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Struggling to catch those Zzz's? Discover simple changes to your routine for a deeper, more refreshing sleep.
"Investing in good sleep is an investment in your overall health and well-being. When we prioritize sleep, we nourish our minds, bodies, and spirits, allowing us to function at our best."
Storytime
I am on my deathbed. The clock is ticking. My two boys are sitting by my side.
I am begging him for just one more minute. That is too much, he said. Can I please have 45 seconds, then?
I can give you 30 seconds to write it down, Death answered. He added that I have a reputation to keep: I am never late, never in advance.
I look around me. Five seconds passed before I could grab a pen and the last post left by the nurse five minutes ago.
I just have the time to write down the sequence: 10, 8, 3, 2, 1. As I was leaving my body, I yelled to my sons: This is the sleep code to win life; I love you.
I open my eyes again. I can see them holding that piece of paper, baffled. I also see my body resting on the bed. Dakar, Senegal, has been hot this year. I am happy to have died with my boys and passed them the one and only secret code for a great life.
End of the story.
Now you are also wondering: what the hell is that code?
Nobody has time to decipher it.
Let me give you the cheat code of sleep:
1 - 10 Hours Before Sleep: No Coffee
2 - 08 Hours Of Sleep At Least (Kind Of)
3 - 03 Hours Before Sleep: No Food
4 - 02 Hours Before Sleep: No Drink
5 -01 Hours Before Sleep: No Screen
1 - 10 Hours Before Sleep: No Coffee
"Caffeine can linger in your body for many hours, so that afternoon latte might be keeping you up at night."
– Dr. Michael Bruce, Director of the Sleep Health & Wellness Center at Mayo Clinic
(Source: Sleep Foundation)
I used to love having my afternoon coffee at 04:00 PM. Don’t be like me. Ditch the coffee 1à hours before you go to bed.
I was not aware of the fact that caffeine is a stimulant that stays in my bloodstream for so long.
You may have difficulty falling asleep. Caffeine is the culprit, constantly delaying the start of your conversation with Morpheus. You can hardly drift off at night in your bed.
You might feel unrest even if you go to bed early because of frequent awakenings during your night. That is not the awakening you should be striving for.
Caffeine can also prevent a deep sleep state. That is because caffeine affects your fast charging and resting area, which makes you go from 0 to 100% faster than a Tesla’s supercharger.
Write down on a piece of paper the exact hour you want to go to bed. Subtract 10 to that deadline. That is your caffeine cut-off time.
Also, avoid at all costs other sources of caffeine hidden in sodas, energy drinks, and even your caramel macchiato.
Take alternatives like herbal tea or decaf coffee when yearning for a hot beverage in the evening.
You can find more resources and information here: Caffeine and Sleep Problems and The effect of caffeine on subsequent sleep: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
2 - 08 Hours Of Sleep At Least (Kind Of)
"Chronic sleep deprivation is a public health problem and has been linked to numerous health problems, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, depression, and cancer."
(Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention )
I have been struggling with this one rule for many years. Don’t be like me. Sleep more than 8 hours every night.
I used to struggle with that rule because I am a night owl, not a dark knight like Batman. When I was younger, I would go to bed late and wake up early. I recovered pretty fast.
Now that I am 43 years old, it’s a different story. I will say that it has been since I turned 35. And it became even more challenging with having two boys.
I put them to bed between 08:00 PM and 09:00 PM, when I want to have my “me” time. Generally, I go to bed around midnight. Then I wake up at 07:00 AM, sleepy with a taste of unrest in my eyes.
Constant chronic sleep deprivation is terrible for your body and your mind.
You might feel tired all day, struggling through your daytime at work, during your studies, or any other daily activities.
Maybe you are facing difficulties concentrating, and your focus is even shorter than that of a golden fish. You may also be easily irritable, and your mood swings faster than a wind vane in a storm. You may even find that you are more subject to the increase of chronic health issues like obesity, diabetes, or heart disease.
Look no further. Audit your sleeping hours. An obvious culprit is hiding in plain sight.
Sleep is the third pillar of a successful life after physical exercise and a healthy diet. Make it your priority.
Always go to bed and wake up simultaneously, even on weekends.
Fool disclosure: I systematically sleep over during weekends to try to catch up on my sleep. Not a good idea. That is a talk I must walk.
The reason for consistent sleep time? It helps regulate your body's natural wake-sleep cycle.
Develop a bedtime routine. For me, it is simple. I brush my teeth. I pray. I stretch and then go to bed.
One bonus tip: don’t sleep for 08 hours. Sleep either for 7.5 or 9 hours. The reason is dead simple.
Your optimal sleep cycle must be a multiple of 90 minutes. That will help you enter deep sleep.
You can find more resources and information here: How many hours of sleep are enough? - Mayo Clinic
3 - 03 Hours Before Sleep: No Food
"Eating a heavy meal close to bedtime can disrupt sleep due to digestive processes."
(Source: Harvard Health Publishing )
I used to break this rule in two different ways. First, I used to eat meat in the evenings in addition to having it at lunch. Second, I might have Spanish blood in my stream: I loved eating at 10 PM and snacking until I got to bed.
A heavy meal in the evening and close to bedtime can disrupt sleep because of the digestive process and trigger heartburn.
If you have tried to sleep on a full stomach, you know what I am talking about. If you love spicy or greasy food, you are inviting acid reflux and heartburn in your bed. You are just throwing an enormous rock at your digestive system while it must be resting.
Don’t be like me. Don’t do that to yourself. All I got was restless sleep and frequent awakenings.
Not only must you finish dinner 3 hours before bedtime, but also you must not snack after that.
Finish your light and healthy dinner 3 hours before Morpheus comes banging at your bed.
Avoid those three in your evening dinner: The Heavy, The Greasy, and The Spicy. You will avoid discomfort, heartburn, and restless nights.
You can find more resources and information here: Harvard Health Publishing and Sleep Tips - National Sleep Foundation.
4 - 02 Hours Before Sleep: No Drink
"Drinking fluids too close to bedtime can lead to waking up during the night to use the restroom."
(Source: Sleep Foundation)
I used to drink a glass of orange juice just before bed and even drank regularly in the evenings before bed.
And I have a small bladder. Not all things are born equal.
Don’t be like me.
You will wake up at night to use the restroom. You may switch on the light, but then you disrupt your sleep. You return to bed, staring at your ceiling, begging Morpeus to return.
On top of that, you will get fragmented sleep that will negatively impact the overall quality of your sleep.
Should you hydrate? Yes, do it throughout the day. Quality hydration will definitely benefit your body.
Yet, gradually reduce your fluid intake until two hours before bed. Avoid too much alcohol and caffeine (we already talked about it) because they have diuretic properties.
I always ask my kids to empty their bladders before bed. Yes, that is the last thing I do before sliding myself (silently) into my bed sheets.
You can find more resources and information here: How Drinking Water Before Bed Impacts Sleep and Alcohol and Sleep-Related Problems - PMC
5 - 01 Hour Before Sleep: No Screen
"Exposure to blue light in the evening can suppress melatonin production and make it harder to fall asleep."
– Charles Czeisler, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
(Source: Harvard Health Publishing)
Not only would I use my phone in my bed, but I would also let it sleep by my side. Then I would switch it off. But Morpheus will not come. My mind was like Einstein on steroids, trying to solve the Navier-Stokes equations.
“The Navier–Stokes equations are useful because they describe the physics of many phenomena of scientific and engineering interest. They may be used to model the weather, ocean currents, water flow in a pipe and air flow around a wing. The Navier–Stokes equations, in their full and simplified forms, help with the design of aircraft and cars, the study of blood flow, the design of power stations, the analysis of pollution, and many other problems.
[...] Despite their wide range of practical uses, it has not yet been proven whether smooth solutions always exist in three dimensions—i.e., whether they are infinitely differentiable (or even just bounded) at all points in the domain. This is called the Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness problem. The Clay Mathematics Institute has called this one of the seven most important open problems in mathematics and has offered a US$1 million prize for a solution or a counterexample.”
Source: Navier–Stokes equations. (2024, May 16). In Wikipedia.
Melatonin is the one hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles (remember the 90-minute cycle?).
Blue light emitted by your electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops suppresses its production. That disrupts your natural sleep rhythm, and your mind dances like a crazy ball bouncing on the wall.
Blue light exposure limits sleep quality and reduces the quantity of deep sleep. Say goodbye to lucid dreams and recovery sleep.
And when you wake up from a blue light-induced sleep, you feel more tired and sluggish throughout your day.
Establish a one-hour cut-off from all screens before sleep. No exceptions are allowed, including TVs in your sleeping room. Doing so will help your body and mind smoothly create the Melatonin, the nectar of Morpheus, the Queen of Sleep.
Use blue light filters on those electronic devices, smart gadgets, and laptops. Windows and macOS have some built-in functions.
I use the Twilight app on my Android device. It is a freemium app, but the free version is enough for me.
Create a bedtime routine that has no place for electronic devices.
Mine is simple. I get away from all electronic devices one hour before sleep. I have scheduled a grayscale mode on my smartphone one hour and a half before bedtime.
Then I brush my teeth. I pray. I stretch and then go to bed (after emptying my bladder).
You can find more resources and information here: Digital Devices and Your Eyes - American Academy of Ophthalmology and When light has you singing the blues: — Harvard Gazette.
Final thoughts
Noah and Elijah, if I have only one cheat code to life to share with you, it is the following:
1 - 10 Hours Before Sleep: No Coffee
2 - 08 Hours Of Sleep At Least (either 7.5 hours or 09 hours)
3 - 03 Hours Before Sleep: No Food
4 - 02 Hours Before Sleep: No Drink
5 -01 Hours Before Sleep: No Screen
Sleeping is the cornerstone of a life full of energy. Energy, not time, is the most valuable asset in your life.
Apply the five simple sleep hygiene practices above consistently. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day (including weekends).
Some random additional tips:
- Sleep in a dark, quiet, and cold environment
- Exercise regularly, but not just before going to bed
- Relax before you go to bed: meditate, breathe, or stretch
- Nap at a minimum (15 minutes max) and not late in the day. Avoid it if you can
- Definitely consult a healthcare professional if you have sleep problems. Don’t take my word for it
This article was written in my bed just before I went to sleep.
Morpheus, I am ready.
Morpheus?
Shiiiiiit..!
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