Introduction
Welcome to your 30 day sleep challenge. Over the next month, we will try to improve your sleep quality and quantity by focusing on two main aspects. Basic sleep hygiene and pre- and post- sleep exercises.
First things first: Basic sleep hygiene
You want to ensure the following steps are followed as much as possible. The order in which the points are mentioned represents their priority. An explanation on why those things matter will follow later.
– Consistent bed and wake up times. Try to stay within one hour throughout the whole week, including the weekend.
– Dark and silent bedroom. If needed use an eye-mask and earplugs to shut off all distracting light and noises.
– Cool bedroom. In winter, do not overheat the bedroom. In summer, try to keep the room as cool as possible. Optimal temperature is around 20′
– No screens, work or other mentally engaging or physically intense activities up to 60 minutes before bed. We want to allow the mind and body time to wind down.
– Limited Caffeine intake. Try to not have any caffeine 7-9 hours before going to bed. So if you want to hit the pillow at 9pm, have your last coffee at between 12pm and 2pm, for example after lunch.
– Limited alcohol intake before bed. Best case no alcohol, if necessary stay within 1-2 servings.
If you have those in check, your basic sleep hygiene is in place and you should have already developed a rather consistent sleeping pattern. If you don’t, work your way top to bottom and build healthy habits along the way.
The Main Part: Your training plan!
Your sleep challenge comes with an app that guides you through 4 weeks of daily routines that you will follow using your phone and a headset. The app contains two main sections. First off are exercise demos in which our coach explains and demonstrates four simple exercises. The second section contains a training plan in form of audio files which you can plan according to the schedule.
Morning routine
We want to develop a habit of going for a 10 minute walk “first thing” in the morning. You can of course first go through your morning routine of having your bathroom break, maybe your first coffee or other things you really need before you can do anything. Once those things are taken care of, put on your shoes and go for a 10 minute walk. Plug in your headset, get out into the fresh air and follow the instructions from the audiotape. In the morning routine, you will simply be asked to follow the exercises for a certain amount of sets and repetitions. Do those while walking at a swift pace, breathing calmly through the nose.
Evening routine
Just before going to bed, or actually in bed, you will follow the second daily routine. This is the main part of the program. It is a combination of breathing patterns and sets&reps of the same exercises. The format follows a “reverse pyramid”, starting week one with a set of 3 repetitions, 2 breaths of rest, 2 repetitions, 2 breaths of rest, and one repetition. The last repetition per set is always held for a bit a full breath. In exercise demo one of the app our coach demonstrates one full set including breathing pattern for better understanding. Then, you simply want to follow the instructions from the audiotape.
Tracking
As in any good challenge, we want to see results. If you are already using a health/fitness tracker like a FitBit, Garmin or Apple watch, this should be familiar to you. Most likely having one of those devices and seeing your poor or mediocre sleep quality is what got you signed up in the first place. Independent of this, we will have a paper sheet tracking system set up for the first 30 days. This is to a) keep you accountable on the exercise protocol and b) also to allow for a more subjective evaluation of the challenge success.
Please find the link to the journal here.
Questions
Feel free to use our Facebook group to ask for feedback, tips and tricks of other challengers who already completed the challenge before you. You are not alone in this, and most likely any question you have, somebody else also had. It might therefore already be answered, and if not ask away so that future challengers can use your experience.
Further Reading
Importance of sleep: There are many studies, books, Ted Talks and other resources on the importance of sleep. If you are new to the topic and need a starting point, Matthew Walkers – Why we sleep is a great read. If you’re more into podcasts, his appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast is also highly recommended.
Diet: There is a strong correlation between chronic sleep deprivation and obesity. Sleep has a lot of hunger/appetite regulating functions, and bad sleep can lead to excessive body weight. However, the opposite is also true. Being overweight will negatively impact your sleep, so it is a vicious cycle of negative factors. If you feel like your diet could use some improvements and you feel like you’d benefit from dropping a few kilogram body fat, please find yourself a coach to guide you through the best options. Explaining those would clearly exceed the focus of this challenge. If you find yourself looking for an app to do the job again, MyFitnessPal or RP+ are good starting points.
Exercise: A set exercise routine can help regulate your sleep schedule and is highly recommended. If you do have an exercise routine, please keep it up during this challenge. Only exception if you are working out late at night and too close to your scheduled bed time, then please try to move your exercise routine earlier in the day. If you’re a person that likes to workout first thing in the morning please keep your routine, unless it forces irregular wake up times. Remember, regular bed and wake up times are priority number one of our sleep hygiene. If you have no idea where to start, a great introduction to all types of training can e.g be found in Ross Edgleys: The Worlds Fittest Book.
Breathing: Our sleep challenge does not focus primarily on breathing, but the ability to breath freely through your nose and utilize deep belly breathing is crucial for the quality of your sleep. If you find yourself struggling with purely the breathing patterns, neglect those for now and just follow the exercise patterns. But, in the long run, you want to master a calm breathing pattern. Recommended reading: Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor. If you’re more into podcasts, his appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast is highly recommended.