Want better sleep without popping a single sleeping pill?
You are not alone. Sleep is one of the most common health issues among adults today. Crazy right… most people don’t have a sleep disorder.
They have a wind-down problem.
The hour and a half before bedtime dictate what happens next. Master this period and sleep will pretty much solve itself. Get it wrong and you’ll lay there half the night trying to figure out what’s wrong with you.
This guide breaks down the exact wind-down routines that actually work…
Not the fluff you’ve read a thousand times before.
Most “tips for sleeping” advice fail you. They tell you to “calm down” or “use lavender essential oil”. But why is your body SO wired up!?
Here’s what’s really going on…
Cortisol is known as the stress hormone. Ideally it should be highest in the morning and taper off throughout the day. By night time it should be at its lowest so melatonin can help you sleep.
However when you’re worrying about life over instagram at 11pm or drinking coffee at 3pm… cortisol levels remain elevated. Your body literally can’t enter sleep mode. That’s why you feel “wired but tired”. It’s a hormonal issue, not a lack of willpower.
That’s why the science behind a cortisol modulation peptide has been researched so heavily these past few years. Take this well-known option for instance, the DSIP sleep peptide nasal spray, which is formulated specifically for delta-wave sleep and cortisol modulation. There’s no magic pill, but it goes to show just how strong of a grasp researchers have on the connection between cortisol and sleep.
The bigger point?
When cortisol levels are high overnight you will NEVER get to sleep no matter how much “relaxing music” you listen to or sheep you count. Create a wind-down routine that physically lowers it.
Sleep numbers aren’t great. The CDC states that 1 in 3 American adults sleep less than 7 hours per night.
The good news? Wind-down routines work – if you actually do them.
Here are 5 scientifically supported routines used by people who healed their sleep permanently.
This is the big one.
Screens do two nasty things to your brain at night:
Checking that work email at 10pm? Cortisol spike. Doom-scrolling TikTok? More spikes. By the time you set down your phone, your nervous system is hovering in Fight or Flight mode.
Solution is easy. Enforce hard screen cutoff 60-90 min before sleep. No phone. No laptop. No TV.
It sounds drastic but it makes the biggest difference. You will be amazed at how quickly you fall asleep without screens of any kind.
Bonus tip: Put your phone in another room. You can’t miss what you can’t see.
Bright light tells your brain it’s still daytime.
That ceiling light in your living room is emitting enough lumens to keep your body functioning as if it thinks it’s daytime well past dark. Cortisol levels remain high. Melatonin production doesn’t begin.
Two hours before bed, dim the lights to warm ones. Use lamps with low wattage bulbs. Many people recommend red light bulbs – they have minimal effects on melatonin production.
You can push your bedtime back by several hours with just this one trick. Your body naturally begins releasing melatonin as it thinks it’s night time.
Racing thoughts are a top reason people can’t fall asleep.
Research conducted in 2018 by Scullin et al discovered that writing your to-do list for the following day before bed aided faster sleep onset – better than writing about the day that had just passed. Why? Your brain no longer needs to remember because it’s written down.
Here’s exactly how to do it:
Done. File “unfinished business” deleted from your mind. Cortisol levels decrease. Nothing to stress about anymore.
Temperature is one of the most underrated sleep factors.
Your internal body temperature decreases as you begin to fall asleep. A hot bedroom combats this reaction, and your body retaliates with – you guessed it – cortisol.
Ideally, between 65-68°F (18-20°C). Cool to the touch when you get into bed, warm when you cover up. That slight cooling signals your body that it’s okay to fully relax.
Opening a window, using a fan or lowering your AC by a few degrees all help. Taking a cold shower 90 minutes before bed is also a great trick. This is because your body temp drops even more after you step out.
Not the woo woo stuff. Real breathing techniques that turn on your nervous system’s “rest and digest” response.
Research shows that spending 20 minutes doing diaphragmatic breathing can help greatly reduce cortisol levels. The simplest method is the 4-7-8 method:
Lie in bed and do this for 5-10 rounds. Seems too easy right? Your body has to physically move from fight-or-flight mode. Your heart rate will lower in minutes and that sinking feeling comes where you know sleep is near.
Sleep quality isn’t going to be improved by one magic shiny trick. Sleep quality is improved by layering incremental wind-down routines that each move cortisol in the proper direction.
To quickly recap:
Stack 2-3 programs on top of each other and commit to them for at least two weeks. People are usually blown away by the results. Sleep goes from feeling like a nightly struggle to just the relaxing finish line of your night’s routine.
You’re closer to better sleep than you think… All you need to do is send your body the right signals.
