5 Steps To Better Sleep
A natural approach to sleeping better
As a young adult, I had a simple fix for managing sleep and energy:
knock myself out with excessive fatigue, or alcohol
rev myself up with coffee
The 1-2 punch was effective, but…
it masked natural signals of fatigue
gave me a false sense of my energy reserves, and
being addicted is a hassle
So here's the routine I've been using to sleep better.
No Large Screens After Dinner. I noticed my most amped evenings were when I worked until 15 minutes before bed.
I would find myself lying in bed, feeling the screen burning in my eyes.
As I wrap up:
I write out a bullet-point list of tomorrow's writing
Read for an hour, or
Do housework
This was an easy, and enjoyable, fix.
Easy Movement. I got this one from my buddy, Alan Couzens. Spin very easy (<100w). 10-30 minutes.
Follow it with… Mobility. Easy, floor-based movement for ten minutes.
The routine below with extra favorites (couch stretch, downward dog, pigeon). 5-10 minutes.
HRV4Biofeedback. This is a guided breathing app by Marco Altini.
It's on a screen (🤦), but the breathing gives me a look into my end-of-day stress situation. 10 minutes.
Legs Up The Wall is what it sounds like. 10 minutes, then 1-2 minutes resting on my right side.
When our kids were little we had an nightly routine to get them to bed. We did the same thing every single night.
Now, I’m the one who needs a settle down routine…
Screens Off
Light Activity
Mobility
Biofeedback
Legs Up The Wall
Off To Bed In A Cool Room
Better sleep and increased daytime productivity is the payback.
Bonus tip for writers.
👇
Stick a pad beside the bed. Avoids the "I need to remember this idea" stress.
My phone sleeps far away from my bedroom - I don't want any devices nearby.