And it’s not just lack of sleep, because oftentimes I’d get full 8 hours and still felt even worse (and more tired) than I did in the evening.
Something was definitely off. So, I started to explore and learn what the true cause was.
What I found is that you can never get good natural sleep when all the lights around you are unnatural…
The Light Problem
You see, before the invention of the lightbulb, 💡 even if we had artificial lighting, it was very weak and dim.
Candles used to cost a fortune, so for the vast majority of people, when the sun went down, so did they as well.
And in a way, this was natural and something our bodies were used to.
But today, you have bright lights turned on up to 5 seconds before you go to sleep.
(and we won’t even go into the smartphone problem)
The Body Is Slow
You see, the body needs to prepare itself for sleep. And it does this slowly. Very slowly!
Why?
Because there was never any need to do it fast.
(It’s not like the sun would go down in an instant.) 😅
This process always took hours of slowly turning the light off. And our bodies adjusted to such a natural biorhythm.
The Key Issue
One of the ways that bodies (slowly) prepared for sleep was to (slowly) begin the production and release of “sleep chemicals”.
These chemicals would then prepare our body and mind so well that by the time we would hit the pillow, we’d immediately go into deep sleep.
But today, it’s exactly the opposite.
Now, due to unnatural light, it takes your body hours after you already went to sleep to prepare itself for deep sleep.
This means half of your sleep is wasted! 😲
No wonder you’re tired.
Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions
It is unrealistic to expect we will abandon electricity, lightbulbs, and smartphones. (at least, I certainly won’t)
Luckily, there is a workaround.
The most important among the “sleep chemicals” I previously mentioned is melatonin. And we’re fortunate enough that it can be produced in a lab.
So, every night before I go to sleep, I make sure to take one pill of melatonin, and I fall asleep much easier.
Plus, I still can’t believe I’m able to wake up more rested after 6 hours of sleep than I previously did with 8 hours. Incredible. 🤯