If you had told me that my yoga therapy journey would lead me to meal timing for better sleep, I never would have believed you. And yet, here I am, 5 years later and I swear by it.
Here’s your spring forward meal timing plan: eat 15 minutes earlier each day, for 4 days.
You body is entrained by environmental factors like light, exercise, socialization, temperature and food. Let’s focus on using food to signal your body for sleep. Have you ever noticed that you become conveniently hungry just before your usual lunch break? Your body is anticipating your regular pattern and getting ready to digest. Even folks with erratic schedules often find that their biology has predictable patterns.
Tomorrow, Friday, set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier. Eat breakfast 15 minutes earlier, take your medication 15 minutes earlier, feed the dog 15 minutes earlier and so on. You are nudging your body toward the time change using food as a cue.
The next day, get up 30 minutes earlier. I know it’s Saturday, but you can do it. Stick to regular meals, but this time, 30 minutes earlier. Dim the lights 90 minutes before bed, allow your body to cool down and chill out.
Sunday, get up 45 minutes before your regular time. Since the clocks have changed, this step might be a touch confusing. If you normally wake up at 7 a.m., set your alarm for 7:15 on Saturday night. Either your cellphone will adjust the time automatically or you need to set your bedside alarm clock ahead an hour on Saturday night. (If you don’t know how the time change works, ask a friend because it’s time to level-up your Adulting skillset.)
Continue shifting your meals to match the new “spring forward” time. Resist the urge to lounge around and take all morning to figure out what to eat for breakfast. What if you normally just drink coffee? Great, shift it forward 45 minutes. You don’t eat until lunch? Shift that forward. Anything you put in your mouth, do it early.
Sunday afternoon, around 1 pm when your energy dips, pause for an afternoon rest. Yoga nidra is the go-to, but you can take a power nap, a Nappacino (that’s a dose of caffeine before a 20 minute nap), a mindful walk outdoors, a body scan meditation, seated genlte breathwork etc. This is key in de-stressing so that you can get to bed on time Sunday night.
DO NOT STRESS ABOUT THE TIME CHANGE. Think about every time you had jet lag, pulled an all-nighter or partied a bit too late. Don’t give control of your life and emotions over to the clocks.
If this recipe has worked, by Monday morning, it feels as though you are only getting up an extra 15 minutes earlier. Some people find that they take longer to adjust so that they start getting up earlier two weeks in advance to give themselves time to adjust to eat 15 minute shift. Others like to shift half an hour earlier all at once on a day leading up to the time change. I have met a couple of people who wake up a couple of hours early on Saturday or Sunday so that they are super tired and ready for bed early.
I use this tip to help me get away with sleeping in on weekends. On work days where I get up early, I generally take a little to get up, get myself sorted out and head to the kitchen for coffee and a banana. On sleep-in days, I head straight for the French press and eat my banana while I wait for the water to boil.
ZenwithGwen 