Sleep is very important for many different reasons, we need it to reverse oxidative stress in our brains, strengthen and repair the immune system, allow our bodies to rest, to promote a long and healthy life, etc etc. A lack of sleep can put you at greater risk to cancer, alzheimer's disease (and a long list of other mental disorders), dying young, showing signs of aging earlier on life, and the list goes on!

Humans need about 7-9 hours of sleep everyday, ideally 8-9, but how do ensure we get enough sleep every night in a world full of distractions like technology where sleep is getting neglected more and more?

A major factor in helping you to get to sleep is going to bed at around the same time every night. Personally, I like to stay up a little bit longer on the weekends but generally go to bed at around the same time. There are a number of steps one can take to promote sleepiness every night.

1 - Dim or turn off all the lights around the house 2-3 hours before going to bed.
2 - Install f.lux on your phone, computer and any other devices (replaces blue light with red light in your devices).
3 - Don't go to bed on a full stomach or an empty stomach, both will interfere with your sleep negatively.
4 - As oppose to using your phone right before you try to nod off, read a book with a candle light 30 minutes before bed.
5 - Take a warm bath! Your body actually open its pores and cools down after a warm bath, which will help you sleep.
6 - Have a cool room and a cool bed, a warm room and bed will seriously mess your sleep.
7 - Ensure your hands and feet are warm (consider socks and gloves), but the rest of the body is cool.
8 - Drink a cup of chamomile tea or valerian root before bed, it's very relaxing!
9 - Anxiety can keep some people awake at night, try some simple breathing exercises in through the nose and out through your mouth whilst focusing on your breathwork to reduce anxiety. Do this for 3 minutes.
10 - For those that travel a lot and mess up their sleep cycles, melatonin supplementation can help fix your sleep cycle.
11 - Cut out caffeine and any other stimulants which may affect your sleep, anecdotally, if I drink caffeine past 4pm, I won't be able to sleep well when I eventually go to bed at about 11:00 PM.

I hope this guide was helpful for anyone that struggles with sleep, thanks for reading!

best video i've seen on sleep yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaWilO_Pig


I do have to disagree with you on some points.

Warm baths never worked for me, i was warm for too long and could not cool down, it works in theory but for me it never did. This is just a personal note.

Eating will interfere with certain gene activations and hormone releases I highly doubt having something in your stomach to digest while you are sleeping is positive.
Feels like the study looked people who did not eat, and found that they had worse sleep - maybe they were used to eating and now they didnt?
Whenever I've seen research done on different mechanisms they pointed in the direction that digesting while sleeping is bad.

Also a few extra nootes:

Dont eat vitamin d before bed, do eat magnesium before bed.
Both are very important for sleep quality

What role does magnesium play in sleep? Theoretically, if you get enough of it in your diet, wouldn't supplementation be unnecessary?

i am not sure but i do know magnesium melatonin and vit d are always mentioned when scientists or doctors talk about sleep - there are also almost a thousand interactions going through your brain while you sleep so it's a tough call esp for a layman like me


yes, in theory if you eat enough magnesium (and your genes are clear meaning u can absorb magnesium well) it should be fine

Also, that was a great podcast! Inspired me write up the guide, and sleep moar in general.

Yes I agree, one of the best videos i've seen on sleep so far.

Still I think the knowledge around sleep is shady.

He never mentions any type of serious polyphasic sleep - he also says we get tired afternoon at the same our even if we are fasting but that can be meal tyme preparation of our digestive system if it is used to eat at the same time ?


I'm very curious how we could alter sleep.

There are times nothing of this works for me, unfortunately.

I am a night owl and love to stay awake at night. The problem is the sleep time shifts ridiculously so I have periods of going to sleep at 7 am or later. This interferes with daily activities and people keep waking me up during the day (buzzing on door, postman comes, children screaming etc.)

When I force myself to fall asleep sooner, say at 10 pm, I wake up at 1-2 am and is unable to fall asleep again till noon.

I really hate I cannot sleep like normal people. I am almost always tired but cannot get the solid good night sleep.

This time I will try valerian root and melatonin, maybe both.

1. Roll a joint with about half a gram of OG Kush or MK Ultra
2. Smoke it all!
3. Lay down and meditate to low volume of any kind of sleeping music
4. Good night

Aha, that used to be my approach for sleep sometimes but THC impacts on quality of sleep negatively by reducing the REM stage of sleep (watch the podcast for more info).

You could use melatonin to fix your sleep cycle, as well as using those teas. I too love to stay up during the night because there is no one to bother you and you can do as you please, but after watching that podcast, I came to the realisation of how unhealthy it actually is and now try to maintain somewhat of a "normal" sleep pattern.

I'm sure there's a reason you can't get a proper sleep night's sleep. Attempting to fix your sleep hygiene would be a good start and if you feel that isn't working, you could maybe pay a visit to a professional to see if you have some form of insomnia?

Btw, I am not a sleep expert by any means, I just know more than the average joe

I appreciate this a lot. I have been tasting the delights of following the natural day-night cycle for a while and my routine followed most of the principles you've gathered, I would just not use electricity after sunset.

I find bathing in darkness to be very relaxing, it got me closer to my body and sensations. It also made me more confident in myself - let me explain this: when you get good at something (instrument, writing, etc) you don't need to see to do, moving in my appartement and surrounding like a night cat was very nice in that regard. I felt more confident in myself and my environnement, more grounded.

It also felt like I was digesting things from the day betterly, which made my sleep better. Vision seems to be related to mental activity, so cooling off the lights cooled the mental processes as well. I also noticed increased visual awareness when I woke up, every morning I felt as if my vision got better. It had its downwards though because I couldn't support artificial light at night after a while - often they are very agressive and not used wisely, it was really painful and I stopped going out at night. Even artificial light in the day felt very reductive and aggressive, I was barely going on computer (and I had no smartphone at that time) - more and more I would feel not so good when inside and I needed to be outside, where light is more diffuse, wide and can wander around, I guess.

It got me to look at how we interact with light differently. When we look for something in our appartements, we directly turn on the light, even if most of the time we could to it blindly. It was really weird but I would always find what I was looking for directly when I was in darkness, I always knew where things were. We often jump to any opportunity to "see clearly", we kill any little shadows so that everything is clear, neat, separated and defined. Light allows rapidity but darkness forces a slower motion, things take more time, you have to accept not everything is instantaneous. I really liked that aspect of living like that.

(notice you can also get flux or similar apps on your smartphones)

In addition to f.lux, there is twilight and redshift. They all do the same thing, but the platforms they are available for vary. A blue blocker is vital to prevent melatonin suppression, so be sure and install one of em on each device you use after sunset.

Magnesium is extremely important, it controls hundreds of cellular processes in the body. In respect to sleep, it facilitates neurotransmission, helps regulate circadian rhythms and melatonin production, and acts as a GABA agonist creating a relaxation effect. The best dietary source of magnesium is dark leafy green vegetables because it is contained in chlorophyll cells. As most people don't eat large quantities of dark leafy green vegetables with every meal (as they should) supplementation is recommended for most people, at least short term to correct deficiency.

Yeah I saw the video before. For me after working a lot with Ayahuasca (high dosages many times a week for months, and small sipping during the days) the dreams become so weird and bizarre so they kept me from sleeping good. At this point the weed was amazing.

But speaking from own experience this is true. After a while smoking you feel that the sleep is not as effective as normal, even if you sleep your 8 hours. This is especially noticable when stopping with the weed and the normal sleep/melatonin routine is back.