On the Heroic App, Brian Johnson tells us:
“We’ll focus on curfews for these five things: Caffeine + Exercise + Eating + Screens + Work.
Caffeine. As we’ve discussed, caffeine works by masking your fatigue. It basically plugs up the little connectors where adenosine usually tells your brain that you’re tired. BOOM!!! Borrowed energy. It also has a half-life of 5 to 6 hours. So… HALF of that cup of coffee you have at 4:00 PM is still bouncing around in your brain at 10:00 pm. Enter: Caffeine curfew: Have your last jolt of caffeine no later than 2:00 pm or noon for the ambitious.
Exercise. Exercise is, of course, A W E S O M E. But… If we work out too late we drive our core temperature up which makes it harder for us to get the deep, restorative sleep we’re looking for. (PLUS: Very importantly, we miss out on the 12-hour mood boost we could be getting if we worked out earlier in the day so…) Enter: Exercise curfew: Work out at least 3 hours before you want to go to bed.
Eating. Eating is pretty important, too. lol. But… If your body is digesting a jumbo meal when it should be doing its cleanup thing, our sleep will take a hit. Enter: Eating curfew: Have your last meal AT LEAST 2 hours before bedtime. I’m still SHOCKED by how much my sleep has improved by testing out the whole glymph-stimulating 4-hour before bedtime eating plan.
Screens. Have I mentioned 90% of people use their electronic gadgets within an hour of going to sleep? I have? Great. You still acting like everyone else? lol. DIGITAL SUNSET, people!! Enter: Screen curfew: Turn off your electronics AT LEAST an hour before bedtime. Give your brain a chance to chill out. (2+ hours for the ambitious Optimizers among us!)
Work. Too many of us work all.the.time. One more time: We need a good ‘ol ‘Shut-Down Complete!’ Enter: Work curfew. You tell ME when it’d be great to shutdown. It’s 5:00 pm for me. Done. You?”
Stress curfew. Stay calm with your loved ones at least two hours before bed.
That is a nice set of curfews. Caffeine, exercise, eating, screen, work, and stress curfews.
How are your sleep curfews? Can you tweak anything just a little this week with a fresh start?