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Summary
On episode 197 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan shares eleven of his favorite tips for getting better, more restorative sleep, arguing that most sleep problems come down to modern habits that fight our natural circadian rhythm rather than a lack of hours in bed.
He walks through why sleep matters biologically, sleep is when the body rebuilds itself, forms memories, and balances hormones, and how the invention of artificial light disrupted a rhythm humans followed for most of history, when firelight in the evening and sunlight during the day gave the brain clear signals about when to wind down.
The tips cover what to avoid before bed, how to shape the bedroom environment, and how to work with natural sleep cycles instead of an alarm clock so you wake up rested instead of stressed.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Stop caffeine well before bedtime. The body takes roughly eight hours to metabolize caffeine, so Allan cuts off caffeine by around noon to fall asleep easily by his 8:30 bedtime.
- Avoid alcohol at night. Alcohol can knock you unconscious, but it keeps you from cycling through the deeper layers of sleep where the body handles repair and memory formation, which is part of why memory suffers after drinking.
- Skip sleep medications, including melatonin. Sleep meds knock you out without letting you reach restorative deep sleep. Melatonin is a hormone the body already makes, and relying on a supplement version risks the body producing less of its own over time.
- Turn off screens 30 minutes before bed. Nearly all screens emit blue light, which tells the brain it’s still daytime and keeps you stimulated. Reading a physical fiction book under warm, non-blue light instead helps the body wind down naturally.
- Keep a consistent bedtime ritual. Going to bed at the same time every night, the same way parents set routines for kids, trains the body to expect and crave sleep at that hour, making it easier to fall asleep quickly.
- Optimize the room: dark, cold, and quiet. Cover stray light sources, keep the room in the roughly 63 to 68 degree range, and use a fan or white noise to mask outside sound. All three combine to create the best physical environment for sleep.
- Let your natural sleep cycle wake you instead of an alarm. Sleep cycles run in roughly 90 minute stretches. Waking abruptly out of deep sleep spikes cortisol, while waking naturally as you surface into lighter sleep avoids that stress response.
- Consider sleeping alone occasionally. A partner or pet moving in the bed can repeatedly pull you out of deep sleep without you fully realizing it, which is part of why new parents feel so worn down even when they’re technically getting hours of sleep.
“Sleep is a time when our body is effectively rebuilding itself and setting us up for the next day.”
Coach Allan
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