BernardaSv / iStock / thinkstock.com
One of the many diets out there is the “Paleo” Diet: imagine eating food that a caveman would consume—any food that you could hunt or gather, but will more likely find in a grocery store. Things such as meats, fish, nuts, and seeds or produce grown locally (that is within 400 miles) tend to do the trick.
While it’s arguable whether this diet would work for everyone, we modern people could do well to adopt some of the cave dwellers’ habits, particularly when it comes to sleeping. We’re not suggesting you sleep in a real cave, but a cave-like environment. It can actually helps you get in sync with your body’s circadian rhythm, which drives your natural sleep-wake cycle. Once you find your body and brain gets back in sync, you’ll fall asleep easily and wake up feeling rested. So forget sleeping like a baby; here are 7 tips to help you sleep like a cavemen:
Cover Up Ceiling Windows
Cover skylights—cardboard tacked to the ceiling is a good Plebian start. Don’t like the shabby chic look? Hire someone to install a 100% light-blocking shade on the inside of the skylight, or install a piece of metal roofing over the roof side of the skylight. And if there’s a move in your future, don’t be seduced by a place featuring soaring bedroom ceilings punctuated by skylights—troubled sleepers and insomniacs will be thankful to not have that looming above their heads all night.
Blackout Curtains
Cover every inch of your bedroom windows with theater drapes. Also known as light-blocking or room-darkening drapes, they’re the key to turning off your brain and boosting sleep hormones. To ensure absolute blocking, install pull-down room-darkening shades behind the same drapes. Getting light leak over the top of the drapes? Place a rolled up towel. Think dark: think cave.
Unplug The LEDs
Unplug televisions, backlit cell phones, tablets, and perpetually lit LED clocks. In fact, banish all of LED and digitally generated light in your bedroom. All these lights can disrupt melatonin levels, making sleep difficult.
Shows Can Wait
Can’t miss your favorite late-night talk show host on the TV? Record it to watch earlier in the day. Is bedtime the only time you have to read? Use an e-reader that requires a backup light source, like the one on your bedside table.
Install low-wattage bulbs in your ceiling and bedside lamp so that you can prepare for bed without the risk of bright lights stimulating your brain.
Stay Away From Late-Night Binges
Avoid consuming food in your bed before you go to sleep. Smart cavemen chow down many hours before crashing. Same goes for beverages—avoid alcoholic beverages at least an hour before bedtime and stimulating sodas or coffee even earlier.
Stumble Around
Have to get up to go in the middle of the night? Don’t turn on any lights. If feeling your way along the wall to the loo is out, plug a green glow light into your bathroom electric outlet.
Soak Up the Sun
During the day, too much time spent under artificial lighting will disrupt your wake-sleep cycle. Add in the shine of bright lights at night (especially the wavelengths produced by TV or computer screens) melatonin production is suppressed, which again, makes falling asleep or staying asleep difficult. Get back on track by spending more time outdoors during the day. Real cave people take their work breaks outdoors. They also skip the gym sometimes and take walks, hikes, or runs outside. Don’t be shy: at work or home keep curtains and blinds open during the day, and park your desk closer to the window so you can get as much ambient light as possible throughout the work day.
