The Ultimate Guide to Restful Sleep
7 tips to get optimal sleep and perform at your peak!
Do you ever wake up groggy after a less than optimal night's sleep?
Do you ever hit that 2 o'clock slump?
No matter how hard you try, you toss and turn till the wee hours of the night, unable to get some proper shut-eye?
Restful sleep is essential to being on top of your game, and to work on the things that matter most to you. In this newsletter, you'll learn 7 tips to get the most out of your sleep and perform at your peak, plus a few bonus tips for the most ambitious.
Prepare for the best night’s sleep
A good night’s sleep starts early in the day. You can optimize for optimal rest as soon as you wake up.
Get sun into your eyes first thing in the morning (no sunglasses)
You might have heard of circadian rhythms. Your body produces melatonin, which is also called the sleep hormone. To get melatonin released properly at the end of the day, sunlight early in the morning is essential. If you can’t manage to go outside when the sun rises, you can use a light therapy lamp upon waking up, for up to 30 minutes.
No coffee after lunch
Caffeine takes 6 to 8 hrs to dissipate from your bloodstream. It’s OK to drink coffee in the morning, but set a caffeine curfew after lunch. Drinking coffee late in the day will get you alert when it’s time for rest.
Keep alcohol to a minimum
Alcohol disrupts your sleep patterns and ends up in choppy sleep. If you wish to have a winding-down drink, have one before dinner, and stick to the minimum.
Cooldown, no screens (read fiction or journal)
Every day at 7 pm, I turn off the TV, and I switch to analog entertainment. Nothing like a paperback novel to help you relax. Again, your circadian rhythms work with light, so turn off the overhead lighting in your living room and do not look at your devices. Your body will understand that it will soon be time to rest.
Hot bath before bed, magnesium epsom salts
Magnesium relaxes the body and heat forces your body to cool down. Pour yourself a bath and drop 1 cup of epsom salt flakes in the water. For optimal sleep, you want your body temperature to drop at least 1 degree below your baseline. To achieve this, take the hottest bath you can endure, for 20 minutes right before bed.
Brain dump before bed
If you tend to think about your day, or the next day’s to-do list while trying to sleep, get into the habit of jotting down your thoughts on paper right before bed. Keep a notebook on your bedside table, and if you find yourself thinking, jot down your ideas and go back to bed. You’ll find this surprisingly helpful!
Keep a consistent sleep schedule, cool-down and wake-up time
Your body craves routines, especially when it comes to sleep. Aim to start your cooldown and go to bed at the same time each day. Also, aim to wake up around the same time every morning. (Yes, even on weekends!) Your body will naturally gear up for sleep when it’s bedtime.
Once in bed
Blackout curtains or sleep mask
As you now know, for your sleep hormones to release properly, light, or the absence of light, is essential. Invest in quality blackout curtains so that your room is pitch dark. If that is not an option, you can purchase a quality sleep mask that will block the light from entering your eyes.
Cool room temperature
As I said earlier, you want your body temperature to drop to achieve optimal sleep. Turn down your thermostats to 18 C, if possible. If you use programmable thermostats, set them so that the temperature in the room will drop one hour before your bedtime.
Don’t bring your phone into the room
You want to stay away from your devices at least 1 to 2 hours before bed to enhance the release of your sleep hormones. If you use your phone as an alarm clock, get a cheap clock, preferably one that doesn’t emit light and leave your phone in the other room.
If you can't sleep, don't stay in bed
According to CBT-i, cognitive-behavioural therapy against insomnia, you should only go to bed when you feel tired, and you shouldn’t stay in bed if you’re tossing and turning. After 20 minutes of trying to sleep, you should get up, grab a paperback book or another analog activity and leave the room, until you feel tired again. I do that most nights, and I find that after reading only a few pages, I’m yawning again and ready to go back. Most of the time, I will get up once, and finally drift off to sleep.
Resources to dig deeper
Having suffered from insomnia most of my life, the most useful resources I found were body scan meditations (easily found online) and these two books :
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
A complete primer on the importance of sleep and practical advice to get good zzz’s.
Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success
A deep dive into actionable tips to get your most restful sleep ever!
I hope you found some value in these 7 strategies for good sleep! Good night and sleep tight!
Thank you for sharing!
Sleep is so so important. I had been neglecting it the past few weeks and it was brutal. The flow on effect on everything else in my life was not fun.
Now I’m prioritising it and things feel in alignment now. 💕