How to Sleep

Sleep is important.  

It's 1/3 of your life.

It's when your body and mind recover.  

Lack of sleep will dramatically lower your testosterone level and cognitive function.

Nearly 50% of Americans are sleep deprived.  That makes us bad at driving and bad at thinking.  

Lack of sleep also causes us to overeat, and eat crappier foods.  Chronically undersleeping  causes us to gain weight and greatly increases our cravings for "junk food".  

We have evolved to sleep for about 8 hours a night.  If you sleep for 6 hours per night you are cutting off about 20% of your lifetime sleep.   That's a gigantic margin that can cause a lifetime of hormonal imbalance, cognitive decline and general idiocy.

Here are some ways you can get a better sleep. 

1. Darkness

We live in an artificially bright society.  

If you live in a city you probably haven't seen a star in weeks due to light pollution from street lamps, advertising and skyscrapers.  

Even if you don't live in a city your house is probably bright until the moment you go to bed.

Once you get in bed you probably shine a fake light into your face as you check your phone or read on your tablet. 

All this added, non-natural light throws off your circadian rhythm.  

The circadian rhythm is what's responsible for regulating your hormones throughout a 24 hour cycle.  It secretes hormones that wake you up in the morning, and it produces melatonin to help you fall asleep at night.

Make your entire house darker hours before you are ready to go to bed.  There's an interesting study that was published recently showing the effect darkness has on our circadian rhythm.

A group was sent to camp in the Rocky Mountains for a few days with no added light besides their flashlights and campfires.  They found that the group would fall asleep nearly 2 hours sooner than their reported regular bed time.  Their circadian rhythm was syncing with the natural cycle of the sun. 

This shows us that creating a dark environment throughout our house will enable us to fall asleep faster, and sleep deeper.

2. Read an Actual Book or Magazine

I understand how easy it is to read on your phone or tablet.  They are self contained libraries that produce their own light.  If you sleep next to a spouse it's much easier than having to keep the light on and worry that you're keeping them awake.

Like most things this convenience comes at a cost.

Technology like phones and tablets emit a specific type of light called blue light that disrupts your circadian rhythm.  Recent studies have shown that reading with a tablet instead of a paper book delays your natural melatonin production by 3 hours.  

Even if you fall asleep you will delay when you reach deep sleep causing the quality of your sleep to drop.

There has also been strong evidence linking blue light before bed to bouts of depression.  

Buy a small book light and read an actual book or magazine.  It's a simple fix that can dramatically improve your sleep quality.  

3. Regularity

What is your sleep schedule like now?  Do you go to bed at the same time? Do you wake up at the same time?

Your circadian rhythm responds to the stimulus around it.  Going to bed at the same time and waking at the same time ensure that it is functioning at its highest capacity.

Just like you can train your body to get stronger, you can train your circadian rhythm to be more regular.  You must make a priority of going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning.  Even on weekends. 

4. Make it Cold

Ever notice how you sleep better in a cold room than a warm room?

That's because your brain needs to cool down a few degrees in order to reach R.E.M sleep, or deep sleep.  Your core body temperature rises and falls throughout the day,  the highest normally being in the afternoon. 

The lowering of this core temperature is synced with your circadian rhythm producing all your sleep hormones and readying you for bed. 

Making your room cold can quicken this process and enable you to fall asleep faster, and reach REM sleep quicker.  It will increase the quality of your sleep as well as the quantity. 

Another trick is to take a hot bath before bed.  As you sit in the bath your core temperature will rise, but as soon as you get out of the bath it will drop dramatically.  It's the sudden drop that causes you to feel drowsy afterwards, not the heat itself.  

As the heat escapes your body your core temperature will plummet, and create a better hormonal environment for you to hit the hay. 

We brag about how tired we are like it's a social badge of honor.  Some people even take pride in how few hours they sleep.   "I can sleep when I'm dead." is a stupid motif.  If you don't prioritize your sleep you will die earlier and your quality of life will be lower.  We now know that sleep plays a vital role in nearly every aspect of our life from cognitive function to food choice. 

A good night's sleep is the best supplement.  If you are regularly working out but shorting your sleep you are setting yourself up for less than stellar results.  Your body needs 7-9 hours of genuine sleep per night to recover from life and training.   Sleep needs to be as high a priority as diet and exercise.