?? Bio-hacks for a better sleep and better health

Recently after having a few health problems I got my vitamins test done and my health report showed two deficiencies - (1) Vitamin B12 & (2) Vitamin D. This didn’t come to me as a shock, because I turned (almost) vegan for the past one year and vitamin B12 deficiency is extremely common amongst vegetarians/vegans. Since I work in the US shift, I haven’t stepped out of my house in the daytime in a very longgggg time, hence the deficiency of vitamin D.?

Apart from taking the prescribed supplements, I started researching the crux of it.?

?? ???Sunlight Spectrum & Colours

The sunlight spectrum can be mainly divided into 3 parts -?

[1]?Infrared Light?(which consists of 45% of the Sunlight Spectrum)?

[2]?Visible Light?(which is 50% of the Sunlight Spectrum) and,

[3]?UV Light?= UVA + UVB + UVC?(which constitutes to 5% of the Sunlight Spectrum)

-?Infrared Light?isn’t something you need to worry about since its wavelengths range from about 700 nanometers (nm) to 1 millimetre (mm). Infrared light is invisible to the human eye, although longer infrared waves can be sensed as heat. The most common infrared use case can be found in communications and networking, infrared light is used in wired and wireless operations.

The spectrum which is worrisome is?Visible light?(Blue Light exposure during the night) &?UV Light:

The?Visible Light?spectrum is the segment of the electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye can view. More simply, this range of wavelengths is called visible light. Typically, the human eye can detect wavelengths from 380 to 700 nanometers.

Blue light?has shorter waves, with wavelengths between about 450 - 495 vs Red light which has longer waves, with wavelengths around 620 - 750 nm. Blue light has a higher frequency and carries more energy than red light.

Blue Light typically isn’t harmful and it is found in abundance in nature. Blue light is our friend during the day as it helps us to maintain our body’s biological clock aka circadian rhythm. Blue light suppresses Melatonin which is a hormone that is released in our brains to help us fall asleep at night.

But today, it’s almost impossible to escape blue light, during the night as we are exposed to it all the time via our gadgets which emit High-energy visible light. I was exposing myself way too much to Blue Light, way too much during the night, which was tricking my brain saying “Hey Anuj, don’t sleep yet as it’s just the daytime”. Which in turn made me sleep late which in turn didn’t let me absorb natural Vitamin D from the sun.

???Bio-hacks for better sleep:

One of the ways you can improve your sleep is by reducing your exposure to blue light during the night. You can use a?Red-Light Filter?on your gadgets which blocks blue light exposure. I am currently using the Twilight App on my Android (https://tinyurl.com/y6nwvr2s). If you are struggling with your?phone addiction?you can greyscale your devices.?For iOS?- Tap the Settings app and choose Accessibility> Select Display Text Size> Tap on Colour Filters and toggle Colour Filters on> Tap Grayscale.?For Android, you'll need to activate developer mode on your phone by heading to Settings > System > About phone. Then tap 'Build number' seven times. When you return to the System menu, you should find a new Developer options entry. Go into this then choose Simulate colour space and Monochromacy to go grey.

On your?Macs?Choose the Apple menu > System Preferences. Click Displays> Click the Night Shift tab. On your?Windows?Select Settings > System > Display > Night light.

?? Additionally, you can use?eye masks?and?black-out curtains?for better sleep.?

?? Try to stay away from your gadgets at least 2-3 hours before sleeping if you have that option.?

?? You can read a book instead if you are struggling to sleep. A better option is to keep the book next to your bed so that you can have better accessibility and you can read often.

????Ideal temperature?for better sleep is around 18°C.?

?? You can also take a?warm/hot bath?just before your sleep for quicker sleep.?

? You can also put brakes on coffee and chai/ THC/ any stimulant post 6 p.m. as it makes your brain very active. A better alternative is?Lavender tea or Chamomile tea?(aka night tea) which you can easily find on Amazon at a cheap price.?

?? White rice can work like a magic spell if you want to sleep quickly. Hence I try to avoid it during the daytime. ??

?? You can also turn on a?red light bulb?in your room, as its exposure has many many health benefits. Because humans are a diurnal species, meaning that we are generally active during the day and sleep at night, our eyes are made to see things clearly in the blue light and affect vision during the red light (unlike nocturnal animals).

?? A light massage or foam rolling can help you relax your body and unwind fast.

If you are still having trouble sleeping in the night, you can listen to white noise (here) and still if you can not, then you can try sleep hypnosis by Michael Sealey (here)

???20-20-20 Rule:?Not blinking enough leads to eye dryness, irritation & burning of eyes. Every 20 minutes, stare at something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This will help your eye muscles to recover. Be at least 2 feet away from the computer screen. Use eye lubrication drops. Currently, I am using?this?eye drop.

?? You can also try?Blue-light?blocking glasses: Helps you to block some of the blue light from your screen.?

?? All these helped me to wake up early and get some exposure to Vitamin D. Important Note: the best vitamin D absorption happens during the sunrise, so if you are out in the noon when it is scorching hot, you SHOULD apply a good Sun Protection Factor (SPF) 100+ Sunscreens to protect yourself from the harmful UVA and UVB light directly. Its effects can be pretty detrimental like Skin Cancer, Inflammation & Redness, Early Onset Of Wrinkles & Fine Lines, DNA Damage, etc. SPF is a measure of how much solar energy (UV radiation) is required to produce sunburn on protected skin (i.e., in the presence of sunscreen) relative to the amount of solar energy required to produce sunburn on unprotected skin. As the SPF value increases, sunburn protection increases.

All these things + prescribed supplements helped me to get my health on track.?

There you have it! I wish you guys a good sleep. Take care. If you found this article helpful please share it with your loved ones to help them too. ?? Drop me a comment if you have any bio-hacks of your own.