Not specifically. I can't place most of what I have heard

by Mike (Max) , Orlando, Sunday, January 05, 2020, 06:50 (2307 days ago) @ Pat
edited by Mike (Max), Sunday, January 05, 2020, 12:57

but I'm sure I have read and heard them repeatedly in books like The Paleo Solution, The Primal Blueprint, and various podcasts. Primal/paleo-type blogs and books and lifehacking/productivity people like Tim Ferriss seem to be more vocal about sleep than others, and their advice is pretty well in alignment, which I will try to summarize here (plus some personal experience/anecdotes) without citations (sorry).

• Limit the use of caffeine to mid-morning or earlier. People may say that caffeine doesn't affect them, but it's difficult to judge how it is affecting the depth and quality of your sleep when you aren't conscious. Even if you think you are fine with caffeine, it's a simple thing to experiment with.
  
• Get some sun during the day. This is good for vitamin D, which contributes to your ability to sleep, and your body clock.
  
• Alcohol is really bad for sleep quality. Ideally you shouldn't have any past happy hour-ish and limited quantities that late.
  
• When the sun goes down, keep your house dim so your body clock is more aware that it is time to start winding down. Artificial light tells your body it is still daytime. Our house is pretty dark, starting after dinner. Your TV may even have a setting that dims when the room is dimmer -- check the menu.
  
• No screens within an hour of trying to go to sleep. Leading up to this, if you are using a computer, use a program to reduce blue light, like flux: https://justgetflux.com/ (There are native options to do this with iOS and Windows 10.)
  
• Don't look at your work email right before you turn off your computer or stop using your phone. You will see a bunch of things to do that you aren't going to take immediate action on, anyway, and they will cause stress and make it hard to relax. Wait to look at them until it is within your power to do something about them. Oh, and I also try to avoid the news late in the day, which is almost universally bad, worrisome, and anger-inducing.
  
• I do take the aforementioned Sleep Remedy on work nights. This helps me fall asleep, but also makes it easier to fall back asleep if you wake up to go to the bathroom, in my experience. The creator, Dr. Kirk Parsley, has made the rounds on a lot of podcasts, such as Robb Wolf's, if you would like to hear more. OviedoIrish -- check the FAQs on their site. I have no side effects after about 4 years of near-daily use and I would be surprised if people do. The supplement is largely vitamins and minerals that many people are deficient in that are required for quality sleep, plus a few things to help fall asleep in the first place. It's not like Nyquil. I don't take it on the weekend out of vague paranoia that I don't want my body to adapt to having these be supplemented every day. I sleep better on the weekends, anyway.
  
• Buy sheets, mattress, and pillows that you really love, if you have the means. You want to be comfortable and looking forward to getting into bed as much as possible. A website I like to use for recommendations on things like that is Wirecutter: https://thewirecutter.com/ (Also great for gift ideas, in general!) We were gifted Boll & Branch sheets that we love.
  
• If you have to use your phone later in the day, dim the screen. I did this many years/iPhones ago and have been using the setting ever since: https://lifehacker.com/toggle-your-iphones-brightness-with-a-home-button-trip-1651329242 Your house will be pretty dim, so you should have no trouble reading it.
  
• If you read before or in bed, read physical books or an e-reader, not like an iPad or Kindle Fire. On a Kindle, use the dimmest setting you can still read comfortably with.
  
• The more responsibility I have, the less I can stand to read work-adjacent books before bed without making my head spin when I'm trying to sleep. I try to read fun, fiction, or fanstastical books or listen to very silly podcasts (or all of the above, like The Adventure Zone) that are unlikely to cause me to switch back to worrying about practical things.
  
• Your room should be very dark and cool. Our blinds are shut tightly and we have blackout curtains for our daughter. The number I always see cited for ideal temperature is 65-68 degrees, which would be prohibitively expensive/wasteful most of the year in Florida, but we did invest in a very light quilt we use most of the year instead of a heavy comforter. Do you sleep better in the winter, when your house is naturally cooler? I know we do.
  
• Anecdotally, my wife and I both sleep so much better when we have a good exercise habit. If you exercise in the morning, it can be hard to start the cycle, because sleeping poorly makes morning exercise the last thing you want to do, so try to bank exercise during the day on the weekend until you get rolling.