Sleep Tips

As someone who has struggled (and continues to) with getting sleep, I've spent hours researching how to fix it.

Some of these have worked, while some haven't. Sharing the ones that have worked for me personally

💪 Exercise

Resistance training is the best thing you could do to improve your sleep quality. It needs to be more vigorous than taking a walk, but not over-training.

https://peerj.com/articles/5172/?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=TrendMD&utm_campaign=PeerJ_TrendMD_0

☀️ Exposure to light early in the day

This helps reset your circadian rhythm. All of us are in our houses or offices, and sometimes we don’t get natural light.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1477153509355632

☕ Restrict coffee till 3pm

Caffeine has an average half-life of 5 hours. Which means half the caffeine is still in the body 5 hours after consumption.

https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/15/6/526/2749308

🛌 Bedtime routine

An hour before bed time, switch off the lights and do some light reading. Preferably fiction and preferably a physical book.

Avoid using electronics before sleeping. I haven't managed to stay away from devices, but if you can, that is highly recommendable.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsr.12050

🧘 Meditate

Meditating for 15+ minutes relaxes your parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn calms your mind and helps you sleeping faster and better.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022399916303579

💊 Zinc/Magnesium supplements

This helps only if you're deficient; otherwise, it has a limited effect. Check with a doctor.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.03232.x

✍️ Unload your brain

Writing next day's to-do list before sleeping is helpful to get things out of your brain and into a system.

Or what works for me is to take a voice recorder and speak my thoughts into it.

https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/abs/10.7326/M14-2841

🎯 Accomplished enough for the day

Anecdotally, having done sufficient work and being satisfied with my effort at the end of the day is another way to get better sleep.

🎭 Sleep mask

Anecdotally, wearing a sleep mask helps to keep light out of my eyes and helps me sleep better.

👂 Listening to a podcast that is not too engaging

I personally listen to Bill Burr's podcast. To keep your brain lightly active and prevent yourself from thinking other thoughts.

I realized that it's easier to fall asleep with a podcast or a sleep story. Lullaby for adults.

🥃 Avoid alcohol

Alcohol is terrible for sleep quality, although it might help with sleep latency. Anecdotally, I always notice a 2-3 bpm spike in my resting heart rate the day after I drink alcohol.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/acer.12006

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