Grok is smiling because he slept well last night.

Cavemen slept well.

Or at least I think they did. They must have. They had no artificial lighting, no central heating, no junk food…

They exercised, ate lots of vegetables, got lots of sunlight. Their stress spikes came in 10-minute bouts with tigers instead of 10-hour bouts with office work.

Yup, cavemen slept very well, and I’m not the first to suggest that every sleep disorder — from insomnia to narcolepsy — is of modern origin.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love modern life. I love modern medicine, airplanes, and iPods. But we can learn a lot about how our bodies work by looking at how they were designed to work. I’m not suggesting we all become cavemen. But let’s take a trip back 20,000 years and see what Grok the Caveman can teach us about getting a good night’s rest.

Grok’s Guide to Phenomenal Sleep

Take in loads of sunlight. Grok spent his time outdoors, soaking in nature’s ultimate energy stimulant — the sun. Sunlight is better than Red Bull for energy, and it’s better than Prozac in fighting depression. The limited spectrum and intensity of incandescent lights you find indoors simply don’t hold up to the power of the sun.

Modern Solution: We can all take little steps to get more sunlight. Go for a walk, open the blinds, etc. But when we simply can’t escape the confines to indoor lighting, there is a modern solution for this modern problem: wide-spectrum lightbulbs, which closely mimic the sun’s natural, vitamin-D producing rays.

Limit light sources past sundown. Light exposure after sundown inhibits melatonin production (that’s bad). It also advances your body clock to run on a 25 or 26 hour day, making it difficult for people to wake up in the morning. We’re getting too much light when we’re not supposed to (after sunset) and too little light when we are supposed to (during the day).

Modern Solution: Dawn simulation. An hour before bedtime turn down your lights. If you’re working on the computer turn down the monitor brightness all the way and put on some sunglasses. Sounds silly, but apparently some people swear by this.

Sleep in cool temperatures. The cooler your bedroom the better. Cool temperatures promote deep sleep. Grok slept outside where it’s cool and our bodies evolved to take advantage of that temperature.

Modern Solution: Turn down the heat at night or open the window. The purpose is to be a bit on the cold side without being uncomfortable.

Eat primal. Meat, fish, fowl, vegetables, fruit, and nuts. That is what was on the caveman dinner menu. Despite conventional wisdom, foods like grains, rice, legumes, and refined sugar are not human foods and are certainly not necessary for good health. If the primal diet can protect against cancer, diabetes, obesity, poor energy, poor teeth, poor eyesight, depression, and schizophrenia, then surely it might be the key to optimal sleep. Call it a hunch, but yes… I think so.

Modern Solution: Going primal can be difficult in our modern world, but it’s possible. A good start is to remove refined sugars from your diet. Countless times people have reported better sleep after removing refined sugars.

Fill in the gaps. Did cavemen take nutritional supplements? No. But their meat was higher in omega-3s and their fruit free of pesticides. This is why I’m pro-supplements — fill in the nutritional void caused by modern food preparation.

Modern Solution: I can (and will) write a whole article on supplements and sleep, but let me just list one for now: Magnesium. Take 200-400mg of chelated magnesium before bed and you’ll notice two things: you’ll wake up easier and you’ll have more vivid dreams.

Sleep in segments. If you sleep in one consolidated block at night, you have one guy to thank: Thomas Edison. Our paleolithic ancestors most likely had a more fluid sleeping pattern. Artificial lighting seems to have forced us to sleep in one 8-hour block each night, while our bodies are naturally wired to sleeping in two or three blocks each day.

Modern research and studies of pre-industrial diaries suggest that humans are built to wake up in the middle of the night for 1-3 hours, splitting the nocturnal slumber into two blocks. Daytime naps are also wired into our genes. Hunter-gatherers living in the tropics likely held daytime naps as a mandatory habit.

Modern Solution: It is possible to simulate pre-indsustrial lighting by turning off all lights at sundown — in the winter this amounts to 14 hours of total darkness and 10 hours of light. That’s an extreme measure to take, but one study showed that when subjects did this, they slept in two blocks just like our ancestors probably did. The subjects reported having “crystal-clear consciousness” — hmm… kinda makes me want to try it. Well, I have’t tried it (yet), but I will say this: our bodies are wired to nap. Take an energizer nap when you can (typically in the afternoon), not just because Grok did, but because it feels good and is healthy for you.

Relax: Cortisol was a life-saver. This “alertness hormone” spiked in times of panic, perhaps when a predator was nearby, giving humans the extra juice and focus to fight or run (there are other hormones involved, too).

Despite cortisol’s life-saving effect, it’s been given a bad rap in today’s world. It’s now “the stress hormone” because our modern-day predators are bosses, rush hour traffic, exams, and deadlines. Our cortisol levels are running amok, which has been shown to greatly inhibit deep sleep.

Modern Solution: There are a hundred ways to reduce cortisol levels. How about meditation? I’ve been using holosync nightly before bedtime for about a month, and I have been noticing better sleep and curiously high dream recall (this is for someone who considers himself relatively “stress free”).

Play: Grok was active during the day. He played, ran, walked for miles. Some experts say that your sleep quality will be only as good as the quality of your day. Moving about and enjoying yourself during the day can improve sleep at night.

Modern Solution: Hitting up the gym never hurts, but what seems to be more beneficial is to really get outside and play around for a longer period of time. If possible, never skip out on an opportunity to go hiking, camping, snowboarding, etc.

Avoid Caffeine: Grok didn’t consume caffeine — maybe a few of our ancestors enjoyed nimbling on tea leaves, but Grok didn’t have triple grande cappuccinos (or whatever they’re called) from Starbucks. Caffeine suppresses deep sleep. The less you have in your system at bedtime the better.

Modern Solution: Be caffeine smart. I believe there’s benefit to going completely caffeine free, but I’m not there yet. If you can’t give up caffeine yet (like me) then the better solution is to understand how caffeine affects sleep and how you can minimize the impact. The earlier in the day you drink caffeine, the better. Also, try switching to better sources of caffeine, like Matcha green tea.

But Should We Really Go Caveman?

Let’s all thank Grok for that wonderful sleeping guide.

Now, is it really worth the effort to adopt the caveman lifestyle? There’s no answer to that question: it’s a decision you have to make.

Our modern lifestyle has many advantages — longer lifespan due to modern medicine being one. But it has disadvantages as well. I believe there are modern solutions to modern problems. Maybe Grok never went snowboarding, but snowboarding recreates the playfully active lifestyle of our ancestors. Maybe Grok never meditated with holosync, but meditation can perfectly well reduce cortisol levels similar to Grok’s. Maybe Grok never took an omega-3 supplement, but a fish oil capsule delivers the same brain-critical fats once found in long-gone grass-fed meat.

In other words…

We can have our cake and eat it too.

Further Reading (other websites):

• Introduction to the Paleoithic Diet — A good read for those interested in how our bodies were designed to eat.
• Full Spectrum Lightbulbs — These lightbulbs simulate the sun. So if you work indoors, full-spectrum lightbulbs can help reset your body clock and give you more energy and better sleep.