Sleep
High-quality sleep changed my life. It took me years to build the habits and systems that led to my wearable reporting eight months of 100% perfect sleep. I’m going to teach you the habits for excellent sleep because oddly no one has ever taught us how to sleep.
We all know the energizing feeling of a great night’s sleep. It rejuvenates the body, boosts brain function, powers the immune system, and regulates hormones. It’s the foundation for well-being and longevity.
On the other hand, sleep deprivation impairs cognition, ruins will power and wrecks the body and mind generally. It’s bad.
- Being awake for 18 or 24 hours is equivalent to having a blood alcohol content of 0.05% or 0.1%, respectively. In the U.S. 0.08% is considered legally intoxicated.
- Get six hours of sleep or less on average and you’re 4.2x times more likely to develop the common cold.
- A study in young healthy participants showed a 20% increase in S100-B levels following a single night of sleep deprivation, the same following a traumatic brain injury.
- One night with 4 hours of sleep showed a 70% reduction in the activity of natural killer cells in 18 out of 23 participants. One night of subsequent normal sleep was enough to restore NK activity to its baseline. Natural killer cells are what’s killing cancer cells among other functions. Preclinical studies have established a causal link between the lack of sleep inhibition of immune surveillance and increased tumor growth in animal models.
Sleep deprivation diminishes cognitive functions, slows reflexes, and gives rise to poor decision-making. It’s linked to obesity, anxiety, depression and weakened immunity.
If you only do one thing for your health: sleep.
Master these 10 habits.
- Reframe Your Identity: You are a professional sleeper. Make sleep your #1 priority. Nothing influences your conscious and unconscious existence more. Plan your day around sleep. It’s the most important appointment in your calendar. Sleep will make you a top performer. I realize this is very counterintuitive and contrary to current culture, but culture-encourged sleep deprivation is harming you and society.
- Eat your final meal of the day four hours before bed. Try to have your last meal of the day at least four hours before bed. This will give your body time to digest food and have a lower resting heart rate when you lay your head on the pillow. Eating close to bed creates large metabolic demands on your body, causes blood glucose fluctuations, reduces melatonin production, and disrupts your body’s natural process of lowering core body temperature. Eating close to bed will wreck your sleep.
- Screens off 60 minutes before bed. Screens elevate your stress, heart rate and arousal, all of which are bad for your sleep. Having the will power to turn screens off sixty minutes before bed is the most heroic act anyone can do in 2025.
- Have a 60 minute wind-down routine. With screens off, focus on calming activities. A walk, journaling, breathwork, meditation, hanging out with family, calling a friend, taking a bath, reading a book. My favorite thing to do is to read a book. It’s as effective a sleep med as actual sleep drugs. You don’t want to be working, texting, partying, or fighting.
- Keep a consistent bedtime: Being consistent is as important as getting enough sleep. I go to bed at 8:30 pm and wake up around 4:30 am. I love the mornings. You don’t need to do that. Pick your bedtime (10 pm, 11 pm, midnight) and then stick to it. The key is consistency.
- Regulate evening light. Red light prepares you for sleep. Blue light will keep you up. Screens off before bed helps minimize the blue light. If you can outfit your home with some red light that’s great. You can buy a low cost lamp with a red bulb. You can also use blue light blocking glasses.
- Curate your sleep environment: Ensure your bedroom is quiet, dark, and cool. Keep your bedroom temperature around 65-70°F (18-21°C). Consider using a noise machine to offset environmental sounds or earplugs if necessary. Temperature controlled mattresses such as Eight Sleep are great.
- Avoid stimulants before bed: Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and other stimulants at least 8-10 hours before sleep. Caffeine has a half life of 6 hours in the blood. That means that consuming a cup of coffee 6 hours before bedtime is equivalent to drinking half a cup immediately before going to bed. Opt for herbal teas or other relaxing drinks in the evening.
- Get Morning Light: Get outside within the first 15-30 minutes of waking to set your circadian rhythm and boost mood or use a light therapy device (10000 lux) if natural sunlight isn’t available.
- Gather Data: Track your sleep habits and patterns with a journal or sleep tracker. Use the data to make informed decisions and adjustments to your routine. Continuously monitor and tweak your habits to optimize your sleep quality.