Six natural biohacks for better sleep

By Dr. Nathalie Beauchamp, DC

We live in a culture that glorifies hustle and undervalues sleep, as if pushing through exhaustion is some kind of superpower. The hard truth is that sacrificing sleep to answer late-night emails or squeeze in “one more thing” doesn’t boost productivity or give you an edge, it makes you less resilient.

Think of your health like a savings account. Night after night of poor or insufficient sleep is like making withdrawals with steep penalties. You might get away with it in the short term, but eventually, the bill comes due in the form of fatigue, brain fog, inflammation, or chronic disease.

Sleep isn’t a luxury, and rest isn’t a reward you earn once everything else is done. It’s a vital biological process that keeps every system in the body functioning properly. During the night, the brain clears metabolic waste and resets the nervous system, hormones rebalance, the immune system strengthens, and tissues undergo repair. When sleep is shortened or disrupted, these essential processes don’t complete, leading to predictable consequences: low energy, difficulty focusing, mood swings, and increased risk of metabolic and chronic diseases.

If you’re dragging through your days, relying on caffeine to keep you upright, or lying awake at 3 a.m. with your mind racing, mind in overdrive, it’s a sign your sleep cycle is out of sync. The good news is, with the right strategies you can recalibrate your circadian rhythm, fall asleep more easily, stay asleep through the night, and wake up feeling truly rested.

So where do you start? The solution comes down to building the right habits. Let’s look at six simple, science-backed biohacks that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up with the energy to take on whatever life throws your way.

1. Light exposure: resetting the biological clock

Managing light exposure is one of the most effective, no-cost biohacks for better sleep. If you want to improve your sleep, you need to start by paying attention to your relationship with light. Light is the primary signal that sets your circadian rhythm, the 24-hour biological cycle that controls when you feel awake and when you feel sleepy. The problem today is that most people’s exposure to light is completely out of sync with how the human body was designed to function.

When sunlight enters the eyes in the morning, specialized receptors in the retina send information to the brain’s master clock—the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). This signal triggers a natural cortisol rise to help you feel alert and also sets the timer for evening melatonin release. Melatonin doesn’t just make you sleepy; it also signals to the body that it’s time to repair, regenerate, and restore. If this morning signal is weak or absent, the entire cycle shifts, making it harder to fall asleep at night and leaving you feeling groggy in the morning.

The solution is to realign your light exposure with your biology. Spending 10 to 20 minutes outside within the first hour of waking (yes, even on cloudy days!) gives the brain the light intensity it needs to lock in circadian timing. 

At the other end of the day, light management is equally important. As the sun goes down, dim your lights, avoid overhead LEDs, and cut back on screen use. If you need to use devices, blue-light filters or glasses can help reduce melatonin suppression. Over time, these simple shifts send consistent signals to your circadian system: wake up with light, rest with darkness.

2. Sleep environment: building the right conditions for rest

You can follow every piece of advice about sleep schedules and evening routines, but if your sleep environment is working against you, your body will never get the quality of rest it needs. Four key factors make the difference: 

Temperature: Core body temperature naturally drops at night as part of the circadian process, and this drop is a prerequisite for sleep onset. A bedroom that is too warm interferes with this mechanism, causing restlessness and nighttime awakenings. Research consistently shows the ideal sleep temperature is between 65–68°F (18–20°C). ⁽¹⁾ Cooling your bedroom by a few degrees can greatly improve sleep efficiency.

Light: Even very small amounts of light, such as a streetlamp shining through the window or the glow from a digital clock, can suppress melatonin and fragment sleep cycles. Darkness tells the brain it’s time for melatonin release and deeper sleep. This is why blackout curtains, eye masks, and removing light sources from the room can make such a big difference.

Noise: Noise also matters. While some people believe they “sleep through” disturbances, research shows that irregular or unexpected sounds prevent the brain from progressing into deep, restorative stages of sleep, even if you don’t fully wake up. ⁽²⁾ Partners who snore are one of the most common culprits. The inconsistent sound pattern makes it especially disruptive to sleep cycles. White noise machines, earplugs, or even sleeping in a separate room during particularly bad nights can help maintain a stable sound environment and protect sleep quality.

Devices and EMFs: Many people overlook the role of electronics in the bedroom. Beyond the disruptive light they emit, electronic devices also produce electromagnetic fields (EMFs). While the science is still evolving, emerging evidence suggests EMF exposure can interfere with melatonin production and may contribute to fragmented sleep. ⁽³⁾ Keeping phones, tablets, and other electronics out of the bedroom eliminates both the light and EMF issue. If you rely on your phone for an alarm, a practical compromise is to keep it across the room and set to airplane mode. This minimizes EMF exposure and also prevents the temptation to scroll right before bed or first thing in the morning.

3. Nasal breathing: the overlooked sleep enhancer

How you breathe during sleep has a direct impact on the quality of your rest. Most people never think about it, but the difference between breathing through the nose and breathing through the mouth is significant.

The nose is designed to optimize breathing. It filters allergens and particles, humidifies incoming air, regulates airflow, and produces nitric oxide, a gas that improves oxygen uptake, dilates blood vessels, and supports circulation. Nasal breathing slows the breath, which helps maintain stable oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the blood. This balance reduces stress on the cardiovascular system and promotes parasympathetic activity, which is the “rest and digest” branch of the nervous system.

Breathing through the mouth bypasses these advantages. It leads to faster, shallower breaths, lower oxygen saturation, and higher sympathetic nervous system activity. Mouth breathing is also strongly linked to snoring and sleep-disordered breathing, including obstructive sleep apnea.⁽⁴⁾

Training the body to default to nasal breathing during the day increases the chances of maintaining it at night. Practices like diaphragmatic breathing and nasal breathing during exercise strengthen the habit. For those who still revert to mouth breathing during sleep, gentle mouth taping with specialized hypoallergenic strips can be an effective strategy to encourage nasal breathing. This technique is safe when done properly and has been shown to reduce snoring and improve sleep continuity.

When nasal breathing is maintained, oxygenation is more stable, heart rate variability improves, and the body is more likely to enter deeper stages of sleep. This translates to more restorative rest and better energy during the day.

4. Sleep hygiene: the foundation of consistent rest

When people struggle with sleep, they often jump straight to supplements or gadgets, but the reality is that the fundamentals, aka sleep hygiene, sets the stage for everything else. Sleep hygiene is about creating consistent patterns that align with the body’s circadian rhythm and reinforce natural sleep-wake cycles.

The most important factor is timing. Going to bed and waking up at roughly the same time every day stabilizes circadian rhythm. When sleep and wake times are inconsistent, the body receives conflicting signals, which often leads to difficulty falling asleep, fragmented rest, and grogginess in the morning.

Stimulants and meal timing also play a role. Throughout the day, the brain builds up adenosine, a neurotransmitter that creates the feeling of sleepiness by binding to specific receptors. This is often called sleep pressure—the biological drive to sleep that increases the longer you are awake. Caffeine works by blocking those receptors, masking the sensation of fatigue.

The problem is that caffeine doesn’t stop adenosine from accumulating; it simply delays your awareness of it. By the time the caffeine wears off, people often feel a sudden crash as the built-up adenosine floods the system. Consuming caffeine too late in the day interferes with this natural process and makes it harder to fall asleep at night, even if you feel tired. Heavy meals late at night can also interfere, as the digestive process competes with the body’s need to transition into repair and recovery. Alcohol, while sedating at first, is another disruptor, fragmenting REM sleep and leaving people less rested despite sleeping for adequate hours.

The final piece of sleep hygiene is routine. Just as children benefit from predictable bedtime rituals, adults respond to consistent cues that tell the brain it’s time to wind down. Activities like reading, stretching, journaling, or listening to calming music are all effective because they act as conditioned signals for sleep. Over time, the body begins to associate these actions with preparing for rest, making the transition smoother.

5. Targeted supplement strategies for restorative sleep

When the basics of sleep hygiene and environment are already in place but sleep is still a struggle, targeted supplementation can help. The key is matching the right support to the specific issue—whether the challenge is falling asleep in the first place or staying asleep through the night.

If difficulty falling asleep is the challenge:

• Magnesium (Threonate or Glycinate) – Magnesium supports over 300 enzymatic processes and is crucial for nervous system regulation. It enhances GABA activity, the brain’s main inhibitory neurotransmitter, making it easier to downshift from wakefulness into rest. Threonate crosses the blood–brain barrier, while glycinate is well absorbed and effective for calming the body before bed.
• Apigenin (50 mg) – A bioflavonoid abundant in chamomile that binds to GABA receptors, reducing neural excitability and quieting the “wired but tired” state that delays sleep onset. It works with, rather than against, natural sleep architecture.
• L-Theanine (100–400 mg) – An amino acid from green tea that increases alpha brain waves and lowers levels of excitatory neurotransmitters like glutamate. The result is a smoother transition into sleep by reducing mental overactivity without sedation.

For difficulty staying asleep:

• Ashwagandha – An adaptogen that modulates the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and dampens nighttime cortisol spikes. This is key for people who wake in the early morning hours with stress-driven alertness.
• Myo-Inositol – A nutrient that influences serotonin and dopamine signaling and helps stabilize blood sugar. By improving neurotransmitter balance and metabolic regulation, it supports sleep continuity and reduces awakenings.
• Glycine– Lowers core body temperature by promoting peripheral vasodilation, a critical physiological cue for deep sleep. Glycine improves sleep efficiency and increases time spent in slow-wave sleep, reducing middle-of-the-night wakefulness.
• GABA (100–200 mg) – As the brain’s chief inhibitory neurotransmitter, supplemental GABA reinforces the nervous system’s ability to maintain a calm state. This makes it easier to stay asleep and cycle smoothly through REM and non-REM stages.

6. Physical activity and sleep

It’s no secret that exercise is a cornerstone of health and vitality, benefiting both body and mind. But the benefits of regular movement don’t stop there! Regular physical exercise is also one of the most powerful regulators of sleep. 

When you’re active during the day, the brain builds up adenosine, the chemical that drives sleep pressure and signals when it’s time to rest. Exercise also helps anchor circadian rhythm by triggering an earlier rise in cortisol in the morning and a steady decline toward evening. This keeps the body’s internal clock on track, making it easier to fall asleep at night. Consistent movement is linked with faster sleep onset, more time spent in restorative slow-wave sleep, and better recovery upon waking. ⁽⁵⁾

Too little movement, or the wrong kind at the wrong time, undermines this process. Being sedentary and not getting in enough movement blunts adenosine buildup and robs the body of deep sleep. On the flip side, high-intensity training too late in the evening spikes cortisol and adrenaline, raises body temperature, and activates the sympathetic nervous system—signals that keep the nervous system alert and delay the body’s ability to settle into sleep.

The timing and type of activity are what make all the difference. Vigorous workouts like strength training, intervals, or long runs, are best done in the morning or afternoon when they complement natural cortisol and energy peaks. Evening movement should be restorative: walking after dinner, stretching, yoga, or light mobility work. These activities lower blood sugar, relax the body, and nudge the nervous system into parasympathetic mode, which primes you for rest.

The main takeaway here is that improving sleep is less about achieving perfection and more about making consistent, manageable changes that support your body’s biological rhythm. Ultimately, it pays off in the form of more stable sleep, balanced energy, enhanced cognitive function, and greater overall resilience.

If you want to dig deeper into more advanced sleep strategies, be sure to check out this past episode of Hack Your Health with Dr. Nat, Sleep & Recovery—Tips to Optimize Your Sleep and Recharge Your Body. My friend, and co-author of SmartCuts, Dr. Paul Sly, joined me to share practical strategies and simple tips to help you sleep better and boost whole-body recovery. Watch it HERE.

Yours in health,
Dr. Nathalie

Dr. Nathalie Beauchamp, B.Sc., D.C., IFMCP is the author of the book—Hack Your Health Habits: Simple, Action-Driven, Natural Solutions For People On The Go, and the creator of several online health education programs. Dr. Nathalie’s mission is to educate, lead and empower people to take control of their health. She recently launched a new book https://smartcuts.life/
For health strategies and biohacking tips sign up for her newsletter at www.drnathaliebeauchamp.com

Photo credit: © fizkes via Canva.com

References: 

1. Okamoto-Mizuno, K., & Tsuzuki, K. (2012). Effects of thermal environment on sleep and circadian rhythm. Journal of Physiological Anthropology, 31(1), 14. https://doi.org/10.1186/1880-6805-31-14
2. Basner, M., Babisch, W., Davis, A., Brink, M., Clark, C., Janssen, S., & Stansfeld, S. (2014). Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health. The Lancet, 383(9925), 1325–1332. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61613-X
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4. Lee, Y.-C., Lu, C.-T., Cheng, W.-N., & Li, H.-Y. (2022). The impact of mouth-taping in mouth-breathers with mild obstructive sleep apnea: A preliminary study. Healthcare, 10(9), 1755. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10091755
5. Korkutata, A. (2025). The impact of exercise on sleep and sleep disorders. Nature Reviews Sleep, 1(1), Article 18. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44323-024-00018-w