Recovery is a subject I often get asked about by clients new and old.  

While I have many different methods, checklists and tools which are great to use I always like to start with sleep as it is something often overlooked and is the lowest hanging fruit.  

After all it is the thing we have the most influence over, it is free and you actually don’t need anything to get started right away!

So here are the things I get everyone started with…   

1. Reserve your bed for sleeping:  

Your bed should be for sleeping only. Oh and maybe one other thing too, which is also good to help with getting to sleep…

Get the TV out of your bedroom, stop eating dinner in bed and stop associating your bedroom with anything other than sleep and turn your room into what sleep expert Shawn Stevenson calls your “Sleep Sanctuary”.

2. Get to bed as early as possible:

We humans forget the fact that before electricity we actual used to get to bed soon after sundown. Just like most animals do. So instead of staying up all night on your Netflix bender show some self control and stop the autoplay of the next episode so you can get to bed a little earlier. Sure it may take some time to adjust and actually fall asleep when starting out but hang in there because the benefits will be worth it…

3. Turn off the lights:  

Your room and house should be as dark and cool as possible after the sun goes down. In the presence of light our bodies will secrete cortisol which is known commonly as the stress hormone. We need cortisol during the day so we can function and stay alert. At night however if the body is secreting cortisol it keep us awake and also stop the body from producing melatonin. So as soon as the sun goes down keep the lights to a minimum or even candle light and allow your body to start producing melatonin for a better nights sleep.

4. No drugs or alcohol:

Alcohol will make you feel drowsy so falling asleep can become easier but, it can also prevent you from reaching the deeper stages of sleep. This will reduce the amount of growth hormone released and can also suppress melatonin production which both result in a less restorative sleep. Sleeping tablets in my opinion are not great either. To be reliant on something like this I feel is just putting a bandaid on a bigger problem. Don’t just opt for the easy fix dive a little deeper ask why sleep is tough and make make an effort to get better. It may take some time to wean off them but if it is something you truly want nothing can stand in your way!

If you want to dive deeper into this topic and forge better habits around your sleep we have an online course on the Accelerate Strength Online School. This looks at creating 4 habits over a 4 week period. With video lectures, one habit to build into your daily routine each week and plenty of resources to help you along the way…

Click the link below to check it out and use the code BETTERSLEEP for 50% off.

https://acceleratestrength.teachable.com/p/accelerate-sleep

Shaun Diachkoff

@shaundiachkoff