How I doubled my sleep in one week

3 hours and 19 minutes of sleep.

That’s what my Fitbit said to me in September.

It wasn’t as if I wanted to sleep so little. At 42, I can’t pull this off nearly as well as I did a lifetime ago. When you’re in college and young and full of potential with a life ahead of you, you can party all night and keep going into the next day with a short nap shimmed in somewhere.

I was never much of a party person. I still can’t believe that I pulled that off a few times even then.

After years of sleep deprivation—all of it self-inflicted in one form or another—it was finally time to address it. Either that, or I pass out at the worst possible moment. At the rate I was going, it was more than likely. It wasn’t doing me any favors during my waking hours, either. I felt like I was going through life in a sort of haze. Nothing seemed to click very often, and everything felt like it was a life-or-death situation in my mind.

I had tried all sorts of things to increase my sleep, but I wasn’t willing to admit to myself that one of the key things I needed to change was my writing cadence.

That, and my content consumption habits.

Then, I finally bit the bullet and changed a few things in my routine. Since returning to reality, I’ve been getting anywhere between seven and eight hours of sleep consistently.

As they say, though, you can’t get something from nothing.

What I changed

1. Temperature - 68 F to 64 F, small but it’s definitely been a big difference in feeling snuggly. I might even go to 62 F since there’s some science that mentions that’s a good one temp as well [link]

2. Ambient noise - I placed a white noise generator in the room. Ok, it’s actually an air purifier, but it does the trick and helps circulate air well.

3. Blocked the door - If you have pets (especially cats), then you definitely need to keep them from entering or even scratching at the door. I’m a light sleeper so any kind of disturbance outside instantly snaps me awake no matter how groggy I feel.

4. Stopped drinking - At this stage in life, your bladder is a lot less tolerant of being full. I’ve regretted drinking anything less than an hour before going to sleep. Definitely go to pee before hitting the sack if you find yourself in this situation.

5. Stopped scrolling - Yes, yes, this is a big one that everyone says, but it’s true more or less. For me, it wasn’t necessarily the blue light effect that kept me up. It was the content that I consumed. I love watching restoration videos and mukbangs, and there were times when I just couldn’t stop even when I was already sleepy. Put down the phone in another room or just somewhere hard to reach.

6. Enforced bedtime - I’m a parent, and this one was weird to do until I decided to sleep with my kids. In the past, I had simply laid down with them until they passed out before going to do my own thing. I decided to just…sleep when they do at 8:30.

7. Implemented a light exercise routine - This probably won’t track for most, but it does for me. I do pushups, pull ups, and a few ab rollers before going to sleep. For some reason, the boost to my heart rate helps me go to into a deeper sleep.

What I lost

1. Consistency - My publishing rate dropped along with my writing volume. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I knew that something had to give way in order for this to be the case.

2. Environment - My cadence in writing is now moving around from where it was before. Now, I find myself writing in the early mornings or during lunchtime at work if I have a spare moment.

3. Confidence - I admit that my previous system did work well given the circumstances. I wrote a lot and had plenty to say. Because of all the changes, I find myself questioning whether or not this new normal is sustainable for what I want to do.

What I gained:

1. Clarity - I thought I knew what this was supposed to feel like, but now I realize that I had completely forgotten how it was before. It’s the difference between breathing through a paper bag and having it ripped off one day. Thoughts come easier, things seem to make more sense, and I can focus on my ideas longer than before.

2. Energy - I had barely enough to keep up with my family during the day, and I’d feel the ebbs and flows like a roller coaster ride. Now, it’s a steady, sustained stream throughout the day, but I can definitely feel it when my body starts to shut down around bedtime.

3. Alertness - My level of awareness throughout my waking hours has increased. Things I have to do just pop into my head as I go, and there’s no lag time between that and execution. Before, if something came to my attention, I’d observe it floating around in my mind before I would consider acting on it.

4. Articulation - It’s almost as if there’s a script that seems to appear in my mind, similar to when you prompt AI (le gasp). My stream-of-consciousness isn’t hindered by distractions, and I can state what I’m thinking much more easily than before. Conversations are more entertaining, and lots of topics line up ready for discussion like good little elementary school kids.

5. Mood - There’s always been a sense of urgency and underlying levels of stress that come with the human condition, but recently it feels like things are actually going to be OK (key word is “feel”). That’s not something that I’ve had the luxury of feeling for quite some time now. Between personal and professional challenges that abound in middle age, it’s been hard to cultivate a sense of…balance?

So what now?

The key to maintaining this new normal is getting it consistent.

There have been a few days beyond that first week where I slept closer to seven hours, while others where I found myself sleeping for nearly nine! Unfortunately, those days where I overslept were just as bad as when I hadn’t slept enough before. The fatigue, the stress, the general slogging through the day returned. Clearly, there’s a sweet spot that I need to hit, and I’ve realized it’s going to take longer than the initial week for my body to settle into this “new normal”.

If you’ve read this far, then I suspect that you were curious about how someone else treated themselves as a human guinea pig. It’s worth the effort. Most of what I’ve shared isn’t new or rocket science. You can get it all from reading other articles (no, I didn’t ask AI). I was just fed up with myself, and my bad habits really were the culprits.

In the end, the conventional wisdom works, but it’s not everything is going to be effective for you. Pick and choose your own variables to modify and see if they help.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I need a nap.