What do you do to improve your sleep?
My strategy is simple: I try to keep the evening boring.
That may not sound like much of a sleep strategy. It is not clever. It is not glamorous. But it works.
Most of us know the basics. No doom-scrolling. No late caffeine. A predictable routine. A quiet house. A dark room. The problem is not usually that we lack information. The problem is that we keep trying to make the evening interesting. I usually watch the news, but after that I try to slow things down. No television after 7.30pm. No movies. No work. Nothing that gets me too alert again.
Sometimes I put music on, something calming or joyful. I often write for a bit, but even that has to stay simple. I am not writing the great Australian novel. I am not trying to be clever. I am just responding to the challenge in front of me. It helps me put a few thoughts down so I do not take them to bed.
The best sleep strategy is probably too boring to market. It is not about hacking the body or optimising the night. It is about having a sensible routine and sticking to it.
I try not to fall asleep on the lounge. I do not want to collapse into sleep. I want to go to bed properly. So I quietly power down. The house settles. The lights are lower. The day is done. By 9.00pm, I am usually ready for bed. Then I am up early the next morning to begin again.
That is the paradox. The evening does not need to be exciting. A boring evening is not wasted time. It may be one of the best things I do for tomorrow.
The Afterword 
Leave a comment