Best time of day to get light exposure?

[greenfrog]

If I go for two or three walks per day, what are the best times to go to help with sleep and melatonin production?

[Eowyn]

Definitely right after waking (early morning: between 5-7 AM) is one good time. Midafternoon (2-4 PM) is another good time.

The morning time will help you be awake for the day and feel sleepy at the right time in the evening to go to bed. The midafternoon time will help keep you asleep all night and wake up at the right time in the morning.

Also, if you can exercise BEFORE eating in the morning, then you can "carb-load" your brain and help it produce more serotonin throughout the day, which will help with mood and also melatonin production at night (the serotonin produced during the day is used in melatonin production at night).

**EDITED TO ADD** -- Actually, you want to carb-load and tryptophan-load your brain at breakfast -- lots of complex carbs and tryptophan.

[greenfrog]

What does Dr. Nedley see as the optimal amount of exercise to get each day for maximum brain health? (Type, time, distance, intensity, etc.)

I think Mark mentioned that his program advocates 10,000 walking steps a day (presumably briskly). Elsewhere I've heard an hour of walking - does he mean an hour at a time, or an hour a day? Does he discuss using interval training or other techniques?

[Eowyn]

For depression recovery (which is what my program was focused on), he recommends at least 60 minutes of exercise 7 days per week every single day of your life. In his books Proof Positive and The Lost Art of Thinking, he may make other recommendations for *general* optimal brain performance -- I don't know details on that. While we were at the program, they had us exercising 2-3 hours per day to get us jumpstarted.

He recommends whatever variety of activity will keep you active and interested. Walking is an easy and accessible activity for most people, and the body is well-adapted to it, so he most often advises starting with that. However, for long-term exercise he recommends varying your routine so that you won't get bored.

He does recommend interval training to avoid under-training and over-training, and also to help continuing to build fitness level consistently over time. At the program, he gave us a detailed formula to help us figure our personal intervals, and we also had heart rate monitors so that we could alternate EXACTLY between the top and bottom of our personal interval zone.

The low-tech way to do it is just to work "harder" for a short time and "easier" for a longer recovery period. Here's an article from Mayo clinic on using interval training: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/int...aining/SM00110

[greenfrog]

Eowyn, what did Dr. Nedley say about naps? Did he recommend avoiding them to maintain an adequate sleep drive by bedtime?

Note: I am referring to the later stages of recovery where the need for daytime naps may be somewhat less (I am now in month 14), i.e., where making it to bedtime without a nap becomes more feasible.

[Eowyn]

Avoid them if possible. If absolutely necessary, naps should be before 3 PM and no longer than 20-30 minutes.