The Ultimate Guide to Better Sleep (Part 3)

Let's go through some practical ways that you can start using to improve your sleep, hopefully as soon as tonight. If you're dealing with a sleep disorder, definitely talk to a doctor - this isn't medical advice, just personal learnings and tips from research.

In my opinion, sleep optimization can be divided into five main categories. My goal is to give you a framework to optimize your sleep over the coming days, weeks, and even years.

Category 1: Diet and Substances

When it comes to food and drinks, avoid large meals and lots of fluids at least a few hours before sleep. This is mainly due to two reasons: indigestion and metabolism.

Think of your digestive system and metabolism like factories. A few hours before bed, you want these factories to start winding down. If you eat a big meal right before bed, it's like asking these factories to keep working through the night. This keeps your body active when it should be slowing down.

Also, digesting food is best done sitting up. Lying down after eating makes digestion harder, leading to discomfort and potential sleep disruptions. During sleep, you want your body to focus on relaxing and recovering, not actively working on tasks like digestion and metabolism.

As for drinking, having a lot of fluids before bed can disrupt sleep because you'll need to use the bathroom during the night. I've noticed much better sleep since I stopped drinking anything 2-3 hours before bed. You might want to try this too!

Now, let's talk about substances that can mess with your sleep:

Caffeine: If you're a coffee drinker like me, be aware of how it affects your sleep. Caffeine has a half-life of about 4-6 hours, depending on your genetics. To improve sleep, avoid caffeine at least 8 hours before bedtime, maybe even longer to be extra careful. I try to only have caffeine before 11 AM, giving my body plenty of time to get rid of it before I sleep.

Caffeine interferes with sleep by binding to adenosine receptors in your brain. While adenosine is trying to make you sleepy and relaxed, caffeine is blocking that signal.

Category 2: Timing

Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Having a consistent sleep schedule is key for maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm. If your sleep times are all over the place, you'll develop an irregular sleep pattern that confuses your body clock. This disrupts the release of sleep-related hormones like melatonin.

Sticking to a consistent sleep schedule enhances your circadian rhythm's efficiency. This makes it easier to fall asleep, leads to more restful nights with fewer disruptions, and helps regulate your hormones, including the timely release of melatonin.

About naps: try not to nap after 3 PM. While naps can help make up for lost sleep the night before, taking them too late in the day can make it harder to fall asleep at night. Napping releases some of that sleep pressure by temporarily reducing the buildup of adenosine in your brain.

Category 3: Light Levels

Morning sunlight is crucial. There are many reasons to get sunlight in the morning, but for sleep, it's a key factor in regulating and resetting your circadian rhythm. Getting some sunlight early in the day gives your body a clear signal that it's daytime. This helps suppress melatonin production and makes you feel more awake. It also helps your body regulate when to start producing melatonin later in the day, promoting better sleep that night.

Now, let's talk about artificial blue light. In our tech-driven world, we're constantly exposed to blue light from phones, laptops, TVs, and other screens. This blue light, especially after sunset, wreaks havoc on our natural sleep cycles. We're basically tricking our body clock into thinking it's still daytime, halting the release of melatonin.

Artificial blue light is actually worse for your sleep than natural sunlight. Sunlight has a broader, more natural light spectrum, while the blue light from LED screens is concentrated into a narrow frequency. This unnatural balance, combined with how close we hold our phones to our eyes, is what really disrupts sleep.

The good news is we can limit this blue light exposure after sunset:

Use the built-in night mode on your devices. Most phones and computers now have features like Night Shift or Eye Comfort mode. Set these to sync with sunset to sunrise.

If you want to go further, look into blue light blocking glasses.

A good rule of thumb: for better sleep hygiene, avoid or minimize artificial blue light after sunset as much as possible.

Category 4: Environment

Ideally, your bedroom should only be used for sleeping. It should feel like a sanctuary with the sole purpose of helping you sleep better. Don't use it for working, eating, watching TV, scrolling social media, etc. - just for sleep.

This is because our brains form associations between environments and behaviors. When you consistently use your bedroom only for sleep, your brain creates a mental shortcut. Just like entering your classroom triggers a response to focus and learn, entering your bedroom should trigger a response preparing you for sleep.

Make your room as dark as possible for optimal sleep. Get blackout curtains or shades, especially if you live in a city with lots of light pollution. This darkness will help signal your brain to produce melatonin naturally. If you can't achieve complete darkness with curtains, consider using a sleep mask.

Even small sources of light from digital devices can be disruptive, so try to eliminate them from your sleep environment.

Comfort is crucial too. Make sure you have a comfortable bed and pillow. I recently discovered weighted blankets, and they've been a game-changer. I'm not sure about the science behind why they work, but I've noticed I fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer since using one.

Lastly, temperature matters. The optimal temperature for sleep is about 18.3°C or 65°F. The closer you can get your room to this temperature, the better. If you've got the budget, you could even look into temperature-controlled mattresses that adjust throughout the night for more restful sleep. I haven't tried one yet, but it's on my wish list!

Category 5: You

First up, exercise. Getting at least 30 minutes of exercise on most days will help improve your sleep. Just try to avoid exercising 2-3 hours before bedtime. Exercise helps reduce stress, and stress can really mess with your sleep.

Next, develop a pre-sleep ritual to help you relax before bed. This could be reading for 30 minutes, taking a hot bath or shower, or any calming activity. If you go for the bath or shower option, the drop in your body temperature when you get out actually helps signal to your body that it's time to sleep.

Avoid anything in your pre-sleep ritual that involves screens, electronics, or more blue light exposure.

If you find yourself tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep, get up and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy. Trying to force yourself to sleep often backfires - it's better to get up for 20 minutes or so and do something chill.

Lastly, monitor your sleep. You can't change what you can't see, so it's helpful to have some kind of sleep tracker. Like any smart watch, the Apple Watch, or the Oura ring (which is just a ring you wear to bed instead of a watch), Fitbit, etc.

We've covered a lot here - the sleep cycle, the wake-sleep drive, benefits of sleep, sleep-related hormones like melatonin, and five areas you can optimize for better sleep. If you can incorporate as many of these suggestions as possible, you should be well on your way to better nights of sleep.

If you have any other suggestions for better sleep that I've missed, leave a comment below. I'm always looking for ways to optimize sleep, so I'll keep an eye out for your ideas.

Sweet dreams! 😴

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