I created Brighter Days, Darker Nights to help people be healthier and happier through a stronger connection with Nature based on my experiences, education, and observations serving my local community as a doula. Before launching this project, I worked as an online marketing consultant for nearly a decade. You can learn more about me and my work at my personal website.
And here are some of the kind things people have had to say since I made this major career pivot:
Nikko’s work has been such a gift to me and my family! Her huge library of substack articles as well as the pregnancy and baby workshops are SO rich and full of information. It has literally changed the daily rhythms of my family. It has already made my second pregnancy much more enjoyable since implementing some of her suggestions. I am so excited to go through birth and infancy again with all this knowledge. We already felt we got the “circadian thing” too but there was so much more to learn. 🤍
Nikko has a wonderful ability to take the stilted jargon ridden science papers and make the topics friendly to digest. It’s just a real pleasure to get those emails.
I’ve loved reading your posts & watching some of the practitioner videos. Personally, working on these practices also improved my son’s sleep & teething so much.
I followed your guide and prepared my circadian rhythm by essentially living outside during the summer, getting plenty of sleep, no screens at night, waking with the sun, going barefoot. I am so happy to report that we avoided the NICU despite an ABO intolerance and I had my healthy big baby at home. He is 4 months old and has slept so well at night since day 1.
I am a birth and postpartum doula in Australia and also starting to heal my circadian rhythm. All of this information is so valuable and I hope to teach this stuff to new mums too!
Thank you for this Nikko! The size of the hematoma decreased since the last scan! ! wonder if it's from applying some of these. I could only ground for like a minute w how cold it is here now, but I have been exposing my belly to early morning light daily.
Came back to this post today and just want to say I'm grateful I found your publication. So far I've changed two things and my mornings are now radically different. I was turning off multiple alarms in the morning and falling asleep between them, even if they were five minutes apart. I was also having lucid dreams, lucid nightmares, and mild sleep paralysis between 6am and 8am. I've changed my evening lighting to all dim and warm (only candlelight in the bathroom past sunset), and I sleep with a blackout mask. I'm suddenly, consistently waking up around 6:45am clear headed and not falling back asleep immediately. It is a "joy*.
Hey Nikko, hope you are doing well. I have been thinking of writing you for a couple of weeks now, wanting to thank you for the great workshop you put on. My partner and I have made a lot of little changes in our home since then, and are really feeling an enormous improvement in our sleep, feeling rested, and overall health. We've changed up our evening household and device lighting and our eating schedules, I got blue light blocking glasses for the nights when I teach and drive late. It's incredible what a difference it makes. My sleep schedule for a couple of months before the workshop was roughly 3am-11am on any average "night"... and my partner didn't even have a consistent schedule of any kind, battling bouts of insomnia and other pain issues that kept them tossing and turning on the couch most nights. Now we are adjusting our lighting to "circadian mode" at sun down, then both headed to bed a couple of hours later (rarely later than 9) and waking up refreshed with the sun most mornings. It's AMAZING! So, the results obviously speak for themselves, but I can't Thank YOU enough! Keep up the good work getting this vital information to people!
Interesting write ups you're doing on circadian rhythms and the effect of sunlight on our overall wellbeing. Your last post especially on sunbathing is quite a read. The level of detail regarding skin types and the awareness of the intensity of the sun, for example, is something I never had to think about. Growing up in Nigeria, sunscreen just wasn't/isn't a thing. I joked that "black people don't burn", until I went cycling for 2 hours in Panama last fall and was horrified when I got into the shower - the horrors of the clear demarcation in skin tones. I stand corrected. I could go on about all those topics. I've become more aware of my body, sensations and sensitivities to blue light, my sleep patterns, foods etc and their effects on my mood and overall balance and well-being.
Nikko goes above and beyond when you seek her support. I appreciate her research skills, diverse background and willingness to teach others. She inspired me to curate research for the recovery community and for that alone I am forever
grateful!
I have worked with Nikko in several capacities and know that she is diligent, creative and careful. I'm enjoying her writings about the effect of light and dark for our health. I am grateful that her community has her work in the health care field with new mothers and mothers-to-be.
Nikko was a student of mine in Doula Training Center's Spring 2023 cohort. Our program is one of the most rigorous, state-approved doula training programs available. Nikko completed all training hour requirements (120 hours) and was an excellent student. We at DTC know that our program's graduates are committed to their work, are adequately prepared, and that they will continue their education in the future.
I think you do a really valuable work Nikko :)
I still work with select entrepreneurs & creatives, especially those breaking ground with me in mission-driven wellness and the emerging paradigm of applied quantum biology. You can read more of my business testimonials on LinkedIn, or book a 1-1 business consultation here.