Sleep #4: How to prepare for high quality sleep?

Blog #4 in the series on Mental & Physical Performance. Context: Male, 28 years old, 

The contents of this post are derived primarily from Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. I have included page references where possible. Outside links to other resources that I used to supplement it. 

The following post attempts to provide a simple checklist to evaluate and prepare for a good night of sleep. Sleep preparation should in three parts: 

1. Consumption - What your body takes in over the course of the day. 
2. Environment - What environment you are sleeping in on a consistent basis.
3. Duration & Timing - When you sleep and How long you sleep for. 

1. Consumption

Avoid Alcohol, Caffeine, Nicotine, and Sugar - As you may or may not consider, what you put in your body has an impact when it comes time to sleep. Mind and energy altering substances can have a direct impact on hormone production. Influencing this hormone production can mean it may take longer to fall asleep or the quality of your sleep once you are asleep is diminished.

We should not only consider what we consume right before bed, many substances take a longtime to metabolize and pass through our system. If we consider caffeine, for example, has a half life of 5 hours meaning that 50% of the caffeine is active in your system in 5 hours, 25% of the caffeine consumed is still in your system 10 hours after consumption, 12.5% after 15 hours etc. 

2. Environment 

Avoid bright artificial light before bed -  The presence of this light can give your body the impression that it should be awake, which can suppress the production of the hormone melatonin which is needed to put you to sleep. Interestingly the inverse is also beneficial. By experiencing bright natural light during the day that body's natural circadian rhythm is reinforced. 

Keep your sleeping environment cool, quiet, and dark - It is important that your sleeping environment is conducive to sleep, this includes not being interrupted or uncomfortable. The room that you sleep in should be:

• between 60-65 degrees celsius.
• as quiet as possible
• as dark as possible 

Collectively these environmental factors when controlled effectively can up level your sleep considerably.

3. Duration & Timing 

It is well documented that Americans do not get enough sleep with roughly 35% of adult Americans coming up short  (<7 hours) on their nightly sleep.For the average American it is important that you establish a consistent, pre-midnight bedtime that allows for 7-9 hours of sleep. On top of this you should also:

1. Plan for a 30 minute wind down period prior to this for stretching, meditation, reading, or journaling etc. to relax your mind and body. 
2. Position your sleep time to allow you to complete full REM cycles. By aiming for a bedtime and wake up time that allows you to capture full 90-110min REM cycles you can avoid feeling groggy and tired even after a long night of sleep. 

While this may seem like a lot to calculate on a nightly basis you can use this calculator to do the work for you. Remember, that by sticking to a consistent schedule will allow you only have to do this calculation once.