3 Morning Habits That Can Help to Improve Your Sleep

Our morning habits can influence the quality of our sleep.  Setting ourselves up for a good night of sleep starts when we wake up.  

If you’re having trouble getting quality sleep, you are not alone.  One in three adults do not regularly get the recommended amount of uninterrupted sleep they need for optimal health.

Why Sleep Is Important for Gut Health and Overall Wellness

You may not associate sleep with gut health, but it absolutely has a powerful effect on it!  

When my health and gut were at their worst, my sleep suffered badly.  I had a tough time getting to sleep and staying asleep and felt like a zombie the next day.  I know how miserable it can be!  

The quality and amount of sleep you get affect your gut’s ability to repair and function well.  Without adequate sleep, healing and waste cleanup cannot effectively take place, decreasing the overall health of your digestive system.₁

During sleep, your gut also focuses on promoting a healthy microbiome. It’s essential to get good quality sleep if you want to have a healthy gut terrain. 

Besides supporting gut health, sleep helps to support healthy brain function, our heart and circulatory system, metabolism, respiratory system and immune system.

Fortunately, there is a lot within our hands to support quality sleep.  These habits when done consistently, set you up for success with optimal sleep.  And bonus: they don’t require a lot of time or money.

Habits to Support Quality Sleep

1. Get sunlight exposure in the morning. Research has shown that morning sun exposure helps to increase sleep quality.₂ Exposure to sunlight in the morning can help boost your melatonin stores which helps to create a more positive and calm mood, as well as help with promoting better nighttime sleep. As brief as ten to fifteen minutes of exposure is significantly helpful.₃
2. Eat a balanced breakfast. Skipping breakfast has been associated with poor sleep quality.₄ After fasting all night, your body craves essential nutrients and steady energy. That’s where a balanced breakfast comes in. Making sure your plate is supplied with whole-food carbohydrates, healthy fats, and plenty of protein helps keep you off the blood sugar rollercoaster, and provides sustained energy all morning.
3. Coffee after breakfast. When you have coffee BEFORE breakfast (or in place of breakfast), you spur an increase in cortisol, a main stress hormone.  This can lead to imbalanced blood sugar levels throughout the day, and waking up frequently throughout the night which leads to poor sleep. Try drinking coffee after breakfast to minimize its possible negative impact on sleep.

Morning habits, especially when done consistently, can benefit your sleep quality. Habits don’t have to be complex to make a difference in your sleep. Let me know if you give at least one of them a try!

References:

1. Nutritional Therapy Association. Sleep, Stress and Movement Guide. [PDF file]. 2020. P 32.
2. Düzgün G, Durmaz Akyol A. Effect of Natural Sunlight on Sleep Problems and Sleep Quality of the Elderly Staying in the Nursing Home. Holist Nurs Pract. 2017 Sep/Oct;31(5):295-302. 
3. Mead M. N. (2008). Benefits of sunlight: a bright spot for human health. Environmental health perspectives, 116(4), A160–A167.
4. Xian, X., Wang, C., Yu, R., & Ye, M. (2023). Breakfast Frequency and Sleep Quality in College Students: The Multiple Mediating Effects of Sleep Chronotypes and Depressive Symptoms. Nutrients, 15(12), 2678.