Welcome to the latest in the Normal Persons Guide to High Performance (the NPGHP). As mentioned in the intro to this series, I wanted to share some of my learning and practice that keeps me rolling.
Sleep often isn’t the first thing people think about when turning their mind to performance, and its certainly not the most flashy thing! I would argue it is the most important thing. Let’s start with some rough numbers: say you get 8 hours of sleep a night, that is 33% of your time or 120 days of your year, every year, accounted for. It then follows that getting the sleep bit right can be transformational.
There is plenty of stuff out there from experts (see Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep as one great read). Sleep is one area where the basics hold true - at least for me and what I’ve embedded as my sleep routine.
Times
I wanted to start here as I think this is the most important part of sleep. Times refers to both the time you pop your head on the pillow at night (I’ll call this down time) and the time you roll out of bed in the morning (I’ll call this up time).
It turns out that routine is really important here for sleep quality. Why? Because you body clock and all the accompanying hormones (those things like meletonin, seratonin etc) all orientate themselves around your down and up times.
Mine is down at 930pm, up at 545am.
Go to bed and get up at the same time; almost all of the time.
You'll notice a sneaky almost in there. This is because life and stuff happens. You might be out one night, or you might have to get up early for a work flight. All good. Just get back onto your schedule with the next time.
Here are a few thoughts on determining those times.
If you want to get in your morning gym session three times a week and need to get up at 6am for gym, do it every day. Alternating something like 6am and 7am will not work - and you’ll likely find your body trying to stick to the 6am anyway!
Secondly, I’ve found it is often down time that people struggle with in the evenings. Being consistent with this means being disciplined with other evening stuff (more on that below). If you bounce around on down times, your up times don’t stand a chance!
Another thing is the line “I want to get up earlier but I struggle in the mornings”. If you want to become an early riser, transition to it. For example, if you want to move from 7am to 6am, then move your alarm back say 8 mins a day. That way you will be a 6am riser in a week and once you hold to that you should be good to go. BUT remember you need to do the same for the down time :-)
Make sure when you get up, you actually get up! Don’t drowse or snooze. That is not sticking to an up time. I try and get outdoors as soon as possible after waking, even for a little bit. Seeing the sunrise is a really healthy biological habit.
Duration
The old adage of 8 hours a night (plus or minus 1 hour) generally holds true for most people. I’ve met loads of people who say they can survive on 3-4 hours of sleep. It may have been Matthew Walker who said there are some people who can do that, but you’ve got more chance of being struck by lightning than being one of those people. For almost all of us, it’s 7 to 9 hours.
Now, there is some variation between people, and some significant variation between age groups. When we are young we sleep a lot (as all parents hope for too), then studies show some funny teenage shift happens (go to bed later, get up later) and then we settle into around 8 hours. As we get older that may creep up again.
There are no hard numbers and you will need to find your number. Mine just happens to be 8 hours. How do I know that? If I regularly get 8 hours sleep most nights, going to bed at 930pm and getting up at 530-545am THEN I don’t wake up feeling flat, I don’t get the afternoon crash, I don’t need coffee as a stimulant (or any of that other crap people love these days…) and I don’t yawn during the day (unless, of course, you see someone else do it!)
One key thing
My sleep duration is what I need most of the time. It’s my sweet spot. You can throw out your routine every now and then. I have memories of nights before big races like Ironman where I had shocking sleep due to nerves, having to wake up super early. You know those ones where you have an early flight and you’re terrified about missing the 3 alarms you set… And do you know what - things all went ok the next day. Sure, you might not be 100% but you will never know. And thats ok. One thing I do know is that after 2, 3 or more bad nights of sleep (shorter duration, messed up times) then it all falls apart. Get back on the habit again and tell me how you feel after a week of good sleep. Job done.
And it’s ok to have a sleep in once a week if you want to. Mine goes all the way to 7am!
Heart Rate Variability/Sleep Scores
A quick shout out to the smart watch users. There is no shortage of sleep stuff around these days. DON’T get too obsessed with numbers. A lot of it is not that accurate, however the trends are useful. I use Heart Rate Variability as my external guide to whether I’m overdoing life (7 day average as a trend). If I have a bad night I get a lot HRV. I don’t look at a low HRV and decide I’m going to have a bad day though… Hold them lightly - don’t let them rule your life. The same applies to sleep data - just get to know it and hold it lightly. It’s a guide not a hard rule.
Sleep Factors
OK, I’ve bundled up a whole bunch of stuff which relate to sleep hygiene and I’ll go through it as a rapid fire as (1) there are no single silver bullets (2) its the stuff you always hear and (3) there are basics and some ‘sometimes’ things.
Bed stuff - not surprisingly you sleep well in a good bed. Mattress and pillow are good investments. Yes, mattresses do wear out. I don’t think twice about an awesome memory foam pillow priced at $150, particularly if you can roll it up and take it away with you.
Environment - dark, quiet and cold(er) is the key. You wrap up warm of course. Simple stuff.
Winding down - I wanted to call this lot degenerating factors. Alcohol, coffee (especially after lunch), screens and tech. The active mind. Anything that winds you up is not helpful. Clear that mind by writing stuff down. Read a book before bed, even it is just serving the purpose of winding you down. Listen to music before bed. Meditate. Get a routine of shutting down - this helps the down time solidify.
Dealing with the active mind. Our brains are funny things. Despite being a good sleep I have woken up with my mind spinning about stuff. Get up - write it down and clear the head. Then get back to what you need to be doing….sleeping. If this happens a lot, put a notebook beside the bed. I’ve found my meditation practice is great at winding my mind down at night when I need to do that. We are all human.
Sleep aids. If you need to put a phone on white noise, listen to sleep podcasts, load up on supplements, sleep tablets, ear plugs, sleep masks or any other stuff that involves extras, then I would suggest trying to stop using them. These things become crutches and I feel like they add to the stress of sleep. Now, I’m not saying never use them but keep them for special occasions or one offs. If you’re travelling and you’re in a noisy hotel then by all means fill your boots for a night or two. But for day to day I would suggest leaving these behind.
Magical magnesium: I have found Magnesium tablets to be awesome as a sometimes things. A once a day tablet (say 1500mg Magnesium) is great for sleep, overall stress or when you have soreness from sporting endeavours (or injuries). Again, its a sometimes thing. In fact it works better when you don’t use it as a daily supplement. Its great for a few days to get you back on track or through a hard patch.
Sleep Struggles
I also know that many people struggle with sleep. It is also one of those things that if you stress about, wrestle with and ruminate over sleep, it makes it even more stressful.
One thing is snoring, especially for you fellas out there. I fortunately do not snore, other than special times when I wake myself up with a single snore, or my wife points out the odd time it happens a little. I have many friends who have struggled with it and it cannot be good for your sleep! One has found a mouthguard that adjusts the jaw and has made a massive difference.
The short story is that if your sleep is falling apart, go see a specialist or your doctor. This is too important. If you are dependent on ‘sleep crutches’ and can’t see a way to move on from them, go see someone. Make a plan. Try some stuff. Don’t live on sleep tablets and hope.
Naps - Special Sleeps
I love a nap. I’ve practiced it enough that I can do it when I need to and I think I even have a nap routine now! It looks like this
Set a 25 minute timer
Find a good place to sleep (see sleep factors)
Do some pre-sleep wind down (clear the mind etc)
Shut your eyes and go to sleep
Wake up with the alarm.
You will likely dip into some form of deep sleep - most of the time I don’t actually feel like I went to sleep but thats ok. DO NOT extend a nap - then you will likely feel drowsy after and may impact your night ahead.
I use naps when I’ve had a disrupted couple of nights, or I have had a stressful tiring period of life (either self-inflicted or life-inflicted) where I feel I need a top up. I try and nap somewhere between 12 and say 3pm. Its a special sleep.
And if you nap every day, you probably need to look at your nightly sleep duration.
That’s it.
Hope that you took something from that.
Honestly, sleep is primary for me. I had a great reminder of that last weekend where I had degenerating factors that ruined a couple of nights, and I paid for it this week. A good reminder. Sleep on everyone!
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you want to share your sleep stories/tips below for others to read, please add a comment.