We all know how important it is to get up and win the morning if we want to be productive, happy and successful whilst giving the energy we need to our loved ones.

But how are we supposed to win the morning when we have had the worst possible night’s sleep?

Too many of us are getting worse and worse sleep which is affecting our recovery, our performance and ultimately our mindset, with long term anxiety and depression being linked to poor sleep. 

If sleep was created by Pfizer and could be turned into a capsule, it would be the most widely prescribed drug in the world.

So, just how exactly can we get better sleep?

I took this from a mentor of mine – Craig Ballantyne. 

His solution is something called the 10-3-2-1-0 formula. It’s a simple memory aid that packs a lot of sound sleep and productivity advice into just a few lines. Here it is:

• 10 hours before bed: No more caffeine
  Caffeine has a half-life of 10 hours, which means that even if you don’t feel it or can “sleep through anything”, your body isn’t getting the full benefit of the sleep it deserves. If you go to sleep at 10 PM, that means no coffees after 12 PM. Try it.
  
  

• 3 hours before bed: No more food or alcohol
  Let your body do its thing and focus on rest and digest. It doesn’t feel good to go to bed on a full stomach.
  
  

• 2 hours before bed: No more work
  Let your brain switch off and relax. We keep ourselves in a fight or flight state all day. Let it switch off and digest what has happened throughout the day by switching off from work 2 hours before bed.
  
  

• 1 hour before bed: No more screen time
  There is more and more evidence linking bright and blue lights to poor sleep due to the mental stimulation it provides, along with the hormonal and circadian rhythms it affects.
  Try a book or meditating to allow your body the time to switch into a parasympathetic nervous system state and wind down. 
  
  

• 0: The number of times you hit the snooze button in the morning
  It has been established that hitting the snooze button will make you feel foggy and more tired. Regularly relying on it to sneak in more Zzz’s will mess with your body’s internal clock, which can actually deprive you of sleep and set you up for some major health problems. 

Some other great tips I use are

1. Taking Gaba magnesium 3 hours before bed to help calm the central nervous system down

2. Taking CBD oil. Same as above

3. Meditating or reading 30 mins before bed.

4. Mouth Tape. Forces you to breathe through your nose and switch your body into a calm, parasympathetic nervous system state, helping you relax into a deeper sleep.

Let me know how you go with the above 🙂