Sleep Course Summary
Module 1
Takes a lot of discipline and hard work.
Goal – as many waking hours every day to achieve goals while still being healthy.
How sleep works
5 stage cycle
Stage 1
Transition between wakefulness and sleep
Light sleep, easily waken
Brain waves slow down
Lasts around 5-10 minutes
Stage 2
Body temp begins to decrease
Heart rate slows down
Preps body for deep sleep
Lasts around 20 minutes
Still light sleep
Stage 3
Delta Waves (Slow brain waves). Paralyse our bodies to allow to heal properly.
Transition from light to deep sleep
Body makes repairs.
Stage 4
Slow brain waves. Delta.
Paralysis
Deeper than 3
Turning the machine off so that we can repair it.
REM
Rapid Eye movement
Eye movement, increased respiration and brain activity (Dreams)
Enter around 90 minutes after falling asleep
Typically lasts around 10 minutes
Stage 1-2 Light Sleep
3-4 Deep Sleep
5 REM – stimulates brain areas for learning and making or retaining memories
Deepest sleep occur in first four hours, then tapers off.
Hacking sleep is about training self to achieve quality sleep.
Increase sleep quality. Can operate at high level while sleeping less time.
Quantity vs Quality.
Lecture 2
Quality Vs Quantity + Deep Sleep
How to improve sleep quality?
Improve ability to get deep sleep.
Focus on understanding deep sleep and how to get more of it.
Restorative both mentally and physically. Deep sleep makes biggest difference.
Failure to get deep sleep has highest correlation with day-time impairment. Tiredness, drowsiness, headaches, aches and inability to focus.
First 4-5 is when you get the most deep sleep. Diminishing returns to extra time in bed. If you optimise first 4-5 hours can sleep less and feel great and energised. Why sleep hacking is possible.
The 90 Minute Misnomer
Sleep cycle in 90 min period. Wake wrong time mixes you up.
Wrong. Cycles can take from 1-2 hours. Vary from person and day to day. Too unpredictable to say when to wake up.
We are able to control many of the variables in our lives that affect the quality and quantity of deep sleep.
Module 2
Body temperature
Light exposure
Consumption (Diet)
Body Temperature
Rises and falls through day and night
Affects alertness and energy, how tired and how much quality sleep we get.
Body temp increase makes us more awake
Fluctuation of around 2 degrees a day. F?
If your body temp is too flat or doesn’t drop low enough for a long period of time it will be difficult to sleep deeply.
Higher peak temp during day, lower it will be during day.
Deeper trough = deeper sleep
Variables
Activeness
Consistency
Sunlight
Environment
Melatonin – sleep hormone. Produced as sun goes down. High melatonin = good sleep
Lack of sunlight results in melatonin production
More exposure to high intensity lighting inhibits melatonin, makes it difficult to go to sleep.
High melatonin makes us tired because it lowers our body temp.
Big different in light strength (lux) between lights and sunlight.
Ideally lots of light exposure during day.
Limited as we prepare for bed and during sleeping hours.
(Old people sleep less as ability to produce melatonin decreases with age)
Consumption
Diet, hydration, toxins like alcohol and tobacco
Module 3
Exercise, consistency, light exposure
Exercise
Exercise causes our body temp to rise to a greater peak which increases our energy level throughout the day.
Spike in temp while we’re awake causes a greater and more sustained temp drop in evening.
Allows you to be awake and alert longer.
Greater peak during day, lower trough during night.
Temp drop causes more deep sleep and fewer awakenings.
20-30 min a day. Aim for 5 days a week.
Don’t exercise 3 hours before bed. Stimulates brain and heart rate, also body temp up.
Skipping physical in the morning will have negative effect on sleep system over days. 1 extra hour sleep not same effect as going to gym.
Consistency.
Our bodies love consistency
Means we should go to bed and wake up around the same time everyday.
Why?
Regulate 2 variables – sunlight amount and stabilise body temp cycle.
Weekends count.
Optimising Light Exposure During the Day
Get light as early as possible. Melatonin and serotonin. Switch from one to the other.
Light also effects body temp.
Open curtains as soon as you get up.
Don’t wear sunglasses in morning or evening.
Sunglasses can block 20-90% of sunlight that enters your eyes.
Maybe try to have sunglasses off at points in the day for energy.
Optimising Light Exposure During the Evening
Electronic screens are evil. Blue light. Similar effects to high intensity sunlight.
Cut out 1.5-2 hours before bed.
Can wear sunglasses and still watch TV and stuff. Hmm.
Section 4
Consumption and Sleep
Stimulants
Aspirin can have caffeine.
The Effects of Alcohol. Affects quality. Suppresses deep and REM sleep. Dehydration and sugar.
Not amount of sleep it’s the quality of sleep that’s important. Stimulant, then depressant. So stop before bed.
The Importance of Hydration
Body still working while asleep. Dehydration stops us from executing many things (especially oxygenation.) Inhibiting sleep. Stops body temp adjusting properly.
Needing to piss at night.
1.5 hours before bed. 230ml in last 1.5 hour so fuck all.
Saw Palmetto. Vitamin.
Do wake use red torch.
Good Food Good Sleep
Digestion – blood flow to stomach. Low blood flow to brain = bad sleep as brain needs to run sleep.
The more demand we put on digestive system while we sleep, the less resources we can allocate towards executing all the processes required to achieve a restful sleep.
Avoid taxing foods – high in fat, sugar, simple carbs.
Eat lightly in evening, not too close to bedtime. 2 hours before. Digest before.
Big meal – 4 hours.
Sleeping Aids
Melatonin etc.
Short term fix.
Side effects. Chemicals can stay in your blood for 6 days. Can cause daytime tiredness etc.
Depress activity of brain. Force low brain waves. Sleep will be low quality.
No shortcuts, just make great habits.
Section 5
Environment and Sleep Practices
The perfect sleep temperature
Too cold or too hot can wake us up.
Bodies designed to sleep best at cooler body temps. Good for deep sleep.
Evolved outside beside fire. Too comfortable.
65-70 degrees. 18-21 (22-23)
Depends on person.
Overcoming noise.
Abrupt noise wakes you up
Ear plugs
White noise – fan.
Your Bed is your Sanctuary
Only for sleeping and fucking and fisting
Do not do stimulating stuff. Associate bed with activities rather than just going to sleep.
Create state anchor – when you enter your bed you want your body to invoke a natural sleep response.
Achieved through habit.
Bedding – just find what works for you. Don’t effect your brain waves.
Optimal Breathing for Sleep
If you can’t breathe easily won’t have quality sleep
Quick fix – breath right nasal strips. When sick. Promote breathing through the nose.
Mouth breathing reduces oxygenation of body.
Germs get into body
More likely to get sick due to increased capacity of cold air into your lungs.
Sleep Posture
Sleep on front – pressure on organs. Bad for back.
Train yourself to sleep on back or side.
Section 6
Waking up, napping and falling asleep
Waking up
If we wake at the wrong time we will be groggy. Better to wake in light sleep cycle or REM.
Alarm clocks often wake us in the middle of a deep sleep.
When come out of deep sleep feel tired and groggy for first few hours.
Two solutions
Don’t use alarm clock
Use smart wake alarm. Jawbone. Smartphone. Sleep cycle.
Falling Asleep and combatting restlessness
Plan next day. Make external brain – put all the stuff out of your brain to come back to the next day. Notepad next to bed with flashlight.
Avoid mind racing activities before bed. Identify what activities get you wired up and then avoid them. Cut music past 10 or 11.
After 30 minutes restless in bed perform new activity to change your state of mind to take yourself from frustration/anxiety of not falling asleep.
Best pre-bedtime activities
Meditation
Reading
Stretching
Night walk
Hot shower 60-90 before bed. Makes body temp spikes and then fall.
Napping – what you need to know.
Powerful. Einstein, DaVinci, Franklin, Churchill
Afternoon nap can increase productivity by 35% and improve decision making capability by up to 50%.
45-60 minutes or less to avoid entering deep sleep.
Waking from deep sleep will result in grogginess.
Longer naps can advance circadian – making it harder to fall asleep.
Best time to nap – afternoon slump. 6-8 hours after you wake.
Ideal nap should not affect ability to sleep at night. Afternoon better.
Guided sleep meditation pzizz.
Playlist – meditation/quiet music, then louder one.
Module 7
Key takeaways and Personal Results
Action plan.
Improvement in quality of sleep starts with actions during day
Can get an extra month of time each year – 2 hours a day saved.
Putting into context
Be realistic about your adherence
Interested? Likely to be successful. What habits do you want to build?
Start with 1-2 habits – start with easiest. Get momentum.
Too much at once more likely to fail.
As you improve sleep you start to notice you don’t need as much. Start reducing 20 minutes at a time. Until you get to level you’re happy with.
Run and Stumble 