My Sleep Scores Soared After Making This Small Change In My Routine

While I've dealt with occasionally bouts of sleeplessness in the past, the quality of my shut-eye really plummeted this year. For the first time in my life, I started waking up in the middle of the night—and I struggled to fall back asleep. I'd count down the minutes until I felt the drowsiness start to creep in. This insomnia could last anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours, and I could really feel the impact of these interruptions on my well-being.

My mind felt foggy, my body felt exhausted, and my appetite was a rollercoaster. It was a prime example of the ways bad sleep can wreak havoc on your health. So returned to the basics: consistent bedtimes, reducing alcohol intake, and taking magnesium. And while it worked at first, I still was waking up sporadically at night.

It was time to look beyond my nighttime routine for a solution; I needed to consider my entire day if I wanted to improve my sleep.

First things first, it's important to know the term "full-spectrum light" isn't regulated. There's no agreement on what it actually means—and our definition is light with a similar spectrum to natural daylight.

My apartment is on the ground floor, with only a handful of windows. This makes the kitchen and living room feel like dark caves, especially when Davlight saving time ends. To make things worse, I have tall ceilings that make it impossible to swap out my light bulbs without the help of my landlord.

Installing these bulbs in lamps around my home has allowed me to bring life back into these dimly lit spaces. Throughout the day, I make a point of adjusting the bulb setting to reflect the current time of day: morning, afternoon, and evening.

It's easy to be skeptical of the powers of full-spectrum light. Changing the light bulbs in your home shouldn't make that big of a difference on your overall health—right?

Well, there's plenty of research to the contrary. A 2020 study shows evening light in your home can negatively impact your circadian rhythm, with greater exposure to evening light associated to increased wakefulness after bedtime (it's me!).

On the flip side, exposure to low color temperature light of 1900k can promote the secretion of melatonin by 400%1. )Remember: The Bon Charge Light Bulbs emits a warm yellow or 1700k color temperature.) Early research also shows moving from LED to mixed light spectrums could also have perks for your cognitive health2.

Since adding these bulbs to my routine nearly three months ago, I've only suffered one late-night wake-up (which I think was due a sudden rise in cortisol levels from stress). I love that the exposure to bright light in the morning helps put grogginess at bay4, while the soft yellow light at night helps put my body into a relaxed state.