#25: Optimising Your Sleep

Today’s episode focuses on optimising your sleep. It’s designed for people who don’t have clinical insomnia but would like to fine-tune their sleep. Matt goes over five conventional tips, and five unconventional tips that may be new to you. 

The first tip is regularity—going to bed and waking up at the same time every day. Your brain has its own master 24-hour clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which expects regularity. 

Second is temperature—your brain and body need to drop their temperature for you to fall and stay asleep, so the ambient temperature must be cold. 

Third is darkness—we need darkness to trigger the release of melatonin. 

Fourth is to walk it out. If it’s been around 25 minutes, and you can’t fall asleep, get out of bed, relax in another room, and come back to bed later. 

Finally, try to abstain from coffee from around noon and avoid drinking alcohol in the evening.

Of the non-conventional tips, the first is this: if you’ve had a bad night’s sleep,  DO NOTHING. Don't wake up any later. Don't drink excessive compensation caffeine. Don't nap. And don't go to bed any earlier the following night. That explains the reasons why.

The second tip is to have a wind-down routine. Your biology needs to wind down so you can descend into good sleep at night, so we should all find our own wind-down routine.

Third is to stay away from naps, especially after 1pm, which is a bit like snacking before your main meal. 

The fourth tip is don’t count sheep. It doesn't work (in fact, it makes matters worse!) Instead, take yourself on a familiar mental walk. Doing this helps take your mind off itself and lets you fall asleep because you stop overthinking.

And the ffinal unconventional tip is to remove or cover all clock faces in the bedroom. 

Please note that Matt is not a medical doctor, and none of the content in this podcast should be considered medical advice in any way, shape, or form, nor prescriptive in any way.

The good people at InsideTracker are one of the sponsors of this week's episode, and they are generously offering a special 25% off any one of their programs for anyone who uses the above link during the time window of this episode. InsideTracker is a personalized biometric platform that analyzes your blood and your DNA to better understand what's happening inside of you and offers suggestions regarding things that you can do to better try and adjust some of those numbers, optimize them, and, as a result, optimize you.

Also sponsoring this week are those fine people at Athletic Greens, and they are generously offering 3 benefits for anyone who uses the above link for their first order: 1) a discount on your order; 2) a one-year free supply of vitamin D; 3) five free travel packs. Athletic Greens is a nutrition drink that combines a full complement of antioxidants, minerals, and biotics, together with essential vitamins. Matt’s been using it for several years now, first because he’s serious about his health, and second, because Matt did his research on the science and ingredients in Athletic Greens and thinks scientific data can be taken as ground truth.

So, make your way over to Athletic Greens and InsideTracker to take advantage of these incredible deals. And, as always, if you have thoughts or feedback you’d like to share, p&