Brian Johnson shares his nightly sleep routine: breathing exercises and reciting memorized quotes to control his thoughts before bed. He walks through the specific practices he uses to optimize sleep.
Every single night when I go to bed, I do the exact same thing. So I've got this ritual where I'm in bed and I take five deep breaths, a count of six, hold one, exhale, eight, four breaths. And in order to do that count, I had to stop thinking about what was going on in the day. And then I sleep in the Citadel. I've memorized five quotes, and I say them same exact sequence every single night. If I'm not asleep by then, I do it again. I I want to have the control over whether I decide to think about something. And I'm not just ruminating and going over and over and over in my mind, or thinking about some nonsensical thing or some super stressful thing. Aurelius says you need to have a sentinel who's keeping watch and doesn't let anything into your mind but that which you decide to let in.
