Are you someone like me who searches that in the middle of the night after tossing and turning for hours?
Oh dear, I know exactly what you are thinking. Just another useless article.
But first, hear me out, I just found the formula to sleep intently and peacefully.
How?
For years, I wished some scientists could just take my brain out and see what was wrong with it.
Why does it get the most active when it’s time to sleep? Revisiting every past mistake over and over.
Have you been there too?? Want to know the answer?? Keep reading
CAUTION: IT WILL BE LIFE CHANGING LITERALLY
Lack of Sleep and its Impact (Some boring science)
Lack of sleep has effects on Cognitive functions, cognitive impairments, and cognitive distortions, including Executive functions, working memory, attention, and the speeds at which the information is processed (Esmaily et al., 2021; Legault et al., 2017; Maltese et al., 2016).
Lack of sleep leads to amplified responses towards negative stimuli such as increased anger and frustration and reduced positive responses like trying to solve the conflict or showing empathy to the partner. (Gordon & Chen, 2013) And lastly, the lack of sleep also has an impact on psychological well-being causing anxiety and depression (Cote et al., 2013; Gujar et al., 2011; O’Leary et al., 2016; Pires et al., 2016).
Your Sleep Chronotype
Have you ever wondered how some people sleep by midnight sharp and wake up at 6 in the morning?
All the rich people in the world, admit to this habit as their “secret” to success. What do these people have that the rest of the world doesn’t??
Two things, they have trained to this routine for years or they are born Lions
Now what does that even mean?
I recently read a book called “the power of When” by Dr. Michael Breus
Interesting title, right? The subtitle intrigued me even more.
Although I wasn’t expecting a revelation. The first chapter took me by surprise. In just 5 paragraphs he literally described the story of my every day. I was shocked. I took the sleep chronotype questionnaire and found myself ticking all the questions as yes as if the questionnaire was literally designed for me.
It’s simple you don’t have to read the entire book to know your chronotype. Just go to and take the quiz here https://thesleepdoctor.com/sleep-quizzes/chronotype-quiz/
So basically, the old theory of early bird, hummingbird, and night owl where you are either an early riser, a night owl, or in the middle does not represent the correct sleep ideology. Different people need different amounts, patterns, and duration of the sleep-wake cycle.
Referring back to the book, the sleep chronotype is divided into 4 types of mammals instead of birds. That makes more sense right? Why did they even compare humans with birds in the first place I wonder it’s not like we could fly (just kidding). So, the four types are
Dolphins, Lions, Bears, and Wolves
Here are some of the snippets from the book
How to sleep according to your chronotype
Now, since you know your sleep chronotype, you will notice that you only need to make certain shifts in your routine that will have a huge impact in your sleep quality and overall quality of life.
Dolphin
The writer described dolphins as unihemispheric, which means that half of our brain is always active and alert even when we are sleeping just like dolphins themselves. Dolphin chronotype is light sleepers, the slightest noise and they won’t be able to sleep, borderline obsessive-compulsive, huge overthinkers, and difficulty falling asleep at night due to anxiety issues.
Adjustments needed
- Start your day with cardio exercise, take a cold shower
- Always eat breakfast
- Do not sleep or nap in the afternoon
- Do not drink coffee after lunch
- One hour wind down
- Turn off all electronic devices
- Do all the stuff that bore you to fall asleep
- Try not to sleep in on Saturdays and Sundays, try to wake up like every weekday or within 45 minutes of your regular alarm
Lions
Lions are the early risers and early sleepers; they hardly have any issues with falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night. They are blessed by God. Although they do struggle to remain awake late at night due to their sleep cycle and often feel left out from hanging out with friends.
Adjustments needed
- Do not start your day with exercise
- Exercise in the afternoon or after lunch
- Don’t eat breakfast too early, or eat snacks to avoid eating lunch early too
- Don’t consume coffee in the morning
- Delay dinner by drinking a cup of coffee
- Don’t eat carbs at dinner
Bears
Bears are social creatures, in order to maintain their sanity they need to have a certain level of human interactions in their life. Bears have a high sleep drive and need at least 8 hours of sleep to avoid all health-related risk factors of sleep deprivation like weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, mood disorders, and overall life satisfaction. Since the majority of people fall under this category, they don’t particularly suffer from any sleep problem except “Sunday Insomnia” when you sleep late on Saturday, wake up late on Sunday, and can’t fall asleep on Sunday night due to the extra sleep in the day.
Adjustments needed
- Best solution for Sunday insomnia, wake up within The best45 minutes of your weekday alarm clock
- Have a high protein breakfast
- Take a walk before lunch
- Take a power nap after lunch not more than 15 minutes
- Healthy snack in the evening
- Evening exercise, play sports with friends
- Light dinner
- Turn off all electronic devices an hour before bed
- Avoid snacking at night
Wolves
Wolves are the real real night owls, unlike the rest of us who are just rebellious to the societal norms. But for them, it’s in their genetic makeup. They can’t help it, they are the laziest in the morning and the most active and productive during the late hours. Does that mean they have to live like that? No there are small adjustments they can make to wake up at the work hour and sleep somewhat early.
Adjustments needed
- Set two alarm clocks, one for just waking up and lying in bed and the other 20 minutes later to actually get out of bed
- Always eat breakfast (even though you won’t be hungry because of all the late night snacks from the last night)
- 5-10 minutes of walk or sunshine before going to work
- Avoid coffee for a few hours post breakfast
- Take a walk before lunch, hydrate to reduce hunger cues in the early afternoon
- Have a healthy snack in the evening, no sugars though (Greek yogurt or protein bar)
- Go to the gym or exercise in the evening after work
- Have dinner late to prevent snacking late
- Turn off all electronic devices an hour before bed
My Personal Experience with these techniques as a Dolphin
I'll be honest, I wasn't very convinced at the beginning of this book that it would be any different from hundreds self-help of other self help books I've read in the past.
No joke, I have actually read even more of that.
But when the writer (who is a certified sleep doctor) says that Dolphins are anxious people by default, and trying to not get anxious makes us even more anxious.
I clapped out loud, he understands what it feels like every night lying in bed revisiting every past mistake while you are trying so hard to just shut down your brain and sleep.
Things that made the difference for me in a month
1- Not napping in the afternoon
2- Cardio in the morning and a cold shower
3- Eating breakfast ( I'm usually the least hungry in the morning because of inadequate sleep but eating breakfast wakes me up more than just having tea or coffee)
4- Yoga before bed or in bed ( I admit, the easiest of them all I LOVE YOGA)
5- Turning off all lights one hour before sleep time
6- Doing the boring stuff before sleep
( He's a genius, I used to play chess on my phone all night because it used to excite me but the writer says "You don't need excitement while you are trying to sleep do it during your active day, bore your mind and the sleep will follow'' like WOW WOW WOW!! Remember how we used to get super sleepy when we were supposed to be studying? The same thing, now I turn on an ebook on my phone and doze off before anyone knows it)
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