Written by Vedant Kulkarni, Executive Coach
Vedant is an internationally acclaimed executive well-being coach, aka 'Friend In Need' for high performers like you, to help you clear the clutter of anxiety, overthinking and depression, take control of your emotions & feelings, and set up a road map to reach the top of your industry.
A simple sleeper has a treasure that even a billionaire or a president might crave! But don’t despair. In the next 3-5 minutes, you’ll discover 6 Hacks for fast, deep sleep every night so that you wake up energized, ready to take on the world!
(P.S. Don't miss out on Hack 3 (it's mind-blowing!) and Hack 5 (The Science of Sleep))
1. Sweat out
Sleeping is recharging your energy, but if you have spent enough of it (physically too), it's naturally tough to sleep. Putting this scientifically, Exercising increases the brain chemical (adenosine) that makes you feel sleepy and regulates your sleep cycle.
Even jogging in a park or natural surroundings for 30 min daily can lead you to much better sleep!
30-90 minutes after you exercise, your body temperature lowers down, which mimics the natural cooling process that happens before sleep, and helps facilitate sleep. Thus leave a gap of at least 1-2 hours between the end of your exercise routine and your bedtime for effortless sleeping!
2. Before-sleep rituals
Listen to soothing music (preferably instrumental): If you are tossing on your bed, it's most likely due to too many thoughts hovering around. This is because the logical aspect of your brain (left brain) is quite active and running. When you hear music (instrumental), it helps activate the right side of the brain and calm down too many thoughts, thus, helping you to sleep.
Have a shower before sleep: Do you remember sleeping off after coming out of the shower as a toddler? Water flowing over you not only refreshes the body but also relaxes the mind. It also lowers the core body temperature, helping you to sleep. Just make sure not to take too cold or too hot water and keep around an hour between shower and sleep.
Dim the lights, and shut down smartphones and laptops at least 1 hour before sleep to signal the brain for sleep. Bright light, especially blue light from devices, disrupts melatonin production, which affects sleep. This is the time you should not work. Instead do some creative work, spend time talking with your loved ones, or go out for a stroll.
3. Tackle the number 1 sleep killer
Have you wondered why you find it difficult to sleep? Most probably it's one of these:
Anxiety or uncertainty about upcoming events Pondering upon deep questions
Overthinking about incomplete work or past conflicts Emotional distress
Or stress about losing sleep itself!
There's something common in all of that. It's the inability to handle the racing mind! Thoughts and emotions keep flooding you over and do not allow your mind to sneak into sleep.
The brain releases chemicals (cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormones) that trigger fight, flight or freeze responses when the mind is overwhelmed by stress, worry or overthinking. These chemicals make the heart beat faster and the blood pressure rise. They also keep the body in a state of high alert. In this state, the brain becomes more sensitive to any discomfort, which makes sleeping harder!
So how to halt this cycle?
By learning to take control over the racing mind!
What if I told you that there's a way to tame the wild beast called 'mind' and have utterly peaceful sleep, without trying to fight or pluck thoughts out of your head? What if I told you there's a way to go from a stressful state of mind and body to an utterly relaxed and blissful state, in minutes? Wish to know more? Join me at the upcoming Masterstroke (for Free!). You will also uncover secrets to tackle stress, overthinking, and anxiety no matter what your work environment or lifestyle you are in. Make sure you catch this!
4. Avoid these substances
These substances can stimulate your nervous system and keep you awake or disrupt your sleep:
Caffeine can have a half-life of up to 6 hours, meaning that it can still affect your sleep even if you consume it in the afternoon.
Alcohol can make you feel sleepy at first, but it can also disrupt your sleep stages and cause waking up or nightmares.
Nicotine can also keep you alert and make it harder to fall asleep or stay asleep.
Don’t eat heavy or spicy foods before bed. They can upset your stomach and ruin your sleep. Finish dinner at least 2-3 hours before bedtime. This gives your food time to digest and prevents acid reflux and other digestive issues.
Sleep pills can ruin your day with side effects like drowsiness, headache, nausea, and weakness. They can affect your driving, work, and social life and be addictive. Why risk it when you can sleep naturally? Try meditation, yoga, and pranayama to relax your body and mind and enjoy better, peaceful sleep.
5. Understand the science of sleep
How does our brain know when to start or end our sleep cycle? How does our body adjust to different time zones or seasons?
The answer lies in our circadian rhythm, which is the internal clock that guides our sleep-wake cycle. Our circadian rhythm is influenced by two main factors: external cues (such as light and temperature) and internal cues (such as hormones and genes).
Our circadian rhythm is not exactly 24 hours long. It can vary slightly from person to person, depending on their genetic makeup. Some people have a longer circadian rhythm (called “night owls”), while others have a shorter one (called “morning larks”). This can affect their preferred sleeping and waking times.
Circadian rhythm can also be disrupted by factors such as jet lag, shift work, daylight saving time or artificial light exposure at night. These factors can cause our internal clock to be out of sync with the external clock, leading to problems such as insomnia, daytime sleepiness or mood disorders.
To maintain a healthy circadian rhythm, we need to follow some simple rules:
Expose yourself to bright light during the day, especially in the morning
Try to get around 8 hours of sleep per night for most adults, or 8 to 10 hours for most teenagers.
Make your bedroom dark, quiet and comfortable, and use your bedroom for sleep only.
Keep a regular sleep schedule, going to bed and waking up at the same time (+- 30 min) every day
Avoid napping in the day if you face difficulty sleeping at Night
6. Make sleep your priority
Sleep Deprivation is not a Joke or something to show off! Missing 1-2 hours of sleep nearly doubles the risk of road accidents; Sleep deprivation can lead to increased risks of diabetes, and heart attacks, and even reduce the production of natural killer cells (which help to fight infection and cancer) by up to 72%.
In fact, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), "Shiftwork that involves circadian disruption is probably carcinogenic to humans."
It's time to make sleep your priority!
In a nutshell
If you envy those who can sleep like a baby, you’re not alone. Over 237 million people globally struggle to sleep well while 1 in 3 adults do not get enough sleep in the USA.
Controlling sleep environment, habits, and schedules can be helpful. But the most important skill required to sleep fast and deep is by taking complete control of your mind and emotions (so that you can relax and sleep when you need!), and that's something we dive deep into in our Masterstroke. If you haven't registered yet, secure your seat now (it's free).
If this article was helpful, share the insights with your friends and loved ones to help them sleep better too!
Thank you for your curiosity to learn more about sleep. Thank you for making sleep your priority!
Vedant Kulkarni, Executive Coach
Vedant is an internationally acclaimed executive well-being coach, aka 'Friend In Need' for high performers like you, to help you clear the clutter of anxiety, overthinking and depression, take control of your emotions & feelings, and set up a road map to reach the top of your industry. Through his decades of experience and expertise he developed unique short, and effortless meditative techniques which are helping thousands high-performing executives, founders, employees, and artists to reclaim their peace of mind, take their performance to the peak, find love in what they do, and explore deeper secrets of this mind, and the life. Over the last decade, Vedant has guided CEOs, Executive Directors, and Heads of State from across the world, advised the United Nations, and closely worked with the World Health Organization on implementing solutions on mental health & wellbeing.
