Podcast episode (Optimize +1) in which Brian Johnson revisits previously recommended sleep curfews (caffeine, exercise, eating, screens, work) and introduces a new “stress curfew.” He shares a personal anecdote about working past his usual shutdown time, which disrupted sleep and lowered his readiness score, and urges listeners to honor curfews to preserve sleep quality and problem-solving ability.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. Not too long ago we talked about sleep curfews. Five of them to be precise. One for caffeine, another for exercise plus eating plus screens plus work. As you may recall, caffeine has a half life of five to six hours, so try to cut back on that by around noon or two or whatever you find works best for you. Exercise late in the day gets your core temperature all jacked up when it should be mellowing out. So aim for at least three hours before bedtime. And remember that exercise also gives you a 12 hour mood boost, so you might as well pop a happy pill early in the day. Right now, eating was a fun one. The standard device is to eat at least two hours before bedtime and and definitely don't snack right before or in the middle of the night. Want to go gonzo with the glymph? Check out that plus one. Eat at least four. Yes, four hours before bedtime. Then we have screens again. Turn off the screens at least an hour before bed. More if you're feeling it. And finally we had a work shutdown complete target. We left that one up to you and I said mine was no later than 5pm so today I want to add a new curfew. Let's call it the Stress curfew. I violated this one the other day and as I found myself wide awake overthinking in the middle of the night, I vowed to use the data as wisely as possible to recommit to some bright lines as I optimized. And I almost gave myself a mistake. Learners high. I was so buzzing almost. Check out a few plus ones linked in that last paragraph. Technically you could say I violated both my digital sunset screen curfew and my shutdown complete work curfew when I was using Alexandra's phone to work on a somewhat intense business issue way past my normal 5pm curfews. Now it was only 6:45pm when I put down the phone, but that's an hour before I usually go to bed laughing at myself. Who does that? And a couple or few hours later than I usually do that kind of work. So my brain was hopping way more than it usually is that late in the day. Enter that poor night of sleep and a poor aura readiness score to show for it. Good news. I rebounded from the 83 readiness score to back to back 95s with an even deeper appreciation for just how much this seemingly little things matter. One more time. Marginal gains for the win the lesson for me. There are very little things, very few things that are that important that they can't wait until the next day to be addressed, and I'm much more likely to be able to solve them wisely when I'm well rested. Therefore, honor your curfews. Talking to myself and that's today's plus one. Do you have a stress curfew? Should you.
