Over the past few weeks, I’ve been on a mission to improve my sleep.
Quality sleep is the foundation of performance, and while I’ve known this for a while, I’ve taken it to another level.
My sleep approach is based on:
Optimizing circadian health
Supplementation
Ideal environment
Sleep preparation
I’ll share it with you today, so hopefully, you get some cool ideas for improving your own sleep.
Circadian Health
I was motivated to focus on circadian health after watching this podcast.
One of the hosts, Zaid Dahhaj, is very knowledgeable about the importance of light for overall health (among other things).
Circadian health is a large topic that I can’t do justice to in a few points, but in the interest of short and snappy, here is my approach:
Following a circadian-friendly schedule
I’m aligning my schedule with the sun as best I can.
Heading to bed shortly after sunset and up at dawn.
This doesn’t always work cleanly, however. And I don’t intend to go to sleep at just after 4 pm during the winter months…
My sleep schedule is approximately 9pm - 5am, which doesn’t perfectly align with the sun, but it’s pretty close.
To address that, onto the next point:
Curating my light environment
When I wake up before the sun, I wear my blue light-blocking glasses until the sun is up.
I start my day with some red light in the room while I work.
When the sun is up, I will go outside.
Sometimes, it is for a short walk if I can swing it, but it may just be briefly on my patio.
Getting the morning light in your eyes is an important cue for dialling in your circadian schedule.
In the evening, once the sun goes down, I will dim the lights as much as I can.
My bluelight blockers will go back on, and I may use the red light machine again.
The idea here is to limit exposure to artificial light when the sun is not out.
It’s hard to do this perfectly, but I do the best I can.
Getting outside
I’m busy. You’re probably busy.
We can’t allocate hours to sunbathing during the day, I get it.
But making an effort to get outside, even for short bouts, is valuable.
I like to go for a post-lunch walk and make sure I get some natural light in my eyes and on my skin (easier in summer, but still important during winter).
Supplementation
My pre-bed sleep cocktail consists of 5mg of Glycine, 400mg of Magnesium Bisglyinate, and 250-500mg of L-theanine.
I take this 30 minutes before bed, and I believe that my anecdata (as measured by Whoop) is showing that this does improve my sleep score, particularly my restorative sleep.
These are tried and true sleep supplements for sleep, and I’d recommend going with these over melatonin.
You want to produce melatonin naturally, and it’s important to avoid a reliance on taking it.
Environment
The basics of the environment are:
You keep all activities besides sleep and sex out of the bedroom (to cue yourself for sleepiness when you’re there)
The room is cool
The room is dark
I have been setting the temperature to 67-68 F; this is perfect for me.
I’d like to get black-out blinds for our master bedroom, but in the meantime, I picked up this sleep mask from Whoop.
It is fantastic. It is 100% dark and stays on my face all night.
Sleep Preparation
My sleep preparation involves what I do and what I avoid to give myself the best chance of a solid sleep.
My 3 top habits for sleep preparation are:
Stretching
The Brain dump
Resonance Breathing
Stretching is relaxing — it activates the parasympathetic nervous system and feels great after a long day.
The “Brain Dump” is essential for anyone who has a lot on their plate. Nothing kills sleep like tons of thoughts at 2 am. Take 5-10 minutes to get everything that feels stressful down on paper.
If it’s down on paper, you’ll have a better chance of feeling at peace about it.
Resonance breathing is when you do a 4-second inhale through the nose followed by a 6-second exhale.
The long exhale is great for relaxation, and doing this at night instantly makes me feel sleepy.
The “Avoids”
I avoid any food within 2-3 hours of sleep if I can swing it.
I avoid liquid 2 hours before sleep (other than the tiny amount I use for my sleep cocktail).
I avoid screens, and I wear my bluelight-blocking glasses typically 1 hour before sleep.
And if the sun is down, I try to avoid artificial light as much as possible in the evening.
How has it been working?
Pretty well, honestly.
It’s not perfect, but I’ve noticed a clear trend in my restorative sleep and sleep performance from January to February (when I started many of these habits).
The other night, I hit an all-time personal best of 40% restorative sleep.
Everything gets better when you can improve your sleep.
Best of luck sleep hacking, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Content I’m Enjoying:
This is the episode that was a catalyst for me to start digging into circadian health a bit more, particularly the effect of light on the Leptin system.
Thanks for reading!
See you next week,
Colin