You’re the reason you can’t sleep

Getting enough quality sleep every night is the single most important thing I can do to set myself up for success the following day. I’ve always been affected by the quality of sleep more than others I’ve known. My devotion to the following steps routinely annoys my girlfriend, but without them I would be a zombie during the day and snappy at night.

Low Hanging Fruit

• Stop using your smartphone at least 2 hours before bed. Seriously. The LCD screen in your phone is rich in blue light, which tricks your body into thinking it’s daytime and the sun is out.
• Turn off the TV and don’t fall asleep to it.
• Put duct tape over all those gadgets in your room that emit light, excepting clocks. This could be a TV antenna, LED status lights on computer hardware, or anything that is permanently plugged in.
• Use the bed only for sleep and sex; nothing else. Over time, you can condition your body to recognize that getting into bed means it is time to physically relax.

No More Training Wheels

• Read a novel before bed, for no more than an hour. Reading nonfiction awakens the mind to problem-solving and exposes you to too many potential real-world stressors.
• Don’t eat more than 1-2 hours before bed. Your body can’t drop into the deep sleep stages necessary for repairing the body when you’ve eaten right before sleeping.
• Wear earplugs and, optionally, a face mask. Try to find earplugs with a Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) of at least 32. Higher is better.

Pro Mode

• If you use your computer in the evening, try a wonderful app called f.lux. It automatically adjusts the colors in your computer display after sundown to reduce the amount of blue light that is emitted.
• Control your climate. I’ve found the ideal temperature range for my body is between 70-74 degrees F. Experiment and find out what works best for you.
• Choose the right pillow for your body position when asleep. Side-sleepers need a medium-firmness pillow to support their necks, while back sleepers need something that will conform to their heads.

The Best Part of Waking Up Is…Waking Up

• Set your alarm clock for a time that is roughly n * 90 minutes from when you expect to fall asleep, where n is the number of sleep cycles. Tools like sleepyti.me can help you calculate this.
• Try a smarter alarm clock. Sleep Cycle is a great app that will try to wake you up when your body is optimally ready for it. The Philips Wake-up Light slowly turns on a lamp from very dim to extremely bright, depending upon your setting, 30 minutes before your desired alarm time.
• Don’t snooze! When your alarm goes off, try to spend the next 5 minutes meditating on the day to come: what do you hope to accomplish, and how can you make today special?

Try to incorporate just one or two of these suggestions every day for the next week, and see how you feel. If it helps, take notes after you wake up so that you know what worked and what didn’t. Soon enough you’ll narrow in on what works best for you, and hopefully gain an idea of how much better your sleep can really be.