I stopped sleeping well in my mid to late 30s. I used alcohol to end the day, coffee to start it, and didn’t sleep much in total. Yet I still woke up at night anyway. The bad sleep eventually contributed to significant health issues.
Here’s what helped me turn things around:
- No beer. The first 3-4 days without beer are awful but then it’s like no longer carrying a backpack full of bricks. Mornings are far more productive
- No coffee. I’m convinced stopping coffee helped, but can’t evaluate by how much. Probably less important than beer, I’d place it second most important as I can physically sense the caffeine when I have too much
- I count my steps and have daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Feeling physically tired helps me but steps are also like a form of meditation, they help process information, get my thoughts in order, and I think reduce stress
- I dedicate time to reading before bed, as it makes me sleepy
- Go to bed early. I found a saying somewhere and blogged about it but can’t find the source now. It goes roughly as follows:
If it’s not worth doing first thing in the morning, it’s not worth doing last thing in the evening
The reason for going to bed late most nights was just doing random things online, like doomscrolling or watching TV shows. Not worth it, according to the rule above.
This resulted in better sleep for me on average, and I think I clock 7+ hours most nights.
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