What we’ll talk about
The evening routine contains six steps that need to be maintained ideally every day. The main goal of the evening routine is to ensure a quality night’s sleep and burn fat for heat and energy while you sleep. If you are not used to eating early, this step may be difficult, so I recommend eating earlier. In the dark months, learn to use only smaller lights for 2 hours before going to bed. After sunset only use dimmed circadian lighting.
Block blue light with blue-light blocking glasses (with orange lenses), or stop using electronics and artificial lighting in the evening. You need to block blue light before bed, sleep in the dark and sleep for at least 7.5 hours every night. The setting of the room for sleeping will largely decide whether you will be able to burn fat overnight and enjoy the benefits of an synchronized circadian rhythm the next day.
Why You Need an Evening Routine
If you wake up with an alarm and can’t get out of bed, if it takes you an hour to get into a normal mode, if you lack energy and motivation and try to replace it with caffeine and carbohydrates, these are all signs of a disturbed circadian rhythm, when the mitochondria is not working at the full capacity.
In that case, the morning routine won’t save you, we have to start from the evening.
The main goal of the evening routine is:
- Minimize the negative effect of artificial light on the circadian rhythm.
- Ensure adequately long and quality sleep.
- Not eating before going to bed, and thanks to this, use the night metabolism (catabolism) to burn fat + enhance the body’s regeneration and restoration.
The basic evening routine contains six steps that need to be maintained ideally every day.
You can add steps to your evening routine gradually, or start doing them all at once. You can start doing the morning routine at the same time or wait until you get used to the steps of the evening routine (it all depends on whether this is new for you or not).
In order to strengthen your evening routine, you will be adding new steps. They may seem like a limitation to the outside world, but you will feel better, which will motivate you to continue and add more steps. .
Therefore, even if a small change is difficult for you, start following at least one thing of the evening routine and you will feel the difference (ideally start with blue light blocking glasses or the absolute darkness in the bedroom).
Step 1: Eat Your Last Meal Early
In long term, it is ideal not to eat 3 hours before bedtime. This will maximize nighttime melatonin, autophagy and you will wake up surprisingly more rested and refreshed. Your body will then naturally burn fat for heat and energy while you sleep.
If you are not used to eating early, this step may be difficult, so I recommend that you start eating earlier from the second week, when you will be used to the remaining steps of the evening routine.
In the beginning, try not to eat 2-3 hours before bedtime, but over time you can extend this interval up to 4-6 hours.
Bedtime hunger or the inability to fall asleep on an empty stomach are almost always associated with artificial lighting at night and a disrupted circadian rhythm that forces the body to stay in digestive mode for an unusually long time. By restoring CR, your unregulated hunger will decrease, and eventually disappear.
Step 2: Reduce Evening Light
Any intense light before bedtime disrupts the circadian rhythm of melatonin release, so it is important to copy the natural sunset, and after sunset only use dimmed circadian lighting:
- In the dark months, learn to use only smaller lights for 2 hours before going to bed, keep the house dark or just a lamp for an hour before going to bed (you can add a red bulb to it over time).
- In the bright part of the year, be outside at sunset and do sun-gazing. Different light spectrum triggers the synthesis of melatonin, thereby reducing dopamine and serotonin, and you start to feel naturally sleepy. This potentiated melatonin then reaches higher levels even during sleep. At home, don’t turn on unnecessary lights (the light will still be on for an hour or more), and only use lamps or dimmed lighting with a warm color spectrum.
Remember that not only the color, but also the intensity of the lighting disrupts the circadian rhythm!
Step 3: Block Blue Light
While you can start doing the first two points basically any time, from this step you have to start using the power of technology (or, on the other hand, stop using electronics and artificial lighting in the evening).
Probably the most effective and fastest way to block blue light before going to bed is using blue light blocking glasses (with orange lenses), which I recommend ordering as the very first thing (and before they arrive, focus on the next steps of the evening routine).
At first, wearing them is impractical, weird, and you might not be able to see well with them. But after just a few nights you will feel the difference in how you wake up. After about a month of wearing them, their use will become automatic, and it will feel as automatic as brushing your teeth before bed (i.e. you won’t have to think about it).
- In terms of blocking blue light, the first step is to order glasses that block blue (orange lenses) or blue-green (red lenses) light.
- Other strategy how to block blue light is to turn your phone into red spectrum.
Step 4: Establish a Consistent Sleep Schedule
Learn to go to bed between 10 pm to 11 pm (rather earlier in winter, up to around eleven o’clock in summer), roughly the same every day (including weekends, at least 4 weeks).
In the beginning, it’s a good idea to set an alarm an hour before going to bed, so that you know that you should turn off lights, put on your glasses and lie down in bed, otherwise there is a chance that you will delay your routine and sleep.
Step 5: Create an Ideal Sleep Environment
The setting of the room for sleeping will largely decide whether you will be able to burn fat overnight and enjoy the benefits of an synchronized circadian rhythm the next day or not.
The basic rules are:
- Wear an sleep mask during sleep (ideally made from natural materials that don’t put pressure on the eye).
- For optimal oxygen levels, sleep with the window open, or at least ventilate the room for a while. If outside noise bothers you, you can buy earplugs.
Step 6: Prioritize 7-8 Hours of Sleep
During sleep, you need to go through five sleep cycles. Only then sleep will have sufficient quality and the body will regenerate and restart as needed.
You need to block blue light before bed, sleep in the dark and sleep for at least 7.5 hours (one sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes, 5x 90 = 7.5 hours).
If you go to bed on time (between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.), you will naturally wake up between 6 and 7 a.m. If you need to get up earlier, you must logically go to bed earlier as well.
Remember that the length and quality of sleep are the forefront of efforts for overall health, body transformation and performance enhancement!