Sleep Protocol

My protocol for maximizing sleep each day starts when I wake up at 3 AM. It’s called your circadian rhythm for a reason; to stay in rhythm, you want to go to bed and wake up at nearly the same time every day.

It would be best if you strived to view sunlight within 30-60 minutes upon waking to set your circadian rhythm, but since I get up several hours before the sun, I turn on all the lights in the room I’ll be working in that morning to help mimic the effect. Bright morning light tells your body to suppress melatonin and increase cortisol, which I will explain next. But in brief, your melatonin and cortisol cycles coincide with your periods of wakefulness and restfulness:

I have my first, and typically only cup, of coffee around 6 AM. A lot goes into this, so I’ll try my best to unpack it here.

Adenosine and sleep

A critical molecule that affects your sleep drive, adenosine, rises throughout the day. As you get into the later part of the day, it contributes to your sleepiness and helps you fall asleep. Here’s how it works as related to your circadian rhythm:

The high sleep pressure depicted above is the primary factor driving you to go to sleep at night. But when you consume caffeine, it displaces adenosine at a receptor level, which is why you get the jolt of “energy” from caffeine – you’re inhibiting the feeling of drowsiness by reducing the growing sleep pressure of the day.

But when you first wake up, you still have adenosine in your system, which needs some time to clear. So when you have coffee shortly after waking, you displace the adenosine, but after caffeine is gone, adenosine binds to its receptors with increased affinity. This causes the afternoon crash and the desire for more caffeine.

By affording 90-120 minutes after waking to clear the remaining adenosine from your system before having your first cup of coffee, you can enjoy the effects of the caffeine without residual adenosine lingering around to give you that crash afterward. Science!

Cortisol and sleep

Another aspect of all this is that you have a considerable cortisol spike shortly after waking, a natural energy source. Cortisol helps clear adenosine. Caffeine also disrupts cortisol production, further limiting your ability to clear the adenosine from your system.

Finally, taking caffeine while cortisol is high increases tolerance. This tolerance, combined with the disruption of your adenosine clearance, leads to the several-cups-of-coffee-a-day habit as you constantly try to fight drowsiness and the waning effects of caffeine on your system.

By starting my run no later than 8 AM during winter, I can still capture the early morning sun’s effects on adequately setting my circadian rhythm. This run also gets my blood pumping and sets the tone for the rest of my day.

Furthermore, sunlight boosts vitamin D production in the body, which has also been associated with improving many aspects of sleep, such as time-to-sleep, sleep duration, sleep quality, and proportion of time in REM sleep. Unfortunately, this effect is limited during the winter in New England due to the increased distance from the sun and decreased skin exposure from clothes worn to combat colder weather.

Since I go to bed at 8 PM, I rarely have coffee after 8 AM. I’ve already explained how caffeine disrupts your sleep drive by inhibiting adenosine, so here I will describe how it insidiously disrupts your sleep quality.

The half-life of caffeine is approximately 5 hours. This means that 5 hours after consuming the caffeinated beverage, half of the caffeine will have cleared your system. After another 5 hours, a quarter, another 5 hours, an eighth, and so on. So if I have my typical coffee at 6 AM and then another at 8 AM, this is when I can expect to achieve restful sleep:

This is still pushing it a bit as I sleep at 8 PM, but I don’t take it as gospel since this is still just a simulator. Regardless, to avoid even the possibility of caffeine interfering with my sleep, I tend to keep to my one cup of coffee at 6 AM, which, based on the simulator, gives me this:

With an 8 PM bedtime, this predicted outcome is much more favorable to a good night’s sleep!

Check out your expected restful sleep time with the caffeine simulator based on your coffee intake. To get even more insight into this topic, check out the full article.

I’ve found that my body and mind work best when I keep things consistent. And when I keep things consistent, I’ve seen the quality of my sleep increase. When I eat and work out, two aspects of the day can be controlled decently enough to occur around similar times each day. It’s like giving your body certain expectations of what will happen daily to prime itself for them. This is keeping in line with my circadian rhythm.

As discussed earlier, napping decreases your homeostatic sleep pressure, aka your sleep drive. This can affect your ability to fall asleep at night and interfere with your sleep stages.

Although much research has gone into the effects of napping during the day, with a general agreement that naps less than 90 minutes and before 3 PM should have a limited impact on nighttime sleep (when already getting sufficient sleep at night), I find myself better off without them. For one, I do not have the time to nap. And two, I’m just uber-protective of my nighttime sleep.

I have come across research that shows for healthy athletes, a 90-minute nap in the early afternoon, prior to intensive physical training or competition, improves performance significantly. Maybe once the kids can finally take care of themselves, I will try this out one day.

The sunlight you view during sunrise and sunset arrives in different wavelengths than the sunlight during the daytime hours. Therefore, by exposing yourself to natural light during the day, especially during the sunrise and sunset when the light is less blue and more red and yellow, you can help regulate your body’s natural circadian rhythm and improve your natural production of melatonin. This may help mitigate the adverse effects of artificial blue light exposure at night by promoting healthy sleep patterns and better overall sleep quality (source, source).

Many alternative and complementary practitioners commonly use the term “ungrounded” to describe patients, but this report sheds light on its scientific meaning. It is often overlooked that human life evolved in close contact with the Earth’s surface, with people walking and sleeping directly on the ground until a few generations ago. As a result, the Earth’s electrical field was evenly distributed over the skin and throughout the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, which are electrically conductive. However, modern lifestyles involve wearing insulating shoes and living and working in environments that are electrically disconnected from the Earth, resulting in a lack of exposure to the planet’s natural voltage.

I believe that that reestablishing electrical contact with the earth can improve not only sleep, but also recovery, health, and vitality and a decent amount of research seems to back me up on this (source, source, source).

Big Pharma and Big Medical wouldn’t have you know this, but the intervention to the many chronic degenerative illness that plague our time may be right beneath our feet. Grounding or earthing the human body may be just as essential in the health equation with sunshine, clean air and water, nutritious food, and physical activity.

Here are some benefits of grounding on sleep:

• Reduces night-time levels of cortisol, a stress hormone
• Helps to re-synchronize cortisol secretion with the natural 24-hour circadian rhythm profile
• Promotes relaxation and reduces stress levels
• Decreases sympathetic nervous system activity, which is responsible for the “fight or flight” response
• Reduces inflammation and oxidative stress in the body, leading to a reduction in pain and discomfort
• May improve sleep quality and duration
• May enhance feelings of well-being and mood
• May help regulate the body’s circadian rhythm, leading to more balanced sleep-wake cycles
• May help reduce the risk of sleep disturbances caused by electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from electronic devices
• May promote better immune system function and overall health.

Having your last meal no later than 3 hours before going to sleep is recommended because eating close to bedtime can negatively impact your sleep quality and overall health in several ways, especially in those with GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).

First, when you eat close to bedtime, your body is still digesting food while trying to sleep, leading to discomfort, bloating, and indigestion. This can make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night. This is especially so when the meals are heavy in carbs.

Additionally, eating before bedtime can disrupt your body’s natural circadian rhythm, affecting your sleep quality. In particular, eating close to bedtime can affect your body’s ability to achieve deep sleep, which occurs at a higher percentage at the beginning of the night.

Moreover, research has shown that eating late at night may increase the risk of weight gain and metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, as the body is less efficient in metabolizing food during sleep.

Therefore, giving your body enough time to digest your last meal before going to sleep is essential to promote good sleep hygiene, support your natural circadian rhythm, and maintain your overall health.

I’ve found that the more liquids I drink close to bedtime, the more often I wake up with the sensation of needing to pee. So to reduce interruptions to my sleep, I ensure I’ve had all the water I need for the day to keep me hydrated before dinnertime. Then, afterward, I take sips here and there if still thirsty.

If you’re waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom (“washroom” if you’re Canadian) try sipping, not gulping your last beverage of the day. The speed that you ingest fluid, and not just the total amount, helps dictate the urination response. #fewerwakeups

— Andrew D. Huberman, Ph.D. (@hubermanlab) December 6, 2022

Alcohol is a known sleep disruptor. Even though it may help you fall asleep at first, it will interrupt all sleep phases and cause you to wake up throughout the latter parts of the night.

To keep this from happening, I avoid alcohol during and after dinner. These days, I do not drink alcohol at all. There are zero health benefits to drinking alcohol; it’s pretty deleterious. So with everything I’m trying to accomplish, why set me back by drinking alcohol?

(For the curious mind, this is what the above graph looks like after smoking marijuana before bed)

I highly recommend that anyone interested in the effects of alcohol on their health and well-being check out this episode of the Huberman Lab Podcast. It has radically transformed how I view and treat alcohol, like how discovering Dr. Matthews Walker’s book “Why We Sleep” radically changed how I view my sleep.

Nothing relaxes me more than taking a hot shower or bath before bed. It eases my mind and soothes the aches and pains throughout my body from all my running and lifting. I also take the opportunity to get in some extra reading while in the bath.

I’ve found that 20 minutes is the ideal amount of time when going the bath route. Research has shown that 20 minutes in the sauna markedly increases growth hormone production during sleep. Since I don’t have a sauna, I try to mimic the effects with a hot bath.

Benefits of a hot bath prior to sleep:

• Improved sleep quality: A hot bath can help to relax the body and mind, improving your sleep quality. When you soak in warm water, your body temperature rises and drops once you get out of the bath. This drop in temperature can signal to your body that it’s time to sleep, which can help you fall asleep faster and enjoy a more restful sleep.
• Reduced stress and anxiety: The warm water and steam from a hot bath can help to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. Soaking in the tub can be a peaceful and relaxing experience and help calm the mind and body.
• Pain relief: Hot water can help to soothe sore muscles and joints, making a hot bath an excellent option for people who suffer from chronic pain or soreness. The warmth can help increase blood flow and reduce inflammation, relieving aches and pains.
• Decrease in blood pressure. In a study of older adults, a bath between 104.5 and 106 degrees Fahrenheit lowered blood pressure before and during sleep, especially when taken less than an hour before bedtime.
• Improved skin health: A hot bath can help to open up pores and promote sweating, which can help to cleanse the skin and remove toxins. Additionally, warm water can help improve circulation, leading to healthier-looking skin.
• Increased feelings of well-being: Soaking in a hot bath can be a pleasurable and indulgent experience, which can help boost your mood and overall well-being. Taking time to care for yourself and relax can positively impact your mental health and happiness.

Bright artificial lights at night disrupt the natural rise in melatonin and shorten its duration while asleep (source). This has been shown to profoundly affect the quality and quantity of your sleep with increased susceptibility to diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease (source, source, source, source). As such, we keep all recessed lighting off during the evening in the house and use only dimly lit lamps in the bedroom.

When going to bed, I turn off and hide any potential sources of artificial light creeping into the room.

Even though I try to limit the exposure to bright lights at night, I throw on my blue light-blocking glasses at 7 PM, once I’ve put the kids down, just as an extra level of protection. Blue light is known to be the most significant offender of melatonin secretion at night (although all bright light still plays a role). So further limiting it at night can protect my natural rise in melatonin as I prepare for bed.

These are the pair of blue-light-blocking glasses I currently use at night. Although I may look crazy (just ask my wife), I know I’m blocking out that pesky blue light as best I can.

All screens are just more sources of artificial light at night, especially blue light, that can stop melatonin secretion and disrupt your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. Phones, in particular, are disruptive because you hold them right in front of your face.

I also find looking at your phone while in bed to be especially dangerous because it’s much easier to be distracted from the sensation of feeling sleepy. I can easily scroll through social media for what feels like hours at night but barely read two pages in a book before I want to pass out.

Not only does reading a book before bed keep me from looking at my phone, but it also helps relax my mind by allowing it to focus on one thing rather than bouncing around on multiple thoughts from the day. Plus, I love to read, and even though I may make it a few pages before passing out, I’m always making progress with my reading list.

Keeping the bedroom as cold as possible, within a comfortable range, can help with sleep because it facilitates the natural decrease in body temperature during the night (source). As we fall asleep, our body temperature begins to drop, and this decrease in temperature helps to initiate and maintain sleep.

Sleep experts recommend a bedroom temperature between 60-67 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5-19.5 degrees Celsius) for optimal sleep. This temperature range can vary depending on personal preferences and other factors, such as bedding and clothing.

In addition to facilitating the natural decrease in body temperature, keeping the bedroom cool can promote deeper, more restful sleep. When the body is too warm, it can lead to restless, fragmented sleep and more frequent awakenings throughout the night.

Nasal breathing can help you sleep better in several ways:

1. Increases oxygen intake: When you breathe through your nose, the air is filtered, moistened, and warmed before it reaches your lungs. This process helps increase the amount of oxygen that enters your body, which is essential for good health and optimal sleep.
2. Improves airflow: Nasal breathing helps to create a better airflow through the airways, which can reduce snoring and other sleep-related breathing disorders. When you breathe through your nose, the air flows smoothly through the narrow passageways, reducing the likelihood of obstructions.
3. Promotes relaxation: Breathing through your nose promotes relaxation and a sense of calmness. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows down your heart rate and relaxes your muscles, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.
4. Reduces stress: When you breathe through your nose, you activate the diaphragm, which helps to reduce stress and anxiety. This can help to lower cortisol levels, a hormone associated with stress, and improve your overall mood and sleep quality.

Overall, nasal breathing can help you sleep better by increasing oxygen intake, improving airflow, promoting relaxation, and reducing stress.

This topic is best for a stand-alone blog so I won’t get into any detail here. But for my own sake, I don’t take anything anymore and instead focus on optimizing every other aspect of my sleep routine. Not only does it seem more natural, but it’s cheaper.

My concern with taking sleep prescriptions and supplements is that they mask underlying issues. Don’t let Big Pharma fool you. You don’t NEED their quick fixes to get a good night’s sleep. Instead, focus on improving yourself before improving their bottom line.