Keep life on easy mode - Prioritize Sleep

how igor ticks , emotional intelligence
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Bryan Johnson says sleep is like life on easy mode. He has lots to say on this, and it gets technical, and I think I agree:

Bed Heater/Cooler - Eight Sleep

Ok, I used to use a mattress pad warmer, it was glorious. The Sleep 8 is like that but cooler! Pun intended, it’s able to both heat and cool your bed. Basically a heat pump w/radiator. It also adjusts as you sleep so you go to bed warm (who wants a cold bed), cools you through the evening, then cooks you to get you out of bed in the morning. Super expensive, but probably worth it given it’s a lifetime investment in your sleep. Humorously - cooking is the best alarm clock.

Consistent bedtime

I try my best, I prioritze consistent wake up, even if I miss consistent bed time. Not gonan lie, sometimes I’ll be beat and go into bed at 6pm. Which is still like a 7pm bed time.

Caffeine

For a while I was down to none, but now I have 2-3 cups before 9am.

Alcohol

No, not because of the calories, though I don’t need those, but because they mess up my sleep.

Sleep well.

Insomnia

Loading (/insomnia)

What’s it like waking up at 5am

The Atlantic summarized it perfectly:

They walk among us, endowed with a superpower invisible to the naked eye. Before an important early meeting, they never have to forgo a shower and settle for dry shampoo and a baby wipe. They rarely wake with a jolt at 10 in the morning and stare groggily at a phone screen with five missed calls and texts that say, “You on your way? ETA?”

But a few points to add after you read the article:

  1. There’s no free lunch, I still need 8 hours of sleep which has me in bed at 8 asleep by 9:30.
  2. I don’t pop out of bed bushy-tailed. I still need an alarm, and I still hit snooze. Except, the days I’m lazy and whack snooze 6 times, it’s still 5:30am.
  3. The “productivity advantage” for me is motivation starts strong when I get up and declines through the day, gone by 9pm when I’m on the couch, binging YouTube with my beer and chips. By contrast, at 5am I’m ready to do something useful, and no one is awake, and nothing is open to distract me.
  4. Sometimes my body goes a bit batty and I wake up early, that has me waking up at 3:30am which is annoying, as by noon I’m pretty toast and have to fight to stay awake till 8pm.
  5. Not gonna lie, I love the feeling of pride when I tell folks I get up crazy early. ps. Being a nerd I use a bunch of toys to help with my health.