03/14/2026
Everything in society attacks sleep. It’s humanity's greatest risk because it strips clear thinking.
Build your life around sleep. It’s worth it.
Of all the longevity stuff I’ve done, I’m most proud of my learned ability to sleep. It represents overcoming the world's dysfunctions and achieving self mastery.
Image below is last night’s perfect sleep: asleep in two min zero stress no rumination no awake 4hr+ restorative sleep 44 bpm body cleaned out debris and rejuvenated
Everything in society attacks sleep. Hustle culture wants you to believe if you’re sleeping more than 4 hours you’re not working hard enough. Social media wants you to feel that unless you’re performatively alerting the tribe to your existence, you don’t exist. Industrial food preys upon your late night stressed out vulnerability to glutton you with their slop. Lighting suppresses your melatonin. Screens seduce you to boil your nervous system alive. Societal angst from conflict, acrimony and meanness reverberates in your ruminations. Environmental toxins create bodily dysfunction. Stress keeps you tight as a knot.
This is why people can’t sleep.
And when people can’t sleep, emotional regulation and higher cognitive function shut down. The body can’t clear cellular debris. The body's ability to search and kill cancel cells is diminished. The immune system is suppressed. The body and mind break down, rendering zombie status.
I’ve built my life around sleep. There is no drug or therapy that is more potent for emotional stability, cognitive performance, happiness, and wisdom.
What I eat, when I eat, when I exercise, my work schedule, how I socialize, and so forth. It’s all built around sleep. It’s worth it because nothing has the power to make life better and more rich than sleep.
If you’re familiar with my work, you’ve heard me say these things hundreds of times. I’m going to say them again because people have told me that it took them hearing this 100 times before they gave it a try. Once they do, it’s a bit of an embarrassing feeling knowing that we’ve all been foolish, always knowing sleep is a good idea but then not doing it because of this or that reason.
Do these things:
Final meal 4 hours before bed.
Screens off 60 min before bed.
A 60 min wind down routine. Walk, meditate, journal, bath, talk to a friend.
Final caffeine around noon.
Avoid blue lights in the evening. Use red and amber lights.
Sunlight in eyes when waking.
The marker for your success is your resting heart rate before bed. That which increases your heart rate before bed is bad for sleep (excluding s*x) and that which lowers your heart rate is good for sleep. The list above includes things that lower your heart rate and calm your nervous system.
Most importantly, it's an identity decision. Be someone who priorities sleep. People get trapped in the in-between state. They know they want it. They know it's good for them. But they're lured into the philosophies and norms of the early 21st century of sleep deprivation. Future generations will ponder
