The author lived underground for 10 days to study sleep, happiness, health

In an effort to better understand how factors like when we eat and how much sunlight we get affect our ability to feel rested, happy and balanced, Lynn Peeples descended 50 feet underground for 10 days.

Peoples science journalist and authorInternal clock: Living in sync with our circadian rhythmsHe found Airbnb in Arkansas It was once a tent during the Cold War.

“This guy bought an old nuclear missile silo from the government and cleaned it up,” she said.Every day is better with Leah Smart“Podcast.

“There was no daylight,” she said in the backyard. Peeples has gotten permission from Airbnb hosts to cover all clocks on digital devices with black tape so she doesn’t know what time it is.

The lights in the container were dim and red. “We know that red is the wavelength of light At least it affects our circadian rhythms” she said.

For her book, Peeples wanted to know what would happen to her internal clocks if she “cut myself off from the cues that need to tell me the time.”

During her stay, Peoples audio-recorded her experiences to use time stamps to see how closely her experiences fit in with her regular schedule — like when she ate breakfast or went to bed.

“For the first two days, it was a miracle because I could look back at the audio recordings I made and I was very accurate in living a 24-hour day,” she says. “Our internal clock keeps a good time.”

But about halfway through the experience, Peoples began to feel “out of sorts,” which she likened to jet lag.

“The worst” I was living my day when everyone above the ground was sleeping. “I felt the effects of that.”

Peeples began experiencing mood swings, “feeling hot and cold” and hunger after her internal clock didn’t align well with her regular schedule. She also noticed that her thinking was cloudier and more delusional than usual.

“It wasn’t unexpected, but it was too deep to feel that way.”

When your circadian rhythm is out of sync, you may experience fatigue, insomnia, headaches or depression, he says. Cleveland Clinic. The results of the People’s Experiment further confirm what research has shown about how certain factors, such as exposure to sunlight, can affect your circadian rhythm.

“It’s about maintaining that scale. Getting enough bright light especially in the morningPeople said.

“If you can expose your eyes to bright daylight within the first hour or two of waking up,” you’re in good shape.

Take a 15-minute walk in the morning and “stay as close to a window as possible throughout the day,” she suggests. at night, Dim the lights in your home when it’s close to bedtime To draw your body for the bed.

Balancing lifestyle with the 24-hour cycle is important to your body’s functions, including proper processing of foods and “our immune system” to fight off certain pathogens. It’s the best way to “make all the body’s systems work better to do the right thing at the right time.” She he said.

Peeples has provided a list of things that can disrupt your circadian rhythm and affect not only the quality and quantity of your sleep:

• Darkness during the day
• Too much light at night
• Eating at the wrong time of day (snacking at any time)
• Changing the time on our clocks twice a year when we “fall back” and “go forward”.
• Traveling across time zones

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