Sleep

Sleep is critical for recovery, stress relief, and long-term physical and mental health. If you look for information about “sleep hygiene” there are an abundance of lists of tips that may help you. I recommend the following:

• Maintain a regular sleep schedule that works best for your chronotype
• Favor a dark, cool sleeping environment
• Avoid alcohol consumption late in the day¹
• Properly support and align your spine; you may need special pillows to help with this
• Start to wind down an hour (or two) before you go to sleep
  • Avoid screen time e.g. phones, computers, TVs; e-ink is OK
  • Avoid stressful, exciting, or overly-stimulating activities
• Get enough sleep to ensure that your body can recover from the stress you put it through

Getting long nights of high-quality sleep get’s harder as you age. The best thing you can do is set yourself up for success and protect the time you need to stay rested.