Your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep is directly related to what you do when you’re awake.

Instead of tossing and turning, doom-scrolling, or popping synthetic chemicals into your mouth to fall asleep only to wake up feeling groggy, hung-over, and worse than before- try these daytime strategies to help yourself sleep well at night!

Daytime Strategies for Better Sleep

• View sunlight for 10-15 minutes as soon as you can upon waking.
  

  Your circadian rhythm is influenced by how much sunlight is viewed through your eyes. By exposing your eyes to sunlight as soon as you wake up, you let your body know it’s morning time. The sunlight exposure helps your body release chemicals that help regulate your ability to fall asleep later in the evening.

• Eat breakfast with carbs, protein, fat, and fiber. Ideally within 1 hour of waking.
  

  By skipping breakfast, you’re encouraging your body to produce more cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone that will disrupt your sleep!

• Eat a protein and carb forward dinner.
  

A hungry body is a stressed-out body, and stressed-out bodies do not sleep well. If you’re skimping on  carbs before dinner, you’re undoubtedly having sleep disruptions. Avoid going to sleep hungry. If more than 3 hours have past between dinner and bedtime, try a carb + fat snack.

• Keep your bedroom dark (super dark!) and cool. 

Use light block curtains. They’re a game changer.

• Use a fan or white noise machine.

Want to listen along? Tune into Season 2, Episode 27 of The Confidence Project Podcast.