Huberman Lab

Sleep Toolkit: Tools for Optimizing Sleep & Sleep-Wake Timing

Aug 8, 2022

Discover a comprehensive toolkit to enhance your sleep quality and duration. Learn how to effectively harness light, temperature, and dietary habits to improve your sleep-wake cycle. Explore strategies to recover from sleepless nights, jet lag, or shift work. Understand the impact of environmental factors like artificial light on your sleep patterns. Dive into practical tips like the use of eye masks and nasal breathing to boost your rest. Perfect for anyone looking to optimize their sleep routine for better health and performance.

01:39:30

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Quick takeaways

Morning sunlight within the first 30-60 minutes after waking is crucial to trigger cortisol release and wakefulness.

During the afternoon, it is important to avoid excessive caffeine intake and keep naps shorter than 90 minutes.

For specific sleep needs or disorders, the use of supplements, digital relaxation tools, and forced exercise can be beneficial.

Maintaining consistent sleep and wake times is crucial for optimal sleep, and paying attention to the sleep environment can promote restful sleep.

Deep dives

Optimizing Sleep: Tools for Wakefulness and Sleepiness

This podcast episode focuses on tools and techniques to optimize sleep. The first critical period, which is the morning hours, emphasizes morning sunlight viewing within the first 30-60 minutes after waking to trigger cortisol release and wakefulness. Cold water exposure or exercise early in the day can increase core body temperature and alertness. It is suggested to delay caffeine intake until 90-120 minutes after waking to avoid an afternoon crash. Eating early in the day can support a biological clock mechanism for wakefulness. In the second critical period, during the afternoon, it is recommended to avoid excessive caffeine intake and keep naps shorter than 90 minutes. Exercise in the afternoon or evening can delay the circadian clock and should be mindful of caffeine consumption. Lastly, specific tools and techniques for different sleep disorders are discussed, such as the use of supplements, digital tools for relaxation, and forced exercise prior to wake-up times.

Cold Water Exposure increases wakefulness specially in morning

01:35

Morning Sun — within 5 mins after waking helps with sleep

00:34

Exercise late in afternoon or evening will delay your Circadian Clock

01:15

Quality sleep Over Quantity sleep

00:33

Intro

47min

Maximizing Sleep Quality Through Daily Habits

11min

Optimizing Sleep Quality Through Light and Temperature Management

25min

Optimizing Sleep: Tools and Techniques

15min

Strategies for Optimizing Sleep and Daily Alertness

4min

In this episode, I describe a comprehensive toolkit consisting of behavioral and supplement-based tools that you can customize to enhance the quality, duration and impact of your sleep. This has an enormous positive impact on your overall health and daytime functioning, brain, hormones and immune system. I teach you how to effectively harness light (and darkness), temperature, food, exercise, caffeine, supplements, and digital devices in order to fall asleep faster, stay deeply asleep longer and overall, and achieve better quality sleep. I also describe how these tools can be modified to recover quickly from a poor night’s sleep, jet lag or bouts of shift work. Given that sleep is the foundation of all mental health, physical health and performance, this episode should benefit everyone as it provides an essential toolkit of science-supported, low- to zero-cost strategies that can be tailored to optimize your sleep routine.

For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com.

Thank you to our sponsors

AG1: https://athleticgreens.com/huberman

LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/hubermanlab

Waking Up: https://wakingup.com/huberman

Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman

Timestamps

(00:00:00) Tools to Optimize Sleep

(00:03:18) Sponsors: LMNT, Eight Sleep

(00:08:24) Factors to Control Circadian Rhythm & Sleep

(00:15:10) Morning Tool: Morning Sunlight Viewing, Cortisol

(00:20:44) Morning Sunlight: Circadian Rhythm, Artificial Lights, Cloudy Days

(00:26:18) Evaluating Light in Environment, Compensating for Missed Morning Light

(00:29:01) Sponsor: AG1

(00:30:46) Morning Tools: Temperature & Deliberate Cold Exposure, Exercise

(00:34:58) Timing Caffeine, “Afternoon Crash,” Exercise

(00:40:08) Timing Eating, Alertness & Circadian Rhythm

(00:45:20) 3 Daily Critical Periods

(00:46:49) Afternoons: Naps, Deep Relaxation (NSDR, Self-Hypnosis), Exercise & Body Temperature, Caffeine

(00:51:59) Afternoon Tools: Viewing Sunlight in Late Afternoon, Evening Light

(00:56:45) Evening/Night Tools: Overhead Artificial Lights, Light Sensitivity

(01:04:40) Evening Tools: Hot Bath/Sauna, Temperature & Sleeping Environment

(01:09:40) Alcohol, THC & Reduced Sleep Quality; CBD, Anxiety & Falling Asleep

(01:11:45) Sleep Supplements: Magnesium Threonate, Apigenin & Theanine

(01:16:34) Melatonin Supplementation (Caution)

(01:17:44) Additional Sleep Supplements: GABA, Glycine, Myo-Inositol & Anxiety

(01:20:08) Falling Back Asleep: Reveri App, NSDR, Yoga Nidra

(01:22:55) Staying Asleep: Eye Masks, Ear Plugs, Elevating Feet

(01:24:58) Tool: Sleep Apnea & Nasal Breathing

(01:28:20) Sleep Schedule Consistency, Weekends, Compensatory Sleep & Caffeine

(01:31:14) Tools: Temperature Minimum & Jet Lag, Shift Work & Red Lights

(01:37:38) Behavioral Tools for 3 Daily Critical Periods

(01:39:26) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Huberman Lab Clips, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous Supplements, Instagram, Twitter, Neural Network Newsletter

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Huberman Lab

Sleep Toolkit: Tools for Optimizing Sleep & Sleep-Wake Timing

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Optimizing Sleep: Tools for Wakefulness and Sleepiness

Importance of Morning Sunlight and Temperature for Wakefulness

Tools for Optimizing Wakefulness and Sleepiness Throughout the Day

Specific Tools for Different Sleep Needs and Disorders

Critical Periods and Tools for Sleep Optimization

Tools for Dealing with Shift Work and Jet Lag

Supplements and Digital Tools for Sleep Optimization

Additional Tips and Considerations for Optimal Sleep

Cold Water Exposure increases wakefulness specially in morning

Morning Sun — within 5 mins after waking helps with sleep

Exercise late in afternoon or evening will delay your Circadian Clock

Quality sleep Over Quantity sleep

Thank you to our sponsors

Timestamps

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts