On Sleep 😴

Writing this at 4:22 AM

Back on my normal schedule.

I just prefer getting up way earlier to start getting work done.

I’ve found that I don’t really like working at night all that much, I’m not nearly as creative and I’m usually weighed down by all my meals

And since I was about 15 because of high school football, I’ve gotten up at this hour, so I just got used to it over time.

But regardless of whether I’m waking up at 4 AM, 6 AM, or 8 AM, I’ve had bad sleep and I’ve had good sleep…

And a lot of what I try and optimize for, regardless of what time I’m going to bed, is to get really REALLY good sleep.

The day after a bad night of sleep is basically me operating at 50% capacity all throughout the day and usually ends up leading to me abusing caffeine.

But after a great night’s sleep like last night?

I’m firing on all cylinders baby.

So there are a few things I’ve found that help me quite a bit with getting some good ZZZs…

1. This one is kind of obvious but phone usage before bed is pretty much the main thing that fucks me up, I’ve stopped looking at the phone altogether an hour before bedtime. I just turn on “Hey Siri” and whenever I need to see if my Alarm is on or look something up, I just shout across the room. And that’s another good point, I never put the phone next to my bed, always across the room so I have to get up out of bed.
2. My last meal is 2 hours before bedtime, I know there’s stuff online that says 3 hours, but sometimes that’s not doable with work and the gym. If I eat right before bed, I constantly find myself waking up in the middle of the night over and over again. I’ve found that 2 hours is the sweet spot for me.
3. I always shower before bed, I just like feeling clean when I hop into bed, usually I’ll start off with warm and then finish with cold so I’m not sweating in bed. There are numerous studies that can back this up scientifically, but I don’t really feel like citing them. Also getting the room super cold and walking out post-shower makes it super nice to get into bed.
4. I always follow carb gradualization. So my first meal of the day is high fat and protein with no carbs. The second meal of the day is moderate fat, high protein, and moderate carbs, and my third meal of the day is moderate fat, high protein, and high carbs. This definitely helps me get sleepier before bedtime, but overall it just helps way more with productivity throughout the day, I don’t like feeling weighed down by meals while getting work done.
5. I don’t know if this applies to everyone but It’s really easy for me to drift off when listening to someone on a podcast or an audiobook. So I’ll throw on something like Earl Nightingale or maybe even a comedy podcast with a sleep timer for 15 minutes and I’m out like a baby about 10 minutes in.
6. I’ve recently started taking this supplement before bed and it’s actually really really good, this is not an affiliate link, and yes I love Liver King - https://shop.thefittest.com/products/rest - definitely recommend trying it out.

There are tons of other practices I see people advocating for, but I prefer to keep things simple.

I’m also going to start taping my mouth at night as well to see how that works as I sometimes catch myself waking up with my mouth wide open.

But other than that, this is pretty much everything I do to get really good sleep and I hope it was useful to you.