Understand and apply the QQRT formula (Quality, Quantity, Regularity, Timing) to identify and achieve your optimal sleep, leading to improved focus and alertness throughout your days.
Maintain a consistent sleep schedule by going to bed and waking up at the same time each day, with a wiggle room of plus or minus 30 minutes, as this significantly reduces mortality risk. Consider using both a ’to-bed’ and ’to-wake’ alarm clock.
Identify your natural chronotype (morning, evening, or neutral type) using the MEQ questionnaire and align your sleep opportunity window with it, as sleeping out of synchrony can negatively impact sleep quality and overall well-being.
Strive for 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, as this is the recommended quantity for the average adult, and many people would benefit from an additional 90 minutes compared to their current average.
Focus on improving sleep quality by ensuring continuity (fewer awakenings) and aiming for a sleep efficiency of 85% or above, calculated as the percentage of time spent asleep while in bed.
If you wake up in the middle of the night and cannot fall back asleep within approximately 25 minutes, get out of bed to avoid associating your bed with wakefulness; go to another room, read or listen to a podcast, and return to bed only when sleepy.
Avoid stressful events, arguments, or disturbing news in the late evening and early night hours, as these can spike cortisol and significantly impede your sleep structure, potentially leading to a ’tired but wired’ state.
Adjust your sleeping environment’s temperature to allow your body temperature to drop by 1-3 degrees to fall and stay deeply asleep, and then heat up by 1-3 degrees to wake up refreshed.
Prioritize sleep both before and after learning new information to effectively acquire, imprint, consolidate, and cross-link memories, enhancing retention and creative problem-solving.
Prioritize sufficient sleep to regulate appetite-controlling hormones (leptin and ghrelin) and endocannabinoids, which helps control hunger, increase satiety, and promote healthier food choices.
Leverage sufficient sleep to reboot your emotional and mood states, as it acts as an emotional balm, soothing jagged edges and allowing you to wake up with improved emotional regulation.
If you snore or have sleep apnea, try to avoid sleeping on your back, as gravity can pull the airway down and close it; training methods like placing a tennis ball in a back pocket of a tight t-shirt can help.
If you eat clean, exercise, and drink a lot of water, consider ingesting more electrolytes (magnesium, potassium, sodium) with your liquids to ensure proper cell function, especially upon waking and during/after exercise.
Do not artificially terminate sleep based on claims of a ‘magic 90-minute cycle’ for waking up more alert; prioritize getting as much total sleep as possible instead.
Evaluate your sleep sufficiency by asking if you would sleep past your alarm, if you experience daytime lapses in attention (microsleeps), if you need caffeine before 11 AM for alertness, and if you feel refreshed and alert by late morning.
Consider engaging in regular therapy with a quality, licensed therapist, as it is highlighted as one of the best things for mental health, comparable to regular physical exercise.