#13: Sleep Hygiene, For Dummies
Dare I say sleep may be the single most important in your life. Even more than working out. Possibly even more than a spot on nutritional meal plan.
Believe it. Sleep is where all the magic happens, and you don’t want to be skimping out on it if you want to live like an apex predator.
The only question is… how can someone catch some Z’s in the world’s noisiest and downright night-life heavy country?
1: Have A Shower
Get yourself cleaned up before bed time. Even if its just washing your hands, feet and face. But honestly, I would advise a full shower before bed.
A large study found that taking an evening shower or bath in water between 40-43 degrees Celsius two hours before bed improved sleep quality and helped people fall asleep faster.
2: Last Meal Three Hours Before Bed
Get up from the table at least three hours before bed-time. Also, try to consume less carbohydrates and more protein. It’s better for satiety and it may even benefit the muscle recovery comes with fine sleep.
This measure allows for digestion to occur and it will give time for the contents of the stomach to move to the small intestine. Leaving a three hour gap before bed can also keep your circadian rhythm in check, because food can signal ‘wakefulness’ in the brain and interfere with your ability to sleep.
3: Have A Hot Drink
Hot drinks are great for winding down. Ideally not in the form of coffee because this might hamper your sleep. But chamomile tea can help you in terms of sleep quality.
Chamomile is particularly effective at making you feel sleepy because of its chemical structure. It contains apigenin, a chemical that induces sleepiness when it binds to the GABA receptors in the brain.
GABA receptors are the same receptors that bind to benzodiazepines, commonly used as anti-anxiety drugs, because they have a calming effect. Similarly, when the apigenin in chamomile binds to GABA receptors, it has a sedative and relaxing effect — that's why chamomile tea can make you feel sleepy.
4: Sleep Comfy
Wear your usual night-time get-up. And make sure it’s the most comfortable thing ever. But it doesn’t end there.
Make sure your bedroom ticks off the following:
Your mattress needs to be comfy AF.
Your bedroom needs to be kept cool.
Your bedroom needs to be absent any light.
Your bedroom needs to be absent any noise. Including that annoying clock that ticks with each passing second.
Your bedroom needs to be absent any electronics. No phones, no light emissions. No LEDs.
5: Red Light At Night
Evenings at home should be absent any blue-light emissions. The type of light you get from your TV screens, mobile phones and laptops, but even the lightbulbs that luminate your house. Instead, use red light. Don’t have any? Purchase Blue-Blockers, a type of ‘sunglasses’ that you can wear indoors that block out (at least partially) blue-light emissions.
Humans are not nocturnal animals, which is why staying up and night and sleeping during the day tends to fuck us up. That being said, since we’re not nocturnal animals, humans have historically sought refuge in a dark-as-fuck cave to get their sleep. In fact, the darkest zone of the house should be the bedroom, absent of any light whatsoever.
One study at night found that artificial light exposure whilst asleep actually hampered cardiometabolic function.
6: Reflection
During your wind-down time, take a moment to reflect on the whole day’s activity and jot down any tasks left incomplete so that you can hit them hard the next day. This will keep your mind free from the prospect of remembering those nagging things left behind while you’re in bed.
That being said, take some time to reflect on the positive things. Perhaps on the wonderful things that happened during the day, or the tasks you accomplished. Take pride in that. It does not have to be an hour’s worth of fluff. Just five minutes.
There’s a case to be made that prayer can also help.
8: Books Over Screens
In the last hour before bed, we should be going medieval. That means no screens. Just put your damn phones away and pick up a book. Or at least just lie down and listen to an audiobook. In doing this, you will be relaxing, learning and mellowing down before sleep takes you.
This is backed with science. In fact, one study found that reading an actual book, in bed, before going to sleep dramatically improved sleep quality.
So there you have it. All the ways you can improve your sleep hygiene and gear yourself up for one of the best nights of your life. I say this coming off the back off a week of poor sleep. Because kids. But that’s a whole other kettle of fish…
