Sleep

Morning actions

Get Sunlight in the morning

Your eyes are super sensitive to sunlight in the morning. When they see it, they send a signal to a set of neurons which signals to every cell in your body that the day just started. It’s the foundational protocol for the Huberman Lab podcast

You can go for a walk or stand outside. Do not look directly at the sun

Don’t drink caffeine in the first 90 minutes

Caffeine binds to adenosine receptors. Adenosine helps you get energized at a fairly regular rate. When caffeien interferes, all the adenosine is packed and you suddenly get super sleepy around noon.

Don’t worry, caffeine is fine after that 90 minute block passes. Maybe replace it with water and lime for flavor or gradually delay it by around 15 minutes until you reach the ideal time.

Get some motion

This helps your brain realize that it’s time to be awake. It gives you a so-called ‘forward center-of-mass’ which primes you to start your day. If you start your day immobile and feeling sluggish, there’s a high likelihood that carries on throughout the day.

Best thing is to walk in the sun as soon as you wake up. It hit most of the protocols and is low effort to complete.

Don’t use your phone in the first 30 minutes after waking

The quality and amount of light emitted by your phone is not optimal for activating the retinal ganglion cells in your eyes. These cells regulate cortisol and melatonin rhythms, so looking at your phone can disrupt these rhythms leading to negative effects on your health.

Daytime actions

NSDR

Non-sleep deep rest is a broad term for meditation. It helps you sleep better, calms down your nervous system or whenever you’re not feeling well. It usually takes 10-15 minutes.

Listen to this audio in the afternoon or before sleeping to get the most benefits.

Stop Caffeine at 3 pm

Caffeine disrupts sleep and it has a half life of 8-10 hours. Try your best to keep your intake before that time.

You could replace your evening drinks with something that has less caffeine. Or, bring back your endpoint by 15 minutes each day. Day 1: 6:15 pm, Day 2: 6:00 pm, Day 3: 5:45 pm, etc.

Nap

Napping is optional. Some people benefit a lot from it. Some cultures have it as a tradition. Ideally, it should be done before 4 pm and last less than 90 minutes to not disrupt sleep.

Block a time in your calendar to take a quick nap every day between 3 and 4 pm. It’s the perfect time since you’re kinda tired from the first part of the day and you’ll recharge for the second part.

Watch the Sunset

Your eyes are sensitive to the yellow-orange light that comes from the sunset. This light signals to your body that sleep time is coming. It’ll also decrease the impact of blue light from screens later in the evening.

Try to get this as close to sunset as possible. +-30 minutes from sunset time works fine.

Nighttime actions

Create a Wind-Down Routine

This signals to your brain and body that it’s time to sleep. You calm down your nervous system and rest easier. You can clean up, play calm music, or anything that’s easy and routine

Don’t Eat 3-4 Hours Before Sleep

This helps you enter into a deeper state of sleep because your body isn’t busy digesting food. Sleeping fasted has also been shown to increase growth hormones.

Try shifting back your dinner by 30 minutes each day until your reach that stage

Put Mouth Tape on

Sleep apnea is a real problem. Mouth breathing is unhealthy, and it’s so bad during sleep. All you need is a small piece of medical tape. Apply it to your mouth before sleep and remove it when you wake up. You’ll slowly learn how to breathe through your nose.

Of course be cautious, but don’t worry about losing breath. The tape you usually loosens because you gasp for air.

Dim overhead lights

At night, your eyes are super sensitive to any light, especially overhead ones. This is because light diverges from your eyes upwards. So try setting the lights on the ground or something like that.

Decrease Screen Time

You’ve heard a lot about blue light suppressing melatonin and disrupting sleep. Turning on night mode helps but it’s still not enough since there’s still other lights being shown.

You can decrease white light on your phone by going to accessibility → vision → reduce white point. Turn it on.

Sleep on Your Side

Sleeping on your side allows you to breathe better. Sleeping on your stomach puts your entire body in a bad position; it’s bad for muscles and breathing.

Circadian Rhythms

Work Out in the morning

Among the obvious health benefits of working out, doing so in the morning helps you sleep better at night. It’s overall less disruptive to your circadian rhythm and allows you to be more flexible throughout the day.

How to Shift Your Clock

If you want to wake up earlier: take a cold shower, exercise, eat in the morning, get bright light. You can also open the curtains so morning light can penetrate your room. Although your eyes are closed, they can still get the signal that the sun is up and you need to shift your clock

The point is to increase adrenaline as soon as you wake up. You’ll slowly start going back until you reach the correct time you want to wake up. Ex: 15 minutes each time.

If you can’t wake up on your own, you can use an alarm and move it backward (in the interval you prefer)

Conquer Jet Lag

Eat according to the mealtime of your destination. Start this a few days before traveling.

If you are going east, you should shift your clock backwards (make it earlier). If you are going west, delay it

Sleep Consistency > Sleep Duration

They did a study [link] where people slept for 6 hours at the same time each day (ex. slept at 12, woke up at 6) and compared them to another group that got more hours of sleep but at inconsistent times. The first group had better overall health.

So try your best to sleep and wake up at the same time. Your brain gets used to it and your circadian rhythm isn’t disrupted