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“In the last few years I’ve come to conclude that sleep is the end-all-be-all. That all good things – good mood, good performance, good everything – tend to stem from good sleep.” – Tim Ferriss
Good sleep is the most important biohacking tool. Period. Sleep is the best way to boost testosterone. It’s the best way to speed up muscle recovery. And the best way to boost cognitive function.
But if you read most of the “get better sleep” articles out there nowadays you’ll likely find advice that’s at best common sense and at worst completely useless bullshit.
You know the ones – some fitness guru preaching “don’t drink caffeine after 2pm!” and “don’t use electronics after 8pm!“. I’ve even seen one where a ‘key step’ to optimizing sleep was “just relax – don’t stress out late at night!“.
Great…thanks for the tip.
Don’t get me wrong, all of those things are beneficial. You should try not to use your phone or drink coffee late at night. But most of us already know that.
And if you’re reading this article I’m guessing you’re looking for something a little more in-depth.
We’ll get to that in a sec, but first let’s start with why you need to be focusing on sleep optimization in the first place. And it’s more than just not being tired. Here’s a tweet from Stanford neurobiology professor Andrew Huberman which sums it up pretty well:
Almost no biological process has as big of an impact on our body’s performance and overall wellbeing. Sleep is right below breathing, eating, and drinking water on the list of things our body needs to survive and thrive.
Good sleep leads to a host of benefits, including (but not limited to):
- Elevated testosterone and growth hormone levels
- Faster muscle recovery and growth
- Increased metabolism (i.e. weight loss)
- Stronger immune system function
- Optimal cognitive function and energy.
That last part is important. Everyone knows that you can partly make up for poor sleep through caffeine and other drugs. But that’s like putting a bandaid on a bullet hole if you let it go too long.
Your brain can only take so much adrenal fatigue from stimulant use before it starts to loose function, not to mention the fact that you build up tolerances over time and have to take more and more to keep yourself functioning. That creates a vicious cycle where you can’t sleep because you took too many stims, and then you take more stims the next day because you didn’t sleep. And on and on.
If for whatever reason you simply can’t get a good nights sleep for one or two nights, then fine, use caffeine (or something stronger) to make up for it.
But as Rhonda Patrick has said multiple times, “The best nootropic hands down is simply a good nights sleep.”.
You can build on top of that with supplements to really reach your full potential (more on that here), but if that foundation of sleep isn’t on point then you’ll never be fully optimized.
So… now that we’ve covered the ‘Why’ of sleep optimization, let’s get into the ‘How’.
Like I said, most sleep articles out there aren’t that helpful. But our goal with creating this guide was to give you proven and tested biohacking secrets that really work. Things that you won’t see on Buzzfeed or Men’s Health, but rather strategies and techniques that are gathered from elite biohackers like Andrew Huberman, Tim Ferriss, and David Sinclair.
Things that really work for getting the most out of every minute you spend on your mattress. Let’s get into it.
7 Key Secrets To Optimizing Sleep
Full Breakdown
#1. Get 2-10 Minutes Of Sunlight First Thing In The Morning, And Block Bright Light At Night
On a recent episode of the Tim Ferriss show, Stanford neurobiologist Andrew Huberman stated, “Our light-viewing behavior has perhaps the strongest effect on our levels of alertness and our capacity to fall asleep and get a good night’s sleep.”.
He goes on to further explain that viewing bright light, ideally sunlight, first thing in the morning has an acute effect on not only your energy levels and alertness throughout the day, but also your ability to fall asleep at night.
The mechanism behind this is that exposing your optic nervous system to light first thing in the morning triggers the timed release of cortisol. While too much cortisol overall from chronic stress is harmful, this cortisol from sunlight acts as a wake-up signal and helps to promote wakefulness and the ability to focus throughout the day.
Additionally, “That morning light exposure is going to also trigger the activation of dopamine release, dopamine being this, essentially, feelgood neuromodulator.” says Huberman.
Finally, the cortisol triggered by sunlight also starts a timer for the later onset of melatonin, the hormone that tells your body to go to sleep.
So in short, viewing light first thing in the morning kicks off two key benefits – one that promotes wakefulness immediately and another with a delayed fuse that promotes sleepiness at the right time later on.
Tim follows this up by saying that his current practice is 2-5 minutes of jump rope first thing in the morning, outdoors and facing the sun while it’s rising.
On the flip side of this is the concept of blocking blue light – and really all bright lights in general late in the day.
In that same podcast Huberman states that, “Blue light is exactly the wavelength of light that triggers activation of these [optic nerve] cells…it turns out that these cells are very hard to activate early in the day and very easy to activate at night.”
What that means is that exposing yourself to any bright light, especially blue light like the type emitted from screens, essentially has the same effect on cortisol as sunlight in the morning – promoting wakefulness when really you’re trying to go to sleep.
Sometimes this is unavoidable, sure, but one trick that our team likes to use is these blue light and UV-blocking glasses from Livho.
There some of the most comfortable around, and more importantly they look like normal reading glasses and come in a few different styles – and not the orange-lensed goggle-looking type that some brands have.
With over 90k reviews on Amazon and at around fifteen bucks for a two pack, they’re a no-brainer that can have a real proven effect on your ability to fall asleep and sleep through the night.
#2. Ensure Total Darkness With Curtain Liners Or A Mask
This one seems obvious, but when we say total darkness we mean ‘can’t see your hand in front of your face’ level darkness. This is something that’s constantly recommended by sleep scientists and coaches across the board.
Ideally you want to block out even small LED lights coming from a smoke alarm or TV – anything that you’ll be able to see clearly when your eyes fully adjust to the dark. These smaller lights will at best be a mental distraction for falling asleep and at worse could actually trigger a cortisol response like we discussed above.
Obviously this isn’t always possible to black out everything, but there are two great tricks that we’ve come across to help the process.
First, for sleeping at your own home, go in your bedroom in the middle of the night and turn off all the lights. Let your eyes adjust for at least a minute (don’t look at your phone) and then make note of any lights you can see. Then use small pieces of black electric tape to cover up any smaller light sources you find.
Likely the biggest source of light will be what’s coming in from outside through the cracks in your blinds or through your curtains. We’ve heard of some people taping thick black trash bags to the windows to block that out, but…that’s a little extreme even for us.
A good alternative that we’ve found is to use these 100% blackout curtain liners instead. They may not be as foolproof as trash bags, but they look a hell of a lot better (to you and your neighbors).
The liners are easy to use – just hang them behind the curtains that you already have and it will turn them completely light-proof and even helping to insulate the room from the cold.
Alternatively, if you’re traveling or otherwise can’t light-proof your room, hand’s down the best solution we’ve found is the Alaska Bear Natural Silk Sleep Mask.
We’ve tried a lot of sleep masks over the years and never really found a great one. Some are uncomfortable and most let in at least a little bit of light.
But after hearing this mask recommended to Tim Ferriss by Dr. Peter Attia on an episode of the Tim Ferriss show, we decided to give it a shot. And it’s hand’s down the most comfortable and effective sleep mask we’ve ever used.
The design checks a couple of basic but critical boxes: (1) it allows you to tighten the head strap, and (2) the soft material blocks light from entering under the bottom edge of the eye mask. If the ridiculous name isn’t enough, you can also choose many ridiculous patterns for your personalized sleep fashion needs (our personal favorite is shown below).
The mask is only $16 at the time of this writing and is available on Amazon here.
#3. Use Andrew Huberman’s (And Our) Favorite Sleep Supplement Stack – Magnesium Threonate, Theanine, and Apigenin
One of the most controversial subjects in the world of biohacking is the eternal debate on “what sleep supplements are best”.
We’re sorry to tell you that to our knowledge there is no magic pill that let’s you fall asleep instantly, get 8+ hours of quality sleep, and then wake up with no grogginess or other side effects. It just doesn’t exist.
On the extreme end of the spectrum you have Ambien or it’s counterparts, which will knock you out cold but can leave you feeling hungover in the morning and can even be addictive. And on the “herbal remedy” side you tend to have a lot of products with good marketing teams but with formulas that at best make you a little tired for an hour or so.
There’s also the age old debate on melatonin supplementation, and while some people may be able to use it with no side effects, most people find it hard to wake up from in the morning and have low energy for some time after they do.
Andrew Huberman actually backs this up in his podcast with Tim Ferriss, stating that he doesn’t use melatonin for a variety of reasons, including it’s potential side effects on other hormones and the groggy hangover that it tends to leave people feeling the next morning.
Fortunately, he follows this up with one of the best sleep-cocktail recipes we’ve found to date:
- 200-400mg magnesium threonate
- 200-400mg theanine
- 50mg of apigenin
- All taken around 30 minutes before bed.
Let’s break down the ingredients. Magnesium is a powerful sleep aid, but only in some forms. Threonate in particular easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and helps you to quickly fall asleep.
Theanine is an amino acid that will create a kind of hypnotic state, allowing you to “turn off your thoughts” which also helps to fall asleep. And finally apigenin, a derivative of chamomile, acts as a chloride channel agonist. That means it essentially helps to shut down the forebrain by hyper-polarizing neurons, helping you to stay asleep throughout the night.
The cocktail of all three together has been the most reliable way of consistently falling asleep and staying asleep throughout the night that we’ve found. It’s what we currently use on a nightly basis and haven’t seen any side effects so far.
We’ve copied easy links for purchasing our favorite brands on Amazon below.
#4. Use The Mattress Recommended By Elite Biohackers
You’ve probably heard the saying that you shouldn’t be cheap when buying your shoes or your mattress, because if you’re not in one you’re in another. Turns out they were on to something.
Using the right mattress is one of the major keys to sleeping soundly throughout the night, instead of tossing and turning while you try to get comfortable.
We’re going to keep this section short and simply offer one solution for what we think is hand’s down the best mattress on the market, but for a full breakdown of our top 3 favorites (including a budget friendly option) check out our post here.
But for our #1 mattress overall we found through another recommendation from Tim Ferriss (they’re actually a sponsor of his podcast): the Helix Midnight Luxe.
Tim mentions that he’s been sleeping a a Midnight Luxe for years himself and has one in the guest bedroom as well, saying he gets great feedback on it and, “it’s something people comment on.”.
Helix mattresses are by far the best that we’ve used ourselves, and what’s great is that the company has a quiz which takes around two minutes and matches your body type and sleepy preference with the perfect mattress for you.
Helix was selected as the best mattress of 2021 by Wired, GQ, CNET, and many others.
They’re not the cheapest mattress in the world, but you really do get what you pay for. And considering you’ll spend around 2,900 hours in it a year…it’s 100% worth it.
You can learn more about the Midnight Luxe and Helix’s other mattresses here.
#5. Use A Cooling System To Optimize Your Mattress Temperature
You know that feeling when you first get into bed and the sheets are cool but not cold, that perfect temperature that makes you pull the blankets up over your shoulders and drift off to sleep?
Now imagine that feeling we’ve all had when you wake up in the middle of the night hot and laying on sweaty sheets, unable to fall back to sleep because you’re so uncomfortable. Not so nice, right?
The point is that optimizing temperature during sleep, and particularly staying cool, is a major key to sleeping soundly throughout the night.
One way to do that which we probably all know is by keeping the rooms ambient temperature lower (we prefer around 65f). But to take it another step there we can actually control the temperature of the mattress itself through liquid cooling systems.
These systems typically consist of a base floor unit that sits next to the bed, and then a mattress cover that you put on under the fitted sheet. The base unit then cools (or heats) the liquid contained in it’s reservoir to whatever temperature you set, and circulates it through tiny tubes all throughout the mattress cover.
We first heard about this type of system a few years back and have been using one in particular ever since: the ChilliSleep OOLER Sleep System.
The ChilliSleep OOLER Sleep System allows you to discreetly control the temperature of your mattress anywhere from 55-115f. When using a lower temperature (we prefer around 65) your body is sent a physical signal that it’s time for sleep through the process of your core temperature lowering. While this is helpful in itself, the real benefit is that even if you have the blankets pulled all the way up and the ambient room temperature is a little higher, the system will still keep your sheets at that set 65f temperature throughout the night.
That means you never wake up hot and sweaty, which is incredibly useful especially in warm climates.
We really can’t recommend the ChiliSleep system enough, and fortunately at the time of this writing its still in stock on Amazon here.
#6. Use A Sleep Tracker That Actually Works
If you’ve been following the biohacking world for a while you’ll know that we typically like things tracked and quantified. And it’s no different with sleep.
Using a fitness tracker that’s worn at night can give you accurate measurements of more than just total sleep – they also track REM sleep, restfullness, deep sleep, and more. Check out this recent Instagram post from Peter Attia for an example.
Like with the mattresses, we’re going to keep this section relatively short and just give you our top choice for a sleep (and overall fitness) tracker. For our top 3 including a more budget friendly option you can check out this post.
Far and away our favorite option for a fitness tracker however is the one described in Peter Attia’s post above: the Oura Ring.
The first thing that we loved right out of the box about the Oura Ring is the simple fact that it is a ring, and not a bracelet or watch. The ring is subtle and discreet, and comfortable to wear to bed. It’s hardly noticeable once you get used to it.
On top of it’s other fitness related features like 24/7 heart rate monitoring, body temperature sensors, and readiness scores, the Oura ring gives you the daily sleep score and detailed readout that you see in the screenshot above. It also adapts and learns over time as you wear it.
The ring is waterproof, made of lightweight titanium, and has a battery life of 4 to 7 days with a quick charging time.
Honestly, if we had to pick only one single piece of biohacking “gear” to use, this would be it.
You can learn more and purchase here.
#7. Use Effective Background Noise (Not Just A Fan)
The reasoning behind using a white noise or background noise generator is fairly obvious: it drowns out street noise that could otherwise disturb your sleep. But not all background noise is created equal.
A fan or even an air conditioner running is fine if that’s all you have, but there are far better options out there which are specifically designed to cancel out other noise and can also other soothing tones like ocean waves.
Our personal favorite here at Biohacker Blueprint is the Evo White Noise Sound Machine from LectroFan:
The LectroFan model is reasonably priced and offers ten fan sounds, ten white, pink, and brown noise variation, and two varieties of ocean sounds – calm and surf.
All of these sounds are specifically engineered to block out other ambient noises so that you can fall asleep with ease and stay asleep all night.
To be honest the sound machine is also great during the day as well to drown out any unwanted noise while you’re working.
It’s available for purchase on Amazon here.
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