Trouble sleeping? Try skipping that early morning coffee. Here are some expert tips for better shuteye

Daylight saving time is back in most of Canada, which could spell trouble for sleepers who are slow to adjust to the one-hour time change.

Clocks moved forward by an hour on Sunday. But even before then, sleep-related searches in Canada had hit an all-time high in early 2023, according to data from Google Canada.

Canadians have been searching online for ways to fall asleep fast, how much sleep they need, and why they can’t fall asleep, among other things.

According to an October 2020 report by the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults, people aged 18 to 64 need seven to nine hours of good-quality sleep, and those 65 and older need seven to eight hours. One sleep expert, however, said the average sleep time across North America and the Global South is between six to eight hours.

“It looks like the human sleep average is falling soundly on seven hours,” David Samson, an associate professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, and the director of the Sleep and Human Evolution Lab, told the Star.

According to Samson’s research, about 80 or 85 per cent of people experiencing sleep problems can make improvements through their own behaviours.

“I recommend behavioral modifications before you ever go into a sleep lab,” he said.

Significant improvements on sleep can be made by working on one’s circadian rhythm, he explained. However, his sleep advice falls into two categories: certain advice is for people who “have control” over when they wake up (meaning they wake naturally and are hoping to adjust their biological clocks to daylight savings time) and other advice for those who have “no control” and need alarms to wake up.

What is a circadian rhythm and how can you enhance it?

“All you’re doing when you have a circadian rhythm as an organism is you’re optimally timing your activity and your rest in your environment to optimize survival and reproduction,” Samson said.

“So the way to enhance your circadian rhythm is to ensure that you’ve got proper exposure to the outside world,” Samson said.

The “buffered” world that humans have created indoors is completely different from what was available throughout evolutionary history, he added.

How does daylight saving time affect sleep?

The time change won’t have a big impact on people who are “queued in” with their environment, Samson said. It poses a greater challenge for people who have to “perform at a specific time and it conflicts with the light in their environment.”

During the year when the time change comes around yet again, arguments resurface about making daylight saving time permanent, that it can be challenging for sleep patterns and bad for traffic accidents. Reports have indicated the one hour change in time can increase the number of accidents on our roads significantly.

Want better sleep? Skip the early morning coffee and get outside

“So there’s a thing called light hygiene and everybody can work on their light hygiene,” Samson said. “You want to get as much exposure to the changes. It’s not just one exposure to bright light per day — you want to get the exposure as it changes throughout the day.”

That should start with at least 10 minutes outside in the morning, he said. That way, people can be exposed to light and cold. Someone in a warm environment can also consider taking a cold shower, he said.

People who wake up naturally and want better sleep should also avoid drinking coffee for 90 minutes upon waking up, Samson advised. That’s because the body has a natural capacity to “get ready” in the morning, he added, and caffeine can disrupt the process.

However, if people “lean into” the body’s natural morning boost, “it’s like a cup of coffee — almost as good or better,” he said.

Drinking coffee after this natural process has occurred can make the body’s response to caffeine even stronger, he added, and waiting 90 minutes can help reduce the “groggy” feeling people get in the afternoon after drinking coffee in the morning.

While this can be difficult for many to put into practice, Samson noted that “it’s more a behavioral routine.” As a self-identified coffee addict, he said drinking a hot cup of water after his cold exposure has helped — “like a smoker who gets some sort of relief by chewing gum when they have a nicotine craving.”

Skip the zombie scrolling before bed

Before bed, it’s equally important to avoid blue light that comes from LCD screens, such as a TV or cell phone. Blue light inhibits melatonin, the principal hormone that regulates sleep like activity, he added. Instead, sleepers should opt for light with much lower kelvin, such as candlelight.

“Kelvin is the empirical measure of the color tone of light, and you want it to be like fire light,” he explained.

“If you do that and you have your blinds open, and you’re queued in, you’re gonna wake up naturally with the sun every morning.”

Tips for people who need alarms to wake up

For those who don’t wake up naturally, Samson recommended a more aggressive approach.

Through “sleep compression,” people looking to improve their sleep quality should avoid taking any naps during the day and, ahead of another spring forward, go to bed a little later and wake up a little bit earlier in order to “build up fatigue.”

Sleep tips for “shift workers”

“Consistency is king” for people who have to wake up when it’s dark out or go to sleep when it’s light out, Samson said. They should try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day, he said.

He also recommended using a lighting system in to mimic light that is needed throughout the day. The light should start to wane around 3 or 4 p.m. and decrease in intensity into the evening.

Additional sleeping tips

“Metabolism is super connected” to circadian rhythms, Samson said, so he recommends that people consume their last calorie of the day three hours before they go to bed.

“Even just a little snack will get your metabolism active in a way that can disrupt your circadian rhythm,” he said, adding that it can be a big help to adjust their metabolism in addition to their light and temperature exposure.

Additionally, Samson recommended avoiding afternoon coffees.

“People don’t realize how long the halflife is for caffeine… It’s like five hours,” he said. “So people who have afternoon coffee should stop doing that because it’s still in their system when they try to go bed.”

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