This will have a big impact on your life

Dozens of studies have shown that bad sleep leads to:

- Significant increase in risk of Depression & anxiety

- Significant increase in risk of weight gain and diabetes

- Significant increase in risk of cognitive (mental) decline and dementia

- Increase hormonal disruption

Things you can do to improve sleep quality

Know your chronotype

Your genetics (not lifestyle) will make you fall into one of 3 categories:

1. Early riser: you perform best when you sleep early (~10pm), wake up early (~5:30am), and have your best hours in the morning.

2. Normal riser: you perform best when you sleep ~11pm and wake up ~7:00am.

3. Night owl: you do your best work at night. You like to work late / wake up late. 

Try all 3 and see which one works best for you and stick with it.

Your brain is a creature of habit

The part of your brain which controls your circadian rhythm (your sleep/wake cycle) likes routine.

This means that once you've found your ideal sleep / wake times, stick to them as close as possible every day.

This is especially true for weekends, when people's sleep patterns get completely disrupted.

Food & Water

1. Too much / too close

Eating too much or too close to bed time disrupts sleep.

Overhydration wakes you up for toilet breaks.

2. Too little

Not eating enough can lead to a drop in blood sugar at night, causing you to wake up.

Dehydration does the same.

So:

- Eat a balanced meal 2-3 hours before bed

- Hydrate 90min before bed

Coffee

Caffeine has a half life of ~8 hours. This means that 8 hours after you drink it, half of the caffeine is still in your blood.

Some people are fast metabolizers of caffeine, others are slow (e.g. me). 

If you're fast, have your last cup around 4pm. If you're slow, stop at mid-day.

You say “I have an espresso and go to bed and sleep” - the amount of time your brain will spend in the Deep Sleep phase will be reduced by ~30%, so no, it's not harmless...

Exercise

Exercising a few hours before bed:

- Reduces your core body temp

- Releases endorphins ("feel good" hormones

- Reduces blood pressure and cortisol

All of these help tremendously with sleep latency and quality.

However you want at least 2 hours before end of exercise and sleep to allow for these things to happen.

Alcohol

There are no 2 ways about it:

Alcohol will make you fall asleep faster, but will dramatically reduce the amount of time your brain spends in Deep Sleep and REM Sleep phases.

This has a massive impact on the recovery of your nervous (brain) and hormonal systems.

Alcohol also dehydrates you.

Stimulation / Winding Down

Stress causes your cortisol (stress hormone) to spike, which causes melatonin (sleep hormone) to drop.

Avoid stressers

- Reading news / social media / emails

- Arguments

- Churning negative thoughts in your head

Do

- Practice guided meditation or mindfulness

- Practice deep breathing exercises

- Distract yourself with a nice book or movie

Temperature and Blue light

The ideal room temp for sleep is ~19C. It helps bring your core body temp down, which helps with sleep onset and quality.

Blue light (emitted by TVs, computer screens and electronic devices) tells your body to reduce melatonin (sleep hormone) production.

So minimize the use of such devices or wear blue-light blocking glasses / use blue-light blocking software (I do both).