12 incredible useful tips for better sleep every entrepreneur needs
This is the truth, there is an epidemic of people who do not sleep well. On average 35% of adults sleep less than 7 hours. Thanks to diet, physical performance, bad habits or the favorite of entrepreneurs. Toxic productivity.
If you know or you are a person who works 10 hours a day you have heard this before. “I only need 6 hours of sleep and I’m fine” “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”
The dramatic reality is other. In the words of Matthew Walker, “The shorter your dream, the shorter your life.” The sad thing is, this toxic productivity advice that you take with great pride.
We tend to wear our ability to sleep poorly like a badge of honor. It confirms our work ethic, but in reality it denotes a huge lack of respect. Towards oneself and the absence of priorities.
In this article I share the most important tips I discovered about sleep. Reading the book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. As are some excerpts from The Huberman Lab Podcast.
The consequences of sleeping 6 hours a day
Might get a little technical here:
There is a human growth hormone. It’s role is key in cell repair and metabolism and without it we can even die earlier.
According to research, up to 75% of human growth hormone is secreted when we sleep.
They also showed that the moments of greatest release take place between 10pm and 12am at night.
In other words, if you don’t sleep well and at the right times, your body doesn’t recover and becomes weak.
Sleeping 6–7 hours a day in a row completely destroys your immune system
Damage to your health
- Double your chance of getting cancer
- Increase your death rate
- Heart disease
- Weight gain
- High probability of Alzheimer’s disease
Completely annihilates your productivity and performance
- Decreases your ability to interact
- Reduces your decision making
- Lose of your memory
- Cloud your control of emotions
- Decrease your creativity
And for my boys reading this, sleeping less than 7 hours a day dramatically lowers testosterone levels. In other words you become a simp.
Jokes aside here are some useful tips you can apply tonight
12 Tips for Better Sleep
Regularity is king
Sleeping is not like the bank, you cannot accumulate debt and expect to pay it later. What I mean is that short sleep during the week and binge sleep in the weekend is a deadly risk. This practice is associated with diabetes and obesity.
You should find the perfect time that you can repeat every day. The best advice I’ve been given is to set an alarm to go to sleep instead of one to wake up.
Trust your internal clock and let your body rest and wake up at the same time every day.
Note: Of course, if you have newborns and your schedules change. I am not asking you to follow this advice. There are more that may be useful to you in this article.
Wake up with the sun.
Seeing the sunlight helps your body know that it’s already dawn. It helps you feel wide awake, and improves your circadian rhythm, of course there are also benefits to getting a little sunlight on your face
This practice is ideal on a 10–30 minute walk. If you live in cloudy places or have some kind of eye problem. It is not necessary to receive direct sunlight. It is enough to go outside and see that it is bright.
Note: The circadian rhythm is your internal clock that dictates the physical, mental, and behavioral changes that affect you during the 24-hour daily cycle.
Avoid caffeine
This is a controversial topic
I love a good cup of coffee in the morning and if you are reading this, I would dare to say that you also like coffee. There is nothing wrong, however, caffeine affects people’s sleep in different ways. Some can sleep well, drinking coffee at 9pm, others cannot sleep if they drink coffee at noon.
One thing I am sure of is that caffeine remains in your body for up to 10 hours after consuming it. Plus, it’s almost certain to disrupt or damage your sleep.
If you’re not sure what effect caffeine has on your body. When in doubt it’s best to stop drinking coffee after 11 am.
Why at that time?
Well, at 11 am your brain should already be fully awake and you shouldn’t “need” another cup of coffee.
Naps
Naps help repair your body, however they do not replace your sleep time, but they are a good complement. Although it is true that if you take them in the afternoon, it can affect your bedtime.
The effects of alcohol
It would take a separate article to list the damage alcohol does to your body. But I will limit myself to sharing what it does to your sleep.
If you go to parties you will always find that guy who falls asleep, perhaps you are that poor bastard sleeping like a rock on the carpet of someone else house. What happens is that alcohol acts as a sedative. If you take the right amount, you fall asleep anywhere. The reality is that it is not a deep or restful sleep. It is a destructive dream.
If you don’t believe me, try waking up the morning after you fell drunk on your bedroom floor. You may have slept 8 hours but you are not even close to waking up with energy.
Avoid large meals at night
The author suggests sleeping with something in your stomach because you may be woken up by hunger at night and prompted to eat something at 2 am. On the other hand, sleeping on a full stomach is uncomfortable and you don’t completely fall asleep from the big meal you ate15 minutes ago.
Avoid bright light
Blue lights are harmful at night and make your body not feel ready for sleep. Instead, use warm lights and find calming activities like reading or listening to music to completely relax your body.
Note: Blue lights are from your devices. In other words, don’t stay scrolling TikTok in your bed until you fall asleep.
Cool your body
Between 1 to 3 degrees is when your body sleeps and stays asleep. That’s why you have a nice sleep in a cold place than in a warm room.
Don’t take sleeping pills.
Like alcohol, these pills don’t give you restful sleep. What they do is put you in a state of sedation
Don’t be lying in your bed
This happened to me many times. Stay up 2 hours awake in my bed waiting to see if I fall asleep.
It sucks and if it has also happened to you, the best advice is this:
If you spend more than 20 minutes trying to sleep, get out of bed and do some other activity.
The problem with waiting for you to fall asleep is that your body associates your bed with a place where you don’t sleep. What works for me is to get up, read a little until I feel sleepy again.
2 extra personal tips
Snooze button
I understand that spending a little more time on your quilts feels good, I have taken those extra 5 minutes. The problem is that hitting the “snooze” button puts your body on alert and makes your sleep worse.
Every time you press that f*cking button you create stress and damage your cardiovascular system.
Note: The cardiovascular system is made up of the heart and your blood vessels. It is in charge of oxygenating your body, pumping your heart, and cleaning your lungs.
Quite important considering the damage you do by keeping listening to that shitty alarm clock every day.
Work out regularly
This one is just for my boys and girls who already work out.
We all know the importance of work out in your health and you don’t need me to repeat it.
Exercising at certain times can improve or harm your sleep
I have exercised at different times, and I can give you some recommendations.
In the morning (0 to 9 hours after waking up)
This is the ideal time to exercise because your brain is in a state where it can handle demanding tasks. Mental and physical efforts.
Exercising in the early hours gives you a sense of success and that you’ve already taken care of that heavy task for the day. The problem I noticed is that by midday you may feel too tired. What works for me is working out at 1 pm.
When my work is done and I can de-stress at the gym.
In the afternoon (10 to 16 hours after waking up)
Many people are on this side. Training at this time makes your sleep feel good. You arrive freshly exercised in your bed.
But arriving with a worn-out body and a racing heart can affect your sleep. Matthew Walker’s suggestion is that you finish your training 2 hours before your bedtime and add a relaxation routine.
Take a hot shower, turn off several lights, and read or listen to relaxing music.
The truth about sleep
These tips are not an absolute truth that works for everyone. Each body is different, I share what worked for me and I invite you to experiment.
What I have noticed is that when I approach 20 hours without sleep, I am as cognitively incapable as a drunk person. After hours of sleep deprivation, the brain becomes slow and stupid.
The philosopher and writer Arthur Schopenhauer used to say:
“Sleep is the source of all health and energy.”
“Sleep is the interest we pay on the capital that is collected at death. The higher the interest rate and the more regularly it is paid, the more the redemption date is postponed.”
Sleep is not an optional lifestyle luxury.
Sleep is a non-negotiable biological necessity.
It’s time for us to reclaimed the right to a good night’s sleep. No shame, to look lazy. Doing so will reunite you with the most powerful elixir of life.
If you want peace and to be the best version of yourself, there is only one way to achieve it.
Go to sleep.
