Sleep Toolkit
With how much positive feedback we got from one of our most popular episodes yet, Ep. 83 // How To Fix Your Sleep, we decided to make a full list of every tool, product, supplement, and practice we mentioned in the episode that can be used to help improve your sleep.
Keep in mind we take zero commission or are affiliated with any of the products we link below, we wanted to provide our favorite and most trusted products completely free of any bias or incentive. These are simply products that we have both used and loved, that are backed by significant peer-reviewed research, from companies whose ethics and quality are second to none.
Oura Ring
Hands down the best sleep tracker available if your goal is to improve your sleep.
The ring fits snug on your finger so sensors stay connected no matter how much movement is involved - where most wrist word devices can disconnect when there is slight bends in the wrist/forearm.
The Oura Ring tracks:
Sleep:
Total Sleep: Measures the overall duration of your sleep.
Sleep Efficiency: Calculates the percentage of time in bed you were in deeper stages of sleep
Restfulness: Tracks how often you were awake or restless.
REM Sleep, Deep Sleep, and Light Sleep: Provides durations and percentages of each sleep stage.
Respiratory Rate: The number of breaths taken per minute, typically measured during sleep.
Latency: Measures the time it took for you to fall asleep after getting into bed.
Readiness:
Readiness Score: Aggregates various metrics to provide a daily score out of 100, indicating how prepared your body is to perform that day.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV): Measures the variation between each heartbeat, a key metric for understanding stress, recovery, and overall cardiovascular health.
Resting Heart Rate (RHR): Measures your average heart rate when you are still and relaxed.
Body Temperature: Tracks changes in your body temperature during the night.
Recovery Index: Measures the time it takes for your resting heart rate to stabilize during sleep.
Previous Night, Sleep Balance, Activity Balance, and HRV Balance: Compare recent trends to longer-term averages.
Activity:
Steps and Calories: Measures your daily steps and calorie burn.
Activity Intensity: Tracks the amount of time spent at different activity levels.
Daily Activity Target: Provides a personalized activity goal.
Activity and Inactivity Alerts: Notifies you when you've been inactive for extended periods.
Training Frequency, Training Volume, and Recovery Time: Metrics that help balance exercise with recovery.
We aren’t affiliated with Oura at all and take zero commission, but here is a $40 off link if you are looking to buy a ring.
The Whoop Band is our favorite wrist-worn device if Oura doesn’t fit your lifestyle)
Sunrise Alarm Clock
Do you often wake up feeling more exhausted than when you went to bed?
The stage of sleep you're in when you awaken could be the culprit.
Throughout the night, we cycle through different sleep stages:
Awake: Natural breaks in sleep.
Light Sleep: A transition phase guiding you into deeper sleep stages; it's easy to awaken from.
Deep Sleep: A restorative phase where the body recuperates. Waking from this stage often results in grogginess. Here, the body's blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing decrease, while blood flow to muscles increases.
REM Sleep: This is where you energize your mind and experience the most vivid dreams.
Even during deeper sleep, our subconscious remains alert to external surroundings, which is why disruptive environments can prevent us from reaching these crucial stages.
If your alarm interrupts deep sleep, it can leave you feeling extremely disoriented and groggy.
Enter the sunrise alarm clock:
Instead of jarring you awake, it mimics a natural sunrise, gradually illuminating your room over a 30-minute period. By the time your alarm sounds, your body has been gently transitioned from the depths of sleep to a more wakeful state, ensuring you start your day feeling refreshed and alert.
Ever woken up feeling like you've barely slept, despite clocking in a full 8 hours? Your breathing patterns might be to blame.
Throughout the night, our bodies require a consistent flow of oxygen to enter the deeper, restorative stages of sleep. For many, unrestricted nasal breathing can make all the difference.
Mouth Tape:
Breathing through the mouth during sleep can lead to dry mouth, snoring, and interrupted sleep cycles. Mouth tape is designed to encourage nasal breathing by gently keeping the mouth closed. This not only helps in optimizing oxygen intake but also supports a more natural, rhythmic breathing pattern conducive to deeper sleep.
Nasal Strips:
For those who struggle with nasal congestion or narrower nasal passages, nasal strips can be a game changer. Positioned externally at the base of the nose, these strips work by physically widening the nostrils. This can significantly enhance airflow, reduce nighttime awakenings due to breathing difficulties, and diminish snoring.
By ensuring steady and unobstructed airflow, both mouth tape and nasal strips can be key players in achieving a night of truly restful sleep. Give your body the oxygen it craves and wake up feeling genuinely refreshed and rejuvenated.
For this, we turned to our friends over at Examine.com with there most up to date complete research review Sleep Supplement Guide, where they reviewed all available data and research on any supplement that has been tied closely to improving sleep.
We have ranked supplements into two main categories for how well they may improve sleep:
Primary - which have the best safety-efficacy profile. When used responsibly, they are the supplements most likely to help and not cause side effects.
Secondary - that may provide substantial benefits, but only in the right context. A secondary option is not for everyone and not a first pick, but if you read the entry and find that you meet the criteria, consider adding the supplement to your combo.
Primary Sleep Supplements
L-theanine
The current evidence shows that supplementation with L-theanine might help reduce stress and anxiety which many experience later at night when trying to fall asleep. If you have a hard time getting your mind to stop racing as you try and fall asleep, this may help.
Lavender
Lavender can reduce anxiety, promote relaxation, have a calming effect on the mind, may also improve sleep quality, and alleviate insomnia, although more research is needed to determine the mechanism behind this effect.
Secondary Sleep Supplements
Ashwagandha
Ashwagandha is best known for its anti-anxiety and stress-relieving effects while also reducing cortisol. There’s also a growing body of evidence that supports the efficacy of ashwagandha for improving total sleep time and sleep quality in people with and without insomnia.
Melissa officinalis (lemon balm)
Melissa officinalis (lemon balm) is a herb that has traditionally been used for cognitive purposes, most of which are centered around improving cognition and reducing stress and anxiety. It is also said to calm the nerves and to relax the body.
Melatonin is a neurohormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain that regulates the sleep/wake cycle. Since your body produces this hormone on it’s own, there may be some negative drawbacks of using a supplement on a regular basis and there is potential to form a dependency (you won’t be able to sleep without it). We only recommend using melatonin when adjusting to time change, you need to go to bed earlier/later than normal, or on rare occasions rather than every night.
Does the chaos from the day leave your mind racing come bedtime? The secret to winding down might just be overhead.
As daylight fades, our bodies naturally produce melatonin, the "sleep hormone," signaling it's time to rest. However, the artificial overhead lighting in our homes can often disrupt this process. Bright lights in the evening can suppress melatonin production, tricking our brains into thinking it's still daytime, making falling asleep a challenge.
Enter Dimmable Lighting Fixtures & Dimmable Light Bulbs
Adapt to the Night: With dimmable fixtures, you gain control over your environment. Gradually reducing brightness 2-3 hours before bedtime mimics the natural progression of sunset, setting the stage for a serene evening ambiance.
Calm the Mind: Dimming lights can be the visual cue your brain needs to transition from the day's activities. As the intensity decreases, so does the stimulation, allowing your thoughts to calm and your body to prepare for rest.
Promote Healthy Sleep: By regulating the amount of light exposure in the evening, you can better align with your body's internal clock and foster melatonin production. This not only helps you fall asleep faster but also ensures deeper, more restorative sleep.
Modern living doesn't mean forgoing nature's cues. With dimmable lighting fixtures, you can recreate the gentle descent into nighttime within your home, bridging the gap between our busy lives and the restful sleep we all deserve.
Ever felt that the slightest noise jerks you out of a dream? Sometimes even though you’re not even aware of it, the noise of our modern world can prevent you from falling into deeper stages of sleep each night.
Uninterrupted sleep is crucial, but external sounds, from street traffic to the neighbor's TV, can disrupt our slumber. Here's where two sleep companions step in: Earplugs and a White Noise Machine.
Earplugs:
Block It All: These tiny tools work wonders by muffling intrusive sounds, allowing your mind to drift off into a deep sleep, uninfluenced by the external world.
Custom Comfort: Modern earplugs are designed for comfort, molding to your ear's shape, ensuring they stay put without adding pressure.
White Noise Machine: Amazon Alexa Machine (our favorite/most cost-efficient)
Consistent Ambiance: You can stream to your Alexa device straight from Spotify or Apple Music so instead of jarring noises, you have a consistent soothing backdrop. Whether it's the hum of a fan or the patter of rain, it drowns out the unpredictability of external disturbances.
Our favorite Spotify Channel that provides 12-hour loops of any background noise you could think of, 12 Hour Sound Machines for Sleep here.
In a world that never seems to quiet down, reclaim your peace with earplugs and a white noise machine. Dive into a serene sleep cocoon, and let the chaos fade away. After all, restful sleep isn't just about closing our eyes, but also about quieting the world around us
Tossing and turning, even in the dead of night? The issue might not be your mattress, but what's outside your window.
Even when our eyes are closed, our bodies remain sensitive to light. Ambient light from street lamps, passing cars, or even the moon can penetrate through regular curtains, signaling to our brains that it's still "awake time." This can hinder our descent into the deep, rejuvenating stages of sleep we all need.
Enter Blackout Night Shades.
Seal the Night: These shades are designed to block out nearly all external light, plunging your bedroom into complete darkness. It's a shield against the modern world's constant glow, ensuring the only brightness you see is the dawn's natural light.
Deepen Your Sleep: In absolute darkness, your body can more readily engage in those deeper sleep stages – where true restoration happens. You'll not just sleep, but deeply rejuvenate.
Harmonize With Nature: Before the advent of artificial light, our ancestors slept in tune with nature's rhythms. Blackout shades help you reclaim that natural balance, syncing your sleep-wake cycle with the world outside.
Your bedroom should be a sanctuary from the world's chaos, and it starts with controlling the light.
Turning your bedroom into a sanctuary goes beyond just aesthetics. With essential oils and a diffuser, you're not just decorating; you're curating an environment. Immerse your senses in a soothing aromatic embrace and let every evening be a journey into peace and calm.
I hope this description resonates with the tranquil essence of essential oils and diffusers in enhancing bedroom ambiance.
For those seeking solace in their bedrooms after a long day, Essential Oils and Diffusers can be the key to unlocking that oasis of tranquility.
Our favorite cost-effective diffuser on Amazon
And our favorite Essential Oil Sleep Blend so your bedroom is always associated with calmness and relaxation.
Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker
In the book "Why We Sleep," Dr. Matthew Walker delves into the transformative power of sleep, explaining its critical role in everything from our cognitive functions to our emotional well-being. Drawing from groundbreaking scientific research, he illuminates the health dangers of sleep deprivation and offers actionable advice for achieving better sleep. Essential for anyone seeking to understand and improve their sleep, the book underscores sleep's profound impact on our overall health, happiness, and longevity.
