I read on reddit somewhere saying, “improving your sleep feels as good as winning the lottery.” I mean that’s not too far off.
When I have high quality sleep I feel like I can literally do anything.
My energy is sky high, I’m super optimistic, I have a zest for life, excited, eager to do stuff. It makes life worth living.
But, when I don’t get enough sleep I don’t feel like living, life is highly unenjoyable, I don’t want to talk with anyone, I know I’m not operating at my my full potential and it just f*cking sucks.
I mean I can still get through but it’s a slog, requires a ton of will power, digging deep, and my battery literally feels like it’s at 1%.
I mean we all know this, but feeling the firsthand affects of sleep deprivation and high quality sleep is the only real way to know the difference.
Matthew Walker, author of “Why We Sleep: On Health and Longevity”, says, “The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life span.”
Walker describes sleep as “Mother Nature’s best effort yet at contra-death” and the “Swiss army knife of health”. He warns that sleeping under six or seven hours nightly “demolishes your immune system” and doubles cancer risk, emphasizing that sleep is a “non-negotiable biological necessity” rather than an optional luxury.
On Performance and the Brain, Walker calls sleep the “greatest legal performance-enhancing drug” and notes that the mind cannot accurately gauge its own sleep deprivation.
He also refers to sleep as “the best bridge between despair and hope”.
“When sleep is abundant, minds flourish. When it is deficient, they don’t.” Matthew Walker
“You are a professional sleeper. Make sleep your #1 appointment in your calendar. Nothing influences your conscious or subconscious existence more.” -Bryan Johnson.
“If you re-frame your identity as a professional sleeper, you take it as seriously as you would your job. That means you show up on time and treat it with a certain level of professionalism”. -Bryan Johnson
Eating my last meal and drinking 3 hours before bed has transformed my sleep quality.
For example, I used to eat 1 hour or even 30 minutes before bed and that left me either waking up at 4 in the morning to pee or waking up groggy, foggy headed, lethargic, wondering why am I still sleepy or why my brain is not functioning at its highest capacity.
However, I dove into research, articles, videos, podcasts from renowned scientist and biohackers like Bryan Johnson, on how to achieve the highest quality sleep and wake up energized to take on the day.
What I found was…
- Sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Even on weekends to avoid social jet lag on Monday.
- Eat and drink 3 to 5 hours before bed
- Sleep is nature’s number 1 miracle drug
The results:
- I wake up with super charged energy in the mornings
- I have a clear mind, rested mind and body. No more fogginess or grogginess.
- I am optimistic and in a much better mood.
“Less sleep does not get more done. It just shrinks the value of what’s happening”. -Bryan Johnson
So let’s all make a pact to protect our sleep, get to bed early, stop binge watching youtube or netflix and get the f*ck to bed. We can watch that sh*t tomorrow. It can wait.
Our energy, our dreams and our life is too precious to have f*cked up sleep which leads to f*cked up energy, mood and a f*cked up life.
Barring any health issues that do not allow us to get high quality sleep let’s make our sleep our priority.
Our dreams depend on it.