The golden hour, which is the time between 10pm and 11pm, could be the best time to fall asleep for your health. According to specialists, falling asleep at this time could not only make you more well rested, but could also reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Guy Meadows, clinical director of The Sleep School, recently told the Telegraph, “This is far from the first study to show how sensitive we are to sleep timing. Or how important it is to stick to the same sleep/wake cycle on a daily basis. That’s because our internal body clock is synchronized by external factors, primarily by the rise and fall of the sun.
“When we wake up the light hits our eyes and it synchronizes our body to the time zone we are in. I like to say that humans are solar powered because we are attuned to light and dark cycles and anything that disrupts that will throw our body clock out.”
Some events like the changing of the clocks during Daylight Savings time have been proven to change how people sleep, and even negatively effect peoples’ health. Meadows mentioned that there was a 24% jump in heart attacks the day after losing an hour because of the “confusion” caused to our internal body clocks.
If you can’t sleep, Meadows and other sleep experts recommend turning off all televisions, computers, smart phones or anything else that emanates a bright light first and foremost. Other factors that could help your sleep habits include exercising during the day and reading from a book before bed.