I read a great article in Popular Science (Feb 2017) about how going camping can improve your sleep.
Yes, camping!
We know that modern environments with all their electronic gadgets (and bright screens) hurt sleep patterns. When we look at bright lights, our bodies stay in “daytime” mode, so we stay up later and wake up groggier.
If we get away from those bright lights (e.g. when camping), our melatonin levels rise when the sun goes down which signals it’s time for sleep. When the sun rises, the melatonin levels fall which signals our body that it’s time to wake up. Additional exposure to natural light throughout the day reinforces the “daytime” mode. The study showed that even a short weekend camping can “largely reset a person’s internal clock”.
Read more: Camping to Improve Sleep