Most people don’t take sleep seriously enough.
How do I know? Because I used to be one of those people. I used to live by the saying, “You can sleep when you’re dead.”
I would go to bed at 11pm and force myself to get up at 5am, averaging only 6 hours of sleep per night. I did that for about 4 years until I read the book Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker.
This book totally changed my sleeping habits. Dr. Walker, a neuroscientist, goes into great detail about why we sleep, how we sleep, and most importantly, how to get the most out of our sleep.
People always harp on the importance of diet and exercise but rarely does anyone mention the third and arguably the most important pillar of a healthy life: sleep.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “the shorter your sleep, the shorter your life.”
I don't want to regurgitate everything Dr. Walker says in the book, but I will tell you three ways I've improved my own sleep.
1. Set an alarm to go to sleep, not to wake up
For me, the most important thing is not setting an alarm to wake up, but instead setting an alarm to go to bed. If my morning alarm wakes me up in the middle of a sleep cycle, then I feel like a zombie for the rest of the day.
But if I consistently go to sleep at the same time every night (usually 10pm), then I will consistently and naturally wake up at the same time without an alarm (usually 6:30am).
I’m sure all of you know how nice it is to wake up naturally, without an alarm. Trust me, your body and brain thank you for it each time.
2. Remove screens from your bedroom
Another drastic change in my sleep was removing the TV from my room and leaving my phone on the other side of the room.
I used to lay in bed and watch TV and play on my phone at night—I swore that I COULD NOT fall asleep without the TV on. I thought I might have insomnia because sometimes it would take me over an hour to fall asleep.
Boy was I wrong.
The blue light that emits from digital screens (TVs, phones, computers), is similar to sunlight, thus tricking our brains into thinking it’s still daytime. This causes all sorts of problems with our circadian rhythms and keeps us up way later than we might intend to.
I now turn my phone off at least 30 minutes before bed and read a book with a dim reading light for 10-20 minutes before passing out. No more TV-somnia for me.
3. Get sufficient exercise throughout the day
For me, it’s at least an hour. I’ve always tried to get in at least one workout a day, but after reading Why We Sleep and understanding the importance of daily exercise, I make sure that I get in some rigorous activity every single day.
By getting that excess energy out and making my body tired, falling asleep is so much easier.
Have you ever had a super busy day—working, running errands, always on your feet—and you fall asleep almost instantly when your head hits the pillow? That’s how it should feel every day. You shouldn’t lay in bed with your mind racing, thinking of a million things, wondering why you can’t fall asleep.
To recap:
- Go to bed at the same time every night and try to wake up without an alarm
- Remove screens from your room and limit screen usage 30 minutes before bedtime
- Get at least 30 minutes of intense exercise every day
Bonus Tip:
One quick and simple test to determine if you're sleeping properly is to check in with how you feel about 3 hours after waking up in the morning.
If you wake up at 7am and by 10am you feel exhausted and like you could go back to bed, chances are you are getting poor sleep. If you get both good quality and quantity of sleep, you should feel energized throughout the whole day.
I’ve barely scratched the surface on the world of sleep, but I highly recommend you check out Dr. Matthew Walker’s book Why We Sleep. You can buy it here.
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