My top 3 secret ways to maximize sleep

When it comes to sleep, you will always say that you want more. There aren’t enough hours in the day to catch up on all the missed sleep you would need. Some apps like Whoop or other fitness trackers will give you a sleep debt score. This only adds anxiety to getting enough sleep. Today I want to share with you my top 3 sleep secrets to getting the most out of my sleep.

I get roughly 6 hours of sleep daily and I feel 1000% better than I did this time last year when I would get 7+ hours. I have the data to prove it as well

I time my sleep cycles

This might sound insane or you might have no idea what I am talking about but I promise it works. A normal sleep cycle is roughly 90 minutes and most people will get 3-4 per night on average. You have light, rem, and deep sleep during these cycles ( read more here). You most likely learned this in grade school. What you didn’t learn is waking from deep sleep or REM sleep is when you feel the most groggy. When you wake up in light sleep, this is when you jump out of bed and feel ready to crush the day. You are in light sleep at the beginning or end of a sleep cycle. If you always have to wake up at 6 a.m., you should try to fall asleep around 10:30 pm or 12:00 am. This gives you 5 or 4 sleep cycles respectively. If you do not want to do the counting you can use the sleep cycle calculator here

Eat carbs before bed

I know what you are thinking, eating before bed is bad. In most cases eating a large meal before bed will cause you to get a bad night's sleep. This is due to digestion. But, having some quick digesting carbs before bed will make you fall asleep faster. The sugars will cause your blood sugar to spike for a bit and then drop. This process is completely normal and happens daily. Timing this for when you want to sleep allows you to fall asleep faster.

Supplements

I am not usually a fan of melatonin for various reasons. When you are trying to maximize your sleep, I do like to use supplements. CBD is always my go-to to ensure I get quality deep sleep. Whoop has done various studies and has various users' data to show CBD increases sleep. If that is not your jam, I suggest a combo of magnesium, zinc, and L theanine. Magnesium and zinc are shown to improve your sleep quality while L theanine will help relax you. I prefer L theanine over melatonin due to the inaccurate doses of melatonin.

Try these out and let me know how they work!

Dont forget to call your mom

-Mike