Try This – Simple Yet Profound Bedtime Hack! 11/16/23

Hi Everyone! 

What if I told you there was a simple, no-cost, straightforward way to hack your sleep that could lead to better health outcomes, including a reduced risk of heart disease and cancer?

And no, it doesn’t involve cooling sheets, blue-light blockers, red-light therapy, or black-out curtains (even though all that stuff can be super useful…) 

This tip is 100 percent free, and best of all, you can implement it right away!

So stay tuned, Try This readers, because today I am going to share this powerful tool with you. Even if you struggle in the sleep department, I assure you, this is something you can work on! 

Let’s get into it…. 

 Today's Sponsor

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BiOptimizers only does this sale ONCE a year, so don’t miss this opportunity. There is truly nothing like their magnesium; it’s become an integral part of my daily routine, leading to more restorative sleep and energy throughout the day. I love that all BiOptimizers products are soy-free, gluten-free, lactose-free, non-GMO, and free of chemicals and fillers.

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What the Heck Is Sleep Regularity, and Why Does It Matter?

Before we jump into today’s tip and the game-changing study it came from, we need to talk about an important concept.What’s that concept? It’s called sleep regularity. 

Basically, it's a fancy way of saying “a consistent bedtime.”

See, typically when it comes to sleep, most people and researchers tend to focus on total hours slept—like the advice we all hear to “get eight hours of sleep each night.”But total time slept, according to a new study published by the Sleep Research Society, is only part of the equation! (H/T to Dr. Matt Walker for sharing the study on Instagram.)What’s the other part of the equation? Going to bed at the same time each night!Let’s jump into the study…The study, which was conducted in the UK, included over 60,000 participants who wore accelerometers (aka vibration-detection watches) for one week to determine whether or not sleep regularity played a role in all-cause mortality.

What the researchers found was astonishing!They found that individuals with the most sleep regularity had a 49 percent decrease in all-cause mortality, a 39 percent decrease in cancer risk mortality, and a 57 percent reduction in risk of cardiometabolic mortality. 

Essentially, those who fell asleep roughly around the same time each night and woke up around the same time each morning had a reduced risk of death!

Why is this good news? Because most of us can do something about this simply by being consistent about our bedtime.Try This: How to Apply Sleep Regularity to Your Life 

Picking a bedtime and sticking to it is one of the best things you can do for your overall health.

My wife and I have been consistently implementing this for the past few months, and it’s completely changed our lives. In fact, my wife told me she’s been sleeping better than ever.

It all comes down to routine, which I know sounds boring, but it literally can be life-saving. 

1. Pick a realistic time to start winding down for the evening and put it in your calendar. For example, every day around 8:30 p.m. I want to start winding down. 

2. Pick a few activities that signal your body and brain to prepare for sleep. Take a warm shower, brush your teeth, dim the lights, and get into bed. Especially this time of year, I like to be in bed by 9:00 p.m. and be asleep by 9:30 p.m. (I know that sounds early AF to some of you, but that’s what genuinely makes me feel good).

3. Stick to this schedule. Sure, there will be times I have to stay out later because of events or obligations, but I know that I can stick to this 80%–90% of the time. 

That’s it. Just committing to a consistent bedtime can drastically shift your health for the better. But you don’t have to take my word for it; try it out yourself for a month and let me know how it works.

What about Shift Workers? 

There is a special group of people who do not have the capacity to stick to a regular sleep schedule, and my heart goes out to them. Parents, caregivers, and shift workers are necessary for our society to function. We are so grateful for these individuals! 

If this is you, here’s a hack with some research behind it! 

There’s some evidence showing that those who stick to eating most of their calories during the day despite working at night are able to mitigate some of the negative effects linked to night shift work. 

For example, if you work from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. and sleep from 3:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., you’ll want to have the bulk of your calories from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eating your biggest meals during the day has been shown to help with blood sugar regulation and better mental health because it’s one way we can support our body’s natural circadian rhythm through our fasting/eating cycle. 

In my episode with Dr. Satchin Panda, we talk about this in detail. You can find it here. 

The Bottom Line: Small Changes Make a Big Difference 

What these studies teach us is that it’s the inexpensive, everyday, accessible habits that make the biggest shifts in our health. Sure, we can biohack and track our way to better sleep, but without the basics, longevity will be a distant dream. 

Here’s to sticking to your bedtime,Dhru Purohit

Notes on the study: Even though one week of collecting this data seems like a short period of time, researchers acknowledge that it was still fascinating to see that a snapshot was predictive of all-cause mortality.