10 Practices to Enhance the Quality of Your Sleep (DQ Solo)

#252

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You may not always be able to control the quantity of sleep you get (see: parents of young children)…

….but you do have control over many of the factors that contribute to the quality of sleep you get.

Today I’ll give you 10 of those best practices.

But first…

 

The 2 Components of Quality Sleep

 

For many years I found myself frustrated and confused by my seemingly chronic state of fatigue despite getting the requisite 7-8 hours of sleep.

 

What I found for me personally was 1/3 of the sleep equation was quantity of sleep.

 

2/3 was the quality of sleep.

 

What I needed to first understand were the 2 components of quality sleep*:

 

*(Descriptions below from the Oura Ring sleep tracking app).

 

Deep Sleep:

• Deep sleep is the most restorative and rejuvenating sleep stage
• During deep sleep your muscles grow and repair
• Immune system is refreshed
• Brain flushes out toxins
• Usually, you get more deep sleep during the early stages of your sleep
• On average, adults spend 15-20% of total sleep time in deep sleep
• This % decreases with age over time

 

REM (Rapid Eye Movement Sleep):

• REM sleep is associated with dreaming, memory consolidation and creativity
• REM plays an important role in re-energizing your mind and body
• Typically, you get more REM sleep during the latter half of your sleep
• On average, the optimal amount for healthy adults starts from 1.5 hours but slightly decreases with age

 

The punchline was, I had no way of calibrating the quality of my sleep, but I suspected it was trash (turns out, it was).

 

So, when I learned how to impact the quality of my sleep – and how to measure it with the Oura Ring – naturally my sleep quality increased.

 

I started feeling more refreshed in the morning, fewer dips in the middle of the day, and fewer crash-landings early in the evening.

 

 

 The 10 Practices to Enhance the Quality of Your Sleep

 

 

#1. Align Your Sleep Schedule with Your Circadian Rhythm (your body’s natural sleep cycle)

 

In Dr. Matthew Walker’s book Why We Sleep, he outlines the two biological forces that dictate when your body feels the need to sleep:

 

1. Your Circadian Rhythm
2. “Sleep Pressure” via adenosine (more on this in best practice #9 below)

 

Your genetics determine your circadian rhythm. 

 

In simplest terms, you’re either a night owl or a morning person.

 

If your lifestyle is designed and aligned to support your circadian rhythms, life is good.

 

If not, it can have tragic consequences.

 

For example, in Why We Sleep, Dr. Walker talks about how night owl’s get the serious short end of the stick based on society’s value on “early to bed early to rise.”

 

Turns out night owls, in an effort to keep up with the societal norms, suffer from higher rates of anxiety, depression and stre