Sleep optimization tips!
Last night was one of those.... I tried to fall asleep, but it didn't work right away.
I knew exactly what I had to do and especially what I had not done.
Just a little reset, followed the steps again (or at least most of them) and BAM I was off.
If I follow these tips, then my sleep performance goes sky high.
I regularly get the comment, how come you're always so full of energy?
One of my secrets are the following sleep tips, give it some time and be consistent!
1. BLUE LIGHT - Whether you're with the scientific explanation or not. Light from a laptop or cell phone but even more the time you spend on it is very important to monitor your sleep quality & quantity.
TIP: Set screen time, a very handy tool in your mobile (on iPhone just in settings) that allows you to 'block' your mobile or specific apps from a certain time. You can set the period from when to when as well as which apps you want to block. If you still want to access an app, you can, but there is a certain threshold! Besides the light this also instantaneously lowers the use of your cell phone just before bedtime!
2. BRAIN DUMP - Clearing your head before you go to sleep is important you hear a lot. No joke, if you do not or not completely, your head continues to work at full speed for a while. Subconsciously you keep thinking and even brooding, which often makes you fall asleep a lot slower.
TIP: Just before you get into bed, take 5 to 10 minutes to write down everything you think about. I personally work in 2 columns. Column 1 are thoughts. Things I think about or have to think about, I write them all down. Column 2 are to do's
3. PURPOSE - Make sure you have a good and especially inspiring reason why you WANT to get up. Getting up goes 10x as easy, you will in this way often just before your alarm clock wake up andnn you get up immediately in a good mood.
TIP: Your list of to do's and thoughts is the perfect tool for this. Pick out an inspiring to do or interesting thought that will make you really look forward to getting up the next day.
4. ENVIRONMENT - Your sleep environment or comfort is obviously everything. What's even more interesting is that this is very personal. Too hot, too cold, too much space, too little, ... Below are my personal key points.
TIP: A great mattress, you spend a lot of time on it. A mattress is a mega valuable investment anyway. Temperature, I sleep best in a cool room, certainly not a cold one. I open my window before I go to sleep, but it certainly doesn't have to be all night. A room where little light enters is also very important for me personally, but I am not bothered by noise at all.
5. CONSISTENCY - How long you sleep is, in my opinion, secondary to consistent sleep. That is, you always go to sleep and get up at the same time. This is why people who work in shifts often have a lot of sleep problems.
TIP: For me personally, get in bed at 11:45pm, go to sleep at 00am (I'm really trained on this) and get out at 6am. If I keep this up consistently then my energy goes through the roof (otherwise it does too, haha). I can survive perfectly well on 6am sleep, as long as it's consistent. If I go out one night longer or sleep one morning longer, then I'm really seen.
6. ROUTINE - Giving your body very clear signals and anchor points so it knows when to rest is really golden. A routine can be very long, or it can consist of just a few points and work just as efficiently. The better you comply with these points the clearer it will become for your body when to come to rest.
TIP: Of course there are millions of options and you have to find out for yourself what works best. All the points above are actually already examples of my routine. One very important part that works really well for me is music. Also on Spotify I have a screen time. From 11pm onwards this is no longer available. If I manually choose to use it anyway, Spotify automatically locks back in after 15 minutes. I am always asleep before the end of these 15 minutes, STANDARD. Important to me is that I always put on the same music/list. Each song has some kind of stage or phase for falling asleep for me. Diggy Dex is the artist and I always put on the top tracks, perfecto!
7. POSITION - I was always a side sleeper. That caused me a lot of shoulder strain and problems duuussss I transformed myself.
TIP: Back sleeping is without a doubt the very best. You lie completely neutral and everything has equal or equal little pressure. In the first place, I bought a special back sleeping pillow (gamechanger for me). Then always started falling asleep on my back, hands just neutral by my side. Every time I woke up and I wasn't on my back, reset and fall asleep like that again even though it took longer in the beginning.
8. SNOOZE - One we all know, yet approached a little differently. First of all, there are obviously a lot of proven or unproven health consequences, but we won't talk about that. Snoozing or staying in bed 'smartphoning' literally costs you super precious time. How many times do you think 'goddamn, I should have just had an extra 10 minutes to have a chill morning. I know, really often, that's those 10 minutes of snoozing so hey!
TIP: Put your phone out of reach. For me personally, charger in and music (Diggy Dex) on, but out of reach. When my alarm goes off (if I am not awake before my alarm) I have to get up anyway. That 'just checking insta' I save for the toilet, super efficient use of my time, KOMOP.
Follow all these tips consistently, but in your own way. Reject what doesn't work, add where necessary and enjoooooy that wonderful quality sleep!
Want even more Primer? Make sure to listen to our podcast STERK WERK for similar content like our EP2: Instant productivity boost? or EP28: Mijn eigen killer ochtenritueel.
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