What are Sleep Hacks?
Sleep hacking is simply where biohacking tackles the issue of sleep. It’s about improving your sleep. The amount of, and quality of sleep is incredibly important to human health. It effects our physical and mental health in countless ways. It also greatly effects our productivity and concentration. Science is constantly discovering new ways in which sleep is vital to every aspect of our being. If you don’t get enough sleep, you die. But what happens when someone optimizes the sleep they get? Well, it tends to improve everything for you. Try it out – here are my top 10 sleep hacks.
10: Nightwave Sleep Assistant
Nightwave sleep assistant is one of a number of commercial products aimed at improving the users sleep. You may be surprised to hear how this little machine works. All it does is continuously flash a small light while you lie there trying to sleep. The amazing this is that this somehow helps people get to sleep – even insomniacs. This is the amazing thing about biohacking, you never know what will and what won’t work! The only way is to experiment with your own body. So be sure to try Nightwave or something similar. Maybe you’ll never have trouble getting to sleep again.
9: Take An Ice Bath
The use of ice baths can bring surprising health benefits. You may have notice professional athletes seem to really love ice baths, but why? Because it assists muscle recovery after hard workouts. They’re also good for getting you to sleep. Try a 15 minute ice bath if you don’t feel tired. I guarantee you’ll be really drowsy afterwards, and asleep in no time at all! I’m not entirely sure of the science behind this but I assure you it works well. Ice baths are quite painful and shockingly cold, but you get used to it before long and you’ll find it easy.
8: Purge Stress
One of the biggest causes of insomnia or poor sleep is stress. If you are anxious or worried about something and can’t get it off your mind, you might never get to sleep. Luckily, there are a few things you can do about this. My favorite is to write down what is on my mind before I go to bed. Keep a notebook beside your bed, and use it to write down all the fears and worries preventing you from being able to relax. Do this literally right before going to bed, and it just might work for you.
7: Kill Blue Light
Blue light is the type of light emitted from your phone and computer screens. Blue light has a bizarre impact on human biology. It lowers the natural production of melatonin. Melatonin is the hormone which tells our body when night time is coming, so our biology prepares us for sleep. Blue light inhibits this hormone, so out bodies just don’t know when we are supposed to go to bed, even if we know it consciously. So be sure to avoid computer and television screens for at least an hour before you go to bed. To be honest this isn’t one of the sleep hacks I follow myself, but there is real science behind it.
6: The Scent Of Lavender
This one is going to sound proper mental at first but trust me here. Scientific studies have shown that the smell of lavender can help people get to sleep. The exact reason why lavender scent helps put humans to sleep is unknown, but I guess that doesn’t really matter. The point is it works. This was originally found out by the European Sleep Society, and from their name I can tell they’re the people to ask about this kind of thing. The study also found that lavender can help improve the quality of sleep people can achieve, so it’s the best of both worlds. Maybe the easiest of all sleep hacks. Finding lavender is easy.
5: Track Your Sleep
In order to effectively experiment with sleep hacks, it’s almost impossible not to use this one. Tracking your sleep is literally just monitoring your sleep, to see what’s working and what isn’t – to see how good sleep you get by tracking it with apps and gadgets. A lot of them track your physical movement during sleep. I would recommend an iphone app called Sleep Cycle, it cost about a dollar, but gives you in-depth analysis of you sleep so that you can seek to improve. There are dozens of similar apps, many of which free to download.
4: Take A Warm Bath
The opposite of ice baths, warm baths have long been said to help with falling asleep quickly. It’s thought that a combination of warm and cold baths can improve long-term health, possibly adding years to your lifespan. Warm baths tend to make people more tired and ready for sleep, as shown in numerous studies since the 1980s. Once again, it also increases the quality of sleep as well. This might not work if you are used to taking warm baths before bed now, so try switching it up with ice baths. Maybe even try using a sauna, they have far too many health benefits for me to mention here.
3: Meditate Regularly
Ever wonder why Buddhist are known for being calm and peaceful? It’s because they get such good sleep. Tibetan Buddhists are the masters of sleep hacks. Meditation is their key weapon in the fight against insomnia. It’s something any of us can do if we are patient enough. Meditation has been scientifically proven to benefit then mind as to anxiety and stress, and it really seems to help with sleep. Do it regularly. It doesn’t need to be just before you go to bed, any time of the day will do. Getting used to slowing your breathing, and therefore slowing the heart beat, can only help you doze off.
2: Don’t Work Yourself Up Before Bed
What I mean by this is that there are some things you may be doing to prevent you from getting the sleep you want. One of these is drinking coffee shortly before you go to sleep. Everyone knows why it’s best not to drink caffeine-heavy beverages before trying to sleep – caffeine keeps you awake! Another thing is exercise. Be sure not to exercise shortly before bed either, as it would get your blood pumping quicker than it should be for effective sleep. But on the flip side, regular exercise is good for sleep. It improves how your body works in general, including your mental capacity, which pays off when it comes to sleep hacks.
1: Keep A Strict Routine
A bedtime routine isn’t just for troubled children, it’s for all wise biohackers! A disciplined routine ca benefit your life in numerous ways. We are our routines, in a sense. And that’s as true in the evening as it is in the morning. Keep to a specific bedtime routine for a while and your subconscious mind will learn what time you always go to bed. It will learn when to get ready for it, and assist your body in such. With a strong routine, not even blue light can prevent you from getting a good night sleep. Unless, of course, you’re routine is terrible. Try and make it fairly relaxing and slow paced.