Welcome to the Peak Revival podcast.

My name is Vesna and today

we're going to talk about.

How to improve sleep quality through

realigning your circadian rhythm So if

you find yourself going through the day,

feeling really tired, you just can't wait

to get into bed at nighttime, but come

the evening, you're either Not tired or

you go to bed and you can't fall asleep

or you wake up between two, three, four

AM and you can't get back to sleep and

you feel even more tired the next day.

So this is not an uncommon problem

that I hear and it makes it really

hard to recover from exhaustion and

high stress and fatigue when you're

not getting that sleep recovery time.

Now, there are many things

that can be causing this.

It can be circadian rhythm, which is

what I'm going to talk about today.

It can be blood sugar level fluctuations.

It can be high stress hormones as well.

But let's talk about circadian rhythm

because I, this topic is just going to

be so much bigger as the years go on.

Because Our circadian rhythm

affects so much in our body and

we're only just really discovering

how much of an impact it has.

So all this is, is that the fact that

our body runs on a 24 hour clock.

So every single cell in our body

has like a little clock and when our

circadian rhythm is, out of whack or

disrupted, it means that all the clocks

in our body are keeping different time.

they're not synced up on the same time.

It also means because our organs

also run on a 24 hour clock.

Our gut has a clock, our liver, our body

fat, our pancreas, and so much more.

And so, you know, When we have a

circadian rhythm disruption, it

starts to affect our hormones, our

organs, our systems, our mitochondria,

so our energy, our mood, and how

quickly our body can recover.

And all of that means it has

a huge impact on performance

and peak performance.

Okay, so what causes circadian

level or circadian disruption?

Number one is So if your sleep's

been disrupted for a long time,

it's going to be out of sync.

If you're a shift worker, if you're

going to bed really late, if you've

got jet lag and obviously if we're on

our devices too much, too much blue

light exposure at nighttime, but even

during the day and not enough sleep.

Sunlight is going to cause

circadian disruption.

So in order for our body to re sync

these clocks to the master clock

in our brain, we need sunlight.

Now, if you think about how

much sunlight you actually get.

So if you're anything like me, I have

to deliberately go out and get sunlight

because otherwise I'm on my computer

all day, I will be on my device.

And it's quite easily to just be

consumed by blue light during the day.

And so.

Have a look at how much sunlight

you're actually getting.

And the most important time

is the sunrise and the sunset.

So the sun will reset

our circadian rhythm.

It will reset our clocks.

And the only way that our

body can reset those clocks is

through these external cues.

So we need sunlight.

We are designed to have sunlight

in order to reset our clocks.

The other ways that you can

reset is through, but they're

not the predominant ways.

The main one is through the sun.

Light and dark, so sunlight.

Then we have temperature, we have the

timing of meals, and exercise also

helps to realign the circadian rhythm.

So it's one of these things that as your

sleep quality becomes, well, you've got

poor sleep quality, it becomes chronic.

So for months or for years, I have women

who join my programs that are like, But

having poor sleep for many, many years.

And so there is a, a readjustment period.

And so it's about really realigning

those circadian rhythms, which is

really easy to do and it's free, right?

All you need to do is step

outside and get sunlight.

So my recommendation, so if you're

unable to fall asleep at night,

if you're waking up in the middle

of the night, or even if you.

struggle to wake up in the morning,

then really do this exercise.

So you're going out to watch the sunrise

and you're also watching the sunset.

And so that means taking 10 minutes

to be outside, looking at the sun,

obviously not directly in where it's

hurting your eyes, but you're looking

in that direction, you're blinking in

case it hurts, but you're having the

sun on your face and your eyes are

absorbing the sun because the way that

we reset the master clock is through

the sun getting into our eyes to

stimulate that master clock in our brain.

So if you're in a cold climate like I am

right now, it can make it challenging to

see the sunrise because it kind of comes

up and goes straight behind the clouds.

But the best that you can

on the days that the sun is

visible, go and see the sunrise.

Make sure it's not behind a glass window.

It has to, you actually have to be

outside, not wearing any glasses

or sunglasses either, because that

prevents the sun from getting in.

So the benefits of Having this

sunrise, sunlight exposure

it gives us, infrared light.

So we, during the day, we

have a lot of blue light.

So from our devices, from our lights,

from the fluorolights in the ceiling

and our devices, we are bombarded

with blue light, which throws out

our circadian rhythm, but can also,

affect so much of our glucose response,

our fat burning ability, and so much

But the other thing that, you know,

getting that sunrise exposure is that

it actually helps to stimulate hormones

and peptides, which gives you a really

good surge of energy in the morning.

So it's one of the quickest ways to

wake yourself up better than caffeine.

And I do, I love coffee too, but

this one is better than caffeine to

wake up the system, get your body and

your hormones charged for the day.

So you have energy in the morning and

then it's It starts to, you know, those

hormones start to change at nighttime.

So you're increasing the melatonin

come the evening, you're feeling tired,

you're feeling relaxed and you're

ready to go to bed and you can sleep.

Have a restorative sleep and

wake up feeling refreshed.

The other little thing that I also use,

uh, blue light blocking glasses, right?

You've got the yellow ones.

You've also got orange

ones for at nighttime.

And these are a really good way if

you're on the computer a lot like I

am, it helps to block the blue light

from getting into the eyes so much.

So if you're feeling exhausted, but you

can't sleep, or you know that your sleep

cycle is out of whack and that you're

not getting a proper restorative sleep

because you're waking up tired and you're

waking up during the night, then tomorrow

morning, get out there, watch the sunrise

if you can in your climate and also

get sunlight during the day as well.

So the morning and the sunset are

really good ways to get some sleep.

sunlight, even if you have fair skin,

because it's very low UV factor, but it

has the infrared light, which is really

important for our circadian rhythm.

So go try that tomorrow morning.