How many times each morning do you hit your snooze button? Did you know that instead of helping you get a few extra minutes of sleep, that snooze cycle most likely makes you feel MORE tired than you would have if you'd just gotten up at your first alarm? It's true!
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I got a sun lamp last month, and I noticed a couple changes.
Sun Lamps and SAD
A sun lamp mimics natural light from the sun. Unlike the typical indoor lighting, which is heavy on blue light, a sun lamp incorporates more of the entire spectrum of sunlight. These lamps are also called SAD lamps because they have become pretty commonly recommended in dealing with seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
SAD typically occurs in the winter months in colder climates. The days are shorter, the sun is less powerful, and people are outside less to catch what sunlight there is. The result is a chemical imbalance in the brain, specifically affecting two hormones:
- Melatonin, a sleep-related hormone
- Serotonin, a mood-related hormone
The symptoms can include depression, anxiety, apathy, mood swings, irritability, social isolation, excessive sleepiness, or sleep deprivation.
Using a Sun Lamp
I'm still learning about sun lamps myself, but since I got it in early January, I've committed to sitting in front of it for 15 minutes each morning.
You should sit within 24 inches of it and allow the light to hit your eyes without looking straight into it. I found this a bit awkward at first. Where can I sit within 2 feet of a light for 15 minutes? I ended up setting it next to the music on my piano, and I just commit to playing piano for 15 minutes each morning. Combining sun lamp and music therapy!
Benefits I Experienced
But anyway, you want to know what I experienced, right?
The main thing I noticed is that my sleep is much better since I started using the sun lamp. I had been having trouble sleeping since we moved last September because our bedroom is so much brighter than I'm used to (still need to make some good curtains!). I would wake up a lot during the night and sometimes not be able to fall back asleep.
However, in the last several weeks, I have noticed that I wake up less most nights. And even though I have been staying up too late a lot of nights, I feel as rested on seven hours of sleep as I usually do on eight hours. That is proof that my sleep quality is better.
The other effect I hadn't even realized until I sat down to write this. I usually do experience SAD during the winter. Not all winter usually and not too severe, but it pokes its ugly head up for a check in now and then.
This winter, so far, no SAD.
At first, I thought that meant I couldn't speak about how I benefited from the sun lamp with SAD. And then, I realized, I got it shortly after Christmas, and usually, I don't experience SAD around Christmastime.
So I can't say for sure, but I could argue that the daily sun lamp use kept the SAD symptoms at bay this winter. I have not had any sadness, my mood has been good, and I've had very little anxiety (which is, for me, generally a year-round on-and-off thing, not necessarily related to SAD).
So that's it – my experience after about a month of daily sun lamp use. I will definitely continue and consider it well worth the small price. And I would recommend it to people with sleep difficulties or SAD.
My Sun Lamp
If you'd like to try a sun lamp for yourself, I got this one because I thought it was prettier than most. But do your own research and choose the best one for you.
(That link is an affiliate link, which just means part of the purchase goes to me, rather than Amazon. You don't pay any extra, but you support my small business.)
Do you have difficulty sleeping or experience SAD? Have you tried a sun lamp?
Are you going to try one now? I'd love to hear your experiences!
Sleep is essential to health.
We would all like to deny that fact, but it's true.
One aspect of sleep I didn’t learn until a few years ago is how our brains repair/clean themselves. Without getting too medical on you, a fluid cleanses our brains during sleep. It clears out toxins and wastes. If you'd like to read the whole scientific explanation, there's a fairly good layman’s terms run-down of it here.
Basically, it's like taking out the trash. If you don't get all of the trash out of your house one week, it's not a big deal. You can catch up the next week. However, if you only take out some of your trash every week, it's going to pile up in your home and cause big problems. Only here, the trash is in our brains!
Effects of Lack of Sleep
When you are chronically short on sleep, it causes a number of issues. A few of them include:
- Impaired problem-solving and reasoning abilities
- Lowered attention to detail
- More difficulty forming memories
- Increased risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and hypertension
- Higher chance of anxiety and depression
Plus, one of the toxins the brain clears during sleep is known to accumulate in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's.
Fixing Sleep Issues
I used to have serious issues both falling asleep and staying asleep. On nights when I was particularly stressed, I would barely sleep at all.
Over the last several years, I’ve made sleep a priority and put a few lifestyle changes into place to make sure I get enough of it.
Here are my top three tips for better sleep:
1 - Have a sleep schedule – Going to bed whenever you’re tired doesn’t work very well. You need to set a schedule and train your body when it’s time to sleep.
2 - Make your bedroom a good sleep environment – A darker room yields better quality sleep, and both diffusing essential oils and playing white noise or sleep music can help you fall asleep more easily.
3 - Avoid blue light – The light from our phones, TVs, computers, tablets, even our LED light bulbs disrupts our sleep cycles. Do your best to avoid blue light for 30-60 minutes before going to sleep.
Want to Learn More?
I’m going to do a 10-day series on improving sleep in my group on Facebook. If you’d like to join in, just request to join the group. There are no strings – just education.
