340. How To Be Awesome At The Best Sleep Of Your Life With 3 Hacks
Good sleep so complicated. There are endless tips about screens and supplements and gadgets that promise better rest, but most of us aren’t thinking about the three biggest levers that actually move the needle. The quality of your sleep is really a reflection of how you lived your day. When you challenge yourself physically, challenge yourself mentally and clear the things that are weighing on you, your body naturally shifts into deeper, more restorative rest. Sleep improves when your body is tired in the right ways, your mind has worked enough to want a break and your stress is addressed instead of pushed to the side. Today we are breaking sleep down to three simple, powerful habits that human performance experts say will help you get the best sleep of your life by focusing on how you show up during the day.
Hack 1: Exhaust yourself physically during the day
• When your body is physically spent, you fall asleep faster and sleep deeper.
• Being busy is not the same as being physically active. Movement creates real sleep pressure.
• Getting steps in, lifting something heavy, walking more, sweating a little and staying on your feet helps your body crave rest at night.
• Huberman and Matthew Walker both explain that daily movement increases adenosine, which builds the urge to sleep.
• Kelly LeVeque and Casey Means show how balanced blood sugar from movement reduces nighttime cortisol spikes.
• Gary Brecka talks about completing the physiological stress cycle so the nervous system knows it’s safe to shut down.
• Examples: long walks, workouts, organizing or cleaning days, anything that gets your heart rate up or keeps you consistently moving.
Hack 2: Exhaust yourself mentally by challenging your brain
• Most people feel mentally busy but not mentally challenged, which leaves the brain restless at night.
• Learn something, solve something, try something new, figure something out, read, study, dive into a topic.
• When you grow mentally and make progress, your brain feels complete and ready for rest.
• Chris Williamson says nighttime overthinking often comes from not using the mind in a meaningful way during the day.
• Alex Hormozi emphasizes that progress, even small progress, lowers internal friction and mental clutter.
• Casey Means explains how real cognitive engagement stabilizes dopamine, which lowers the nighttime seeking behavior that keeps people scrolling instead of sleeping.
• Neuroscience research shows that learning increases the brain’s need for REM sleep because it needs to file those memories.
• Examples: learning new systems, improving a process, starting a new skill, working on something that feels mentally tricky or step heavy.
Hack 3: Solve your problems during the day so your mind can rest at night
• Nothing disrupts sleep more than unresolved stress or conversations that still need to be had.
• The crumbs metaphor works perfectly here. Just like crumbs irritate you all night, unresolved issues do the same mentally.
• Have the conversations, apologize, forgive, clear the air, make progress on debt, take one step toward the thing you’ve been avoiding.
• Gary Vee talks often about how anxiety comes from avoiding the very thing we know we need to do.
• Dave Ramsey points out that money problems are one of the biggest sleep killers and even a simple plan reduces that load.
• Gary Brecka explains how mental stress raises cortisol and keeps your system in high alert, which blocks deep sleep.
• Huberman suggests cognitive unloading, writing everything down, to calm the brain before bed.
• Matthew Walker reminds us that sleep cannot negotiate with an anxious mind.
• Suggestions: write everything down, even if you can’t talk to the person yet, get clarity in writing, pick one step toward solving your biggest stressor so you can rest knowing you are in motion.
•Inhale the good, exhale the bad.