Functional Medicine - Funmeddev

🌙 ADVICE FOR SLEEPING BETTER (2/3)

Why going to bed earlier really matters

Let’s look at why it is so important to fall asleep earlier — ideally around 10:30 pm.

🌑 1. Early sleep = better darkness = better sleep quality

Night-time darkness is one of the strongest signals for deep, restorative sleep.
If we sleep around 7.5 hours, waking up near 6:00 am aligns naturally with sunrise — at least when our biological clock isn’t disrupted by artificial schedules like summertime hour changes.

People traveling near the equator often notice this harmony: the sun rises at 6 am and sets at 6 pm. In Ethiopia, for instance, time is counted in two 12-hour cycles — one for daylight, one for night. When someone says “meet at 6,” they mean noon… not midnight. At night, people are asleep — and they’re right!

🧬 2. The beginning of the night = the moment of hormone production

The first part of the night is when the body produces key hormones:
• growth hormone
• adrenal hormones
• s*x hormones

Recent studies even suggest that patients taking thyroid hormones may do better taking them just before going to bed.

🌿 3. Ayurveda knew it 4,000 years ago

Ayurvedic medicine describes an energy cycle that begins at 11 pm.
If we pay attention, most of us feel a natural wave of sleepiness around 10:15–10:30 pm.

👉 That’s the biological moment to go to bed — the end of a natural cycle.

⚡ 4. Ignore the signal… and you get the “second wind”

If you resist sleep, something surprising happens:
you suddenly feel a boost of energy — almost like pure oxygen.

Look at the clock at that moment: it’s almost always 11 pm.
The body restarts a new cycle, pushing you awake until 1 am or later.
This is the famous “second wind.”

It can feel productive, inspiring, creative… but the price is high.

😴 5. The cost you pay the next morning

After a second wind night, the morning is usually:
• slow
• heavy
• unproductive

The world moves fast while you drag yourself under the duvet.

🔥 6. The second wind = adrenaline… at the expense of your adrenal glands

That nighttime boost comes from an adrenaline surge, meant only for emergencies, not daily use.
Your adrenal glands — two tiny glands sitting on your kidneys — are not designed to fire up every night.

Using this “luxury mechanism” to fight sadness, boredom or habit eventually exhausts the body.

💡 Listen to your body

Instead of fighting a natural wave of sleepiness at 10 pm…
Why not take advantage of it?
Your energy, mood, hormones and long-term health would all benefit.

👨‍⚕️ Dr Georges MOUTON – FunMedDev
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