Restful sleep is essential - it's the only way our body can regenerate optimally and carry out a number of important processes. But what if the quality of your sleep leaves something to be desired? Then it's time to optimize your sleep routine.
Sleep routine: Why is restful sleep so important
While you sleep, your body carries out many important and complex processes. These processes can only take place optimally if you get enough regular, high-quality sleep .
Regeneration
During sleep, your body goes through various phases in which it regenerates. Damaged cells are repaired, released growth hormones ensure that muscles can be built up and tissue repaired.
At the same time, your blood pressure drops during sleep, which in turn relieves the heart and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Psychische Gesundheit
Your brain processes emotional experiences during REM sleep in particular. This helps to mentally "reset" you so that you can start the next day feeling balanced again.
A lack of sleep, on the other hand, often leads to increased irritability and susceptibility to stress.
Kognitive Funktionen
Restful sleep even improves your mental performance, because your brain stores information during it and can thus absorb new impressions the next day.
If you sleep too little, this impairs your ability to concentrate - thinking and reaction difficulties are often the result.
Hormonregulation
During sleep, your body regulates important hormones with different functions: Leptin and ghrelin , for example, are responsible for the feeling of satiety and appetite stimulation.
If a lack of sleep disrupts the delicate balance between the two hormones, this often leads to cravings the next day. Chronic sleep deprivation can thus increase the risk of obesity and insulin resistance .
Immunsystem stärken
Even short-term sleep deprivation impairs the function of so-called T cells, which eliminate infected body cells and thus prevent the spread of a virus in the body, for example.
So those who get enough sleep are also better protected against illness.
Temperaturregulation
Our body temperature peaks in the evening before we go to bed. Thermoregulation is part of the so-called circadian rhythm (more on this later) and the rise in temperature in the evening ensures that we can fall asleep optimally.
Overnight, our body temperature then drops again and reaches its lowest level in the early hours of the morning. Over the course of the day, it fluctuates by up to 1 degree.
What exactly is biohacking?
Biohacking is based on the idea that we can actively improve our physical and mental health in a self-determined way. The aim is to improve our own performance, increase our lifespan or tackle individual health problems.
So biohackers try to get the best out of their body and mind.
Arguably the most important components of biohacking include:
- Gesunde Ernährung
- Sport and exercise
- Supplements
- Lichttherapien
In the end, however, every biohacker experiments with different measures to get the best out of themselves. there is therefore no "one" biohacking routine.
The circadian rhythm
The circadian rhythm is our body's internal biological clock, which controls many physiological processes. It follows a roughly 24- to 25-hour cycle and influences not only our sleep, but also hormone secretion, body temperature, blood pressure and many other functions.
The most important clock for the circadian rhythm is light. During the day, light hits receptors in our eyes, which transmit the stimulus via many interfaces to the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus. As a result, the stress hormones cortisol, serotonin and adrenaline are released in daylight.
But it's not just our sleep that is influenced by the daily cycle: Our cortisol level also plays a role here: Overnight, it rises slowly until it reaches its peak at around 8:30 am.
As a so-called stress hormone, cortisol influences your blood sugar and fat metabolism. It has an anti-inflammatory effect and delays the excretion of water.
The natural antagonist of cortisol is the sleep hormone melatonin. If the light intensity decreases, more melatonin is released - your body comes to rest.
By the way: Stress also keeps your cortisol levels up. As a result, you can't rest and sleep less well.
Not least, our gastrointestinal tract also normally follows a circadian rhythm. We get hungry approximately every four to five hours, whereas our appetite is reduced at night. Leptin and ghrelin in particular are responsible for this regulation. The intestines use the nightly rest to transport their contents further.
Circadian Hacking
The keyword "circadian hacking" is being used more and more frequently when it comes to biohacking and sleep rhythms. Circadian hacking is about consciously influencing the circadian rhythm. The aim is to specifically adapt the internal biological clock to personal or external requirements.
However, one thing is certain: although you can "hack" your sleep, your chronotype will always remain largely the same. In other words, an owl that tends to be active at night will not become a lark that wakes up with the first ray of sunshine, even with lots of tips and tricks.
The best tips for optimizing your sleep
Owl or lark
Owl and lark - these are the so-called chronotypes. While larks are active early in the day, owls only wake up late in the day and into the night.
Which chronotype you are is largely determined by genetics. However, you can still do this to a certain extent - for example through light, food intake or exercise.
You should adapt your sleep routine to your chronotype as much as possible. The closer you match your natural rhythm, the better.
Light & movement
Your sleep routine starts during the day - sounds strange, but it does. If you spend time in the fresh air, get daylight and exercise during the day, you support your circadian rhythm.
In addition, a study has shown that exercise and sport are an effective solution, especially for sleep problems - and probably also improve sleep quality in the long term.
The study "Physical activity impacts overall quality of sleep" also came to a similar conclusion: Of the 2600 participants, those who had exercised for at least 150 minutes a week slept significantly better and also felt more alert during the day.
The reason for this: Exercise promotes the reduction of stress hormones and improves regulation. At the same time, more serotonin is released during exercise - and your body can convert this into melatonin in the evening.
Omit caffeine
How exactly we react to caffeine is very individual. But one thing is certain: caffeine blocks the effect of adenosine, a neurotransmitter that "makes us tired". So if we have caffeine in our bodies, we find it harder to fall asleep and stay in deep sleep phases.
A studyconfirms exactly this: test subjects consumed caffeine at different times before going to bed. Compared to the control group, a measurable disturbance of sleep was found in all test subjects - even if the caffeine consumption was six hours ago.
It is therefore better not to have any more caffeinated drinks after 2 p.m. - or even to avoid them completely.
Alkohol vermeiden
Not surprisingly, alcohol also disturbs your sleep at night. It leads to a decrease in REM and deep sleep phases, increases respiratory problems, causes you to wake up more frequently and, last but not least, makes you go to the loo more often.
A twin study, which began in 1975, was able to show that even moderate alcohol consumption is associated with poorer sleep quality in the test subjects in the long term. Of course, it would be best to avoid alcohol completely - because alcohol not only has a negative effect on your sleep, but also on many other physical processes.
Schlafzimmer optimieren
Your bedroom also plays a major role in your sleep routine. But what is actually important when optimizing your sleeping area
- Temperature: Keep the room temperature between 15 and 18 degrees - the optimum temperature for adults.
- Bed linen: Use breathable, possibly even thermo-regulating bed linen.
- Light: Install light-proof curtains or blinds to keep your bedroom as dark as possible.
- Quiet: Make sure that your sleeping environment is as quiet as possible - if in doubt, earplugs can help.
- Keep things tidy: Unconsciously, clutter can cause stress. So keep it tidy - and minimalist.
- Air: Ventilate regularly (especially before going to bed). Houseplants such as the hemp plant can improve the air quality.
- Fragrances: Smells such as lavender or chamomile may help you fall asleep.
Gewichtsdecke nutzen
Weighted blankets are becoming increasingly popular - they are said to calm the parasympathetic nervous system and thus reduce stress. These blankets are usually filled with small glass beads and weigh around seven kilograms.
Scientifically reliable evidence for the supposedly positive effects of such blankets is scarce - and would be difficult to implement. After all, there is no such thing as a "placebo weight blanket". Test subjects would know immediately whether it was a weighted blanket - or not.
However, many people report the positive effects of weighted blankets, especially in cases of anxiety or restlessness. So you can safely give it a try.
Schlafposition finden
You've probably seen a video on supposedly "correct" sleeping positions at some point. The good news first: If you don't have any health problems or other restrictions, whatever feels good is allowed.
The situation is slightly different for:
- Neck or back pain
- Snoring or obstructive sleep apnea
- Reflux and heartburn
- Lungenerkrankungen
- Schwangerschaft
The probably healthiest sleeping position is lying on your back, as the spine can assume its natural shape and the body weight is evenly distributed. However, the supine position is not suitable for people with breathing problems.
As you can see, your optimal sleeping position is very individual. However, if you are currently suffering from sleep problems, it can be useful to take a look at your sleeping position.
Schlafphasen nutzen
If you are woken up during a light sleep phase, you can get up much more easily. However, if we are torn from a deep sleep phase, we find it much more difficult. One solution to this problem are so-called sleep phase alarm clocks.
These over-the-counter versions measure physical movement and are designed to recognize the different sleep phases - and then wake us up in a less deep phase. Instead of a fixed time, a time frame is specified in advance when you want to be woken up.
These alarm clock models are often not suitable for people who generally sleep very restlessly - i.e. move around a lot.
Also important: It is hardly verifiable whether the alarm clocks actually recognize sleep phases based on movement alone. Even the professional devices in the sleep laboratory sometimes have problems with this - whether a smartwatch, for example, can do this at all is questionable.
As is so often the case, the same applies here: Try out what suits you best.
Abends entspannen
Rest in the mind is the cornerstone of good sleep. Stress, on the other hand, can disrupt our sleep - studies show that people with a high perception of stress sleep shorter and worse - and are also duller and sleepier during the day.
The following tips can help you to relax better in the evening:
- Meditieren
- Do stretching exercises or yoga
- Autogenes Training
- Atemübungen
- Walk in the fresh air
- Drink tea, especially chamomile, lavender, hops or valerian
- Read a book to slow down
Reduce blue light
Sitting on your cell phone before going to bed has become quite normal for many people. The problem: blue light. According to a study , the short-wave rays can inhibit the release of the sleep hormone melatonin - making it harder for you to fall asleep.
The solution: Switch off all devices at least 30 minutes to an hour before going to bed - or at least wear glasses with a blue light filter . Bryan Johnson even completely avoids any stimuli in the bedroom.
Healthy eating
Healthy eating also plays a role when it comes to sleep: in order to sleep well, our metabolism needs to rest at night. Very fatty, highly seasoned or simply very sumptuous meals in the evening get in the way of this.
Other typical mistakes are:
- Eating very spicy food - chili keeps our core body temperature and heart rate high. But we need exactly the opposite to be able to fall asleep well.
- Raw vegetables and pulses - they strain our intestinal flora and don't let us sleep well due to fermentation.
- Raw fruit - blood sugar fluctuations and fermentation processes disturb your sleep.
For example, the following can be better:
- A light, balanced meal
- Sweet potatoes instead of potatoes: the large amounts of resistant starch are popular with our intestinal flora
- Lukewarm dairy products
- Drink less after 7 pm to avoid having to go to the loo at night
The right supplements
Supplements can also have a positive influence on your sleep-wake cycle. The following dietary supplements are particularly popular for biohacking:
Magnesium
Magnesium fulfills many important functions in our body. The mineral supports our sleep primarily through:
- Supporting the nervous system: Magnesium binds to the GABA receptors in our brain. GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a neurotransmitter that is known for its calming properties - and is therefore also crucial for our sleep.
- Less insomnia: A lack of magnesium in particular is often responsible for sleep problems - such as restless legs syndrome or classic calf cramps.
Aminosäuren
Amino acids are the building blocks of life - and therefore also play a crucial role in sleep. Some amino acids serve as precursors for neutrotransmitters, which control our sleep and wake cycles.
Dazu gehören:
- Tryptophan: An essential amino acid that the body needs to produce serotonin - the precursor to melatonin.
- Glycine: A non-essential amino acid that helps to lower body temperature so that we can fall asleep optimally.
- GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid): A non-essential amino acid that reduces the activity of our central nervous system - and thus ensures relaxation.
Ashwaganda
Ashwaganda is a plant whose berries and roots are mainly used in Ayurvedic medicine. The evergreen plant is said to have many different positive effects.
Unter anderem:
- Reducing stress and anxiety symptoms
- Help with insomnia
- More strength, stamina and energy
- Lower blood pressure
- Verringerung von Entzündungen
Reducing stress plays a particularly important role in our sleep: According to a meta-analysis , Ashwaganda significantly improved the sleep quality of the test subjects. The GABA-like effect is probably responsible for this.
That's why you'll also find Ashwaganda in our QNIGHT capsules - to help you wind down in the evening.
Melatonin
Melatonin is an important clock for our sleep-wake rhythm. It is the antagonist to the stress hormone cortisol and ensures that we become sleepy and tired. Ideally, melatonin supplements need to be taken over several weeks in order to develop their full effect. However, melatonin only plays a role in falling asleep - but not in sleeping through the night.
In addition, you should always take any supplements at the same time, i.e. when you normally go to sleep. If you take the substance at different times, your internal clock will get confused.
Taurin
Taurine is an amino acid that we are often familiar with from energy drinks. It is involved in the development of the brain and muscle activity, binds free radicals and thus acts against inflammation.
Our Taruin levels fall drastically with increasing age. The exact effects this has on our ageing process have not yet been researched. However, it is almost certain that the amino acid plays a significant role in this.
In addition, taurine is said to have a calming effect on our nervous system and help to reduce cortisol levels. The result: you can fall asleep and stay asleep better and faster.
