To better understand everything that is to follow, make sure you have already covered my previous post Weekly Workout Routine so you can follow along. If you wish to start from the original article, check out my post The Roadmap to Overman.

In this article you will learn the following:

• • Tips and habits for perfecting your sleep

Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day. There is an internal twenty-four-hour clock within your brain that communicates its daily circadian rhythm signal to every other region of your brain and every organ in your body. In order to perfect your sleep I will give you a list of habits you should implement into your daily routine. For a detailed explanation on why and how these habits work, check out the book “Why We Sleep” and the video below. 

Keep in mind that not everyone has the same circadian rhythm. Some people are supposed to stay awake later in the night and wake up in the afternoon, while others could go to sleep at 7 pm and wake up at 5 am. It truly depends on the person and for those reasons, it is crucial that you experiment and find out which time of day suits you the best.

Sleep habits 

Morning

• • View bright light, ideally sunlight in the first 30-60 minutes after waking. Do this for 5-30 minutes depending on the clarity of the sky. There shouldn’t be any kind of barrier between your eyes and the light, other than prescription glasses.
  • Cold shower for 1-3 minutes in the morning.
  • Light exercise(walking, skipping rope,…) in the morning will increase body temperature which will help you wake up.
  • If you drink coffee, delay drinking caffeine 90-120 minutes after waking up, no sooner than that, and keep in mind that caffeine stays in your system for around 12 hours so try not to drink it too late. Ideally, drink caffeine 90-120 minutes after waking up (I personally abstain from caffeine altogether and would suggest you try and do the same).

Afternoon

• • Catch some sunlight again for 5-30 minutes in the late afternoon/evening. The goal is to catch the sun going down which signals to your brain that it is soon going to be time for sleep.

Evening

• • Avoid light of any type as much as possible, especially between 10 pm and 4 am. The lights that you choose to use should ideally be dimmed and placed low, meaning no overhead lights at night. You can consider using candles as they are very low intensity and will affect your sleep much less than desk lamps.
  • You would want ideally to sleep in a colder environment so try to reduce the temperature in your sleeping environment.
  • Try to avoid full cold showers just before sleep because they will increase your body temperature.
  • Implement taping your mouth before sleep to avoid mouth breathing.

Conclusion

By improving your sleep, you will improve every aspect of your life. Start implementing the above-listed habits and you will soon reap the benefits.

Actionable step:

• • Implement at least one of the habits per week.

Once you have done all of the actionable steps, move on to the next post Breath and Meditation.