets in the evening really messes with your sleep. A good practice is to turn them off 60-90 minutes before bedtime. That way your body has a chance to wind down.
Set up your computer and your phone to minimize blue light. On your computer, you can install f.lux, which shifts your screen to a warm color in the evening and maintains the original blue hue during the day. The software adapts to where you are in the world so that your computer shifts according to what is happening outside.
Set your phone to “night mode”. On an iPhone go to Settings > Display and Brightness > Night Shift. On an Android go to Settings > Display > Night Light.
Wear blue-blocking glasses at night. These are glasses you wear to block out the blue light from LEDs and screens. I put mine on each night at 8:00 and find it makes a big difference to my sleep.
Energy Solution #5: Make sure your bedroom is dark at night
It is important to keep the bedroom dark.
Even a small amount of light suppresses the nighttime production of the sleep hormone, melatonin.
Sources of light in the bedroom include fluorescent paint on a clock, LED indicator lights on plugs and devices, and light coming in through the window even with the blinds closed.
You can tape over LED indicator lights and remove devices from your bedroom. Install blackout curtains to block light coming in through the bedroom window.
Are you ready to do something great for your health, well-being, and even your longevity?
Enhance your exposure to daylight and minimize bright blue spectrum light at night.
Implement as many of these solutions as possible.
Experiment, and see what works for you.