Sleep is very important for health and fitness. There is a lot of advice online.
What can you do to optimize your sleep?
Hey Max,
We’ve published a few things on this:
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Thank you very much. The podcast in particular was useful.
Right now my “sleep strategy” looks like this:
06:00 AM. My alarm goes off every day.
06:00 PM. Dinner.
08:00 PM. Protein bar with a glass of skim milk. I like to eat something sweet in the evening, and a protein bar is a better choice than chocolate, candy, cake, etc.
09:00 PM. I relax in front of the TV. I can turn off the blue light on the TV, but if I am watching a good movie, I sometimes leave it on.
09:45 PM. I am in bed.
My bedroom is dark, cool, and quiet. I rarely drink caffeine or alcohol.
Can I do more to optimize my sleep?
Is there something wrong with your sleep? It’s not clear to me there’s a problem to fix. As you know, there are a lot of things people can do when it comes to making changes in their lives. I think the best use of these efforts are for addressing legitimate problems vs. a quest for “optimization”
Good point.
I generally sleep very lightly, but most nights I sleep well.
It takes very little before I sleep badly. For example, if I’m stressed or sleeping in a hotel.
My wife generally sleeps more heavily, and I wish I was as good at sleeping as she is.
I’m not sure there’s a problem to address here, but I would need more specifics about what you’re experiencing as a result of inadequate sleep, how often that happens, what you’ve tried, etc. Then, we’d devise a plan and monitor the results, adjusting based on your feedback. Hard to do via a forum conversation, you know?
Based on what you’ve said here, I’m not sure there’s a real problem to fix.
I sleep well most nights, but sometimes I sleep poorly. Maybe that’s normal, or maybe I can optimize something.
I’m missing data. Does it make sense to buy a sleep tracker?
I do not think buying a sleep tracker is going to help tell you if you’re tired or not, much less what to do about it.
I don’t know the frequency of your poor sleep and what effects it’s having (or not) on you. However, any specific management is going to be individualized for you vs. a blanket recommendation.
If you’re already doing the sleep hygiene piece, my next move would be to tweak your before bed rituals (reading or meditating instead of tv) and stress management. I do not think I can do the latter via a forum, but that’s where I’d start.
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