Hi Dudes

This may sound familiar to many of you, but I have been struggling with 'sleep' for most of my life

I'm often shackled to the routine of having the occasional good night, the frequent bad night, and the more than common 'meh' night of rest

However, over the years I've defined a 'recipe' for sleeping and waking up better, totally trial and error based

By doing what I mention below, I've improved my sleep drastically for the past 1.5 years

Don't get me wrong, I still get the bad nights, but unlike before, I can now pin-point as to why that happened, and adjust (i.e. I didn't follow my plan exactly)

I'm going to try and avoid the 'known' and 'common' advice that everyone gives, these are hopefully more specific and actionable

Getting to Sleep

• Unlocking the 'wind down' phase

1. Unlocking that 'wind down' phase depends on you investing and spending your day. This doesn't nesscasrily mean doing all physical tasks, but making sure that you use the day to be productive. You want to feel as if you have 'given' something to the day, used both your mind and body
2. Exercise, of course this is in here, but damn is it significant, for me strength training really works. Tiring out the nervous system but not tearing tissue and getting aches and pains too much etc
3. About 2 hours before the time you want to get into bed, change your lighting to something softer (use specific lighting for this, a dimmable bulb etc) Turn of all over head lights and use ones that are 'lower down' in the room
4. Tend toward the high fat diet in the later part of the day, relatively. This is where my larger meals of the day are
5. Get a really good amount of exposure to sunlight early in the morning and in the day, be that through a run/walk or anything else, super important
6. Try to avoid those immersive games and social media feeds before bed, like right before bed, leading up to bed I still use them but a good 30 mins before sleep I try to stop
7. BRUSH YOUR TEETH EARLIER THAN YOU NEED TO. This is a big one, that feeling when you can just get into bed when your body calls you and not distract yourself by brushing your teeth is great. Equally you get to avoid the likely 'bright' bathroom light etc
8. Avoid fizzy drinks before bed, my stomach fights back
9. ​

Getting a full and deep nights sleep

• Sleep without Disruption

1. Avoid large amounts of water before you sleep, sip every now and again. But, make sure you've had good water consumption in the day. This will hopefully stop you going to the toilet
2. Avoid anything acidic close to bed, your body will try to get acidic things out of the body even when you sleep (by diluting and then getting rid of all that water you've had) I'm talking fruit, fruity deserts, booze, look up what's acidic in your diet etc - this is a key one if you go to the toilet a lot.
3. Avoid eating too close to bed, 2 hours or so. If you eat too close to bed your body gets heartburn because you lay down and your stomach acid begins to go where it shouldn't
4. A note about alcohol, though it may help you get to sleep, it totally obliterates your ability to sleep deep. Some may claim they slept well, and some people may be fine, it will be subjective. Again this causes you to go to the toilet a lot, people who drink wine with dinner often go to the toilet a lot, the acidity is partly why
5. Wash your bed sheets frequently, you want them clean and cosy
6. Really invest in your sleep. I bought microfiber bedding, a microfiber bed throw, an under sheet, the right mattress for me etc

​

Waking up

• Wake up how your meant to

1. The body is designed to be woken up gradually, not abruptly - this is why sound alarm clocks are awful for us, and make use feel crap. Change this for an alarm that wakes you with LIGHT. This is the MOST SIGNIFICANT change to my wakeup schedule.
2. Personally, I buy the Phillips sunlight alarm (light and sound alarm clock you put on the bedside table) AND the Philips hue light bulb (for your ceiling light, Bluetooth controllable, slowly lights up in the morning at a time you select)
3. Have a short list or 'note to self immediately visible to you on the bedside table, when you roll over to pick up your phone (because I know we all do) you will see that and it gives you a 'jolt' of knowing what you need to do today, perhaps a bit of urgency with it
4. Get light on your skin as soon as possible, preferably sunlight
5. This is going to sound silly, but I have a very fine mist spray bottle of water next to my bed. These are for the moments I have the will to move my arms around but nothing else. I grab that and spray it in my face, it's actually pretty refreshing
6. Use music shortly after getting up, i find it really helps my mind think positively, i wear Bluetooth earphones for this

​

Feeling good in the day

• Stop crashing in the afternoon

1. Avoid large meals that make you tired, leave those to later in the day
2. Avoid caffeine for the first 2 hours in the day, this is the main reason why people crash around 2pm. They wake up and have coffee straight away. This is another one of my significant changes with great results
3. After you get up, get to doing something, quick! It can computer work or working out, just get your mind fixated on something productive right away
4. Use music throughout the day, it's such a powerful tool to set your mood, I use it every day of my life, I'm keen to say it's changed my life (for the better)

​

That's the recipe so far, I hope you spot something that you haven't heard of and can give it a try

In terms of 'tech' id specifically recommend the overhead bulb with a dimmable function, connected via Bluetooth - such a great edition, really really good

Best of luck!