It’s something I’ve always wondered about (and been annoyed by).
You know when it’s getting late and
you’re lying on the sofa feeling super relaxed…
Your head starts to nod and you struggle to keep your eyes open…
You wish you could click your fingers and be in bed – where you’d drift off into the most peaceful sleep…
But instead, by the time you get up the stairs, brush your teeth and climb into bed…
You’re wide awake! It’s infuriating.
Well it turns out it’s down to something called the ‘surge of waking drive’ We've evolved to get a little boost of energy when it starts getting dark.
Sounds pointless but was actually really useful back in the day.
Our ancestors would’ve been in big trouble when they were out hunting late in the day if they’d immediately become drowsy and fallen asleep as soon as it got dark.
They needed a reserve of energy to get them back safely to camp.
So that’s what’s evolved to happen to us when the sun
sets.
Helpful for our ancestors. But makes things tricky for us now.
Because we now control the light. We control when the ‘sun sets’.
We don’t get our surge of waking energy when we’re meant to at around 7pm because we spend all evening with lights on in our homes and staring at bright screens.
For us that energy surge happens just as our head hits the pillow.
The good news is that it’s completely avoidable.
All we need to do is dim all lights from sunset and avoid all screens for the rest of the evening…
Yeah, thats’s probably not going to happen for most of us. No matter how much we want to improve our sleep.
What might be more realistic though is to:
Dim the lights in your home in the evening and try to avoid putting any bright lights on (like the bathroom light before bed).
Switching off the TV and putting your phone away a little earlier (even 30-60 mins is going to help).
Reading a book before going to sleep.
Get your surge of waking energy out of the way earlier – avoid anything too bright from then on – and you might find you fall asleep far more easily.
