Sleeping well is easy

Sleeping well is easy. If it’s your priority.

I’ve started sleep biohacking since Jan 2020. That’s more than 3 years now. I’ve done it all – supplements, managing blue light, wind down rituals, diet, fluid intake control, sleep tracking, etc. And even after 3 years, it’s still a challenge to get good sleep. I’ve always said it’s an infinite game. But recently I’m learning there’s a nuance to that. Maybe it’s can be a lot less infinite as a game… if my other priorities in life are in sync with my sleep goals.

So it’s less about the how, the habits, the hacks, the routines, the knowledge, the tools. Yes, those help. A lot in some cases. But they all pale in impact compared to placing sleep as a top priority in daily life.

The same way we don’t forget to eat or drink. We don’t question whether we prioritize food, because it’s so fundamental to our well-being. But yet we do that to sleep, thinking we can get away with sacrificing some sleep some of the time, and after a while, chronically over a long period. But just like a diet of junk food is bad for health, so is a poor sleep management.

It’s not about the how, but the why.

Because once my priorities are in sync, sleep habits are easy, and sleep scores of above 90% are a cakewalk.

Just like how I got 90% sleep score last night. I was feeling under the weather, and decided to prioritise sleep last night, sleeping in 8h even though that meant I had to wake up late at 6.40am. Getting that sleep score—and quantity + quality sleep—was so easy. It all pivoted on a single decision. No special hacks required. I did nothing out of my usual routine.

Awesome, rejuvenating, life-affirming sleep is available to me at the drop of a hat. Tonight. I don’t have to work for it. I just need to see it as important and prioritise it.

And that about sums up my struggles with sleep biohacking.

It’s a negotiable when placed next to other priorities in life – family, indie hacking, work.

The day I can switch my age old mindset to seeing it as a non-negotiable, is when my work for sleep biohacking is done.

Till then, it’s this mindset that needs much work.