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When it comes to sleep hygiene, how important is uninterrupted sleep for optimal health? I have a couple of patients who continuously wake up at the same time and feel the need to use the bathroom during the night and early hours of the morning. One patient is a woman mid-20s, always finds herself waking up at 3 a.m., 5 a.m., and 6 a.m. She usually goes to bed around 11 p.m., has a history of insomnia, and problems with getting more than five hours of sleep. Water intake is fine throughout the day and not excessive during the evening. I remember hearing that our ancestors got short bouts of sleep rather than sleeping through the night and was wondering whether waking and getting up for short periods during the night had any notable negative effects on health at all. Also, why do people wake up at more or less exactly the same times despite a lack of outside influences?

Dr. Amy Nett: So this is a great question, and sleep is so individual that the answer is, as usual,...

Since light from overhead lamps has an affect on the circadian rhythm and should be avoided during the late hours, is it possible to influence things like mood and energy levels with it during the day? I know one usually speaks of light machines with regard to mood-boosting properties, but could artificial everyday light have a positive effect on people living in less sun-blessed areas of the world?

Dr. Amy Nett: Certainly, if you’re talking about something like seasonal affective disorder, there is some research supporting the use...

When it comes to dealing with BPA, how negatively do all the prepackaged foods impact our health? While it goes without saying that I choose unpackaged foods whenever possible, a lot of products in my city inevitably come in plastic packaging—spices, cheeses, sausage, frozen meat, etc.—so even though I only use ceramic and glass containers in my home, I’ve lately been wondering whether repackaging these foods even makes a difference.

Chris Kresser: Yeah, that’s an interesting question. The BPA research suggests that basically all of us—infants, kids, adults, elderly people—have...

What’s the scale of judging degree of stress on the PSS?

Chris Kresser: This is one of the questionnaires I provided as an assessment tool for assessing perceived stress back in...

I am a night shift worker, 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, working a schedule of roughly seven nights on and 14 nights off. During my off time, I switch to a daytime schedule. Needless to say, I have some difficulty sleeping. I recently conducted the DUTCH Complete Test at about five nights out from my work schedule. While my cortisol level demonstrated some large swings, spiking to top end of normal at the second morning point and bottoming out to the low end of normal at the evening point and coming up to the high end of normal at the before bed point, it remained diurnal. Unfortunately, melatonin was well below normal at 1.2. My question is whether it’s better to supplement with melatonin or try to provide melatonin support through food. I currently only supplement with melatonin during my work weeks.

Chris Kresser: Yeah, it’s a really tough situation. I think I mentioned that having a more consistent shift schedule, where...

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