How to wake up rested and full of energy?

We understand that you want a few simple tips or even food supplements that "conjure up" for us a day full of good mood, motivation, energy, attentiveness and attentiveness, the ability to stay focused for a long time.

And although there are plenty of such tips, let's talk about the essence this time.

To understand how it all works, you need to know probably two essential elements:

- our "hunger" for sleep starts growing right from the moment we wake up (the math here is simple - the earlier we get up, the earlier we feel sleepy)

- our sleep rhythm is influenced by hormones - cortisol and melatonin. Both of them are on different sides of the scale. In the morning, after receiving light, cortisol is released in the body, which wakes us up and at the same time sends a signal, due to which approximately after 12-14 hours. the sleep hormone melatonin will start to be released in the body.

The latter cortisol-melatonin process is not (completely) spontaneous. It is directly related to light.

In order for cortisol to be released optimally, it is important within 1-2 hours. get as much light as possible from the moment you wake up. Perfect if it's sunlight from outside (light through glass is about 15 times less efficient). The light from the screens is not strong enough, so cortisol will not be released enough. As an alternative to sunlight, a good solution is to look for a few minutes at the selfie lamp (ring lamp) that you often have at home. By the way, if you wear glasses that block blue light, stay without them in the morning and do not interfere with cortisol :). Note: looking at the light should not be difficult or even painful, the eyes should not water, so everything should be in moderation.

As the day progresses, the light receptors in our eyes become more and more sensitive to light. So even with little light in the evening, you begin to interfere with the secretion of melatonin, because the body thinks that the day is continuing (or even starting a new one!) and you need to stay active.

Fun fact - the light of a campfire, fireplace, candles and even bright moonlight does not balance this rhythm. So in the evening, look at the fire as much as you want, but, as our favorite Huberman says, don't put the house down.

Another tip - in the evening, the lighting at home should go down. In other words, if possible, turn off all the lights on the deck and leave only the reading lights on. This is important because of the location of the receptors in your eyes that pick up light and send signals to release cortisol.

Summarizing everything - we start the morning with max. amount of light, and in the evening we become a caveman living in a dark cave (at least we often catch ourselves wanting to take care of ourselves in the morning (especially in winter) and turn on the dimmed lamps so that they don't burn, but in the evening we don't spare the lighting at home).

We understand that it is not suitable and possible for everyone, but if you call yourself an owl, and during the day you complain of a bad mood, lack of energy and concentration - try to "strengthen" being in the light for 2-3 days. And see how you feel :).

At the same time, it is systematically recommended to exercise in the first half of the day and to get a higher number of calories in food also in the first half of the day.

Today we touched only a part, we promise to come back and extend it soon, because sleep and its quality is a very important part of our lives.