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Lifestyle

Adequate darkness at night

 

  • Create routines to turn off screens and dim the lights at least an hour before bed.

  • In that hour, do calming activities like reading, puzzles, chamomile tea, or cuddle time with children.

  • Take a warm bath with calming bath salts, chamomile tea, or a few drops of lavender essential oil.

  • Remove nightlights and bright alarm clocks 

  • Hang blackout curtains in the bedroom

  • Wake consistently every day – to sunlight or a dawn simulator if you live in a darker climate

  • Be consistent in your sleep routine

  • Get outside – at least one hour of direct sunlight daily supports our natural sleep/wake cycles

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Blue Blocking Glasses

The circadian release of melatonin is strongly suppressed by light, particularly blue light. Even light of five to ten lux while sleeping with eyes closed will impact the circadian system (1). Blue-light-blocking glasses can protect from the melatonin suppressing effects of light (2). When worn during a 60 min light pulse at 0100 hr, blue-light-blocking glasses resulted in a slight increase in melatonin levels compared to baseline, while melatonin levels decreased significantly by 46% in the control condition (3). After seven nights of wearing blue blockers for two hours before bed, people with insomnia have significantly improved subjective and objective total sleep time, sleep quality, and soundness (4). For people with Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase, wearing blue-light-blocking glasses from 2100 h to bedtime for two weeks resulted in their dim-light melatonin onset occurring 78 min earlier, while sleep onset was significantly earlier by 132 min (5). In healthy adults without sleep or circadian disorders, using blue-light-blocking glasses from 1800 h until bedtime for a week resulted in subjective reports of earlier sleep onset, though objective measures were not improved.

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Diet

  1. Ensure adequate protein intake, including tryptophan, found in foods like dairy including milk, yogurt, and cheese, eggs, poultry including turkey, chicken, and duck, red meat, pork, tofu, fish including salmon, tuna, cod, snapper, and mahi-mahi, nuts and seeds including chia seeds, flax seeds, cashews, and pistachios.  

  2. Ensure adequate intake of the nutrient cofactors to support the conversation of tryptophan to melatonin. This includes iron, folate, calcium, magnesium, zinc, vitamin C, niacin (vitamin B3),  methylcobalamin (vitamin B12), and pyridoxine (vitamin B6) 

  3. Consume foods rich in melatonin as part of a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet. 

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Supplemental melatonin

When needed, use the lowest physiological dose of supplemental melatonin to support the desired health outcomes. 

 

Authors: Deanna Minich, Ph.D., Melanie Henning, ND, Catherine Darley, ND, Mona Fahoum, ND, Corey B. Schuler, DC, James Frame

Reviewer: Peer-review in Nutrients Journal

Last updated: September 22, 2022

 

References

 

1. Tähkämö L, Partonen T, Pesonen AK. Systematic review of light exposure impact on human circadian rhythm. Vol. 36, Chronobiology International. 2019.

2. Hester L, Dang D, Barker CJ, Heath M, Mesiya S, Tienabeso T, et al. Evening wear of blue-blocking glasses for sleep and mood disorders: a systematic review. Vol. 38, Chronobiology International. 2021.

3. Bennett S, Alpert M, Kubulins V, Hansler RL. Use of modified spectacles and light bulbs to block blue light at night may prevent postpartum depression. Med Hypotheses. 2009;73(2).

4. Shechter A, Kim EW, St-Onge MP, Westwood AJ. Blocking nocturnal blue light for insomnia: A randomized controlled trial. J Psychiatr Res. 2018;96.

5. Esaki Y, Kitajima T, Ito Y, Koike S, Nakao Y, Tsuchiya A, et al. Wearing blue light-blocking glasses in the evening advances circadian rhythms in the patients with delayed sleep phase disorder: An open-label trial. Chronobiol Int. 2016;33(8).

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