Sleep is the single most effective thing anyone can do to restore their brain and body to optimal function. There is a reason we spend one-third of our lives in this state. No other behavioral practice, food, or drug comes close to the benefits offered by sleep1. To quote Matthew Walker in Why We Sleep, “There does not seem to be one major organ within the body, or process within the brain, that isn’t optimally enhanced by sleep (and detrimentally impaired when we don’t get enough).”
For all of modern society’s issues with sleep, the practice itself is fairly simple and easy to understand. The two factors that drive sleep are adenosine and melatonin. Adenosine accumulates the longer you are awake and drives the desire to sleep while melatonin operates on a clock, or circadian rhythm, timing when sleep should occur. It’s quite logical then that anything disruptive to either of these processes should be avoided. Similarly, actions that positively influence these processes should be promoted.
Below, I’ve outlined my principles for maximizing quality sleep, providing supplemental information when appropriate.
This covers the most important variables I’ve encountered to get the best sleep possible. From good sleep stems the ability to optimize every other aspect of our health and performance.
In ending, I encourage readers to remember this quote:
“The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life span. The old maxim “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” is therefore unfortunate. Adopt this mindset, and you will be dead sooner and the quality of that (shorter) life will be worse.”
– Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep
1 Only the need for oxygen and water surpasses our need for sleep in terms of time to expiration