Sleep Smarter: Building Habits for Better Rest

By Fisher Anderson

Introduction

The importance of sleep can hardly be overstated in today’s day and age. Tragically, there has never been more fighting for our time at night than today. This blog post will explore why it is important to maintain a bedtime routine and be protective of your time before bed, so you can maximize your time in bed.

Resting Heart Rate (RHR)

Bryan Johnson, the man who is trying to “not die” and live forever, cites one source as the biggest key to his measurable success: RHR. Basically, the heart rate itself is not the trick here, but the time period in which it is being emphasized. He states that the best way to get a leg up on sleep is by being maximally prepared to enter directly into the REM cycle. Our most direct way of controlling this, aside from the lack of stimulants like caffeine 10 hours before bed, is lowering our RHR 15-20 minutes before bed.

How do you accomplish this feat? Consistency. By developing some kind of routine in your night, your body begins to learn when it is time to begin shutting off functions not needed during sleep. For example, I enjoy writing in a journal before bed every night, as well as spending some quiet time in prayer.

Room environment

Scientists suggest that our most ideal room environment is akin to a cave: dark and cold. Why, you might ask? Light, especially when it comes from a natural source like the sun, tells the body subconsciously to get ready to go to work. When you are trying to sleep at night with bright, intrusive lights, your body is receiving mixed signals.

Temperature is also very important, because a warmer room keeps your body from slowing all the way down. When the room is chilly as it would be in a cave, the functions in your body slow down with it, as if stuck in ice. This form of environmental control is extremely important to getting the sleep that humans need.

Naps

Naps are one of the most powerful ways to boost your sleep, but only when done in the right manner. In fact, they benefit and turn largely into a detriment when naps are taken at the wrong times. The exact time when a nap becomes too late is highly debated and differs from person to person, but certainly anything after the sunset will disrupt your eventual attempt to knock out for good. I have found that either 20 minute or 40 minute naps work best, because they allow me to feel rested without reaching a major REM cycle. If you go for over an hour, chances are you’ll wake up in the middle of a cycle and feel worse than when you started.

The controllables

At the end of the day, sleep is a matter of facilitated rest. We cannot actually “make” ourselves do anything in order to get this rest. Actually, the harder we try, the poorer we often do. Scientists suggest that as you are drifting off to sleep, a clear mind is best. However, how you get there is important. If you try to brute force it, you will end up thinking thoughts along the lines of “go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep,” or “don’t think about anything!” These methods end up creating stress rather than diminishing it in the body. Instead, try to take yourself to a serene place in your mind. Your mind as it sits beside a trickling brook or peaceful grove is much better off than in a forced white room.

This is indicative of how to best prepare your body for sleep. We know how to set ourselves up for the best possible opportunity for sleep, but after that it is no longer up to us. We have to be able to let the natural pace and rhythm of our biological structures take over when the time comes to sleep, but do the right things to make the transition as smooth as possible when the time comes.