4 Simple Hacks To Improve Your Sleep & Maximize Workout Results

“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

As an active person sleep quality is probably the most important part of my ability to show up to the gym or training ground daily and giving my full effort. From Taekwon-Do three days a week, to cricket and hiking for another three days, and having to sprinkle in strength training and swimming in between, my sleep needs to be on point so that I can recover and improve. Without adequate slumber at night my physical health would degrade.

Here is what I do to ensure the benefits from nighttime sleep are maximized.

Watch the sunrise every morning.

The light frequencies present at this time of day are beneficial to the production of melatonin (sleep hormone) in the eyes.

This allows for reduced levels of inflammation throughout the day which aids movement and force exertion during exercise. The melatonin produced here also triggers the release of the melatonin stored in the brain after sunset allowing us to fall asleep. Without this trigger our sleep quality falls thus reducing our ability to workout at maximum intensity or recover from said work.

You should try to structure your sleep to wake up at sunrise or at worst get 30 minutes of sun before 8am.

Supplement with magnesium and real salt.

Magnesium and unrefined salt allow for relaxation of the nervous system before bed.

The magnesium is a key input to the energy produced and used to carry out the repair and detoxification processes in the body as we sleep. With insufficient amounts of this mineral, we are unable to recover from physical activity adequately enough to perform at our full potential or see physical improvement. Salt supplementation boosts this by providing additional minerals as well as allowing us to enter deep restorative sleep due to a relaxing the nervous system.

This works especially well when magnesium baths are combined with oral supplementation.

Have the last meal of the day before sunset.

Having meals post sunset disrupts sleep and recovery.

Here, our food processing systems slow down as the day approaches dusk. This makes it difficult to digest food at night which erodes sleep quality as recovery processes are halted due to the energy being used for digestion. As a result, you wake up feeling tired and the expected progress from physical activity becomes unachievable.

A good plan would be to have large meals earlier in the day and avoid all snacks and food drinks at night.

Use red lightbulbs or candles indoors after sunset.

This will aid the release of melatonin post sunset which is blocked by bright light.

Blue light, which allows us to see clearly during the day stops the secretion of melatonin from the brain, specifically the pituitary gland. With low levels of melatonin secretion, the ability to sleep, though you may feel tired disappears. As a result, you may experience chronic fatigue which will clearly impact your physical abilities in addition to the lack of recovery for the body’s systems.

The solution for this if you are unable to control the light environment would be to use blue light blocking glasses after sunset.

Whether you want to pay attention or not, adequate sleep consumes one-third of your daily life.

Therefore, optimizing for quality will greatly determine the productive result of the remaining 16 hours in the day.