Book Journal #30 – Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to A Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success

As true as its name, this book introduces the essential strategies to sleep better. However, knowledge is just a part of the game. To really sleep smarter, according to this book, we need to combine knowledge with lifestyle choices and a sleep sanctuary (aka your bedroom).

Introduction

This book is from Health & Nutrition – Blinkist: Serving curious minds. from Blinkist. In the near future, I will focus on this category :). I also want to bring back my reading habit and writing and blogging. It’s not that hard. I’m just too lazy watching youtube and surfing facebook.

In the first part of this book, it explains why getting a good quality sleep at night is crucial for human. Without it, we cannot be healthy and function at peak performance. After that, it talks about factors that affect our sleep.

Light

When it comes to sleep, light is our best friend and worst enemies. Light affects Melantonin, the hormone which regulates the body’s circadian rhythm. In short, melantonin tells us when to sleep. The production of melantonin is heavily affected by exposure of light. Therefore, there’re a few things which we should notice:

• Try to maximize light exposure during the day.
• Exposure to sunlight in the early morning.
• Limit your exposure to screens in evenings, starting 60 minutes before bed. Read a book before bed instead.
• Ensure that you’re sleeping in a pitch black room. Light makes our sleep lighter and shorter.

Timing

It’s all well and good to do the right thing, but doing it at the wrong time is completely counterproductive. Therefore, we need to go to bed within 30 minutes of the same time every night. The magic window of sleep is between 10:00 pm to 2:00 am.

Lifestyle choices

• Caffein simulates adenosine which makes us awake.
• Alcohol makes us easier to fall asleep but it interferes our sleep and prevent us to go to deep sleep stage –> reduce sleep quality.
• Have an orgasm before bed is natural sedative. It also releases serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins.

Maintaining a healthy mind and body is crucial for a great sleep

• Exercising.
• Supplementing with magnesium by applying it to your skin in cream form.
• Maintaining a healthy mind by mediation. We don’t need to do something complicated, just sitting, closing our eyes and focusing on our breathing in 10 minutes.
• Prepare good place to sleep:
  • Fresh, clean air and provoke feelings of relaxation.
  • Plants: English ivy, mother in law’s tongue…
  • Keep work out of the bedroom. Work increases cortisol levels which increases stress and wakefulness.