On: Impacts of lack of sleep

[a-and]

If there is any meta advice I've learned from developing good sleeping habits it would be "Learn your own nervous system". Anecdotally I've seen varying responses to different lifestyle factors, so experimentation should be part of your plan if you want to optimize your sleep.

I've personally found a lot of success with:

  - Deliberate relaxation - I found the muscle relaxation technique incredibly valuable ( https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/fall-asleep-fast )
  - Sleep in a cold, dark room 
  - Limited phone time - mindless scrolling is fine if it helps me relax, but not if it amps me up

What I haven't found matters for me:

  - Strenuous exercise - I've found that training late at night (I compete in powerlifting) and going to bed immediately after leads to very deep, restful sleep
  - Caffeine timing - to an extent timing matters, but daily amount is by far the biggest driver for sleep quality
  - Meditation - it affected sleep adversely and even though very calm and level, I felt substantially more awake after meditation