If you're like me, you've struggled with "good" sleep at some point in your life.
On a recent podcast, Joe Rogan interviewed Matthew Walker and changed my night time routine for the better. Mathew Walker is a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Founder and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science.
Before we get into the simple hacks, I'd like to share a few 'holy crap" statements from sleep scientist Matthew Walker. If you didn't think sleep was important before, you will definitely after.
Quality sleep is as important as quantity of sleep.
Humans are the only species on Earth that intentionally disrupts their sleep.
Alcohol disrupts your sleep. (sorry folks, it's true)
A man receiving only 5 -7 hours of sleep has a testosterone level of a man ten years older.
All four stages of sleep are equally important.
The phrase "sleep on it" when referring to a problem is a common phrase in most cultures.
Athletic performance improves 20% to 30% from the previous session with 7+ hours of quality sleep.
Lactic acid in muscle builds up, lungs ability to expire CO2 reduces and the ability to intake oxygen decreases the less sleep you get.
Sport injuries are directly proportionate to amount (lack of) of sleep.
Wakefulness is low level brain damage. (what?!?)
Short sleep...short life. (let that one marinate)
Now do I have your attention?
Like most of Rogan's podcasts, they're pretty lengthy, this particular podcast is just short of two hours. These are the three simple hacks that I implemented in my night time routine to improve my sleep. Thank you Joe Rogan and Matthew Walker. Check out Mathew Walker's book "Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams" on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501144316
1. Regularity - Go to sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time every day. Yea, I get you want to sleep in on the weekends, but fight the urge my friends, your life depends on it. With school aged kids, this one was pretty easy for me to implement.
2. Light - Switch off 1/2 the lights in your house, turn off the TV, and get off your freakin' phone. Ok, Mathew Walker didn't say "get off you freakin' phone", but I did for added affect. No, turning down the screen brightness doesn't count. My solution for my over active brain? I listen to podcasts. I'll turn the volume up to a level just loud enough to hear and I only put in one ear piece. I don't get 20 minutes into a podcast before I'm out and the ear piece falls out.
3. Keep it cool - Your body needs to drop it's core temperature two to three degrees to fall asleep. Try a hot bath. When you exit a hot bath, you get vasodilation, all your blood rushes to the surface and you get a huge thermal dump. I'm too lazy to take a bath, so my solution was two fold 1) turn down the thermostat to 68 and 2) strip down to my "tighty whities", I mean boxers. I do leave my socks on. Don't judge yet, it was a recommendation by a sleep scientist.
Joe and Matthew did not discuss the use of CBD Oil, but it is part of my nightly routine as well. I take a 40mg dose (about 17 drops) an hour before bed.
You can watch the full video below. I hope Joe's podcast and my blog help you with a better night's sleep. If you found this blog informative, please consider joining the Salutis Club. It's free.
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