Follow a consistent sleep schedule to sharpen your attention

Yes, I wake up late and am still somehow alive

You need quality sleep for consistent, sharp attention.

Quality sleep is like a mental reset. It helps you to wake up feeling rested and ready to take on the day.

You can make many environmental changes in your bedroom, which have been covered approximately 1.7 million times before.

I’ve seen less about setting up your phone to help you sleep. There are two main things:

1. Set a regular sleep schedule on your phone
2. Have a blue light filter automatically turn on before bed

I personally use an iPhone, so I’ll show examples for how to do so on iPhone. I’ll also share external links to Android examples.

Set a regular sleep schedule on your phone

Your body craves a regular schedule for sleep. It helps your body to get into a rhythm and actually rest.

You first choose a bedtime and wake time that fits your sleep chronotype. Which is similar to being an early bird or night owl.

If you don’t know your chronotype, here is a free test.

I’m a wolf. Awhooo!

Respect your chronotype when choosing a bedtime and wake up time. I’m looking at you fellow wolves who believe they need to be a morning person to be successful.

Also please get at least 7 hours of sleep per night. 8+ hours if you can swing it with your lifestyle. Your body will thank you later.

Then you setup your phone to remind you about your bedtime and for an alarm to go off in the morning.

For you Android users, here’s an external guide that I have no clue if it works.

For you iPhone users, here is how to set your sleep schedule. Written instructions are below the image:

1. Open the Clock app (not pictured)
2. Choose Change under Sleep | Wake Up
3. Make sure Wake Up Alarm is turned on under Alarm Options and choose to enable / disable alarm sounds and snooze. You can turn off sound if you have an Apple Watch and choose a gentle vibration instead (it’s so nice)
4. Click Edit Sleep Schedule under Your Sleep Schedule (do not do it under Next Wake Up Only)
5. Select every day under Days Active (yes, including Saturday and Sunday)
6. Choose a Bedtime and Wake Up time that fits your sleep chronotype

Have a blue light filter automatically turn on before bed

Blue light screws up your sleep. Here’s science for you.

Well…not this kind of science. Well actually…meth totally screws up your sleep too

You want your phone to decrease its blue light at least one hour before bed. Science says you’ll sleep better.

For you Android users, here’s another external guide that I also have no clue if it works.

For you iPhone users, here is how to set up Night Shift to automatically decrease blue light before your bedtime:

1. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness (not pictured)
2. Tap on Night Shift
3. Toggle Scheduled to be on
4. Choose the warmest color you feel comfortable with
5. Tap here to bring up the schedule menu
6. Choose either Sunset to Sunrise or Custom Schedule
7. For Custom Schedule, set Turn On to at least one hour before bed and Turn Off to your wake up time

Bonus: If you want to turn off Night Shift to see the true color of something on your phone, you can simply say “Hey Siri, night shift off / on.”

With a regular sleep schedule and reduced blue light before bed, you’re on track to getting better sleep. And hence sharper attention.

Those environmental changes are important too. I recommend you make changes based on one of those 1.7 million sites that talk about it.

Now you need to listen to your phone when it tells you it’s time for bed. And really, you’re the one who told your phone to tell you.

So you’re really just listening to yourself.

And that’s an awesome thing to do.