How To Get Better Sleep

Sleep is one of the most important things that we can do for our health. Not just our mental health, but also our brain health, our relationships, for our work, and for our emotional health. When we're not sleeping well, our brain suffers dramatically. Our body needs rest. Our brain needs rest if we're to function well and when these things get depleted, everything gets depleted. But not everybody finds it easy to sleep. When I was my unhealthiest, I was not getting much sleep. In fact, I was getting about 30 minutes of sleep.There are many factors that can inhibit our ability to not only get the amount of sleep we need, but to get the quality of sleep we need. Stress, anxiety, worry, rumination all get in the way of sleep. Excitement can also get in the way of our sleep. Technology gets in the way of our sleep too. We all have this thing called circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythms are like our internal clocks. They help with digestion and temperature control. They help us know when to sleep and wake up. The circadian rhythms are not only dictated by what's going on inside of us, but going on around us, like the light exposure.Sometimes our ability to sleep is impacted by our physical health, like it was with me, once my sleep got better, I was able to attend to my physical health. Then I was able to have clarity around my emotions and process them and take ownership of my mental health. Then my relationships got better. My work performance improved. So, sleep is personal to me. It should be to you as well.Early on in my career I neglected sleep because there's this hustle culture that says, you have got to sacrifice to succeed. So sacrifice your sleep so you can spend more time hustling. When you sacrifice your sleep, there's something else that happens - your brain becomes inflamed, because you're not giving it rest. It becomes agitated, irritated, and inflamed because it's not receiving the rest it requires. When your brain becomes inflamed, specifically the frontal cortex, your executive decision making is impaired, you're not making good choices. You're not reacting to life's unpredictable moments like a car accident or someone cutting you off in traffic, or a sick child. You're not being able to problem solve well, You're not able to deploy creativity. The hustle culture loses when people don't get sleep. Entrepreneurs lose out on opportunity and potential when they don't get sleep. If you are a business owner and executive, a new employee and you want to perform well do not sacrifice your sleep.I want to provide some tips on how you can improve your sleep. There are three categories. The order of categories is important. But the tips within each category are not listed in any preferential order.Behavioral RemediesStop eating 2-3 hours before bed time.No screen time at bed or 1-2 hours before bed time.Lose excess body weight.Journaling.Breathing exercises.Prayer and meditation.Read a book.Automated lighting.Brainwave manipulation.Natural Remedies and SupplementsHerbal Teas and Drinks.Magnesium.Epsom salt baths.Melatonin tablets.Prescriptive Medications / Procedures / Assistancet is the third category of getting better sleep. Always get more than one medical opinion before going down this path.The average human needs seven to nine hours of sleep at night. There's always outliers. But as a whole we're all going to fall within seven and nine. If you need nine Don't be ashamed of that. If you're waking up every morning with just seven hours, don't worry about it. That's how you're wired right? But you need at least seven to nine hours asleep. Budget your time and energy around that. If you want to be better at anything…Get better sleep.I promise when you focus on better sleep, everything else gets better too.