Vol. 014–Go to sleep faster, longer, and better using unconventional sleep techniques, tips, and tricks used by neuroscientists and sleep experts

1 oz of water to garden your health

2 Tools for growth

1 Cool Product

Mystery Prize

Reading Time: 3 minutes and 42 seconds

Action to water your health

Lack of sleep. We all know that crappy feeling when we haven't had enough. We've all heard the same repetitive advice.

• Go to bed, and wake up at the same time every day.

• In the last hour of the day, stay away from any screens.

• Turn off most of the lights in your house at night 2-3 hours before bed.

• Wear an eye mask to sleep.

• Don't overdue it with naps.

• Budget 30 Minutes For Winding Down.

Don't get me wrong this advice is good! This is the first step. But for others that have tried everything. I've compiled 15 lesser-known ways to fall asleep faster, longer, and stay asleep.

I compiled this list from books, podcasts, and sleep experts. I've lost sleep writing this, so you don't have to.

1. The Round table Technique: When I'm having bad anxiety, fears, or insecurities I use this technique. I close my eyes and envision the knight's round table. I am king Arthur. I am in control of any discussions that occur. Give each fear, insecurity, or otherwise a physical body. Let them speak, as long as they need.

For example, when I'm having bad imposter syndrome. Preventing me from sleeping. I give it life. It talks. "you are no good, you have no idea what you're doing..." Eventually, it stops talking and I realize if this is the worst. That's ok. Next!

2. Cool Your Room: keep your bedroom at 60 to 67° F (15 to 19° C). This is the optimal temperature to fall asleep faster and have good quality sleep. Don't have air conditioner? yeah I don't either. So use a fan. Wear less clothes. And don't wear socks.

3. Food: Don’t go to bed too hungry, and don’t go to bed too full. Fatty and heavy meals can cause bloating and stomach pain. Spicy? heartburn and indigestion.

Hungry? wake up to late-night hunger pains, as your stomach says "feed me." Good luck sleeping.

4. Melatonin: Yes, everyone has heard of this. Circadian rhythms start to get outta wack as we age. So using this makes more sense as we age. Or when you traveling between time zones.

5. Magnesium Threonate or Glycinate Mag: Helps regulate neurotransmitters that are directly related to sleep. Usually, you can get enough from your diet. But certain people are lacking. Deficiency in mag leads to disrupted sleep-wake cycles. Its MAG-nificient!

6. Apigenin or Chamomile Tea: Apigenin is abundant in chamomile tea. Reduces anxiety. Apigenin shows second-order positive modulatory activity at GABAA receptors (so, it helps you sleep).

7. Glycine: A non-essential amino acid. Works by:

• Promoting sleep

• Shortens Non-rapid eye movement sleep

• Hypothermic effects

How? Modulating thermoregulation and circadian rhythms through the activation of NMDA receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus.

8. GABA: Neurotransmitter, potent depressive neuroactive peptides in the brain. Beneficial for inducing sleep rather than maintaining sleep. It can also help with anxiety.

9. No caffeine after 1 pm: People metabolize caffeine differently. 1 pm is what works for me. We know this through genetic testing. So you may need to stop drinking caffeine even earlier! (buzzkill). My friend stops at 10 am or is up all day.

10. No Alcohol: You already know this. You'll sleep like crap. Maybe you'll go to sleep faster, but the quality will suck. This is due to:

• Increases temp

• Increase heart rate

• Dehydration

11. Avoid Exercising 2 hours Before: Exercising increases your body temp and changes your hormone levels. Remember you want a cool room and body.

12. White Noise Machine: Masks effects that help prevent other sounds that tend to disturb sleep and keep one's consciousness awake. Maybe some other time we'll go into pink noise, and brown noise (yes, those are a thing).

13. Track Your Sleep: If your sleep sucks. Track it. Use an app, watch, ring, and maybe your significant other can stay up and watch you (did they really do it? you cray). IDK. Just track it. Why? bc maybe your quality of sleep is terrible (REM vs non-REM).

14. Diet: I'm not going to talk about keto vs Mediterranean diet vs countless others. The point is your body's metabolism is directly affected by your diet. So it will affect your sleep. Alter what you eat and when. you might notice some differences in the quality of your sleep.

15. Mattress topper: Yes, different than a fruit topper. A mattress topper circulates temperature-controlled water. So cooler temperatures. Meaning sleep faster and better. If you don't have an AC might be a thought.

Tools for growth

Convoke: Encourage thoughtful conversation. I played this game with friends before recommending it. And we discussed region, love, and other topics. Is a thoughtful game. might not be for everyone.

Rize: Another time tracker? Not exactly. It gets as granular or non-specific as you'd like. I started using this app and found out how much time I actually spend on focused work.

Use Code: E166E0 (to get 1 month free)

Cool Product

BKR: These water bottles are made of glass and have some cool designs. Easy to clean too. Stay classy and hydrated.

Mystery Prize

I'll be the first to admit my web3 knowledge is laughable. This company Skiff is the first web3, open-source email. Might be something interesting if you're into that stuff.

You're an awesome human,

Martin, CEO of braincrumbss