Get outside for morning sunlight exposure to set your circadian clock effectively. If direct outdoor exposure is not possible, keep a window open, as closed windows significantly diminish the light intensity needed for this effect.
Strictly avoid bright lights between approximately 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., unless absolutely necessary for safety or work. Bright light during these hours can signal daytime to your brain, wake you up, and reduce dopamine levels, negatively impacting learning, memory, and mood.
Control the temperature of your sleeping environment, ideally using a smart mattress cover, to facilitate falling and staying deeply asleep. Your body temperature needs to drop by 1-3 degrees to initiate deep sleep and rise by 1-3 degrees to wake up refreshed.
Ensure you get sufficient quality sleep each night, as it is crucial for restoring mood and overall well-being. Do not attempt to suppress melatonin across the board, as this will prevent you from falling and staying asleep.
Perform 20-minute bouts of non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) or short naps immediately after 90-minute learning cycles. This practice has been shown to significantly accelerate learning and improve the retention of information.
If learning something specific, introduce a unique, faint odor or tone into the room during the learning period, and then play that same stimulus faintly while you sleep. This can cue the subconscious brain to enhance learning and retention of that information.
Establish a consistent daily pattern for waking, morning light exposure, and exercise (morning or afternoon). Your body’s neural circuits will develop plasticity to anticipate these activities, making it easier to maintain your desired rhythms over time.
Take a cold shower first thing in the morning to achieve an immediate wake-up effect and phase-advance your circadian clock. This makes you more likely to wake up 30-60 minutes earlier the following day.
Pair your morning exercise with light exposure to create a more powerful wake-up signal for your brain and body. The convergence of these two stimuli provides a stronger entrainment signal for your circadian rhythm.
Exercise first thing in the morning to help your body develop an anticipatory circuit. This neural plasticity will lead you to naturally want to wake up at the time you’ve consistently exercised over several days.
When traveling to a new time zone, immediately adopt the local meal schedule. This helps to shift your circadian rhythm more quickly by leveraging eating-induced thermogenesis and anticipatory hormone secretion.
Consume your first meal earlier in the day to help phase-advance your circadian rhythm. Eating-induced thermogenesis early on encourages your body to want to wake up earlier the next day.
Refrain from eating very late in the day, as it can cause eating-induced thermogenesis that phase-delays your circadian rhythm. This will tend to make you want to sleep later the following day.
If you experience trouble sleeping, avoid intense exercise late in the day. Intense physical activity can elevate body temperature and stimulate the nervous system, making it difficult to fall asleep, unlike lower intensity exercise.
If using red light to avoid negative effects of light later in the day or at night, ensure it is very dim. Dim red light will not stimulate melanopsin neurons or disrupt dopamine, protecting your circadian clock.
Feel free to view moonlight, candlelight, or a fireplace at night, as these light sources are not bright enough and lack the specific blue-yellow contrast to reset your circadian clock or trick your brain into thinking it’s morning.
It is perfectly fine to wear prescription lenses or contacts when viewing morning light. These are designed to focus light onto your retina and do not diminish the circadian clock-setting effect, unlike looking through a window.
If you are feeling low, evaluate how much light you are getting and at what times of day. Light powerfully modulates melatonin and serotonin levels, which are linked to mood, and adjustments can be beneficial.
Become a scientist of your own physiology by tracking daily patterns of light exposure, exercise, temperature sensations, and non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) protocols. This helps identify personal patterns and variables affecting your sleep, attention, and wakefulness.
When self-experimenting with behavioral changes, manipulate only one or two variables at a time. This allows you to clearly identify which specific changes are most powerful and effective for your individual physiology, rather than confounding results.
Dissolve one packet of an electrolyte mix (like Element) in 16-32 ounces of water and drink it first thing in the morning. This ensures adequate hydration and electrolyte balance, crucial for optimal brain and body function.
Drink an electrolyte mix dissolved in water during any physical exercise, especially on hot days or when sweating heavily. This replenishes lost water and electrolytes, maintaining performance and hydration.
Take a hot shower, sit in a hot tub, or use a sauna late at night to induce a compensatory decrease in body temperature. This can significantly improve sleep quality, provided you hydrate adequately.
Do not use a sauna early in the day unless you immediately follow it with exercise. Early morning sauna can cause a compensatory temperature drop that interferes with the natural morning temperature rise needed to properly entrain your circadian clocks.
Consider fasting states for increased alertness (associated with epinephrine) and fed states for more quiescence and relaxation (associated with serotonin). Adjust your eating patterns to align with your desired state of wakefulness or calm.
Incorporate tyrosine-rich foods, such as nuts and red meats, into your diet if you aim for increased wakefulness. Tyrosine is a precursor to dopamine and epinephrine, neurotransmitters associated with alertness.
Avoid consuming very large meal volumes if you wish to maintain alertness. Large meals distend the stomach and divert blood to the gut, leading to sleepiness regardless of the food’s content.
Understand that no nootropic can bypass the fundamental need for adequate sleep and deep rest. These are essential biological processes for learning, memory consolidation, and synaptic plasticity.
If considering nootropics, use them only occasionally and ensure they are safe for you, as they often employ a ‘shotgun approach’ with stimulants that may not be optimal for long-term learning and can disrupt healthy sleep architecture.