Sleep

It’s important.

Great. Glad we had that chat. I feel better.

If you struggle with sleep, it sucks. It can get better, but there’s no magic cure. When your sleep finally improves, it will result from many trial-and-error sessions to identify the right conditions for you. That’s a common theme throughout this challenge: for you. No one can give you the perfect nutrition plan, fitness program, meditation path, or financial strategy. What works for someone else may be the worst possible solution for you.

The only way to figure it out is through trial and error.

Sorry. There are no magic bullets, and sleep is no exception. There are some common starting points, though.

Making Changes

When making changes to your lifestyle to improve your sleep, trying something for one night isn’t going to cut it. If you are sleep-deprived, it may take weeks to recover enough to notice a difference in your sleeping habits. The key to successful changes is to make one change at a time and try it for two weeks before reaching a conclusion or trying something else. Make sure you document the changes you make and make daily notes to track how you feel when you wake up and throughout the day.

Caffeine

We discussed this in the section on caffeine, but it’s worth repeating here. Caffeine can and will impact your sleep. Caffeine takes up to 5 hours to pass through your system, and a long-standing relationship with caffeine (a.k.a. addiction) may impact that even more. But, if you’re not sleeping well and waking up rested, refreshed, and ready to start your day: this is the first thing that must go.

Duration

Here’s the weird thing about sleep: we do it in cycles. There is a period when you first fall asleep where transition from wakefulness to sleep. Then you go into a period of light sleep before entering deep sleep. Next, you go into a deep sleep, the kind of sleep that leaves you feeling refreshed in the morning. Finally, there is the type of sleep most of us have heard of: REM sleep, when most of your dreams take place. The interesting part is that this isn’t a linear process; ideally, you go through each cycle multiple times per night. The duration of each cycle is also different from individual to individual but usually consistent for the same person.

Who cares, right? Well, you do if you’re sleeping poorly, and here’s why: Ideally, you want to wake up at the end of the cycle. If your alarm is set to go off right in the middle of your stage 3 deep sleep, you will feel terrible waking up. The entire sleep cycle ranges between 3 - 5 hours for each person, with 4 hours being the average. So, the recommended 8 hours of sleep results in 2 complete cycles for the average person.

If that’s not working for you, try getting 7 hours of sleep, 9, or whatever variation is needed to find your ideal number. But that requires falling asleep promptly, right?

Falling asleep quickly

Tossing and turning for an extended period of time can be frustrating at best. To maximize your chances of falling asleep quickly,

  • eliminate all caffeine 5 hours before bedtime
  • no electronics 30 minutes before bedtime
  • take a warm shower/bath before bed
  • lower the temperature and lighting in your bedroom as much as you can

Look at this article for tips on how to fall asleep in 2 minutes or less.

If all of that fails, get the f@$k up. Don’t allow your bed to be turned into a pity zone. If you can’t fall asleep, get up and leave the room. But here’s the deal: don’t mindlessly watch TV or scroll through Instagram. Do something productive and useful with your life: read a book, work on your goals, plan a trip (even if you’ll never take it), get started on tomorrow’s tasks, or do anything to make your brain work. When you get sleepy, go to bed.

Tomorrow morning when the alarm goes off, get up. Sure, you’re going to be sleepy. Get up anyway. Doing so will ensure you’ll be ready when bedtime comes around tonight.

Polyphasic Sleep

If you’re adventurous, you may want to experiment with polyphasic sleep. Polyphasic sleep involves spreading your sleep schedule throughout the day. Word of warning: this is for the seriously committed only. To succeed, you must stick to it and completely control your time throughout the day. I did this a few years ago when I needed more time in the day. There are different schedules, but I went with a 20-minute nap every 4 hours and a 2-hour nap at 2 am. I’m not sure how long I stuck with it. Time loses meaning in this plan. But as far as being productive: it was a huge success. The main reason for not continuing this plan for longer was its impact on my social and family life. If you’re interested, research polyphasic sleeping or hit me up for details on how my experiment went.

Today’s Tasks

Don’t forget to complete today’s tasks for the challenge.

  • Drink 1 gallon of water
  • Workout for 45 minutes
  • Read ten pages from your book
  • Stick to your meal plan
  • Meditate for 10 minutes, or 5 minutes if using the box breathing technique

Plus, the bonus cold shower challenge.

Once completed, head to the tracking site and mark them as completed to track your progress for the challenge. Tomorrow, we move into the final section of our 45-day challenge: Community.