Your agenda usually determines exactly when you get out of bed. But to the extent that you can determine your routine, experts have some ideas about healthier morning habits.
“Always Brome saying that it is best to have a puppy,” said Mariana Figueiro, who studies light and health at the Ichen del Monte Sinai School of Medicine.
Just jokes halfway. According to her, the two keys to a healthy routine to wake up are to get up at the same time every day and see the sunlight in the morning, and both usually accompany the morning ride with the dog.
We have talked to four other sleep and circadian rhythm experts that coincide with Figueiro in the importance of these two morning habits. These are your other recommendations, with or without a dog.
Keep the constancy
Assuming you have flexibility to choose from, is there an ideal time to wake up?
Not quite. Whenever you sleep between seven and nine hours every night, there is no “optimal” hour to wake upSaid Daniel Barone, deputy medical director of the Weill Cornell Center for Sleep Medicine.
The most important thing is that you follow the same schedule, said Katherine Sharkey, an associated professor who studies the dream at the Warren Alpert Medicine Faculty of Brown University.
The body works with circadian rhythms that regulate not only the sleep-vigilia cycle, but also Metabolism, appetite, hormones, mood, body temperature and cognitive function.
According to Helen Burgess, co -director of the Sleep Research Laboratory and circadian rhythms of the University of Michigan, waking up at a constant hour can help these bodily functions work properly.
Raising much later or much earlier than usual can cause drowsiness or lack of coordination. In the long term, researchers have discovered links between irregular sleep patterns and a higher risk of obesity, diabetes, mood disorders, heart disease and cancer.
Do not let weekend dismiss you
If you feel tired enough to sleep late on weekends, says Figueiro, You are probable that you are not resting enough during the week. In these cases, Shakyy suggests respecting the usual time of getting up and sleeping a nap later that same day. This can help keep circadian rhythms synchronized.
If you think you definitely have to sleep late, Barone says you can sleep one more hour. If it is more time, you could experience drowsiness, digestive problems and concentration problems, similar to Jet Lag. (Sleep experts use the term “social jet lag” to refer to the effects of revealing and sleeping late on weekends).
Look for sunlight
As soon as you wake up, Open the blinds and turn on the lights. Then, as soon as you can – the ideal would be in less than an hour, according to Figuiero -, try to go outside. Seeing any type of light in the morning, especially sunlight, helps to indicate to the body that is day, Sharkey said.
When the light reaches the eyes, a route between the brain and the adrenal glands that orders the body to release cortisol is activated. This hormone makes you feel alert, which in turn can improve your mood, he adds.
Some limited studies suggest that seeing sunlight in the morning can also improve sleep the next night. According to sharey, when the sun affects the eyes, a metaphorical stopwatch is activated that starts the countdown towards bedtime, subsequently indicating the organism when the hormone of the sleep, melatonin must be released.
According to Barone, even in cloudy days, morning sunlight is intense enough to regulate body clock. But if you wake up when it is still dark, it can be useful to light a powerful artificial light, such as a light box. You can also try the day with a alarm that looks like a dawn, which is gradually illuminated to imitate the sunrise.
The experts said that there is no specific amount of time that you should pass in sunlight in the morning, but that greater exposure is better (provided you protect your skin). Burgess said that an hour is optimal, but even 15 minutes are better than anything.
Save the repetition button
Postponing the alarm may seem like a gift for oneself, but it is not the best way to start the day, said Ann Rogers, a sleep researcher and nursing professor at the University of Emory.
According to Sharkey, the desire to sleep is the way the body has to tell us that we need to sleep more. And if you have schedule flexibility to press the repetition button, the experts agree that you better program the alarm for the time when your repetition ends and get up then. In this way, your body can rest what you need, without interruptions.