Better Sleep in One Week
[updated Feb 22, 2025]
Tall order, I know.
But hear me out. This one will be short & sweet. My top 7 tips to improve your sleep.
Whether you struggle to fall asleep, stay asleep, or just wake up never feeling rested…there’s a lot of variety in the underlying causes of sleep disturbances. So this isn’t intended to replace a consult with your doctor, but rather to help you do some digging to know what to discuss with your doctor (and if I’m your doctor, you know how much I value sleep in the picture of whole-person health).
At the time of this update, it’s juuuuust about Daylight Savings Time (again - ugh). We’re about to “Spring Forward” and lose an hour of our precious rest.
In previous email newsletters and blogs, we chatted potential underlying causes of poor sleep and fatigue, but with DST looming, we’re going straight to the most efficient and widely applicable top 7 tips tackle subpar sleep head-on.
If you have the time, I encourage you to keep a sleep and energy journal as you implement these. Add in one new sleep hygiene habit every 3-7 days…this will help you shed some light on the underlying issues affecting your sleep. If the first tip doesn’t move the needle much, but the third one really makes a difference, you’ll have better data on knowing your bio-individual health factors and how to live healthier (and happier), because poorly rested people are hardly ever the best versions of themselves.
First the tips, then we’ll circle back to the underlying factors. Why? Because I know you really just came here for the tips 😅 oh and maybe a discount on a set of supplements tailored to help you sleep (have no fear - that’s down there, too).
Top 7 Sleep Tips
0. Baseline - Track your sleep.
Know thyself. Take stock of when you’re asleep and when you’re awake. Journal your energy, mood, sleep, and ladies - definitely journal this with your menstrual cycle if you still have one. Observation and documentation are keys to noting what actually supports significant shifts in your sleep and health! I always encourage my patients to work on sleep hygiene (these tips) before moving into supplements and even before (or alongside) labs, in many cases. If these are off, they’re going to throw off hormone production, energy regulation and the whole cascade that follows (and don’t even get me started on blood glucose balance).
1. Coffee Talk (Caffeine & Sleep)
In the world of setting yourself up for a great night’s sleep…coffee, tea and caffeinated drinks have their place, and it’s inside a window of enjoyment. No caffeine at least 8 hours before your bedtime (10 hours prior is even better, 12 is rockstar sleeper status).
Many people find it easiest to just call a hard stop at 2pm (again, noon would be even better). This is because the half-life of caffeine is 5-6 hours (and of course, we all metabolize caffeine uniquely). So the goal is to let as much caffeine get processed and out of your system as possible.
We also are seeing studies now showing that delaying caffeine intake until 60-90 minutes after rising is also ideal. Letting your brain and body rev itself up and get going is kinder on your cortisol and other hormones. So, we love you, coffee…but stay in your lane.
2. Let there be LIGHT! Two part-er:
2a. Morning sunshine - in your eyeballs, no filters, out in the fresh air. This helps regulate your circadian rhythm, cortisol production, and helps your body produce melatonin at night. Bonus points for also watching the sunset (hey melatonin production again) and then implementing 2b.
2b. Evening darkness. Kick the blue light before bed - it disrupts your natural melatonin production. This means using that “night shift” feature on your tech, maybe getting a pair of blue light blocking glasses (yeah, the weird yellow ones you see me, Dr. K, wear on instagram in nighttime stories). Or heck, maybe that means you put the phone down and opt for a book - yup, the paper and ink kind (or at least a kindle)!
3. Exercise.
Movement is great for sleep, but again - within its bounds. Are you seeing a theme here? All things in their right time. Daily exercise regularly shows positive effects on both deep sleep and REM sleep. However, do not exercise intensely within 6 hours of bedtime. This has been shown to decrease sleep quality.
4. Keep it cool and dark,
like can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face dark. Okay, but don’t trip over anything - safety first.
Your body temperature drops to sleep. Somewhere between one to three degrees - not insignificant. This is much easier if you aren’t trying to sleep in a warm environment. If you’re a bit chilly, or prone to being chilly, you can have an extra blanket (or two, hey hashi momma’s - I feel you). It’s easier to kick out a leg or throw off a blanket than to deal with the sleep disturbances coming from your body’s inability to cool down sufficiently.
When it comes to darkness - see point two 😉 if you need a light, we use the “bedtime bulb” company and like those. Keeping it in shades of red, and just enough to move about safely.
5. Pay attention to your meals. Carbs are not the enemy of rest.
Having a dinner with a balance of complex carbs (think veggies, not dessert) can support our hormones and proper rest. Combining carbs with fiber, healthy protein and fat, and eating them later in the meal to support steady blood sugar, we can actually support our serotonin levels as well as our blood sugar balance.
Irregular blood sugar, with spikes and dips (which we call a “blood sugar roller coaster”) in your blood glucose is a leading cause (along with toxicity) of that 3 or 4am wakeup that disrupts so many people’s sleep. Balancing blood sugar is a huge component of metabolic and hormonal health we address with private clients - so this one is absolutely worth exploring and journaling to see how/if it helps you!
Aim to finish dinner at least two hours prior to going to bed. You don’t want to be eating a huge meal a half hour or an hour before laying down to sleep, but also, do not go to sleep hungry/skipping dinner - this will also prevent you from falling or staying asleep. We see this a lot when people are experimenting with fasting or time restricted eating (but that’s a topic for another blog).
6. Set sleep and wake times. Get your booty in bed by 11pm, at the latest. Avoid “social jetlag” from events.
Having a varying sleep and wake schedule constantly really negatively affects our sleep. Deep sleep and slow-wave sleep are important.
Your body cycles through various stages of sleep; initially, you drop into deep sleep and slow-wave sleep…but later in the night you [should] move into more REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Deep sleep is when you secrete more of your growth hormone, and your body focuses mostly on repairing itself - protein synthesis, repairing your cells, muscles, etc. REM sleep has more vivid and emotional dreams, and more of this happens during the second half of your night’s rest.
Energy is metabolized differently during the second half of the night, which is very crucial to those of us who want to optimize our blood sugar regulation (because those effects carry over into the next day…)!
Deep sleep (or slow-wave sleep) and REM sleep should be roughly balanced if you’re using a sleep tracker. Our modern sleep trackers are still educated, tech device guesses - so while it is good to use these for data, but it’s still a best guess.
7. Cut the alcohol. And the cannabis (CBD & THC).
Alcohol within 8 hours of going to sleep changes our sleep architecture and can disrupt our deep sleep. There are very compelling studies showing that while CBD (and THC) help us fall asleep and make us feel like we sleep better (as many people claim with alcohol as well), that’s not the case long term. While using these occasionally, enjoying a drink with friends and being social has significant positive effects (I’m a huge fan of community and play for whole-person health), I’m just not convinced that alcohol and CBD have a place in our routines while someone is working to regain their rest, or their health.
My best recommendation is to cut the booze and the cannabis for at least four weeks. This is often best done with some amount of sleep tracking, either with tech or while working with a professional, as some people will go through a nearly-withdrawal-like period where they feel they sleep worse.
If you feel CBD is something you’re dependent on for falling (or staying) asleep, maybe Daylight Savings Time isn’t the best time to mess with that - but if you’re reading this around DST, do yourself a favor and cut the alcohol for at least a week on either side of the time change!
8. Sleep Stack Supplements?
Okay friends, I hear you! I know this question is coming (well probably more like a steady trickle of emails and DMs that get more frequent the closer we get to DST - lol) if I don’t address supplements for sleep. This is a very commonly asked question, for good reason. Sometimes between life, work, family, and just the hustle and bustle of western life…proper sleep hygiene just feels out of reach. I get it - I really do.
There are supplements you can use as well to support restful sleep. Magnesium is my go-to, as so many of us are deficient. However, we created a whole list for you to explore.
Check out our FullScript Sleep Stack here, and drop us a line to let us know if you’d like a blog on best practices for supplements & sleep! And of course, when signing up through one of our links for FullScript ^^ we pass on our discount to you, so you’ll see 15% off (20% if you click auto-ship) for the sleep supplements (and anything else you need)!
Underlying Factors Affecting Sleep Quality & Quantity
Okay, if you made it past the supplement stack…Brava!! Label me impressed 👏🏽
People always ask what we see in the office. In private practice, the top sleep-disrupting root causes we see and work with patients to resolve are:
Blood Sugar Fluctuations
Hormonal Imbalances & Cortisol Dysregulation
Chronic Stress Overload
Toxicity & an Inability to Detox Properly
The Perfect Storm of a Complete Lack of Sleep Hygiene
Now there are many underlying root causes, and we are all bio-individual. Honestly, most people have a combination of these factors, usually with one that’s stolen the show and that we must address first. But these are the most common we see. The good news? They are all well within our ability to shift and improve.
