Today I want to share some profound and important wisdom with you all.
And before I begin to give the guide itself or the advice, I would just like to explain a bit how important sleep is.
First and foremost, if you want to break someone mentally, the absolutely best way you can do so is by deriving them of sleep.
You can look on political prisoners, etc.
That's usually a modus operandi on the part of well the captors.
They disrupt their sleep and yeah, it is horrible and I am sure everyone can agree who has been had some military experience etc.
It's one thing to go without food.
It's okay.
It's one thing to be cold.
It's okay.
It's one thing to struggle through a forest wearing a heavy backpack and heavy weapons etc.
But what is not fine is a lack of sleep and a lack of sleep will make all everything else so much more horrendous.
So that is one lesson I've always carried with me, the absolute importance of sleep.
Then if we're talking about building muscle, gaining strength etc it's super important and you can notice that if you are on a high level and by high level I mean a high level in terms of your genetic potential.
So if you are on the margins you need to make sure everything is perfectly set up to be able to progress.
So you need to have the diet in order, you need to have the sleep recovery in order for you to be able to have such a good session that you can actually progress.
So if I'm talking about my training now, deadlifts and squats, in order for me to progress in the heavy sessions, I need to make sure that my sleep is perfect.
Otherwise I can't progress.
Simple as that because it's so important.
And also, if we're talking about building muscle, if you're a beginner, when you sleep is when the body can re-repair or repair the muscle you have broken down during the session.
Because what you do when you train is that you break down your muscle and then, when you sleep, it builds it up.
But even better, so that's what happens.
So if you don't take your sleep seriously, you will not gain muscles as as well as you could have.
Then, of course, if we're talking about health, staying healthy, staying away from sickness, etc.
Sleep is also super important for your immune system.
Then, last but not least, since we have a holistic view of everything in life, including our mind and body, if we're talking about the cognitive ability, you need to sleep.
For me personally, if I have had, for whatever reason, a bad sleep, I don't make any any important decisions the day after, because I know my mind isn't as clear as it must be to take an important decision.
So then I postpone it to the next day.
Make sure to have a good sleep.
Then I know my mind is as sharp as possible.
So, if you want a sharp mind, train well, Eat well, sleep well.
And of course, if you want to optimize your physical performance, it's the same because mind and body are one.
So, that is the introduction.
If you want to optimize your everything about you, take sleep seriously.
Now, on to the guide itself.
The first thing, which is so easy in theory but hard in practice for most people, is to time the circadian rhythm.
And what I mean with that is that you should be up when it's light and sleep when it is dark.
And the most easy way to explain this is to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier.
Now, of course, this is this can be hard, especially if you're working at certain hours or if you're training late, etc.
Then you can't really go to bed at 10 o'clock in the evening.
But if you have the option, if you don't have any other lifestyle hindrances to it, I would definitely encourage you to go to sleep earlier and also wake up earlier.
So, if you aim at waking up at 6 in the morning, for example, that's the optimal and falling asleep at 10 or something like that.
Again, it's hard to implement, maybe for many, but if you have the option, go to sleep earlier, wake up earlier.
It obviously depends on what kind of person you are as well.
But that's the absolutely first step.
The second step is also to realize that all sleep aren't equal.
So, you can have an eight-hour sleep which is restless and which isn't really high-quality, and then you can have a six-hour sleep, which is really really good.
And that depends on a few different factors.
One thing you can do to ensure a better sleep quality is to have it as dark as possible in the room, because obviously, as a human, you're adapted to be awake when the sun is up and/ light is available, and you're sleepier when it is dark.
So, keep your bedroom as dark as possible.
This also brings me to my second point in regards to phones and computers.
I have a blue light filter set automatically to 20, so 8 in the evening for both my computer and my phone every day, so it goes on automatically.
Then, I also have an app for my phone, which is called Twilight, which makes the screen red.
So, instead of having the blue light, because the blue light of devices are keeping you awake, so avoid it at all costs late in the night.
So, simply set an automatic blue light filter on your computer and your phone at 8 or 9 in the evening, something like that.
And when you sleep, avoid having if you wake up in the night and want to know what time it is or something, if you open your phone, make sure you have some sort of stronger filter as well, such as Twilight.
So, that is the blue light question.
Optimally, you can read before sleeping as well, because that's not as sharp light.
A lamp is not as it's not blue light in the same way as a screen of a device.
Surprise flex.
Actually, additional top-quality content that will surely make my channel hit a million subscribers.
I forgot to mention a very important thing, and that's actually tape.
You can tape your mouth when you are sleeping so that you sleep and breathe via your nose.
I will make a video on mouth breathing in regards to mewing and physical activity and cognitive ability and health, and everything like that.
But, important thing: if you sleep with breathing with your mouth, you will not have an as restful sleep as if you sleep breathing with your nose.
Because if you breathe through your mouth, it's something you do in situations which causes more stress.
So when you train hard, for example, you breathe through your mouth because you need to get air in quickly.
But if you want to be relaxed, if you want to have a good quality sleep, breathing through your nose is recommended.
So I can definitely recommend that you, if you have a problem with it, you can just tape your mouth every night and have a better sleep.
Then, last advice is your caffeine intake.
I am a somewhat fan of coffee.
I think it can be a benefit to your life and it does have some good health benefits, but it can also mess up your sleep.
So I encourage everyone to not drink coffee really or not in a large quantities after maybe 4 in the afternoon, 16 in the afternoon, something like that.
Obviously, again, everyone has different tolerances to caffeine, but I prefer to keep it earlier in the day.
Then also, one aspect here in regards to pre-workout products, I need to mention this since I have a pre-workout product on my page, is that if you take it too late and you might have a good session, but if you mess up your sleep, you mess up your sleep schedule, it might have been a pyrrhic victory.
So be careful to not take it too late in the night, even though it's a nice thing to load up on caffeine.
But be mindful that sleep is your hugely important thing for your gains.
So anyway, you can say a lot more about sleep, but this was just a general overview of what I think is important in terms of getting a good sleep.
