The Sleep Hacker

How well do you sleep? Do you know the dangers of not having a good sleeping routine? Stress is one the mayor contributors. Sleep deprivation creates the same effects than alcohol or drugs. Keep your mind sharp. Sleep well.

HOW TO SLEEP BETTER IN SUMMER. Days in summer get longer. We are being stimulated by sunlight during longer periods of time so the production of melatonin is delayed and your body doesn't feel the need of going to sleep until later.



Summer evenings can be sometimes particularly hot. It is actually harder to sleep when it gets hotter because one of the body markers to go to sleep is a decrease in body temperature.



Also, a consequence of being hotter is that people have to sleep with the windows open therefore, there is a bigger amount of light in the room plus days are longer and the dawn comes sooner disrupting your sleep.



In some parts of the world nights can be also very hot (definitely in Barcelona!). A hot night affects our circadian rhythm but also makes the sleep more unpleasant so we don't rest as deep as we should for a restorative night.



In summer, schedules are usually more relaxed, especially when you are on holidays. You might not be on holidays but your children are. This affects the whole family sleep pattern.



And if you are on holidays, then you tend to be more relaxed indulging yourself more so you go to sleep later.



Also in summer people drink alcohol in a more daily basis. Sangria is refreshing but alcohol decreases deep sleep. So, even when it might help to fall asleep faster, when it's metabolized, it creates the opposite effect.


In order to avoid this disruption in your sleep quality you can:

Reduce the amount of light in your bedroom.

If you can’t keep your window closed at night (like me) use a sleeping mask. The best in my opinion is .

Reduce the amount of light in the evenings and use blue blocking glasses (I use )

Have a shower one before bed to reduce body temperature.

Create an air flow in your room to keep you fresh or use a silent fan.

Don’t drink too much alcohol at night!

Try to keep the schedule with your kids.

GROUNDING FOR SLEEPING. Grounding means being connected electrically to the earth.

Our shoes and beds insulate us from the earth electric field and makes very difficult to discharge our electric voltage.

Also, the daily rhythm of chemical and hormonal cycling in the human body is regulated and maintained by faint electromagnetic signals generated by the Earth’s electrons.

Drs. Karol and Pawel Sokal in Poland and Clint Ober in the United States were the first ones to pursuit a scientific evidence that grounding impacts human physiology and health.

Basically, what they found was that there are evidences that when we ground ourselves there is of a powerful and positive shift in the electrical state of the body and the electrodynamics of blood, and a boost to self-healing and self-regulating mechanisms.

There isn't a clear and definitive explanation of why these effects happen but it seems that earthing allows a transfer of electrons from the ground into the body.

It's known that inflammation is caused by free radicals and that free radicals are neutralized by electrons from any source. Electrons are the source of the neutralizing power of antioxidants.

So that could be the reason why some people report a reduction of pain due to inflammation.

I've been trying earthing for 18 months and I have to admit that it had a positive effect in my wellbeing and sleep without reaching the spectaculars changes that people claim.

The way to ground yourself while sleeping is using special sheets with silver embedded in the fabric. These sheets have to be connected to the ground connection wall socket.

The feeling of using grounded sheets is really nice, almost protective and comforting. For me it hasn't been a game changer but I wouldn't stop sleep with them!