Sleep Toolkit: Tools for Optimizing Sleep & Sleep-Wake Timing

1. View Morning Sunlight Early

View bright light, ideally from sunlight, for 5-30 minutes within the first 30-60 minutes of waking (depending on cloud cover) to trigger a cortisol increase, enhance wakefulness, and set your sleep timer for the night.

2. Maintain Cool Sleeping Environment

Keep your sleeping environment cool, dropping the temperature by at least three degrees, and use blankets as needed, to facilitate the necessary body temperature drop for deep sleep.

3. Dim Lights After Sunset

After sunset, dim artificial lights in your indoor environment and use only as much light as necessary to safely perform activities, as even low light at night can disrupt your circadian rhythm and melatonin production.

4. Avoid Bright Lights 10 PM - 4 AM

Strictly avoid bright artificial lights, especially overhead fluorescent lights, between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. to prevent suppression of melatonin and disruption of sleep quality.

5. Maintain Consistent Sleep Schedule

Maintain relatively consistent sleep and wake times, even on weekends, avoiding sleeping in for more than an hour beyond your normal wake-up time to enhance sleep quality and depth.

6. Delay Caffeine 90-120 Minutes

Delay caffeine intake for 90-120 minutes after waking to allow residual adenosine to clear from your system, which helps prevent an afternoon energy crash and provides a longer arc of energy throughout the day.

7. Practice Nose Breathing During Sleep

Train yourself to nose breathe during sleep by using medical tape to gently close your mouth, which can prevent snoring, offset sleep apnea, and improve overall sleep quality and daytime alertness.

8. Avoid Alcohol/THC for Optimal Sleep

Avoid consuming alcohol or THC for sleep, as while they may help with falling asleep, they significantly disrupt the architecture and quality of sleep, making it suboptimal.

9. Take Hot Bath/Sauna Before Bed

Take a hot bath or sauna for 20-30 minutes in the evening, followed by a cool/warm shower, to induce a compensatory drop in core body temperature, facilitating sleep onset.

10. View Afternoon/Evening Sunlight

View sunlight in the late afternoon and evening (when the sun is at a low solar angle) for 5-30 minutes to provide a second reference point for your circadian clock and inoculate your nervous system against negative effects of nighttime artificial light.

11. Use NSDR/Yoga Nidra Instead of Naps

If naps make you groggy, use Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR), yoga nidra, or hypnosis apps like Reverie for 10-30 minutes in the afternoon to achieve deep relaxation and replenishment without disrupting nighttime sleep.

12. Take Magnesium Threonate for Sleep

Consider taking 145 milligrams of magnesium threonate 30-60 minutes before bedtime to enhance drowsiness, facilitate deep sleep, and wake up feeling more refreshed (consult your physician, and stop if it causes gut disruption).

13. Take Apigenin for Sleep

Consider taking 50 milligrams of apigenin 30-60 minutes before bedtime, alone or with other supplements, to promote drowsiness, deep sleep, and improved morning freshness (consult your physician).

14. Take Theanine for Sleep

Consider taking 100-400 milligrams of L-Theanine 30-60 minutes before bedtime to enhance drowsiness and promote deep, restorative sleep, but be aware it can cause vivid dreams for some (consult your physician).

15. Use Inositol to Fall Back Asleep

Every other night, take 900 milligrams of myo-inositol 30-60 minutes before sleep, potentially with other sleep supplements, to enhance the ability to fall asleep quickly and easily return to sleep if waking in the middle of the night (consult your physician).

16. Use NSDR/Hypnosis to Re-sleep

If you wake up in the middle of the night and struggle to fall back asleep, use a non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) protocol or a ‘fall back asleep’ hypnosis from an app like Reverie.

17. Take Cold Shower for Alertness

Take a cold shower or engage in cold water exposure for 1-3 minutes in the morning to release adrenaline and dopamine, increasing core body temperature and enhancing alertness.

18. Exercise to Increase Morning Temperature

Perform some form of exercise or movement (e.g., walk, jog, skipping rope, light calisthenics) early in the day to increase your core body temperature, which contributes to feeling more awake and alert.

19. Eat Early to Support Alertness

Eating early in the day can further trigger an increase in metabolism and temperature, helping to set a food-entrained circadian clock and making you more alert.

20. Limit Afternoon/Evening Caffeine

Avoid drinking more than 100 milligrams of caffeine after 4 p.m., ideally limiting your last intake to 2-3 p.m., as caffeine consumed late in the day can disrupt sleep architecture even if you feel you fall asleep fine.

21. Avoid Barriers for Morning Light

When viewing morning sunlight, do not wear sunglasses and avoid viewing through windows or car windshields, as these barriers significantly reduce the light intensity needed to trigger the desired biological mechanisms.

22. Increase Light Exposure on Cloudy Days

On cloudy days, increase your morning sunlight exposure to 10 minutes, and up to 20-30 minutes on densely overcast or rainy days, to compensate for reduced light intensity and ensure proper circadian signaling.

23. Use Artificial Light Before Sunrise

If you wake up before sunrise and need to be awake, turn on bright artificial lights in your home, but still go outside to view sunlight once it rises, as artificial lights are not bright enough to replace sunlight for circadian signaling.

24. Gradually Shift Sleep Schedule

To shift your circadian clock, gradually adjust your sleep and wake times by 30-60 minutes earlier each night and morning over a week or so, consistently applying morning alertness tools.

25. Eat on Local Schedule for Jet Lag

To quickly adjust to a new time zone or shift work schedule, align your meal times with the local schedule, as food intake helps entrain your circadian clock.

26. Nap Mindfully, Shorter Than 90 Min

Naps are fine if they serve you well, but keep them shorter than 90 minutes and avoid napping too late in the day to prevent disruption of your nighttime sleep.

27. Intense Evening Exercise Delays Sleep

Be aware that intense exercise in the afternoon or evening can increase body temperature and delay your circadian clock, making you naturally want to go to sleep and wake up later.

28. Use Low-Set Lights at Night

Avoid overhead artificial lights at night, as they mimic overhead sunlight and can activate wakefulness mechanisms; instead, use low-set desk lamps or floor lights.

29. Use Candlelight or Moonlight

For evening light, consider using candlelight or moonlight, as their low lux intensity is less disruptive to sleep mechanisms compared to artificial lights.

30. Use Hands/Feet to Regulate Temperature

If you feel too warm during sleep, extend your hands or feet from under the blankets, as these areas of glabrous skin act as portals to efficiently release heat and help regulate body temperature.

31. Avoid Socks if Waking Up Warm

If you tend to wake up warm in the middle of the night, avoid wearing socks to allow heat to dissipate through the glabrous skin on your feet, aiding in temperature regulation.

32. Add Glycine & GABA Intermittently

Every third or fourth night, consider adding 2 grams of glycine and 100 milligrams of GABA to your sleep supplement stack to further enhance your ability to fall asleep, but avoid daily use to maintain effectiveness (consult your physician).

33. Use Eye Masks in a Cool Room

Use an eye mask to block light and improve sleep, but ensure the room is cool enough to prevent overheating, as eye masks can trap heat around the face.

34. Test Earplugs for Sleep

Experiment with earplugs to see if they improve your sleep by blocking external sounds, but be aware that some people find the sound of their own heartbeat disruptive when using them.

35. Elevate Feet for Deeper Sleep

Elevate your feet by 3-5 degrees (e.g., with a pillow or by raising the end of your bed) to potentially increase the depth of sleep by enhancing glymphatic washout in the brain.

36. Elevate Head for Acid Reflux

If you suffer from acid reflux, elevate the head side of your bed by 3-5 degrees to prevent exacerbation of symptoms, which is the opposite of the foot elevation technique.

37. Train Nasal Breathing During Cardio

To improve nasal breathing during sleep, practice purely nasal breathing during lower-intensity cardiovascular exercise, as this can dilate your sinuses and make nose breathing easier over time.

38. Adjust Clock with Temperature Minimum

Understand your ’temperature minimum’ (approx. 2 hours before typical wake-up time); viewing bright light, exercising, or consuming caffeine 2-4 hours before it delays your clock, while doing so after it advances your clock, useful for jet lag or shift work.

39. Maintain Shift Work Consistency

If engaged in shift work, try to stay on the same shift schedule for at least two weeks at a time to minimize detrimental effects on your brain and body from frequent changes.

40. Use Red Light for Night Waking

If you must be awake in the middle of your sleep cycle (e.g., caring for a baby, working), use red light to see safely without significantly disrupting your cortisol rhythm or melatonin production.

41. Drink Electrolytes Morning & Exercise

Dissolve one packet of Element in 16-32 ounces of water and drink it first thing in the morning and during physical exercise to ensure adequate hydration and electrolytes for optimal brain and body function.

42. Utilize Meditation/NSDR Apps

Use meditation apps like Waking Up, which offer various meditation programs, mindfulness trainings, yoga nidra, and NSDR protocols, to place the brain and body into different states and restore cognitive and physical energy.

43. Optimize Sleep Temperature with 8Sleep

Use a smart mattress cover like 8Sleep to cool your mattress by 1-3 degrees at night, as a drop in body temperature is required for deep sleep, and to potentially cool it further mid-sleep to stay in deep sleep longer.

44. Choose Non-Smoked Yerba Mate

If consuming yerba mate tea, opt for non-smoked varieties due to increasing data suggesting that smoked varieties may carry carcinogenic risks.

45. Avoid Very Large Meals for Alertness

Be mindful of food volume; eating a very large meal, especially for breakfast, can divert resources from the brain and lead to post-meal sleepiness, so adjust meal size if alertness is desired.

46. Measure Light with a Free App

Download a free ‘Light Meter’ app to measure lux levels in your environment, comparing indoor artificial light (around 1000 lux) to outdoor sunlight (5,000-90,000 lux) to understand the difference in light energy.