A 5-Step System To Unlock Insane Sleep & Recovery

Summary

The video script discusses the transformative impact of optimizing sleep on achieving peak performance and flow states. The narrator, Rander, shares a personal story of entrepreneurial struggle exacerbated by poor sleep habits, leading to compromised productivity and health. Drawing from neuroscience and expert insights, the script emphasizes the profound relationship between high-quality sleep and enhanced cognitive functions, such as memory consolidation and stress resilience. Key strategies for improving sleep include consistent sleep schedules, creating a conducive sleep environment, and managing sleep as a trainable skill to maximize performance and well-being.

Takeaways

• 🧠 **Sleep is Essential for Peak Performance**: Adequate sleep is crucial for accessing flow states and high performance, contrary to the 'hustle' mentality that often devalues rest.
• 💤 **Sleep and Flow are Interconnected**: Sleep is not just rest; it's a period of intense brain and body workout that prepares you for optimal performance and flow states.
• 🔄 **Sleep's Restorative Functions**: While you sleep, your body replenishes energy, regenerates tissues, reorganizes memories, and enhances learning capacity, among other benefits.
• 🚫 **Avoid the Exhaustion Ceiling**: Poor sleep can limit your performance by creating an 'exhaustion ceiling', which keeps you operating below your potential.
• 🛌 **Prioritize Sleep**: Treat sleep as non-negotiable and as important as work to avoid compressing it due to a busy schedule.
• 🕰️ **Consistent Sleep Timing**: Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day helps regulate your circadian rhythm and improves sleep quality.
• 🎚️ **Optimize Your Sleep Environment**: Create ideal sleep conditions by ensuring the bedroom is dark, quiet, cold, and free from distractions.
• 🍽️ **Mind Your Eating Habits**: Eating too close to bedtime can disrupt sleep; aim to finish eating a few hours before sleep to improve sleep quality.
• 🚫 **Limit Substances Before Bed**: Caffeine and alcohol should be avoided close to bedtime as they can disrupt sleep cycles and affect the benefits of sleep.
• 📉 **Use CBT-I to Prevent Insomnia**: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) can help retrain your brain to associate the bed with sleep, not wakefulness.
• 📈 **Track and Improve Sleep Metrics**: Utilize sleep trackers to monitor sleep stages and make adjustments to your routine for better sleep composition and timing.

Q & A

What is the primary message of the transcript regarding sleep and performance?

The transcript emphasizes that sleep is a critical component for achieving peak performance and flow states. It suggests that by optimizing sleep, individuals can unlock their full potential and improve various aspects of their cognitive and physical well-being.

What is the 'flow state' as defined in the transcript?

The 'flow state' is described as an optimal state of consciousness where individuals feel and perform at their best. It is a mental state in which a person is fully immersed in an activity, resulting in a heightened level of performance.

How does the speaker initially approach building his company?

The speaker initially adopts a 'hustle' mentality, working long hours with minimal sleep. This approach backfires, leading to physical and mental fatigue, irritability, and a decrease in productivity.

What is the 'exhaustion ceiling' mentioned in the transcript?

The 'exhaustion ceiling' refers to the hidden limit to one's current performance due to suboptimal sleep. It represents the barrier that prevents individuals from operating at their full potential because of sleep deprivation.

What are the key components of achieving 'high flow sleep'?

High flow sleep is achieved by going to bed deaf (no noise), blind (dark room), cold (cool room temperature), and hungry (eating 4 hours before sleep) at the same time every night.

Why is it important to maintain a consistent sleep schedule?

A consistent sleep schedule helps regulate the homeostatic drive and circadian rhythm, preventing social jet lag and ensuring the body and mind are in sync. This consistency leads to better sleep quality and improved daytime performance.

What role does REM sleep play in achieving a flow state?

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is crucial for concentration and cognitive function. Insufficient REM sleep can compromise one's capacity for concentration, which is essential for entering and maintaining a flow state.

How does the speaker suggest using the concept of Tetris to manage daily tasks in relation to sleep?

The speaker recommends viewing the day as a fixed container, similar to a Tetris game, where tasks must be fitted into a set timeframe. Sleep should be treated as a non-negotiable boundary within this container, ensuring that it is not compromised by overextending the workday.

What are some of the physical and mental benefits mentioned in the transcript that are associated with proper sleep?

Benefits of proper sleep include replenished energy, tissue and nerve cell regeneration, improved memory and learning capacity, increased resilience to stress, enhanced positive emotions, reduced susceptibility to anxiety and depression, better motor skills, longer lifespan, decreased food cravings, tighter skin, brain protection from cancer and dementia, and reduced risk of colds, flu, heart attacks, stroke, and diabetes.

What is the significance of tracking sleep and how can it help improve sleep quality?

Tracking sleep helps individuals understand their sleep patterns, including sleep and wake timing, total sleep time, and sleep composition. By monitoring these metrics, one can make informed adjustments to their sleep habits, leading to improved sleep quality and overall well-being.

Why is it suggested to avoid consuming caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime?

Caffeine and alcohol can interfere with the sleep cycle. Caffeine is a stimulant that can make it difficult to fall asleep, while alcohol, despite initially causing drowsiness, can disrupt sleep later in the night, particularly reducing REM sleep which is important for memory consolidation.

Outlines

00:00

😴 The Importance of Sleep for Peak Performance

The speaker emphasizes the transformative impact of optimal sleep on achieving peak performance and entering a state of flow. They recount their personal experience of struggling with sleep deprivation while building a company, which led to physical and mental exhaustion. A pivotal interview failure prompted a desperate call to business partner Steven Cotler, an authority on peak performance. Cotler revealed that sleep is the most overlooked contributor to achieving flow states and peak performance. The speaker outlines the numerous benefits of sleep, including physical recovery, memory consolidation, stress resilience, and mood enhancement. They argue that sleep is not a mere break but an active period of productivity for the brain and body, crucial for unlocking one's full potential.

05:00

🛌 Overcoming the Exhaustion Ceiling Through Quality Sleep

The speaker discusses the concept of the 'exhaustion ceiling,' which represents an invisible limit to one's performance due to suboptimal sleep. They explain how poor sleep quality can lead to a cascade of negative consequences, such as reduced cognitive function and emotional irritability. The speaker then shares their journey of improving sleep, which resulted in a significant positive change in their personal and professional life. They stress the importance of prioritizing sleep as a key component of high-performance living. The speaker also introduces the idea that sleep is a trainable skill and shares their approach to mastering it, including focusing on sleep composition and the various stages of sleep necessary for well-being.

10:02

🕰️ Prioritizing Sleep Timing and Consistency

The speaker highlights common mistakes people make regarding sleep, such as treating it as compressible and disregarding sleep timing. They argue that sleep should be viewed as fixed and non-negotiable. To achieve high-flow sleep, the speaker suggests a structured approach: establishing a consistent sleep schedule, creating a 'sleep container' by setting bedtime and wake-up alarms, and planning the day backward from the bedtime. They also discuss the importance of avoiding 'social jet lag' and aligning one's internal clock with their sleep schedule. The speaker provides actionable steps to regulate sleep timing, including setting realistic bedtime and wake-up times, and incorporating buffers into the daily schedule.

15:02

🌙 Creating an Ideal Sleep Environment

The speaker delves into the specifics of creating an optimal sleep environment by following the rule to go to bed 'deaf, blind, cold, and hungry.' They explain that minimizing noise, ensuring a dark room, maintaining a cool room temperature, and avoiding late-night eating can significantly improve sleep quality. The speaker also discusses the physiological effects of these factors on sleep stages and overall health. They provide tips for each aspect, such as using earplugs or white noise machines for deaf, blackout curtains or sleep masks for blind, room temperature adjustments for cold, and strategies for managing hunger. Additionally, they touch on the importance of morning routines and the impact of blue light on melatonin production and sleep cycles.

20:04

🍽️ Dietary and Substance Considerations for Better Sleep

The speaker addresses the role of diet and substance use in relation to sleep quality. They recommend eating dinner at least 4 hours before bedtime to improve heart rate variability (HRV) and reduce the likelihood of sleep-disrupting symptoms like heartburn and acid reflux. The speaker also advises cutting out caffeine and alcohol at least 10 hours before sleep to prevent disruptions in REM sleep and other negative effects. They suggest alternatives like nicotine for those needing a pick-me-up, while cautioning about its addictive potential. The speaker encourages tracking sleep and adjusting habits based on the data gathered from sleep trackers.

25:05

🛌 CBTI Protocol and Preventing Insomnia

The speaker introduces the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTI) protocol as a proactive measure to prevent insomnia. They explain that insomnia can be a result of associating the bed with wakefulness rather than sleep, and CBTI aims to retrain the brain to associate the bed with sleep. The protocol involves stimulus control, where the bed is only used for sleep and sex, and sleep restriction, where the time spent in bed is adjusted to match the actual sleep time. The speaker emphasizes the importance of a consistent wake-up time and provides a comprehensive approach to improving sleep quality and preventing insomnia.

30:06

📉 Sleep Optimization: The 80/20 Rule and Beyond

The speaker outlines the '80/20 rule' of sleep optimization, suggesting that 80% of the benefits can be achieved by following the basic principles consistently. They caution against overcomplicating sleep routines with too many 'biohacks' at the expense of fundamental practices. The speaker then presents additional strategies, or the 'long tail' of sleep optimization, which include a power-down ritual to reduce cognitive load, cutting back fluid intake before sleep, investing in quality bedding, and considering the use of cooling pads and weighted blankets. They also discuss the potential benefits of certain supplements like alanine, magnesium citrate, and CBD for sleep, while warning against overuse and the risks associated with sleep medications. The speaker concludes by reiterating the importance of sleep for unlocking flow states and maximizing performance.

Keywords

💡Peak Performance

Peak Performance refers to the highest level of achievement where an individual operates at their best capacity in terms of skills, focus, and energy. In the context of the video, it is closely linked to achieving a state of 'flow,' which is facilitated by optimal sleep patterns. The video emphasizes that proper sleep is a critical component to reaching one's peak performance.

💡Flow State

Flow State is a psychological term for a state of mind where an individual is fully immersed in an activity, experiencing a heightened level of focus and involvement. The video discusses how achieving flow is an optimal state of consciousness that allows for the best performance and how it is intricately connected to the quality of one's sleep.

💡Sleep First Mindset

Sleep First Mindset is the concept of prioritizing sleep as a non-negotiable aspect of one's life, recognizing its importance for cognitive function, emotional well-being, and overall performance. The video script illustrates the transformation the speaker underwent by adopting this mindset and the positive impact it had on their personal and professional life.

💡Exhaustion Ceiling

The Exhaustion Ceiling is a metaphor used in the video to describe the hidden limit to one's performance due to suboptimal sleep. It suggests that without sufficient and restorative sleep, an individual is operating below their true potential. The video emphasizes breaking through this ceiling by focusing on successful sleep as a key to unlocking higher performance.

💡Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

CBT-I is a structured program that helps individuals with insomnia by identifying and replacing thoughts and behaviors that cause or worsen sleep problems with habits that promote sound sleep. The video discusses CBT-I as a proactive measure to prevent insomnia and retrain the brain to associate the bed with sleep, not wakefulness.

💡Sleep Hygiene

Sleep Hygiene refers to the practices and habits that contribute to good sleep. The video outlines several components of sleep hygiene, including a consistent sleep schedule, creating a sleep-conducive environment, and dietary habits that support restful sleep. It is presented as a set of rules or practices that, when followed, can lead to high-flow sleep.

💡Social Jet Lag

Social Jet Lag is a term used to describe the sleep disruption that results from a misalignment between an individual's internal body clock and their social or work schedule. The video explains how inconsistent sleep timing can lead to social jet lag, which in turn affects the quality of sleep and overall well-being.

💡REM Sleep

REM, or Rapid Eye Movement, sleep is a phase of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements, more dreaming, and increased brain activity. The video highlights the importance of REM sleep for concentration and cognitive function, stating that insufficient REM sleep can compromise one's ability to achieve a flow state.

💡Circadian Rhythm

Circadian Rhythm is the body's internal clock that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. The video discusses how maintaining a consistent sleep schedule aligns with the circadian rhythm, which is essential for achieving high-quality sleep and optimal performance.

💡Habit Stacking

Habit Stacking is a technique where a new habit is attached to an existing one, making it easier to form and maintain. The video suggests using habit stacking to build a consistent bedtime routine that supports sleep, such as engaging in relaxing activities before bed to signal to the body that it's time to sleep.

💡Neurochemistry

Neurochemistry involves the chemical processes that occur in the nervous system, including the transmission of signals through neurons. The video mentions building up the neurochemistry for flow while asleep, indicating that sleep plays a crucial role in preparing the brain for optimal functioning upon waking.

Highlights

Science shows that by changing how you sleep, you can achieve peak performance and flow states.

Flow is an optimal state of consciousness where we perform at our best, and sleep is equally important for recovery.

Sleep is not just a timeout for the mind but a workout for the brain and body, contributing to productivity.

During sleep, energy is replenished, tissues regenerate, memories are reorganized, and stress resilience is upgraded.

Successful sleep can enhance motor skills, lifespan, decrease food cravings, tighten skin, and protect the brain from diseases.

The concept of the 'exhaustion ceiling' refers to the hidden limit to performance due to suboptimal sleep.

Poor sleep can lead to a cascade of negative consequences, affecting decision-making and emotional state.

By improving sleep, many problems dissolve as they are downstream effects of an exhaustion ceiling that is too low.

Sleep is the biggest domino affecting everything in life, and successful sleep brings everything into sharp focus.

Building a 'sleep first' mindset is crucial for prioritizing sleep as a vital part of high-performance living.

Sleep is a trainable skill, and mastering it can significantly enhance the skill of entering flow states.

The key to high-flow sleep includes going to bed deaf, blind, cold, and hungry at the same time every night.

Consistency in sleep timing is crucial for aligning the homeostatic drive and circadian rhythm, preventing social jet lag.

Creating a sleep container by setting fixed bedtime and wake-up times helps regulate sleep and improve flow state.

The 80/20 rule of high-flow sleep can be summarized as going to bed at the same time every night with specific conditions.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) can help prevent and treat insomnia by retraining sleep responses.

Tracking sleep and focusing on metrics like sleep and wake timing, total sleep time, and sleep composition can improve sleep quality.

Long-tail interventions such as power down rituals, cutting back fluid intake before sleep, and using high-quality bedding can further optimize sleep.

Supplementation with certain substances like alanine, magnesium citrate, and CBD may support sleep, but should be used with caution.

Sleep optimization is a fundamental aspect of achieving high performance and should not be overlooked for quick fixes or biohacks.

Transcripts

imagine if every morning you woke up

with your brain supercharged for Peak

Performance and flow just by changing

how you sleep well the science shows

that this is possible and by dialing

this in you can access potential that

you didn't even know was lying dormant

within you now I'm randar co-founder of

coo the flow research Collective we've

trained everyone from Audi enture to the

US Air Force on how to use

neuroscience-based principles to access

flow states that will now after years of

internships as a teenager I finally got

my one shot to prove myself building a

company with a famous author that I

admired for a long time but it was sink

or swim no outside funding pure boots

trapping we had to make enough money to

run fund and grow the business at the

same time or I'd have to return to muggy

Ireland and get an average Joe job

proving all my doubting Irish Brethren

that they were right all along the plan

was to put on this event in Miami to

generate enough Capital to run the

business for the next 6 months so I was

getting the sales collateral into place

taking sales calls building the

marketing funnels and event curriculum

and starting to hire enough team members

to make the whole thing happen due to

the pressure I fell victim to the hustle

Guru mentality working until my eyes

bled and taking pride in my ability to

push myself on grossly low amounts of

sleep but this approach backfired badly

my body achd my irritability was high

noises and light were more agitating

than normal almost like this persistent

slight migraine in the background and I

was abusing caffeine in the caffeinated

State combined with the fatigue from low

sleep was even worse and I would get

these midday crashes brain zoned and

barely able to talk where I'm working

and it's like trying to move through

molasses and I just felt kind of sick

all the time by the time I got to bed I

was too wired to sleep would end up

binging YouTube and staying up too late

waking up even more underslept and

repeating the cycle day after day after

day then one day many years ago as I was

about 3 months into building this

company I had an interview with a key

team member someone crucial the live

event that we were hosting in Miami that

was going to be the backbone of this

entire Vision we had 7 minutes into the

interview the screen starts to blur my

head tilts down and boom I end up

nodding off the sheer humiliation mixed

with the crushing fear that I was

blowing my one chance at building

something exceptional was a punch to the

gut and that's when I had a desperate

call with my current business partner

Steven Cotler Steven is the foremost

authority on Peak Performance in Flow

State and he shared with me a

counterintuitive truth that people don't

EMP ize enough he said ran you already

know that sleep is important everyone

knows that but then he explained to me

how and why sleep is the biggest driver

of Flow State and pig performance which

is exactly what I needed at the time to

bootstrap the company just consider the

definition of flow flow is an optimal

State of Consciousness where we feel and

perform at our best it turns out sleep

is sort of the other side of the coin

it's an optimal State of Consciousness

where we repair rebuild and recover to

make Peak Performance a possibility flow

and sleep function like a seesaw it

turns out that while sleep is a timeout

for your mind it's a workout for your

brain and body it's not a gap in your

productivity it's not an inconvenience

that takes us away from work it's an

extreme form of productivity that you're

just not awake to observe we take it for

granted because the mind isn't conscious

to see everything that's happening in

the brain but here's a glimpse of what

you're getting done while sleeping first

off your energy is being replenished and

your tissues and nerve cells are

regenerated your memories are

reorganized for optimal accessibility

and your learning capacity is increasing

you get a resilience upgrade so you can

better handle stress you get a surge of

positive emotion and decrease your

susceptibility to anxiety and depression

your motor skills are enhanced you add

another day to your lifespan your food

cravings decrease your skin tightens and

your brain gets shielded from cancer and

dementia you even ward off colds and the

flu and lower your risk of heart attacks

stroke and diabetes you're charged with

motivation and of course you're primed

to enter Flow State and you don't even

have to do anything you just get to lie

there and let it unfold just imagine how

productive it would feel to be able to

watch yourself do all of these things

while awake this means that like Flo

sleep is a high performance State it's

no wonder my hardcore hustling to try

and bootstrap my first company was such

a grind I was never giving my brain a

chance to replenish itself so it could

create fate through sleeping properly

and this led to a critical problem that

you may be experiencing yourself without

successful sleep we call this your

exhaustion ceiling think of it as the

hidden limit to your current performance

with suboptimal sleep you're unknowingly

operating far below your true potential

successful sleep is the key to

shattering this ceiling and unlocking

what you're truly capable of unlike the

ceiling of a room which is visible to

your eyes the exhaustion ceiling is hard

to see because the trickle down effects

are harder to track you know how this

goes you wake up underslept the first

order consequence is brain fog low

energy feeling kind of crappy but the

second order consequence is then kick in

in the morning you skip your usual audio

book instead opting for a random YouTube

video that you watch in bed to get a

quick dopamine then the third order

consequences of poor sleep kick in

you're a little too zoned to blast

through important work so you get stuck

in inbox clearing instead and on and on

this trickle down effect goes with a

series of dominoes being flicked in the

wrong direction this was something I

learned after years of grinding it out

with less sleep than I needed during

this period I remember noticing that one

of my colleagues was aggravating the

living hell out of me for completely

unrelated reasons I bought a sleep

tracker around this time this was one of

the things that helped me realized just

how off my key flow proness markers were

including my resting heart rate HRV and

hours spent across each stage of sleep

after dialing in my sleep I couldn't

believe how nice my colleague had become

there was nothing aggravating at all

about him and I realized wait a second

nothing's changed he's still calling me

six times a week his words aren't any

different it's me me who's different as

I contined to raise this exhaustion

ceiling I was shocked at how many

problems disappeared concentration

issues sluggish decision- making and

emotional irritability vanished Into

Thin Air my insecurity around successful

people dissipated my inconsistent

self-discipline all gone and I couldn't

help but wonder what other untapped

potential I had been missing out on all

the years before what ideas I didn't

have what conversations I didn't decide

to initiate that was the moment I

learned that sleep is the biggest domino

on everything that I care about in life

many of our biggest problems are

automatically solved with successful

sleep the stressful frantic nature of

the job the difficulties concentrating

the constant headbutting with the boss

or colleague all of these things melt

away why well because they weren't the

root problem they were Downstream

effects of your exhaustion ceiling being

too low this sleep caused performance

deficit highlights that you don't even

know how good life can be who you truly

are until you are repeatedly getting

successful sleep it's as if you've spent

your life seeing the world slightly

blurry accepting it as normal successful

sleep is the prescription that brings

everything into sharp focus and here's

the thing we tend to think our sleep is

suboptimal because of bad habits stress

a lack of discipline or a crammed

calendar but in reality it's because

you're yet to build a sleep first

mindset the solution is to prioritize

ize it the same way you would prioritize

work obsessing about sleep like you

obsess over your Ambitions because sleep

fuels ambition here's the rule to

remember your flow state gets created

while you sleep you are building up the

neurochemistry while asleep that flow

consists of now rewinding to when I was

building my first company now that I

understood these pieces about sleep and

flow it quickly eroded the hustle

mentality that I used to have I now knew

that sleep was a high performance state

I had finally fully adopted a sleep

first mindset the problem was I wasn't

exactly sure where to begin naively I

thought perhaps the solution was just to

get as much sleep as possible but I kept

wondering am I getting enough sleep a

good night's rest seemed mostly a matter

of luck I hoped I would wake up feeling

refreshed but it was kind of like a roll

of the dice then the next sleep

Revelation hit me when Dr Andrew hubman

spoke at one of our first conferences on

Flo sleep as it turns out is a skill

that can be trained which means it's

something you can get better at similar

to flow we don't tend to think of sleep

as a skill but in reality it is and it's

trainable and the skill of sleep fuels

the skill of flow I'd already made so

much progress but the idea that I can

Master sleep thrilled me I decided to

treat sleep as a skill to be mastered so

I started paying attention to my sleep

composition based on the research sleep

has many different stages there's REM

light nonrem and deep nonrem sleep all

of these stages are essential these

stages are marked by distinct types of

brain wave activity slow wave Delta

Theta and Alpha and fast wave beta these

brain waves are the oscillations of

large populations of neurons all

synchronizing and coordinating and I

learned that we want 1 to two hours of

deep sleep and over two hours of REM

sleep while most mammals experience REM

sleep monkeys are a notable exception

this is the crucial difference between

us and our primate relatives

insufficient REM compromises our

capacity for concentration which makes

REM indispensable for flow now on my

path to sleep master

at first my progress was slow and that's

because I was guilty of a few mistakes

first I treated sleep as compressible it

would be the thing I would shrink if the

day spilled over and the day often did

spill over work would run straight into

the evening I would only have two hours

to Breathe by then it would be so late I

was forced to get by on less than 8

hours of sleep because of this sleep

used to be the thing i' shorten if my

workday ran over the thing I'd compress

and you can probably relate to the

impulse to compress sleep sleep is the

one thing that makes room for seemingly

more important stuff in your crammed

calendar instead because sleep is a

vital part of the work I learned it was

key to view it as fixed and

non-negotiable non-compressible what

helped me was to start thinking about

the day kind of like a Tetris game and

Tetris blocks drop into a fixed

container you can't move or expand or

deepen the container that the blocks

drop into to fit more blocks in and the

skill here is to fit all the different

blocks of our day tasks activities

obligations hangout time whatever it is

into that fixed container that means if

you want flow and Peak Performance you

can no longer compress sleep sleep

defines the boundaries like the

boundaries are defined in the Tetris

game this also means you'll need to

forecast sleep planning travel and life

around high quality sleep instead of

planning trips or flights based on

what's fastest non-stop or cheapest we

want to bring sleep up to the top of our

decision-making criteria now another

mistake I made was I disregarded sleep

timing I realized that while I was

getting perfect sleep some nights I

wasn't getting enough of it and I'm

embarrassed to admit how long it took me

to learn this but eventually I really

internalized the Golden Rule here to get

the optimal 8 hours of sleep you need to

spend 9 hours in bed here are the five

steps to getting high flow sleep the

first is the 8020 of high flow sleep

armed with my sleep first mindset I

decided to synthesize as much of the

research on sleep as I possibly could

and what I learned surprised me you can

distill almost everything that most

moves the needle on sleep into a single

sentence the rule to live by when it

comes to sleep and that is to go to bed

deaf blind cold and hungry at the same

time every night here are the exact

levers to pull to make this happen to

abide by this single sentence the first

lever is sleep timing the difference

between days when you cruise through

your work and days when you drag your

feet are often determined by sleep

timing and it's consistency your

homeostatic drive and circadian rhythm

are out of sync on the down days all

because we stay up late on weekends or

we work late so we need more wind down

time but we're exhausted so we get our

phone out at night and end up hours over

our ideal sleep time or we're just

excited to be awake and don't want to

sleep it doesn't seem like a big deal as

long as we still get plenty of sleep but

when this happens our bedtime and wakeup

times shift and this comes with a cost

sleepiness and wakefulness are two

independent functions and inconsistent

sleep timing can lead to what's called

social jet lag social jet lag is the

misalignment between your body's natural

sleep wake cycle your internal clock and

the timing demands of your work or

social schedule this misalignment

happens when the chemical signal to

sleep which is a Denine buildup happens

while your internal sleep wake cycle

regulated by light and melatonin and the

super kyotic nucleus in the brain is on

a different schedule the result is your

body fights itself making quality sleep

an impossibility think of your sleep

schedule as your internal time zone

every time you hit snooze or stay up

late you force your body to change time

zones abruptly no wonder you feel groggy

and jet lagged even when you catch up on

sleep so here's how to regulate these

two processes to dial in your sleep

timing first build your sleep container

this is the tetris container we touched

on earlier that your sleep fits into you

create this container by doing two

things first setting a bedtime alarm

train yourself to go to bed at the same

time each knife and second set a wake up

alarm force yourself to get up in the

beginning this might cause you to feel

fatigued but that fatigue will make it

easier to go to bed at the right hour

that following night it's a corrective

mechanism now here's the key condition

yourself to never budge on your wakeup

time and equally important never spend

time in bed after you wake up this

conditions your bed to be used for

something other than sleep the rule is

wake up get up knowing you'll wake up at

the same time every day will increase

your bedtime compliance

this is how you can avoid the social jet

lag that comes from desyncing your

homeostatic drive and circadian rhythm

to help yourself wake up and stay up

place your alarm Out Of Reach forcing

yourself to get up for a cortisol boost

that fights the urge to crawl back to

bed blast yourself with light a sunrise

alarm or ideally sunlight to trigger

alertness and when choosing when to go

to bed and wake up don't fall for the

Trap of setting an aspirational time

that's too far from reality to be useful

instead the best time for your bedtime

and wake up alarms is close to what

you're already doing naturally for

example if you naturally go to bed at

11:00 p.m. pick that time and wake up 9

hours later at 8:00 a.m. don't make it

hard to help with this plan your day in

Reverse know when to eat dinner

socialize and finish work so you can hit

that bedtime carve out your cut off

times and stick to them and build in

more buffer than you think you'll need

don't be back to back with anything

because often EV events will bleed into

the next and that'll spill over into the

Sleep block being compressed to make

this easier Leverage incentives and

consequences make waking up rewarding

with something you truly enjoy a

beautiful sunrise delicious coffee a

lovely morning routine your favorite

podcast or waking up and getting

straight into flow with whatever work

you're excited to do similarly create an

irresistable bedtime routine a warm bath

a good book or a special cup of tea that

allowes you to want to go to bed and be

consistent with that bedtime then here

are a few optimizations to fall asleep

faster stay asleep or easily fall back

asleep if you wake up in the middle of

the night let's reorient to the sentence

we started with for the 8020 of high

flow sleep go to bed deaf blind cold and

hungry at the same time every night that

brings us to lever two for high flow

sleep going to bed deaf when I first

started tracking my sleep my sleep

tracker kept showing middle of the night

disturbances I was too sleepy to know

these were happening but the data was

clear then I realized the faint hum of

the refrigerator cycled on and off while

I was asleep this would wake me up

without me really even noticing because

I wouldn't f wake up night after night

on a whim I tried earplugs for the first

time in years I slept through the night

and it had a noticeable impact on how

easy it was for me to get into flow the

next morning noise as low as 33 DB can

stimulate hormone releases cortical

arousals and bodily movement during

sleep you want either silence or white

noise which has been shown to improve

Sleep Quality use earplugs or if you

sleep on your back you might prefer

shooting ear muffs so go to bed defa and

as a bonus tip make sure to get the

gummy silicone tone ear plugs they are

infinitely better than the traditional

ones next up is lever three going to bed

blind you're going to bed at the same

time every night deaf now let's add

blind to the mix keeping the room dark

ensures the release of melatonin and

prevents the release of wakefulness

neurochemicals such as cortisol and

adenosine Darkness leads to less

fragmented sleep deeper sleep and

improved concentration the following day

use blackout curtains darken the LEDs of

any electronic devices with black tape

or remove those devices from the room

entirely or keep it simple get a sleep

mask to block light from your eyes

especially if light leaks in the morning

or from other rooms in the house I

remember trying to tape down the

curtains in my room in arand a friend

came over and laughed he said why don't

you just get a sleep Masky dope that

takes care of the dark but there's

something just as important on the other

side of the day a common phrase

regarding sleep is a good night's sleep

starts the moment we wake up because

light has a central role in the

regulation of our circadian rhythms

Luminosity should reach at least a

thousand looks in intensity to have such

an effect the best possible source for

this is direct sunlight upon waking

that's at the start of the day as the

day winds down you want to avoid the

blue spectrum light white LED lighting

suppresses melatonin production five

times more than incandescent light bulbs

then mind your Tech turn on the blue

light reduction settings on your screens

to significantly reduce melatonin

suppressing light change the screen tint

to Red reduce the white point and create

a shortcut or automation for that

setting it's so simple but it

significantly reduces blue light

exposure this doesn't give you an excuse

to use your phone before bed it's best

to avoid it entirely for two hours

before bed but it will mitigate

melatonin suppression due to Blue Light

the reason why this is so important

doesn't only come down to melatonin

suppression the last blue light exposure

you have in the day is similar to Sunset

for our ancestors after the exposure you

get a small surge of energy this made

sense for our ancestors because that

energy helped wind down camp and prepare

their surroundings for sleep but if you

get that surge of energy right before

bed you mess up your sleep and desync

your homeostatic and circadian rhythms

which will block you from flow that

covers sleep timing going to bed deaf

and blind the next lever is cold during

the pandemic I was sleeping in a garden

shed with my significant other the shed

had no central heating so it was

freezing cold it was so cold that it was

almost uncomfortable going to bed in the

first place but the funny thing is

during that time I was having the

deepest sleep of my life life validated

by my sleep tracker and that's because

cold is incredibly important for sleep

you want to put your room at about 15 to

19° C 60 to 70 to 67° Fahrenheit maybe

even a little colder it should be so

cold that if you wake up it's a little

uncomfortable a cooler environment helps

to slow metabolic rra reduce body

temperature and promote sleepiness it

also reduces nighttime wakefulness sleep

disruptions that can occur if the room

is too hot the body has trouble with

Thermo regul ation this leads to

restlessness excessive movement during

sleep and nighttime wakeups which can

Spike cortisol and make it harder to

fall back asleep adjust the air

conditioning or keep the windows open if

you share a room and don't want to

battle over the thermostat settings use

devices pads or mattresses that cool

your side of the bed the investment is

worth it it's not just so you can sleep

better it's so your Flow State can be

better the next day the last lever in

the 8020 of high flow sleep is hunger

the number one way to get my sleep score

as high as possible on my sleep tracker

is not just leaving a little bit of time

between my last meal and bed like what's

commonly recommended but actually

leaving so much of a gap between eating

and bed that I'm slightly hungry going

to sleep and research backs this up the

rule is eat 4 hours before sleep studies

show this is associated with improved

HRV when HRV is high the body can better

respond to stress and recover from it

it's why longevity luminaries like Brian

Johnson literally finish eating in the

morning given the impact it makes on

sleep eating too close to bedtime can

cause digestive problems that can

interfere with sleep which leads to

heartburn indigestion acid reflux and

other sleep disrupting symptoms going to

bed hungry is a positive signal of sleep

preparedness you also want to mind

ingesting not just food but substances

you want to cut caffeine and alcohol at

least 10 hours before bedtime otherwise

they will still be circulating in your

system while you sleep that means if

you're going to bed about at 10: p.m.

you want to stop those substances by

midday and when you track your sleep

which is something we'll cover in a

minute you can see the impact these

substances have on Sleep Quality alcohol

reduces REM sleep which impairs memory

consolidation and negatively impacts all

the Upstream benefits of sleep if you

like drinking well day drinking funnily

enough actually turns out to be

healthier for you so maybe drink a

brunch metabolize it and sober up before

you end up going to sleep and if you

need a 500 p.m. pickme up use nicotine

instead of caffeine nicotine can enhance

Focus speed and reaction times and

enhance memory for flow a small dose

will do about a milligram it has a much

shorter halflife 2 hours and if you use

it infrequently at small doses there's

less risk of physiological addiction all

the same it's a super addictive compound

so be careful of its addictive potential

as mentioned another tip here is to

track your sleep get a sleep tracker and

pay attention to the three high flow

sleep metrics sleep and wake timing

keeping your sleep to wake drives in

sync total time getting enough sleep and

sleep composition getting enough deep

and RAM sleep and then look at your

long-term trends by season and ensure

they Trend in the right direction don't

obsess over the numbers or turn them

into a source of stress just learn from

them and course correct until top-notch

sleep hygiene is a habit and to make

this easy for you we've put together a

checklist of all the levers you can pull

to get high flow sleep it includes even

more methods than what we cover in this

video to download it just click the link

in the description by the way we're

aiming for a million subscribers by the

end of the year so if you benefit from

my videos please support the channel and

hit subscribe now as soon as we get to a

million I'll be giving away a free

chapter of my upcoming book which goes

into way more detail on how to dial in

your sleep to get more flow and maximize

your performance so to help unlock that

click subscribe and join the crew now

that we've tackled the 820 of sleep

let's address another critical element

something that hardly anyone talks about

but can make or break your ability to

perform at a high level consistently

over the long term that is to

proactively prevent insomnia after

suffering a head injury as a kid I spent

a year mostly in bed even when I healed

enough to move about in the mornings I'd

watch four or five episodes of the

office in bed and this ruined my sleep

my bed became a place of stimulation

rather than rest my brain learned to

associate my bed with being awake nights

felt like a blurry frustrating limbo

never fully awake or asleep it was a

terrible form of self-inflicted and

insomnia brought on by pairing the bed

with wakefulness instead of sleepiness

for some this is the number one reason

why they struggle with sleep and should

be the first thing they do to fix it it

turns out that 30 to 35% of people will

at some point in their life have a bout

of insomnia which is much worse than

just getting poor sleep the key is to

get ahead of this before it becomes a

problem because it can otherwise derail

your life sometimes for years on end the

good news is you can proactively guard

yourself from getting insomnia in the

first place by using a proven cbti

protocol cognitive behavioral therapy

for insomnia protocol this protocol

which is rooted in classical

conditioning helps you break the

negative association between your bed

and being awake you want to think of it

like a dog trained to salivate at the

sound of a bell cbti retrains your body

to automatically connect your bed with

sleep instead of with anxiety or

stimulation the time it takes to do this

depends on how deeply the bed is

associated with wakefulness there are

two steps to the cbti protocol step one

is stimulus control first you want to

use the bed for sleep and sex only allow

for nothing else in the bedroom that

means removing screens clutter desks TVs

everything else charge your phone

ideally even in another room and if you

find yourself awake in bed for what

feels like more than 15 to 20 minutes

you want to get out and relocate to

another room engage in a quiet calming

activity like Light reading or simple

tasks nothing too stimulating and return

to bed only when you feel genuinely

sleepy repeat this process as needed

throughout the night to retrain your

brain sleep response then the next step

in the cbti protocol is sleep reduction

first we want to track how many hours we

actually sleep not just the time we

spend in bed then temporarily we want to

restrict our time in bed to match our

sleep time for example if you're

struggling with insomnia and you average

5 hours of full sleep across a 10-hour

window you want to start with a 5H hour

sleep window which means you only allow

yourself to be in bed for 5 hours total

the goal being to increase the

percentage of our time in bed that we're

asleep rather than tossing and turning

awake trying to get to sleep this will

be tough at first but it creates the

Sleep pressure needed for deeper more

efficient rest as your sleep quality

improves you can gradually extend your

time in bed by small increments keeping

the percentage of time asleep in bed as

high as possible that's the key metric

what's key for this protocol to work is

a fixed wakeup time always now with the

cbti in mind let's add that to our

single sentence Q that sums everything

you need to know up for getting high

performance sleep so to get high

performance sleep go to bed deaf blind

cold and hungry at the same time every

night and only sleep in your bed now if

you've done that and you're still having

trouble sleeping or you simply crave the

ede that comes from Elite level sleep

optimization here's what you can do next

this is the long tail of sleep the third

piece now I have a friend we'll call him

Alex who got really into optimizing his

sleep he wore a forehead strap at night

that was supposed to to beam theta waves

into his brain for deeper sleep he

wrapped his entire bed in a copper mesh

EMF blocking canopy to eliminate

Wireless signals he even got a

hyperbaric oxygen chamber for his

bedroom his room looked like a

terrifying sci-fi sleep lab but Alex's

pursuit of sleep overshadowed everything

else and started to stress him out he

was over indexing on the biohacks at the

expense of the basics the lesson Alex

taught me was this don't be a dumb

Optimizer don't overly biohack perfect

sleep comes from mastering the

fundamentals and not overlooking them on

any given night just as 30 minutes of

sleep is better than any neut Tropic

supplement OR tech device for optimizing

brain function 20% of the things you can

do to optimize your sleep will give you

more than 80% of the benefit if you're

100 nights consistent with the 80/20 of

high flow sleep intervention of going to

bed deaf blind cold and hungry at the

same time every night and you think you

can eek out even more value from your

sleep then maybe consider adding one of

these longtail interventions one at a

time and continue to the bottom of the

list that we're about to cover so you

can access flow with even greater

reliability the first is a power down

ritual the power down ritual is where

you'll tie up all loose ends for the day

so you can relax into the evening with

zero cognitive load that is the number

of items you hold in working memory

lowering cognitive load is a key

mechanism for triggering Flow State

think of every open loop as a fish hook

tugging at you pulling at your

Consciousness for successful sleep it

helps to snip all those lines the

solution is to identify open Loops

externalize them by writing them down

and then identify the actions required

to move those things forward to get

psychological closure doing this every

night makes you aware of the root causes

of open Loops so you can eliminate them

more fundamentally over time in your

life as well maybe you're constantly

open looping about a certain team member

or a financial problem or a health issue

this process prevents the compounding of

open Loops because we can address those

root causes the next piece is to cut

back fluid intake an hour to 90 minutes

before sleep so you don't have to go to

the bathroom at night that moment of

getting out of bed can be just enough to

get a spike of cortisol which can keep

you up for hours afterward or make your

sleep less restful you can also add a

pinch of salt or electrolytes to your

last drink of the day and the next piece

is bedding a high quality mattress and

pillow can make a real difference this

is one of those instances where there's

truth in advertising over your lifetime

you'll spend about 26 years a third of

your life sleeping you might as well get

a comfortable mattress that supports you

in creating your Flow State choose

Linens and sheets that help your body's

temperature stay stable like organic

cotton subjectively this can also make a

positive difference in your emotions and

mindset and also create a positive

incentive for hitting that bedtime on

time because you want to get in to that

crispy lovely bedding the next piece is

gadgets cooling pads for your mattress

can prevent overheating from waking you

up pressure from weighted blankets can

activate the parasympathetic nervous

system and decrease stress the next

piece is supplementation alanine

promotes relaxation and Alpha brain

waves soothing the nervous system

magnesium citrate vital for many bodily

functions acts as a mild sedative

facilitating deeper sleep and decreasing

nighttime cortisol CBD while still under

study indicates strong potential for

increasing deep sleep an appenine found

in calile Te May gently downregulate the

nervous system now fair warning you can

go Overkill easily with supplements for

sleep and become a dumb Optimizer keep

it simple don't turn sleep into a fuss

and a quick note about sleep medication

they come with several hazards

dependency for one and withdrawal

symptoms such as insomnia and memory

loss the risks of sleeping pills May

outweigh the advantages we suggest

avoiding them if you can and treating

them as a temporary Last Resort now that

covers the long tale of sleep

optimization to make it easier for you

to use all of this you can download the

high flow sleep checklist click the link

in the description to download it for

free and it'll walk you through how to

do all of these things step by step in a

really simple way that you can also use

over time and come back to repeatedly

and of course it's totally free now

remember the rules we've covered you

don't even know what your potential is

unless you're sleeping soundly every

night successful sleep shatters the

exhaustion ceiling the hidden limit to

your current performance sleep is a high

performance State it's not a passive

state that steals time away from

productivity it's an active state that

is productive in and of itself and also

enables productivity in Flow State your

flow state gets created while you sleep

to get high flow sleep go to bed deaf

blind cold and hungry at the same time

every night and keep going until you

lock all of these components in before

long you'll have consistent high flow

sleep in terms of boosting energy and

cognition there's no pill Gadget time

hack routine or software that can

compare to sleep if all of the benefits

of sleep Could Happen by taking a pill

you would never not take that pill

sleeping well will elevate your flow

proness productivity and well-being more

than any other intervention you can do

and I'm excited for you to get high

performance sleep with consistency and

shatter your exhaustion ceiling now once

you solve sleep you're one step closer

to gaining the ability to work work

without ever burning out but sleep is

just one piece of the puzzle to become

fully immune to burning out click this

video