The research is clear: You need 7-9 hours of sleep a night. Here is how to get it.

“The number of people who can get less than 7 hours of sleep a night and experience no cognitive decline, rounded to a whole number and express as a percentage is 0.” — Matthew Walker.

Alongside food, water and oxygen, sleep is the fourth fundamental pillar of health.

Yet as a society, we tend to treat sleep as something optional rather than critical to our productivity and emotional state. We are sleeping less and less as a society and that’s to our detriment.

We are experiencing a silent sleep loss epidemic.

Sleep researcher Matthew Walker found that:

Back in 1942, the average adult sleeps 7.9 hours a night. Recent studies show that most adults sleep 6.5 hours during the week.

In the last 50 years, we’ve shaved off almost 20% of the average time we sleep. And if you are deprived of sleep, you can’t get back what you have lost. There is no bank where you can cash your leftover sleep tokens.

We have an abundance of food, water and cleaner air. But sleep is a pillar of health that is continually sacrificed at the altar of productivity.

We are bombarded with CEOs who abscond sleep as something weak. And if you’re not working yourself to death then you aren’t trying hard enough. This attitude of “I’ll sleep when I am dead” has become a truism.

The pervasiveness of hustle and grind culture has not helped this attitude towards sleep. Many young people subscribe to the notion that if you’re not sacrificing something, you’re not progressing.

I am no different.

I suffered from this mindset too. But after experiencing burnout after burnout, I decided to change my approach. I started to view life more as a marathon than a sprint.

I now view rest and sleep are now fundamental to my productivity.

I’ve experimented with every sleep hack out there and here’s what I’ve found. Everything in this article focuses on behavioural rather than pharmacological interventions for sleep.

I do take non-melatonin supplements to aid sleep, but I am not a doctor and I don’t feel particularly comfortable telling people to take pills over the internet. Nor should you listen to anyone who does.

I reduce my stress.

I’ve got a worry journal. And it is exactly what it sounds like.

About 1.5–2 hours before bed, I’ll sit down with my journal and list everything in my life that makes me worried. Big or small. Real or perceived. There is no judgement as to what I put down.

If the thoughts come through my mind, I write them down.

I’ll usually use post-it notes and stick them on my study table. In the morning, I often laugh at what I’ve written, tear them up and put it in the bin. This ritual often helps me click into gear for a new day. A physical trigger for happier thoughts.

Sometimes I’ll write down my relationship worries, my work worries, and my life worries. Literally anything. More often than not, most of my worries are due to a lack of perspective rather than any real issues in my life.

The important thing about this exercise is that I don’t try to solve any of my problems.

The simple act of writing them down on paper dramatically reduces my stress and stops the ‘racing’ thoughts that can prevent me from sleeping.

Our brains can’t tell the difference between writing something down and taking action. When you put your worries on paper, your brain thinks you’ve started to take action to mitigate them.

It almost sounds too simple to work but it is surprisingly effective.

Steps to implementation:

1. Grab a pen and paper

2. Write down everything that is worrying you (big or small)

3. Do this 1–1.5 hours before bed. Ideally outside your bedroom. Don’t bring bad vibes into the place where you want to sleep.

I reduce my light exposure.

I’ve purchased blue light-blocking glasses.

Melatonin is the hormone of darkness and is critical to inducing sleep. Blue light exposure restricts our bodies’ ability to produce melatonin. Your smartphone, laptop and TV omit melatonin-blocking blue light.

The best option is abstinence. Try to reduce your exposure to screens 2 hours before bed. But I know the reality of the world. That might not be an option for many people. Netflix might have some incredible programming on.

My bargain is that if you want to look at screens past 7:00 pm, invest in blue-light blocking glasses and reduce the stimulating colours on your screen if you can.

This way you’ll be able to enjoy your Netflix shows with the knowledge your body is still producing melatonin and you’ll still be able to sleep at a reasonable time.

Steps to implementation:

1. Purchase blue light-blocking glasses. Any will do.

2. Wear them when you look at screens past 7:00 pm.

3. Keep your room as dark as possible when trying to sleep.

I reduce my body heat.

I take a hot shower 90 minutes before bed.

You might be thinking how does this reduce heat? Aren’t you heating up your body with the shower?

According to sleep expert Matthew Walker, a hot shower causes vasodilation of your body and allows it to dump heat quickly. The reduction in body heat helps to prime your body for sleep.

A recent study conducted found that “taking a hot shower 90 minutes before bed helped test subjects to fall asleep 50 per cent faster and increased their total sleep by 15 minutes.”

I also keep my room cool.

A National Sleep poll also found that a cool room temperature was one of the most important factors in getting a good night’s sleep. The Sleep Foundation recommends keeping the room at 65 degrees Fahrenheit or 18.3 degrees Celsius.

You’ll always have an easier time falling asleep in a cooler room than in a warmer room.

Steps to implementation:

1. Take a hot shower 90 minutes before bed.

2. Avoid vigorous exercise before bed.

3. Keep your room cool. Ideally 65 degrees Fahrenheit or 18.3 degrees Celcius.

I reduce stimulation.

I wear earplugs and an eye mask.

Nothing groundbreaking about this. Invest in some. They are great and cheap. You might even have some in your travel bag if you’ve taken a flight recently.

I live near a busy road, so random noise and light do make their way through my windows. My earplugs and mask minimize the chance of being unnecessarily woken up during the night.

You can also purchase blackout curtains if you don’t like wearing an eye mask.

Steps to implementation:

1. Buy earplugs and an eye mask.

2. Wear them every night.

3. Repeat.

I reduce my caffeine and alcohol intake.

No caffeine or alcohol 7–8 hours prior to bed.

Controversial I know. But caffeine and alcohol have been proven to impact sleep quantity and quality.

On Caffeine

I still have my morning coffee but I have stopped consuming caffeine after 2:00 pm. I usually substitute my afternoon brew for something with no caffeine such as herbal tea.

They have the added benefit of aiding my digestion after lunch.

Caffeine has a half-life of roughly five to six hours. So if you consume caffeine at 3:00 or 4:00 pm you can expect it to still be in your system until 10 or 11 pm. This can impact your ability to get a good night’s sleep.

To get boring and scientific, caffeine masks the adenosine receptors in your brain that accumulate to form the ‘sleep pressure’ required for sleep.

If you do need an afternoon pick-me-up, try going for a walk or a run. The exercise can help boost your productivity as well as aid with your sleep at night.

On Alcohol

Alcohol fragments your sleep and prevents your dream sleep.

Many people claim that alcohol helps them fall asleep faster. But there is a big difference between sedating your mind and engaging in meaningful sleep patterns.

The National Sleep Foundation also found that alcohol can worsen sleep apnea and cause insomnia. Consuming alcohol with your dinner can significantly impact your sleep.

I am fortunate that I have never really liked the taste of alcohol so this isn’t a big deal for me.

Again, I would advocate for abstinence but if want your after-work beer, try reducing your intake or don’t drink on certain days where you need high-quality sleep.

Steps to implementation:

1. No caffeine after 2:00 pm.

2. Reduce alcohol intake. Not just for sleep but for general health.

I reduce abnormal breathing patterns.

“More wholesome sleep… with the mouth shut” — wrote Dutch physician Levinus Lemnius in the 1500s

I tape my mouth when I sleep.

And yes, this is probably one the weirdest things I do.

Your nose is the unsung hero of your body. It filters and cleans raw air, protects your body from nasty pathogens and helps you taste.

This is why breathing through your mouth is terrible for your health.

“The body is not designed to process raw air for hours at a time, day or night. There is nothing normal about it” writes James Nestor in his book Breath.

More on sleeping with your mouth open and snoring by James Nestor:

“Sleeping with an open mouth exacerbates these problems. Whenever we put our heads on a pillow, gravity pulls the soft tissues in the throat and tongue down, closing off the airway even more. After a while, our airways get conditioned to this position; snoring and sleep apnea become the new normal.”

If you’ve ever woken up with your mouth bone dry and dying for a drink of water, it is likely you sleeping with your mouth open. According to James Nestor, mouth breathing causes the body to lose 40 per cent more water.

I’ll admit, taping my mouth up for the first couple of weeks felt extremely weird. It was slightly uncomfortable and sometimes I would wake up having forgotten that I’ve put it on. The reaction on my face would have been priceless.

I’ve been taping my mouth shut for almost a year now and I never wake up in the middle of the night for a glass of water anymore. My Fitbit also tells me I spend more time in deep sleep and I wake up feeling less groggy.

Steps to implementation:

1. Purchase mouth tape (not sponsored nor my product).

2. Observe your sleeping patterns without your mouth taped.

3. Try sleeping with your mouth taped for two weeks.

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