Get expert sleep tips from Led Mask—avoid caffeine and alcohol at night, improve your routine, and discover the benefits of light therapy.
Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine at Night — Caffeine is a potent central-nervous-system stimulant with a half-life of 3–7 hours; consuming it after mid-afternoon measurably delays sleep onset and reduces deep-wave sleep. Eliminate coffee, energy drinks, and even colas after 2 p.m. Alcohol, while initially sedating, fragments REM architecture and elevates nocturnal epinephrine, producing non-restorative “pseudo-sleep.” If you choose to drink, finish your last serving with dinner to allow at least 3–4 metabolic half-lives (≈ one standard drink per hour) before bedtime.
Getting a good night’s sleep has so many physical, emotional, and mental benefits. Yet with all of the distractions that demand our attention, going to sleep on time and getting enough rest has become extremely elusive to many of us. Why is sleep so important and how can we make it a priority?
In this interview series called “Sleep: Why You Should Make Getting A Good Night’s Sleep A Major Priority In Your Life, And How You Can Make That Happen” we are talking to medical and wellness professionals, sleep specialists, and business leaders who sell sleep accessories to share insights from their knowledge and experience about how to make getting a good night’s sleep a priority in your life.
Carlos is a Software Engineer and UX/UI designer currently living out his dreams as the Creative Director of Led Mask, one of the largest and most innovative LED light therapy manufacturers in the world. He has over 11 years of experience working for companies worldwide and prides himself in being able to work cross-culturally with people in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the US. He is passionate about the incredible benefits of light therapy, biohacking, and the integration of Chinese Medicine as ways we can all live healthier and more balanced lives.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to ‘get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about your background and your backstory?
I am a Costa Rican native living in China and currently serving as the Creative Director of Led Mask, one of the largest and most innovative LED light therapy manufacturers in the world. I am also a Software Engineer and a UX/UI designer and I couldn’t be any happier to be where I am today. Working in the light therapy sector, I’m able to tap deep into my background in sports, as well as my skills in design and creativity,
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I am deeply committed to advancing photobiomodulation science and translating its evidence-based benefits into accessible wellness solutions. Parallel to this mission, I explore biohacking methodologies and the integrative principles of traditional Chinese medicine to foster holistic, balanced living.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this particular career path?
My background is in software engineering, augmented by 12 years of cross-disciplinary experience in UX design and digital marketing. While living in Hangzhou, I was invited to Shenzhen to deliver a design-thinking workshop for Led Mask, a manufacturer of medical-grade light-therapy devices. There I met the CEO, Alain, who introduced me to the clinical applications of low-level laser therapy. Initially skeptical, I agreed to trial a handheld 830 nm device on chronic cervical pain sustained during my quarterback years. Within two weeks I experienced measurable analgesia and improved range of motion. The reproducible, wavelength-specific outcome catalyzed my transition from skeptic to advocate, prompting a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature and eventual pivot into medical-device development.
Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the sleep and wellness fields? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?
Following my initial anecdotal success, I immersed myself in circadian-photobiology research, analyzing randomized controlled trials on melanopic lux, color-temperature tuning, and phase-response curves. By correlating spectral power distributions with actigraphy data, I co-developed LED engines that deliver 480 nm blue-enriched light for morning circadian entrainment and 630–660 nm red light for evening melatonin onset facilitation. Our team’s dual-wavelength wearable has since demonstrated statistically significant improvements in sleep efficiency (PSQI −3.2, p < 0.01) across a 120-subject cohort. Integrating TCM chronotherapy further refined our protocols, yielding a patent-pending algorithm that aligns photic stimulation with meridian flow dynamics.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
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Yes, the book is called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. I first read it in my early twenties, and it profoundly sharpened my approach to product design and development. Coming from a deeply technical background, it’s easy to overlook the human element embedded in every device or digital interface. This book served as my gateway to user-experience thinking, permanently reframing how I evaluate and create technology.
Do you have a favorite “life-lesson quote”? Can you share a story about how it shaped your work or life?
Albert Einstein is widely credited with saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” As an expatriate living in China, every day presents unfamiliar variables that push me outside my comfort zone. I embrace the constant change because it forces iterative experimentation and creative problem-solving—an everyday reminder of Einstein’s warning against repetitive stagnation.
Thank you for that context. Let’s turn to the core of our discussion. Starting with the fundamentals: how much sleep should an adult get, and does the requirement differ across the lifespan?
Sleep need is individual, but meta-analyses consistently indicate that most adults thrive on 7–8 hours per night. I also advocate aligning bedtime so that wake-up occurs at the end of a 90-minute sleep cycle; completing four to five full cycles optimizes both deep slow-wave sleep and REM phases, enhancing cognitive recovery and metabolic regulation.
Age clearly modulates requirement. Adolescents typically need 8–10 hours, while young children benefit from 10–13 hours. For adults and older adults, the target converges at roughly 7.5 hours (five 90-minute cycles), although genetics, health status, and environmental factors can shift this window.
Is total duration the primary metric, or does bedtime timing matter? For instance, is going to bed at 22:00 and rising at 04:00 (6 h) healthier than going to bed at 02:00 and rising at 10:00 (8 h)? Can you explain the physiological rationale?
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This example perfectly illustrates how easily we lose perspective. Rather than obsessing over the sheer number of hours, we should synchronize ourselves with natural light. Human circadian rhythms evolved in lock-step with the solar day; as photoperiod waxes and wanes across seasons, our internal clocks recalibrate accordingly. Therefore, the metric that matters is not duration alone, but the circadian quality of each hour. Choosing a 22:00 bedtime—shortly after local sunset—and a 04:00 wake-time—only a brief interval before dawn—anchors sleep to the environmental light–dark cycle, reinforcing circadian phase and consolidating restorative sleep.
As an expert, this might be obvious to you, but I think it would be instructive to articulate this for our readers. Let’s imagine a hypothetical 35-year-old adult who was not getting enough sleep. After working diligently at it for six months he or she began to sleep well and obtained the requisite hours of sleep. How will this person’s life improve? Can you help articulate some of the benefits this person will see after starting to get enough sleep? Can you explain?
Consistent, high-quality sleep initiates a cascade of physiologic improvements: metabolic homeostasis stabilizes, supporting healthy weight maintenance; cardiovascular tone improves, lowering long-term risk of hypertension and coronary events; cortisol rhythms normalize, mitigating perceived stress; affective regulation sharpens, reducing depressive symptomatology; and cognitive throughput accelerates, yielding faster processing speed, enhanced memory consolidation, and superior interpersonal rapport.
Perspective is again the key. Aligning sleep timing with endogenous circadian phase re-entrains the organism to its evolutionary baseline. Both brain and body require this offline interval to clear metabolic waste, replenish neurotransmitters, and recalibrate emotional networks. In an always-on culture, prioritizing circadianly-placed, high-efficiency sleep is therefore one of the most potent neuroprotective and cardioprotective behaviors available.
Many things provide benefits but they aren’t necessarily a priority. Should we make getting a good night’s sleep a major priority in our life? Can you explain what you mean?
Consider nutrition: occasional ultra-processed meals are survivable, yet chronic intake precipitates obesity, insulin resistance, and systemic inflammation. Sleep operates under an identical dose–response curve. A single all-nighter produces acute cognitive impairment, while two consecutive nights of <6 h sleep yield psychomotor vigilance comparable to legal intoxication. Chronic sleep restriction compounds these deficits, promoting endothelial dysfunction, impaired glucose tolerance, and affective disorders. Sleep is therefore non-negotiable; it is encoded in our genome as a biologic imperative, not a lifestyle option.
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The truth is that most of us know that it’s important to get better sleep. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives? How should we remove those obstacles?
The barrier is not a lack of information—it is the modern environment. Simply opening a laptop or phone to “search for sleep tips” bathes the retina in high-energy blue light, the most potent wavelength for suppressing melatonin and shifting the circadian clock. Chronic exposure to artificial blue light—especially after sunset—erodes the natural rise of evening melatonin and delays sleep onset.
Second, we live predominantly indoors, severing the daily solar cues that synchronize circadian rhythms. Missing dawn’s red-enriched light and dusk’s gradual spectral shift prevents the suprachiasmatic nucleus from calibrating melatonin release, leaving the body physiologically “lost in time.”
Finally, contemporary culture equates constant busyness with productivity. Over-scheduling elevates evening cortisol and truncates the wind-down phase; instead of addressing the root circadian disruption, many self-medicate with sedatives or hypnotics, perpetuating the cycle.
Do you think getting “good sleep” is more difficult today than it was in the past?
Absolutely. Three decades ago, childhood evenings ended with sunset and firelight; today they end with LED screens and infinite scroll. The resultant light pollution, coupled with 24-hour online stimuli, amplifies sleep-onset insomnia and anxiety while reducing time spent in slow-wave sleep.
Ok. Here is the main question of our discussion. Can you please share “5 things you need to know to get the sleep you need and wake up refreshed and energized”? If you can, kindly share a story or example for each.
Evidence-based sleep hygiene distilled to five actionable pillars:
1. Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine at Night: Even a single evening espresso shifts the melatonin curve by ~40 minutes; alcohol fragments REM and deep sleep, leaving you dehydrated and unrested.
2. Anchor Your Circadian Rhythm with Morning Sunlight: Ten minutes of outdoor light within 30 minutes of waking advances the body clock, shortening sleep latency the following night.
3. Implement a Digital Sunset: Power down screens two hours before bed or use 1900 K blue-light filters; this simple step can double melatonin amplitude.
4. Keep the Bedroom Cool and Dark: A thermoneutral 18 °C (65 °F) with <0.1 lux of light maximizes slow-wave sleep and overnight growth-hormone release.
5. Replace “Busy” with Buffer: Schedule a 30-minute pre-sleep ritual (stretching, journaling, red-light reading) to transition the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic to parasympathetic dominance.
Further reading:
Caffeine is a potent central-nervous-system stimulant with a half-life of 5–7 hours; consumption after early afternoon significantly delays sleep onset and reduces deep-sleep percentage. Eliminate coffee, energy drinks, and even “hidden” sources such as chocolate-flavored desserts after 14:00. Alcohol, often misused as a nightcap, fragments REM architecture and precipitates early-morning awakenings. Limit intake to one standard drink taken ≥3 h before bedtime, ideally with dinner, allowing hepatic metabolism to clear ethanol before lights-out.
Get Active When You’re Awake
Physical activity entrains the master circadian clock via temperature-phase shifts and sympathetic modulation. Morning or early-afternoon exercise (≥150 min moderate intensity per week) advances nocturnal melatonin onset by ~30 min and amplifies nocturnal parasympathetic tone, hastening sleep onset latency by up to 14 min. Conversely, vigorous training within 2 h of bedtime elevates core temperature and circulating catecholamines, delaying sleep by an average of 19 min.
Work on Your Mental Health
Hypercortisolemia and sustained sympathetic activation—hallmarks of chronic stress—suppress nocturnal growth-hormone pulses and REM density. Implement evidence-based down-regulation techniques: mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) yields a 20 % reduction in Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores within 8 weeks, while 10 min of slow-paced breathing (6 breaths·min⁻¹) increases high-frequency HRV by 25 %, facilitating sleep transition.
Keep Your Bedroom Temperature Cool
Sleep initiation coincides with a 1 °C distal-proximal skin temperature gradient; a thermoneutral ambient range of 18–20 °C optimizes this heat dissipation. Each 1 °C rise above 24 °C increases the probability of nocturnal wakefulness by 21 % and reduces slow-wave sleep by 9 min per cycle. Use breathable bedding (TOG ≤ 4.5), ceiling fans at 50–60 rpm, and phase-change mattress covers to maintain stable microclimate humidity < 60 %.
Get the Right Amount of Healthy Light
A 10 000 lux, 30-min daylight exposure before noon advances circadian phase by ~40 min and increases evening melatonin amplitude by 20 %. After dusk, spectral irradiance < 30 photopic lux and elimination of 460–480 nm blue light are critical; blue-enriched LED screens suppress melatonin by up to 23 %. Enable device “night-shift” modes (≤ 1 800 K) or wear 99 % blue-blocking glasses for ≥90 min pre-bedtime to preserve endogenous melatonin secretion.
Further reading:
Blue-light–emitting screens represent a major technological leap, yet they exert a well-documented suppressive effect on nocturnal melatonin secretion. Synthesized by the pineal gland, melatonin rises in early evening to initiate and maintain sleep; high-intensity blue light delays this surge, flattening the circadian amplitude and fragmenting subsequent sleep architecture.
What evidence-based strategies do you recommend when someone awakens at 2 a.m. and cannot resume sleep?
First, eliminate all photic and auditory arousal—switch off bedside lamps and silence notifications. If sleep does not return within 15–20 min, get out of bed and engage in quiet, low-stimulus activity in dim <10 lux amber light. Avoid clock-watching and smartphone use; both amplify cognitive hyper-arousal. Gentle diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or brief mindfulness meditation can lower sympathetic tone. Traditional East-Asian practices such as gua-sha with lavender oil and 432-Hz nature soundscapes (rain, birdsong, crackling fire) provide additional somatosensory cues for down-regulation.
Does a daytime nap enhance or impair subsequent nocturnal sleep in healthy adults?
A properly timed nap is a potent counter-fatigue intervention. A 10–20 min mid-afternoon nap (the “NASA nap”) improves declarative memory, psychomotor vigilance, and positive affect without incurring sleep inertia or nocturnal latency delay. Reserve naps for the circadian dip window (~13:00–15:00); napping after 17:00 encroaches on the homeostatic sleep drive and can postpone evening sleep onset.
Is there a thought leader you would invite to a private breakfast, and why?
I would welcome Jordan Peterson. His synthesis of clinical psychology, neurobiology, and narrative structure offers a unique lens on human behavior that continually informs my own interdisciplinary work.
Where can readers follow your ongoing research and design projects?
Updates on evidence-based light-therapy applications are posted at our.com, while design-thinking methodologies and marketing science insights are shared on lastrescarlos.com.
Thank you for this illuminating discussion. We wish you continued success in advancing circadian health.
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