Sleep more.
That’s it. I’m not trying bore you with details; Just get enough sleep. Every day.
But don’t listen to me, listen to an expert like Matthew Walker:
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The Super Easy Strategy To Improve Sleep
- It starts in the morning. As soon as is possible expose yourself to the sun’s light. Eat breakfast by a window or outside. Your eyes getting exposed to UV rays starts your circadian rhythm and makes it easier to fall asleep at bed time.
- When possible try to make your last meal of the day at least 3 hours before bed.
- Watch the sunset. Just like seeing daylight in the morning kickstarts your circadian rhythm, seeing the light get dimmer in the evening helps as well. You don’t have to sit there and watch the sunset but just be in an environment where you are aware that it is getting dark.
- Keep it dark. Once it’s dark outside, make it dark inside. This will vary by time of year but when possible keep the lights as dim as possible in the last hour before bed. Even better if you can do it 2 hours before bed.
- Turn off the phone an hour before bed. Even in “blue light” mode your phone, computer or TV put off a lot of light that can effect falling asleep and sleep quality. The TV is probably the least impactful as you tend to be farther from it.
- Cool down. As much as you can control it, make your environment cool around an hour before bed. The ideal temp for the average person to sleep is 65-68 degrees. For hard working athletes it could be even lower as our bodies are often more stressed and putting off more heat.
- Bonus things. If you can’t make your room dark or you need to sleep before full sunset or wake up after sunrise a sleep mask works great. The same goes for sound and ear plugs or a white noise like a fan.
- Naps. As part of a quality sleep routine naps can be a good thing especially on game day. Keep your nap to 40 minutes or less.