THE LIFESTYLE ENTREPRENEUR

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The Sleep Issue (2 of 2)

Sleep Part 2

Welcome to the 2nd part of my sleep philosophy.

If you missed part one read it here in The Lifestyle Entrepreneur #16.

In that issue I laid out the macro approach to great sleep.

The TLDR is the big wellness activities are responsible for 80% of our sleep quality:

• Nutrition

• Exercise and active lifestyle

• Growth & Purpose

• Mindfulness

• Human connection

• Substance management

Without having those addressed - it’s likely you’ll have sleep trouble.

Why is sleep so hard?

I wish I could say “Nail the macros and you’re likely to be a great sleeper”.

For many that’s the case, but I know first-hand it’s not true for everyone.

The CDC reports that 1/3 of all adults report getting insufficient sleep. And anecdotally it appears most people I know struggle to get enough high quality sleep.

Put simply - it’s really hard to get enough high quality sleep every night.

The reasons for that are varied, but important:

1. Lifestyles - Our societies have been moving toward higher hours of sedentary workdays for decades.

2. Cultural shifts - Valuing work and prioritizing it over rest has also been occurring for decades.

3. Environments - We’re living with increasing levels of noise and artificial light, which disrupts our sleep rhythms.

Those are the long-term, systemic reasons sleep has become more difficult over time.

In my opinion, however, the primary cause dwarfs all those reasons, to the point where I’d almost just list out one primary cause of bad sleep:

1. The Internet

The internet changed everything, forever. It’s so powerful that it will ruin our sleep if left unmitigated. Here’s a quick list of ways the internet destroys our sleep:

1. Screen viewing - disrupts our sleep rhythms

2. Constant access to information - Increases anxiety and stress

3. Ability to be on at all times - makes it harder to turn off

4. Social media and short-form content - makes us distracted and unable to focus

The internet is obviously no longer “The Internet” as we thought of it 20, or even 10 years ago. It’s how we work, communicate, consume information and entertainment. It’s the fabric of our way of life.

Because of that - the internet can just be considered part of Modern Lifestyle.

And our Modern Lifestyle makes it impossible to sleep well.

OK onto the Micros

Ok, if we accept that our literal way of life makes it impossible to sleep well, then we can accept that just praying for great sleep isn’t going to help - although praying probably helps (hello mindfulness).

Accepting this fact can help us get past the feeling of helplessness many of us feel when our sleep eludes us.

The new norm is - we have to take active daily measures to sleep well.

Those measures can fill a book, so I’m going to do my best to give a simple framework with the 20% of activities that will give 80% of the results.

The overall categories here are:

1. Mental activity & routine

2. Fluids & substances

3. Temperature regulation

4. Light viewing

5. Environment

6. Timing

Mental activity & routine - Creating a sleep-prep routine is a core way to get better sleep. Called “sleep hygiene” by experts, these are the steps you take every night to get ready for bed. Any routine should include:

• A shutdown time when work & stressful activities are complete

• Calming activity like reading, meditation, stretching, warm bath, etc.

• Schedule - waking up at the same time is one of the most important factors. If you stick to that, you’ll have to go to bed at a similar time every night as well

Food, Fluids & substances - What and when we consume will heavily affect our sleep:

• Eat healthy (macro), and avoid heavy meals within 3 hours of sleeping. Give yourself time for digestion before sleep time

• Limit liquids within 2 hours of sleeping to reduce urination requirements (especially for men as you age)

• Caffeine - Keep volume to moderate (equivalent of 2 cups per day) and because it takes 12 hours to leave your system - stop consuming caffeine as far away from bedtime as possible - I try to be done by 9am

• Alcohol - Alcohol highly impacts sleep in a negative way. Follow my 1-2-3 rule on alcohol:

  • 1 hard stop of a month or more per year

  • 2 Max drinks per sitting

  • 3 days drinking per week, and no alcohol within 3 hours of sleep time

• Other stimulants - Nicotine, adderal, and other stimulants will affect your sleep.

Temperature regulation - Temperature is extremely important aspect for good sleep. Our body temperature needs to drop a few degrees for us to fall asleep, and maintaining the right temperature during sleep is important for quality.

• Take a hot bath, sauna, or shower before bed - your body will drop in temp after getting out helping sleep come faster

• Make your room cooler than the rest of the house

• Use breathable, layered bedding, to allow for adjustment throughout the night

Light Viewing - Our exposure to lights dramatically affects our sleep ability, and because we’re constantly exposed to natural lights we need to manage this highly.

• View sunlight first thing in the morning - Viewing sunlight directly first thing in the morning helps set our internal clock to go to sleep 12 hours later. In northern climates viewing an inexpensive light for a few minutes can help greatly.

• Stop looking at blue lights 2 hours before bed - this will allow for melatonin production for sleep onset, and also allow for better sleep quality throughout the night

• If you have to view blue-light screens, find nighttime settings if possible, and/or wear blue light blocking glasses.

• The more you can avoid blue lights in your 2 hour pre-sleep window the better.

Environment - Establishing an environment conducive to sleep will dramatically affect it’s quality:

• Remove all artificial light from the room - install blackout blinds and turn off all lights.

• Remove clocks from view

• Make the room cooler than the rest of the house

• Sleep and sex only - remove TVs and other media from the bedroom

• Comfortable bedding - make sure everything you have is comfortable for your preference

Timing - Timing is listed multiple times above, but I’ll call out the key points here:

• Enough quantity - simply planning to have enough hours in bed is often the biggest challenge. If you need 8 hours of sleep, and it takes 30 minutes to fall asleep, you need at least 8.5 hours in bed.

• Wake up at the same time every day - I’ll list this multiple times because it’s the most important single tactic - deviate your wake times as little as possible

• Timing out your food and fluid intake is a very important tactic

That’s a lengthy list - and may be a bit overwhelming. Like anything, I recommend starting small and incremental:

• Audit your environment, make a few adjustments, and also plan larger ones (like installing blackout blinds)

• Create a shutdown routine and start following it

• Back into your required bedtime based on wake-time plus hours sleep required

• View the sun in the morning, and stop viewing blue light emitting screens in the evening

• Think consciously about what you’re putting in your body that my affect your sleep

The most important shift is becoming an active participant in your sleep - taking action, and experiencing positive results from those actions will help create a positive feedback loop.

The work is worth it here - there’s nothing that will help your mood, performance, experience of life, better than sleep.

Good luck, I hope you’re able to take these tools and integrate them into a plan that works for you

I’ll talk to you next week,

Mike

Thanks for reading The Lifestyle Entrepreneur

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