- In my opinion, sleep is one of the 3 big things that humans can’t live a good life without prioritizing (along with diet and exercise).
- Our not so distant ancestors used to sleep and wake up at nearly the same time every day without alarm clocks, without caffeine, without any of the junk we have today. They just used the sun and their circadian rhythm!
- In today’s world, the bad news is that we have a lot of things that can easily prevent us from getting good sleep, but the good news is that we can easily set up habits to get as good a sleep as we possibly can.
- As in all my articles, all of the advice below comes from lived experience trying different things, failing, and then finally hitting upon the right habits.
- For most of my life, I was a terrible sleeper. Every night, it would take me 2-3 hours to fall asleep after hitting the pillow (no kidding), and I would wake up every morning feeling very tired. This was a type of insomnia that I just learned to tolerate, because I knew no other way!
- It got to the point where I got addicted to being tired. Essentially, I would force myself to stay up very late every night until I was so tired that I would naturally just fall asleep immediately after going to bed. Although it only took me 10 minutes to fall asleep when I was already so tired, it would require me to stay up until 1-2 am and lead to me only getting 4-5 hours of sleep, which was extremely unhealthy.
- I also always considered myself a “night person” who “needed” 10-12 hours of sleep to feel fully rested. That meant that any chance I got, I would wake up at 11 am or later (sometimes in the afternoon) and consider that as what I “needed.” What I didn’t realize is that you get to choose what you need, and your body will adapt.
- Now, after implementing my advice below, I get 8 hours of sleep a night, wake up and sleep at the same time every day, and feel ready to hit every day with energy. And also, I’m a morning person now!
- It’s really not that hard; it just takes some willpower at the beginning, and then your body takes over.
- Here’s the best way to set a sleep routine:
- First, you need to tell yourself that sleep is more important than nearly anything else in your life.
- Yes, I know you have work. Yes, I know you have family and friends. Yes, I know you like to party or play video games or watch movies with your partner late into the night, and that’s fun for you. But unlike all of these things, sleep is a NON-NEGOTIABLE. You can’t “trade” some amount of sleep for something else and expect to be healthy in the long term.
- No amount of caffeine or any other artificial enhancer will make up for the fact that your body needs a certain amount of sleep, and not giving it that sleep will bring down every other part of your life.
- NO ONE IS NATURALLY A “NIGHT” OR “MORNING PERSON”! You can very simply change from one to the other; it just depends on your sleep schedule.
- Next, just commit yourself to sleeping 8 hours.
- There’s a reason why you’ve been told by almost everyone that you need 8 hours of sleep every night. This is perhaps the “minimum” amount of sleep that “most” humans should get “most of the time.” Obviously, everyone is different, but 8 hours is by far the best baseline, and even if you naturally need less or more sleep, it will probably be pretty close to 8 hours. In any case, you can lead your body to adapt and make it only accept 8 hours of sleep.
- Then, choose an ideal time to wake up.
- I’m a big proponent of waking up at 5 am, but you can do what you like. I would HIGHLY suggest waking up right before the sunrise, as that is what the body naturally does anyway.
- I would pick a time that gives you about 3-4 hours before you start work. This gives you time to get ready in the morning, work out, eat breakfast, etc., without rushing.
- Finally, pick 8 hours before your wake-up time to be your sleep time.
- For waking up at 5 am, your sleep time is 9 pm. Super simple!
- People always ask me, “How do you wake up so early?” They expect me to say something like, “I have an iron discipline and enough willpower to FORCE myself up every morning.” No! Instead, I speak the truth and say, “I just go to sleep early!”
- It doesn’t take any special willpower to wake up at 5 am if you are still getting your 8 hours in. If you want to wake up at 2 am every morning, it’s easy: Just go to sleep at 6 pm!
- Most importantly, you have to be consistent EVERY SINGLE DAY!
- Yes, that includes weekends.
- First, you need to tell yourself that sleep is more important than nearly anything else in your life.
- You have to minimize disruptions to your sleep schedule. Sure, we all have days where we have an emergency or we’re traveling and that messes with our sleep. Or even worse, when you’re sick, you will naturally need more sleep!
- Don’t feel bad about it; rather, try to get back on your schedule as soon as possible. Be strategic about it!
- If I know I’m traveling and my sleep schedule is going to get messed up, or I’m sick or something, I give myself up to 7 days to “not be on my schedule.” That means that I might wake up at 8 am some days if I need to make up some sleep, or I might have to sleep at 8 pm to recapture some sleep. Either way, I give myself 1 week of grace.
- But each of those days, I am still trying to sleep at 9 pm and wake up at 5 am. That’s the key: Even on the first day back from vacation or after being sick, I still try to go to bed at 9 pm and I still set my alarm to 5 am. Of course, I may wake up at 5 am and change the alarm to 8 am instead. But that forces your body to slowly work back up to 5 am until you just wake up one day and don’t feel the need to go back to sleep.
- Don’t feel bad about it; rather, try to get back on your schedule as soon as possible. Be strategic about it!
- I talked about this in my routine article, but you should have a pre-sleep routine and a post-wake-up routine that you do every day.
- I would check out the other article for the specifics, but essentially, you need to tell your body that it’s time to go to sleep or wake up about an hour before or after you actually do it, respectively. That way, when you hit the pillow or you’re ready to go out of the house, you are actually going to fall asleep or are ready for the day!
- The idea is that your body adapts to your habits. If you do something different every time you’re about to fall asleep, your body doesn’t know that you are trying to go to sleep. It might be because you still want to think or work, which pushes chemicals that make you feel more awake. Similarly, if you just immediately go to work after waking up, you will feel tired the entire day; your body never knew that you wanted to actually get up!
- DON’T USE ELECTRONICS WHEN TRYING TO GO TO BED!
- Imagine that by the last time you use a screen, it takes an hour to go to bed. Every time you use blue light, it resets the clock. So if you check your phone right before bed, it’ll take you another hour just to fall asleep!
- Unless prescribed by a doctor, sleep medications should be a no-no (I’m not a doctor, so take my advice with a grain of salt).
- I used to be addicted to melatonin. I thought I couldn’t sleep without it. But I hope you realize from the rest of the article that the problem wasn’t my brain or my circadian rhythm being out of whack, but how I was treating it.
- Save your money and your body and just get a consistent sleep routine. I promise you that it will solve most of your problems with sleeping and tiredness during the day.
- If you still have problems, then I would go see a doctor.
- I don’t know about your personal sleep preferences, but I suggest nailing them down and then trying to never deviate from them again.
- Some things you should nail down are:
- Size and Comfiness of the Bed
- I’m a big proponent of flat, hard beds with a medium-thickness mattress topper.
- Lighting
- I would generally go with as little artificial light as possible (moonlight is okay and actually may be preferred).
- Noise Level
- Oftentimes, you don’t have control over this, but obviously, the quieter, the better. You could wear earplugs, but I think it’s better to just get used to the sounds over the night.
- Body Position
- While you may naturally be inclined toward a certain sleep position (e.g., on your stomach), you can teach yourself to sleep in other ways. Probably the best west is on your back.
- Size and Comfiness of the Bed
- Some things you should nail down are:
- When trying to go to sleep, your mind should be as clear as possible.
- Going to sleep is NOT THE TIME to be thinking. Why? Because thinking just keeps your brain wired, and will make it take even longer to fall asleep.
- I will devote a whole other article to clearing your mind and preventing overthinking, but just remember that sleep is never the time to be thinking about the next day or repeating today’s events over again. It should be focused absolutely on the best possible rest, which requires a clear mind.
- If you really can’t fall asleep, and it’s actually hard to keep your eyes closed, then I suggest actually opening your eyes or even sitting up for a few minutes in the dark
- This may seem counterintuitive, but it seems like your body needs to “remember” that it’s dark, you’re tired, and that you actually want to fall asleep. When you open your eyes or sit up, you’re body will naturally make you want to close your eyes or lie back down.
