How to sleep better in 7 easy steps

You are not happy no matter what kept you awake!

A neighbor at this air BnB kept talking on the phone so much that I perfected my Spanish at 3 am enough to make him pack his bag the next day. All my telenovelas Spanish was not for nothing, after all.

Jokes aside, I totally understand new parents, who at least have a ”cute” explanation, that sleepless nights are just how life is. But so many people still struggle to figure out how to sleep better and feel rested the next day. 

A newborn, too much coffee, stress, or a full moon – here are a couple of steps that helped me over the years to turn around my sleep habits. 

#1 First things first – timing

I’ve talked about this in my last post about how a couple of simple steps could help you improve your sleep drastically. 

Going to bed and waking up around the same time is a tip well known.

But going to bed early is the key. 

For you might be midnight if that’s normally the time your girls are about to pick you up for a party. 

Other people think early means going to bed with chickens; but whatever your schedule is, it should still feel natural. 

As mentioned in this post, connecting to our natural cycli has enormous amounts of benefits for our nervous system. So does circadian rhythm alignment. As tricky as it might be in the beginning it is the #1 thing I’d suggest to improve your sleep. 10 pm is bedtime 🤷

# 2 LIGHT 

One of the major steps on the path to better sleep is LIGHT. 

Getting up with the sunrise and letting the early morning sun DIRECTLY INTO your eyes, will recharge your melatonin and help you doze off easier. UVB light is what our body needs to activate vitamin D and help us set our circadian rhythm, so going outside during the day could already be the first step in creating better sleep and is more important than just taking supplements. 

WE NEED sunlight to make melatonin. Low melatonin levels will make sure you don’t get enough REM sleep (good quality sleep) and unfortunately is also associated a lot with cancer risk.

Insomnia is becoming a real problem because we stay inside all day and it could be so easily avoided.

All the junk light during the day (excess blue light and not enough infrared and violet light), has totally disrupted the functioning of our mitochondria and that causes enough things to make another blog post about it. 

And I’ll get to it asap; I don’t know if you can tell yet, but I’m pretty passionate about my sleep. 😀

To sleep better, switch to good old incandescent light bulbs at home and turn on the “night mode” on the electronic devices if you really have to use them in the evening.

Also, go on a hunt for good pair of Blue Light Blocking glasses and let people call you freaky after sunset. You won’t care when you wake up all happy the next day. 🙂

# 3 coffee

Caffeine as an energy booster and cognitive enhancer is real black gold, isn’t it? I like my espresso shot dark and strong, around noon. If I had my mushroom coffee in the morning, Ill have my espresso around 3 pm THE LATEST. Any time after 4 pm and I wouldn’t sleep for 2 days. 

Just make sure you drink extra water, because coffee does dehydrate you faster. 

And those best after-coffee naps on the weekends, try to “schedule” them between 1 pm and 3 pm, as napping can easily disrupt your night’s sleep.

# 4 temperature and food

Also, room temperature can play a big role. If your room is too hot, which we particularly like to do in the winter, your body stays awake.  

Creating summer-like effects during winter confuses the rows out of your ducks. Too much food, too many carbs, too much heat…. Your body thinks it’s cocktail hour at a beach and sure doesn’t wanna go to sleep!

“Acetylcholine is a transmitter that’s responsible for our body temperature and sleep rhythm. When acetylcholine is low you are likely to feel tired during the day and you won’t dream much, because you won’t spend enough time in REM sleep.” Dave Asprey, Headstrong

💡 Acetylcholine boost – steak and eggs for your next breakfast

One thing I struggled with a lot before I started implementing fasting into my diet. – food!

Ohhh that rumbling in my tummy, it kept me awake no matter how stubborn I’d be in trying to ignore it. The longer I toss and turn the nastier cravings I get.

On the other hand, having a heavy meal before sleeping, especially if alcohol is involved, is what disturbs proper digestion and will surely keep you awake.

# 5 Supplements that help you sleep better

Magnesium is my absolute favorite!!!

It is a circadian mineral, which means its levels change during the day. Taking one pill in the morning and one in the evening is what helped me fix my sleep in a week! It’s a key mineral for so many reasons (let me know if you want me to write more about it), but the sad part is that a huge % of the population lacks it without realizing it. 

Low magnesium increases stress => stress increases magnesium loss => without magnesium, you can’t recover from stress. Among many other things, this will also lead to sleepless nights. 

So if you spend enough time in the sun, you should already have fixed your vitamin D levels which will then, in combo with Mg, give you a nice recipe for better sleep.

Vitamin B is another important one too, but make sure to only take it in the morning, as taking it in the evening will keep you dancing all night 💃…..ok, not literally but…. 

Other supplements that might help you are lion’s mane and glutathione which help detox the liver and calm you down.

# 6 meditation for better sleep…and anti-annoyingnism

Meditation has been an important tool for our mental health for thousands of years, so I’m not gonna bother you with all its benefits. If you are avoiding it with one of those typical excuses – no time, doesn’t work…. Well, you are missing some great stuff so maybe testing out a couple of these tips will get you on board with it.

Another useful tip to help you start meditating could be trying one of the sleep apps like Headspace or Calm. 

I don’t know if it’s Mr. Mathew McConaghey putting me to sleep or Jay Shetty’s wisdom, but I love Calm’s sleep stories and meditation sounds and how it all helps me calm my mind down and drift off as a baby in minutes. 

My Oura ring app also offers sleep stories and meditations, so I switch between the two and it’s been a tremendous help on my sleep journey. It’s a great investment for anyone who is willing to use the data to hack their sleep, track activity and learn to recognize the signals that our bodies send us.

If you are practicing meditation, then you know how much it helps us reduce stress and calm our inner Labrador when bedtime approaches. 

# 7 BED 

Toxic foam-filled mattresses and pillows, covered in synthetic covers, topped with a “fluffy” soft blanket and wondering why we are counting sheep and rewinding old fight with a childhood friend in our head.

Ergonomic pillows and good-quality mattresses are becoming more affordable with time. If budget allows you, make sure to check for OEKO-TEX standard or GOT certification before you invest in new bedding. It does make a huge difference. 

Besides that, try using only organic cotton or linen, which will keep your bed cool and help you sleep better.

The market is flooded with many alternatives for pillow stuffing, from buckwheat to bamboo, so it’s up to you to find out what works best for you. 

💡 Many people enjoy weighted blankets to help them sleep better

Sleep is all about quality, not quantity. You might be feeling awesome with 6h of sleep, whereas someone else feels groggy even after 10h of sleep.

If we want to actually feel rested we have to make sure we fix inflammations in our body and help our mitochondria work better, not just sleep 8h and expect miracles.

I’m sure implementing all of this might seem overwhelming at first, but that’s where the priorities come in check. 🤷

Bad sleep for a long period will cause many other health problems, so I believe it really is worth the effort. 

Hope this post was helpful. As always, feel free to let me know your thoughts on this.

Much love,

Alex