Optimizing Sleep: Myths, Mechanics, and Tips & Tricks

Welcome to the Optimizing Beyond podcast. I'm Josh Negron, and this show is all about sharing lessons, ideas, and strategies that sharpen your thinking, strengthen your habits, and push you to grow beyond comfort zones. Let's dive in. Welcome back to the show. If you joined us last week, we talked about overoptimization and things that trackers and devices can sometimes cause more anxiety than good. in our lives. However, today I want to transition into talking about optimizing sleep, and trackers can be a big part in helping you do that. Even if you do a professional sleep study, now there are ones you can do at home, and they typically use a tracker that they put on your chest with some leads and then on your finger. And that's the very modern professional way of getting sleep tracked and seeing what might be going on. Sleep is something that I believe affects so many people, which is why I'm so passionate about it in ways that I've optimized my sleep and help others as well. So today we're going to cover a lot of myths in rapid-fire format around schedules and habits and some sleep aids. And also, what are some disruptors in sleep that you can really look out for, especially things that you can knock out easily? That's, that's what are those lower-rung things that you can really take care of that can have a massive impact on your sleep? And then just simply some tips and tricks and things you can adjust. And then very lastly, we're going to cover some supplements. I know that it's so tempting to just want to know what you can pop in supplement form just to get sleep better. But really, there is a foundation of habits that I believe are much, much stronger yield than, than just taking some supplements. So we'll cover that last and see if we can help you improve your sleep. Now, I've been following sleep habits and sleep professionals for a very long time. There was a recent guest on the Diary of CEO podcast with Stephen named Dr. Michael Bruce, and he's been a sleep doctor for over 20 years, and he also has clinician experience in the psychological space and really melds those 2 arenas to help people get better sleep. So it was a very good listen. I'll link it down in the description so you can take a listen, but we're going to cover a lot of the things they discussed on that episode, as well as some additional things when it comes to sleep. So let's get into it. So the first major thing is sleep duration. We hear this number of 8 hours so often. I think it's something that mostly everyone's bought into, but it's really not that simple. And in just in my own life, it's been something that we have discovered. Ashley and I mentioned it in our last episode. We noticed that her and I do not require the same amount of sleep, and it's pretty frustrating since our schedules are pretty closely tied together. We like to go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time. And the one that is at the disadvantage is me because I consistently require more sleep than her. And so she's not tired. So what's she gonna do? Her trackers over time have described that she really only needs anywhere between 6.5 to 7 hours of sleep, whereas my baseline is 7 hours. And then depending on my strain and effort at the gym, not even mentioning any additional stressors like travel, work, or anything like that, that will bump up my sleep need to 8, over 8, and sometimes even 9. And then again, if I'm not getting that consistent number, then it just adds to my sleep debt, which is just getting in a hole that sometimes I can't dig out of unless we adjust our sleep. So this has been something that has been plaguing me for a long time now. Now, the most important thing I want to highlight here is that sleep should really be a foundational part of your life, and addressing it and getting it dialed in is so much more important than a lot of other things that people focus on. So that's just why I'm so passionate about it. There was a period of time where I was trying to maximize both ends of my schedule, Going to bed later so I could get a lot of stuff done and then waking up really early. I was pushing that wake-up time earlier and earlier and earlier. I think at one point I was almost at 4:00 AM just so I could get in there and get a solid morning routine and crush a bunch of things before people even woke up. The downside of that was when I was getting only around 5.5 hours of sleep, I noticed a steep drop-off in mental cognitive ability. And mental stability as well. I was certainly not as resilient to stress and issues. Um, and I was also very emotionally unstable. And I noticed that when I put that back into place, got at least 6 to 6.5, that drastically changed. So that I knew I found my limit there. So not everyone is stuck at 8 hours. Now you don't need a sleep tracker to do that. Just how do you feel? But those trackers definitely help bring some data and some proof to what you may already feel. And if you're trying to get by with 6 or less, chances are you probably are not getting enough sleep. So, and if you work out extremely high effort as well, then that is just adding 30 to 60 minutes of additional sleep needs. You need to understand that. I had a mentor who had a coach that said, you can't work out if you don't get more than X hours of sleep. So this was his way of coaching her through making sure she got enough sleep. Just for her baseline, then for working out if that's something that she was going to do, and beyond that. That was really, really helpful. Now, in talking about getting enough sleep, there is this myth that you can just catch up on sleep. Now, this is a yo-yo that I fight all the time. I just don't get enough. Typically, my base need plus my strain need is going to be right around that 7.5 to 8-hour window. I typically get 7 to 7:15, so I'm always leeching, adding to sleep debt throughout the week. And then the weekend comes. The myth is I can just catch up on sleep. This is not true. It is, but it isn't. So let's cover it. There's 2 metrics that you'll yo-yo if you do that. So you have a basic sleep need, adding stress on top of that. That's the daily need you need for the day. When you don't meet that, you have sleep debt that accumulates over time. And you're like, well, I can just catch it up on the weekend. Well, you have this other metric that really kind of traps you into— you can't just pay back all in one lump sum without some penalty. That's called sleep consistency. So imagine 2 brackets of the time you go to sleep and the bracket of when you wake up. So there is a lot of research around how sleep consistency is also very, very, very critical. So there'll be times where a doctor or your device will tell you, hey, you're getting to bed later, don't wake up later, wake up at the same time. Or if you have the weekend coming up and you can sleep in because you don't have anything to wake up for, you might be able to pay back some of that sleep debt But you'll throw off your sleep consistency, which is also going to cause you some penalties in sleep quality, circadian rhythm, and more. So we talk a lot about this show about daily anything changes everything. So it's definitely better. So this is good, better, best always, but it's definitely better to get that sleep daily the same way it makes sense to go to the gym daily versus trying to go on a Saturday and knocking out 7 hours in the gym. That doesn't make any sense. Nobody thinks that's a good idea. Well, sleep's the same way. So if you're like, well, all I gotta do is make it through the week, I'm gonna just slum it, get 6, 5 or 6 hours a day, and then on the weekend I can get like a 12-hour night and, and everything will be good. You'll knock out your sleep debt, but it's not as good as getting the daily sleep need that you need. So something that I've been working on tweaking my metrics is trying to go, even when I don't need to wake up the next day on a week, say a weekend on a Saturday or Sunday, I'll still try to wake up at the same time. Now that is, that sounds super counterintuitive. And the sleep doctor on the episode said, I actually rather you, if you're going to mess with your sleep consistency, wake up time is more critical. So do not wake up later. You can go to bed earlier if you want to get some lead time, but that's not as fun. Nobody likes doing that. Who wants to go to bed at 8 o'clock? Right? So that one is really, really tough. Sleep consistency is one that is not talked about. Often, and if you can just catch up on sleep, everything's good, right? Well, not everything is great. So it's better than not getting those hours for sure, but it is going to cost you. And there are some penalties to that. If you do it on a regular basis, you cannot outrun bad sleep. And even if you pay the sleep debt back, you still have lagging consequences of that if that's something that you do on the regular. And you can definitely go in deeper as to why it's important to wake up at the same time every day. It has to do with your, your circadian rhythm and your melatonin clock and a lot of those things that help you go to bed the next day. So if you're, if you normally wake up at, let's say, 6:00 AM every single day, and then on a Saturday you're like, I can sleep in, it's all good. And then you wake up at 9:00 AM, something crazy. You've just shifted that window 3 hours. Doesn't seem like a big deal. You paid back your sleep debt. You feel really good, but then you're shifting your Sunday sleep, your Saturday night sleep. And you're likely going to get worse sleep, potentially start out your week poorly on that Monday because you slept like crap on Sunday, and then so on and so forth. So this is, this is something that just a lot of people don't know. And sleep doctors tend to really emphasize, listen, if you can't make both sides of the bracket consistent every single day, then try to make the wake-up one as solid as you possibly can, and then variable the one on the back. Again, Way less fun because staying up late is fun. And who wants to be an 80-year-old person having dinner at 4:30 and going to bed at 6:30? Nobody. Now for some myths around your environment and your habits. I don't think it's a secret that alcohol is something that maybe helps you get to sleep, but definitely does not help you stay asleep or have quality sleep at all. Now, this is a personal decision for everyone. However, alcohol has been linked to terrible sleep in so many studies now. I think it's pretty common knowledge. I know that when I started paying attention to my Whoop When I would have even just one drink at dinner, I noticed that my sleep was absolute garbage. And it asked me questions like, hey, you know, are you sick? Do you have an injury? Or did you have alcohol? And every single time it was like, yep, I don't think this is worth it. And there's a lot of research tied to that alcohol can keep you from stage 3 and 4 of sleep, which are the stages that clean out certain proteins in the brain. And so the accumulation of those proteins, if it's something that's done on a daily or regular basis, can increase the risk of Alzheimer's. And who wants that? So for me, it was an easy decision. I was like, you know what, like, I don't need this for dinner. I don't need to do it socially. It was something that I could just take or leave. So for me, it was an easy call. And also, I'll tell you, in today's day and age, even with crowds that do drink, if you tell them that you don't, in my experience, I don't get any flack about it. In fact, it's something that a lot of people respect. And so if you say that, people are like, awesome, man, respect that totally. And you can get, you know, a club soda with a lime and just Call it a day. Speaking of something that helps you go to sleep but isn't always great for sleep is melatonin. It's something a lot of people use to go to sleep, and it's not favored by a lot of sleep doctors because it is a sleep initiator, but it's not actually responsible for causing the feeling of sleepiness. That's more adenosine, which is linked to caffeine, and you guessed it, linked to what time you regularly wake up. So if you got those other things a little bit off, like we talked about earlier, Then melatonin doesn't always help, and you may just take some and still not be sleepy, which is no bueno. Tied to that, there are a lot of sleep experts that say melatonin is a no-go for kids. Their body actually produces up to 4 times more than an adult, and so additional doses are not beneficial for kids, and they can actually be disruptive to young children, particularly before and during puberty, and can affect those things. So If you're a parent, a lot of sleep experts will recommend that you look into more environmental changes in ways to get the family to wind down to help your kids fall asleep versus actually dosing them with something. And a lot of supplements have been exposed for having wildly different melatonin contents than what they claim, which for kids can be even more detrimental. So that's something to have on your radar if you are a parent. Along the lines of dosing things, there's a lot of people who unfortunately can't get to sleep without some other sort of assistance. And so PM medications, Or even the ones that take the pain relievers out and just help you fall asleep are also very common ways for people to regularly go to sleep. Now, these are popular because they're not as habit-forming in perception as maybe some prescription sleep medications. However, there is growing concern about regular use of these drugs because they have a similar effect on stage four of sleep to alcohol, and potentially not allowing you to regularly go to that place, which causes the buildup of those proteins because they're not able to be. Flushed out, because they're typically only flushed out around that stage. And so you have that increased risk of Alzheimer's. Again, daily, anything changes everything. So if that's something that you're doing on the daily, then you could be spiking that risk for Alzheimer's, which is no good. So if that is something that you regularly do, I think it would be very, very valuable for you to assess your sleep situation, what you might be doing to try to find any other low-hanging fruit that you can attack. To try to get out from underneath the over-the-counter drugs to help you go to sleep. I get it. No judgment. When you want to go to sleep, you want to go to sleep. But we want to look at forward-thinking ways that you can change your sleep so that you're not using these on the daily. Now, along the line of habits, I will tell you that when you get to around mid-thirties, you may have to start going to the restroom in the middle of the night, usually around the one to three a.m. window. Now, this is an interesting thing that I hear everyone talk about, and my wife this last month was like. Hey, I read something that says that when you wake up and you have to go to the bathroom, you actually might not have to go. And I was like, what? That's crazy. But what they discussed was since many people sleep on their sides, then it's increased pressure on the bladder that can cause you to have that intense feeling of having to go, where if you just turn to the other side or flat on your back for a couple minutes, that feeling subsides and you can go back to sleep. I'm telling you right now, there was absolutely no way I was buying into this. I knew this was total crap, but I gotta tell you, I've tried it, and it is impressive how well it works. I'd say now I probably get up maybe 1 out of 5 nights, and the rest of them I just— when I wake up, I'm like, oh, I think I gotta go. Wait, flip over to the other side, and then I'm waking up to my alarm. It's crazy. So it's been frustrating me for a long time. I've been waking up to have to go probably for 3 or 4 years now. And the reason why that's important for me, if I wake up At 2 AM or earlier, I'm good to go. But if I wake up at 2:30 to 3 or later, it's Armageddon. The odds of me being able to go back to sleep get so much lower because the brain starts spooling up, start thinking about things before I can just get back in bed quickly. And so if you're telling me that I don't have to get up at all, game changer. So I'm just telling you right now that the doctor on Diarrhea CEO talked about this. That a lot of times when you wake up and you have to go, you may not have to. It can just be an artificial urge because of that pressure on the bladder because you're all scrunched up, you're on one side, and so just flip over to the other side or lay on your back for a second and you might be surprised that you don't have to go. Now, don't chug a ton of water like before you got to go to bed, obviously. Now, if you chugged a bunch of water the last couple hours before sleep, yeah, I mean, you're, you're stuck, you gotta go. So the one out of those 5 nights, or sometimes maybe I'm behind on my water for the day and I gotta drink quite a bit at or around dinner, And then I could be in trouble in the middle of the night. But I've been really surprised how much this works. So give it a whirl. I'm telling you right now, it is legit. The last thing I'll say about that is the doctor talks a lot about heart rate and how that's related to the ability or inability to go to sleep. And so when that heart rate is high, the difficulty of going to sleep is much more in your face. And so the risk of getting up to even go to the bathroom It causes an increase in that heart rate, which can risk you being able to go back to sleep, let alone your brain spooling up and going off on a sprint. So let me know if that works for you. I know it worked for me, and it's only been a month, and I've been really impressed. The next myth is that wake up in the morning, get right to some coffee or to some pre-workout or any form of caffeine. This has been something that's been addressed by a lot of sleep and performance experts for a hot minute now. There is a lot of research to suggest that caffeine is minimal It's minimally, if not at all, effective within a 90-minute window when you first wake up. So at least 60 minutes. So it's best to avoid caffeine in that window because it doesn't do anything. So among a lot of things going on in your body when you first wake up, your cortisol is going to be at its highest among some other hormones. And so when you take that caffeine, it is going to have minimal to no effect. And what's the point of that in the first place? So for me, I wake up early enough before my workout to do my morning routine stuff. When I'm done with that, by the time I'm ready to take my pre-workout, it's been almost 90 minutes, and then I can take that and have 20 to 30 minutes before it kicks in to do my workout. On days that I don't work out in the morning, I definitely wait 60 to 90 minutes before I have my first cup of coffee or any other drink that has any caffeine in it, because again, what's the point if it's not going to have an actual benefit to you? There's 2 other myths that get talked about pretty often. The first one is that having a TV in the bedroom is Armageddon. Now, a lot of biohackers will say TVs in the bedroom are forbidden, and they have good reasons why they say that. However, there are a lot of sleep experts that are saying that this is less of a deal breaker than people make it out to be, that boredom is something that helps people go to sleep. They're like, if you have bouts of insomnia, try to have some of the world's most boring books next to you that you can pick up and read, and you'll find it easier to go to sleep Same thing with what you can have on the TV. Some people have boring or predictable or maybe reruns of shows they've watched 1,000 times, and that's why it makes it easier for them to go to sleep. And it can also serve as the background noise to help someone go to sleep and stay asleep as well. And the last one in this category was that if you sleep in separate beds, your marriage is over. I know I've heard that before, and the sleep doctor was like, you know, like, this doesn't have to mean that. For some people, it is better for them if they've got something going on, or maybe heavy snoring or other sorts of disorders, or even sleep schedule situations that people have to do those things. Your marriage is also built on many, many other things where if you have the right intentionality, you can definitely overcome anything like this. And it's arguable that a marriage is more in danger when people are irritated, irritable, and not well rested. So if there are certain ways that you need to adapt to do that in order to take care of your sleep, don't be afraid to do so. Like anything, you want to make sure you adjust and you keep your intentionality with your marriage where it needs to be. Now, on this episode, Dr. Bruce talked a lot about sleep apnea. Now, this is a myth that only old and/or fat guys have sleep apnea, and that is simply not the case. Also, the symptoms between men and women present differently. So he said in women, sleep apnea is Extremely undiagnosed, as well as men who are not overweight, cuz it's not the first thing that they think to go get tested. Now, good news, since COVID a lot of sleep tests have started to transition to the comfort of your own home where you don't have to go to a center where you have to try to go to sleep, which that, I don't imagine that would be easy for anyone. Where now you can do a lot of sleep studies with just the device that you wear that they give you, and you can get some pretty quick and easy analysis. As to whether or not you have sleep apnea. Now, why does this matter? You can do a lot of research as to why it's dangerous. However, the major thing that he talked about was, again, this disruption of the ability to get to stage 3 and most importantly stage 4 of sleep, which we've mentioned a couple other times already, and how that keeps you consistently out of that can cause that buildup of proteins. And again, a sharp spike in the risk of Alzheimer's. And that's just— why would you want to mess with that? And something so easy to treat with something like a mask. And that's not the only way to treat it. He did mention that for some people, even just a mouth guard is something that can be really effective. So if you're like, man, I don't want to be Darth Vader, and maybe you already have a diagnosis and you've just never gotten the mask, ask some questions. The treatment of this has grown quite a bit over the years, and so you may have other alternatives if you really don't want to wear the mask. There are There are full facial ones. There's ones that just go in your nose. And so you have flexibility on things that you can ask. Don't just say yes. Ask your doctor like, hey, like, what if I don't want, you know, to be Darth Vader every night? What options do I have? What can I do? There are some that have the machine at home and then wear the mouthguard out when they travel. So there's a lot of flexibility there. Ask your doctor, talk to them about it. But it's just a huge shame if you have that and one, you don't even know, or two, you're avoiding it because you have a certain idea of what it would be and stigma's attached. to that that are really just myths and aren't true. So ask questions, get curious, and get it figured out. Because when Stephen asked him what's the one thing everyone can do to help improve their sleep, he's like, get tested for sleep apnea. I'm telling you right now, he's like, you'd be surprised how many people have it. And he has it, and he's not a big dude. I mean, he is older. And so he's like, I wear a mask, and so it, it just is what it is, and I sleep so much better. And again, That's just such a huge deal. So let's transition into some quick tips and tricks of things that you can do to optimize your sleep better and better over time. So we talked about it earlier, wake up the same time every day. Let's figure out a way that you can do that to keep that sleep consistency. And let's call it wake consistency, more consistent over time, as daily as possible, is going to help your brain release the right chemicals and hormones at the right time every single time to match the time that you need to go to sleep. That way you're not just laying there not able to go to sleep because you ruined it one or two days before that by throwing off the time and the cadence. If you're a caffeine drinker, 90 minutes, 60 minutes if you have to, no earlier than that. Along those same lines, you also want to make sure you're not consuming caffeine too late in the day. Caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours. All that means is if you have 200 milligrams at noon, at 6 PM you have 100 milligrams still floating around in there. So that can be no bueno. For me, I shoot for drinking my last serving of caffeine no later than 2. If I can keep it 1 to noon, that's really the sweet spot. So if you're drinking caffeine at dinner, it is definitely, definitely not ideal. Swap it out for something that doesn't have caffeine and just get all that in earlier in the day. And I know there's people who say caffeine doesn't affect me. It does affect you. It affects the quality of your sleep, even if you can go out like a light. So if you can fall asleep instantly after drinking a full cup of coffee, awesome. But I guarantee you the research proves that the quality of sleep will be less. And again, if that means that you don't sleep as well, or maybe it keeps you out of certain stages of sleep, we already learned how that can be actually really detrimental to your health long-term. Why would you want to do that? So just move that caffeine window, drink drinks that don't have that, and there are plenty to choose from. And that is a huge way that you can increase your sleep quality. The next quick, easy thing that you'll hear a lot of people talk about, the moment that you wake up, drink at least 8 ounces of water, if not 12 to 18 if you can. This gets everything going and rehydrates you from the fluid you lost while you were asleep. This is a huge, easy, easy thing that you can do and is something that I do within a couple minutes of waking up. And this just absolutely makes sense and is something that anybody and everybody can do. Another quick suggestion that the doctor gave in the episode was talking about a Napa latte. And I was like, I don't know what that means. And he said that because it takes between 20 to 30 minutes for caffeine to kick in, he says, I recommend that if you are planning to take a short power nap, 20 to 30 minutes, drink a cup of black coffee or espresso and then immediately take a 20 to 30 minute nap. The reason why this is so effective is because of the chemical adenosine. So adenosine builds up as you get tired. And caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors from attaching, which is what helps you feel that boost of energy. So he's like, when you actually take a nap, you're reducing the amount of adenosine that you have. And then when you drink caffeine, you're blocking adenosine's ability to make you feel tired. So he's like, it's actually like a double whammy where if you can take that 20-minute nap, you're reducing the overall count of adenosine that exists. And then when the caffeine kicks in right when you wake up, You feel even more energized because there's even less adenosine that the caffeine needs to block. So pretty cool one-two punch. I've never heard that before. I thought it was pretty interesting. So if you're a power nap person, I have never been, but I might give it a whirl on a Saturday or Sunday and see maybe if it'll help out. Now rapid firing some more tips and tricks that you can do. Giving yourself an hour to power down. This is a huge thing. This is like the Runway to land the plane. Yeah. So if you can lower or dim the lights, disconnect from certain electronics or social media an hour before bed, this can be a massive way to get your body ready for sleep. You can do some light stretching or breathwork. This is also a great time to do journaling, gratitudes, devotional meditation, things like that to help you wind down and get ready for bed. If you have no type of evening routine, this can be a massive way to help you go to sleep, especially if you're having symptoms of poor sleep or insomnia or can't fall asleep. Look at that wind-down routine. Does it exist at all? If the answer is no, then you have some easy low-hanging fruit that you can take advantage of to really see if you can make that make an impact. Along those lines, you want to avoid food or heavy liquids 3 hours before bed. For me, sometimes this is a little tough because I've got like a 2-hour, 2.5-hour window sometimes. Where that can be a little tricky. And then when it goes even farther, I definitely know that it affects my sleep. So if you can get that 3-hour window, it can make your sleep more effective. So if that's something that you're always butting up against, you may notice an improvement in sleep if you can just make it a little bit earlier. Next tip is sleeping a little cooler. Most of us know that there's a ton of research around when your body is cooler, you're able to fall asleep quicker and easier. So if there's ways that you can do that to adjust your bedding, maybe some fans, or maybe even cranking down your AC can be easy ways to do that. There are also devices that you can do. There's the BedJet, there's the Eight Sleep. I know we love our Eight Sleep. As far as wellness devices, it is definitely one that if it broke tonight, I would be buying one and paying accelerated shipping to get it here tomorrow. Like it is for me almost more important than the mattress we sleep on. And that's because I sleep way, way cooler as far as temperature goes on my side than Ashley. Now, that's recently started to adjust like she talked about last week, but there's definitely a 6 to 8 degree difference in our preferences as far as I like mine that much colder on my end, and that helps me go to sleep. I don't wake up sweating anymore. Huge game changer. But keeping that room cool Especially before you go to bed in that first stage helps you go to sleep so much better. Next tip is avoid getting into any arguments or deep conversations right before sleep. Gosh, this is so hard because that's maybe the only time that you've seen your spouse or your significant other in that timeframe. It can have a massive impact on your sleep, however, so try to have those conversations around dinnertime versus later in the evening, because again, if that happens regularly, have a pretty massive effect on your sleep. Now, what if you're having trouble waking up and then staying awake? So there are a couple things. We already talked about the couple techniques you can try to not have to go to the bathroom, which again, for me, game changer. Awesome. Another powerful one is don't look at the clock. This can cause a massive increase in anxiety and heart rate, which can keep you Awake because your brain jumps to immediately doing the math on how much you have left and when your alarm's going to go off. And then we've all been there, you can't go to sleep. I will tell you, the curiosity bug is very, very aggressive in that moment. There have been times where I'm like, okay, I'm not going to look at it. And then I'm like, dang it. So if you can avoid looking at that clock and just try to go back to sleep, can't be worried about something you don't know. The next is breathing exercises. So breathing techniques geared to lowering your heart rate can help go back to sleep, especially if a lot of it is heart rate related. So you can do box breathing, 4 by 4 by 4 by 4. We've talked about that. In for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4. You can also do 4-7-8, which is what the doctor talked about. So in for 4, hold for 7, which can be a little tricky, and then exhale for 8. So there's a couple things he talks about there. He's like, that's kind of an odd pattern. It can be tough to do. And when you're so fixated on like counting and doing that. By the time you do it a couple times, you may already be out. And then another technique he talks about is counting backwards from 300 by 3s. My wife's been trying this and she's like, I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty impressed with how that works. And so she's like, last night I got to 270-whatever. And I'm like, nice. So it seems like it's very boring, but you, you have to focus so much on the counting to where it makes it tough to really overthink or think about anything else. So pretty neat. Give it a whirl. And then a common recommendation from sleep experts is if you just absolutely cannot go to sleep, get out of the bed. You don't want your body to associate anything with bed aside from sleep generally. And so if you can't go to sleep, get out of bed, go read on the couch or somewhere else. And then when you're feeling sleepy, go back to bed and see if you can do it. So don't doom scroll on your phone in bed. If you're gonna do that, get out of bed. But reading is definitely more recommended because it's definitely more boring and can help you have a fighting chance of getting back to sleep. The next thing is don't underestimate the amount of rest you can get when you're not asleep, which sounds dumb, right? But there are other types of what they call deep rest that you can get when you're not asleep. So if you have a fitness tracker or a sleep tracker, Sometimes it'll tell you that you got actually great sleep and you're like, how? I was awake. And so there are other types of rest that don't involve sleep. So in other words, if you sit there in a relaxed state, not anxious, not, not upset, not freaked out, but you're sitting there restfully laying with a low heart rate, breathing in a relaxed way, you're not freaking out, that's about 30 to 35% as effective as sleep, which is something So for every hour you lay there, you're getting about the equivalent of 20 minutes of sleep. So a night that you thought was Armageddon may not have been as bad. And so don't create a false self-fulfilling prophecy of like, well, I had crappy sleep, so my whole day is gonna be ruined. Remember, expectation effect is powerful. So having that knowledge can sometimes really calm the anxiety of like, man, I'm not able to go to sleep. Well, then don't freak out. Just lay there, chill. There is quality rest that you can get out of deep Non-sleep rest. Now, as promised, I am going to cover a couple supplements, but it is something that I believe there are so many other things that you can do before you do any sort of sleep supplementation. In fact, Dr. Bruce talks about identifying your chronotype is something that he says is of high value. You can visit his website and take a test to identify what chronotype you are, and that's a little bit more in depth of like the night owl versus the early bird. And he says it can have a huge impact on how to time certain things. It's basically just a math equation to figure out what is more optimal for you as a person. So I'll link that in the description. You can take that. So maximize those habit and lifestyle choices first before just automatically going to supplementation to try to help you sleep. However, there are ones that I regularly take that I think are really effective. The biggest one is magnesium. Magnesium is something that can help your sleep quality and also can just be general benefit. To health. Dr. Bruce did emphasize that for sleep, he recommends single ingredient sleep supplements. He's not a huge fan of these one-size-fits-all or multi-ingredient sleep bundles, and I'm not either. I agree. So I take 2 types of magnesium, magnesium glycinate and magnesium threonate. Andrew Huberman's talked about threonate quite a bit. It passes the blood-brain barrier and has a calming effect. I also take theanine, which is something that's in energy drinks to help calm people down and not have them be so jittery when they take an energy drink. And so that can have a calming effect on overthinking and those kinds of things, as well as apigenin, which is another one that can be helpful to potentially impacting your sleep in a beneficial way. And I agree with Dr. Bruce, not a huge fan of melatonin. I can't remember the last time I took it. I don't think it is an effective tool for sleep. In fact, he said the only beneficial use, in his opinion, for melatonin Melatonin is for jet lag or when you're off your sleep schedule drastically, you can use melatonin to kind of try to regulate your sleep again. But aside from that, it is not a great tool for the things that we talked about today. So what have we learned today? We learned a lot of myths that surround sleep. It is a mysterious thing. And when you're in the throes of trying to go to sleep and not being able to on a semi-regular basis, that frustration builds over time. And for me, the assumption that I could just catch up on my lost sleep that I was doing throughout the week with zero consequences is something that's challenged me recently. So I wanted to share, as well as some easy things that you can do that are free or close to it that you can do on a daily basis to just impact your health and sleep even better, especially if it means you don't have to get up to pee every night. So I'm telling you right now, that one was a huge one for me. So I genuinely hope this helps you get some better sleep and dispel some of the myths and rumors out there that you may have bought into about sleep. So thanks for listening to the Optimizing Beyond podcast. Remember, growth happens when you take action. So subscribe, share this with a friend, and most importantly, put some of these things into practice. But until next time, keep moving forward, because as we know, daily anything changes everything.