Sleep, Nutrition, & Exercise

“Cease being a monkey” Sam Harris

I have been and will continue to be a broken record when it comes to sleep, nutrition, and exercise. This is my tripod of stability, and your mileage may vary. Here are the basics:

Sleep

Try for eight hours every single night, no exceptions. The majority of people need this much sleep. Some need more. Some need less. Odds are, you are not the exception;) Beyond duration, sleep quality is critical, and there is a ton of great writing on this topic.

I spent years thinking I could get by on five to six hours of sleep. I thought I was an exception, which is absolutely untrue (as verified by a third party). I spent my mid-thirties improving my sleep habits, and I am sure it will be a life-long focus. 

If you have trouble getting to sleep, here are a few tips:

• Go to bed tired. As obvious as this sounds, this is my number one tip. Get up early, work hard, exercise hard, and live full days.
• Build habits that help you unwind at night.
  • Cut activity one hour before
  • Limit blue light
• While alcohol or cannabinoids might help you get to sleep, they are notorious for reducing the quality of your sleep.
• Natural sleep aids:
  • 2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar + 1 Tbsp Honey + Hot Water
  • Nighty Night Tea by Traditional Medicinals
  • Reishi Mushroom Elixir by Four Sigmatic
  • 5 mg Melatonin – especially helpful for timezone changes

Finally, we just upgraded to a great mattress. It makes a huge difference. 

Nutrition

I am not going to tell you what to eat specifically. I have done plenty of dumb things with my diet and a few smart things. Here are the smart things:

• Prioritize for compliance. 
• Learn how to cook (I started with The Moosewood Cookbook, loved The 4-Hour Chef, and Ramit Sethi’s & Heather Pierce’s Fitillegent Food)
• Meal prep for the week. 
• Outsource (shopping services, Amazon Subscribe & Save, and even a personal chef)
• Hired a coach

Supplements

The definition of a supplement is something that completes or enhances something else when added to it. In a perfect world, my diet and environment would provide everything I need. Your world and environment and goals are different than mine. These are the supplements I take:

• Ascent Protein
• Ashwagandha 
• Choline (per my genetics)
• CoQ10 (again, genetics)
• Vitamin D3
• Daily Multivitamin
• Krill Oil
• ZMA
• Host Defense, MyCommunity – Immunity

At some point, I will swap my multivitamin for Athletic Greens as a more complete insurance policy. But yeah, this a geriatric level of supplementation and there is no way I actually need this much:) I share it because this is where I’m at after years of experimenting with supplements. Examine.com is my go-to tool.

Exercise

At a minimum, you should be moving your body intentionally four times per week. Most research on high-performers cites seven to nine workouts per week. If you don’t have much of a fitness habit, this sounds crazy. Exercise is both prescriptive and personal so I won’t tell you what to do but I can share what I like:

• Mountain Biking
• Hiking
• Vinyasa Yoga – (e.g. corepower yoga)
• Lifting (I’m a big fan of Fitbod)
• Peleton

Outside of having every workout on my calendar, there are three things that keep me exercising:

1. I invest time upfront, so I think about exercise as little as possible.
   1. Good systems for packing clothes, showering, having the right equipment, etc.
   2. Someone else plans and tracks my individual workouts for me.
2. I have goals, usually in the form of races.
3. I have fun.

Exercise is a habit and it is critical to your success and your personal happiness. Build it.