No longer taking sleep for granted

No longer taking sleep for granted.

Back when I was fighting I searched for every advantage I could find. Nutrition, physical exercise, mental optimization, the best training partners, the best coach, the best martial art, the best recovery. It’s no secret that mixed martial arts is physically taxing on the body and mind. Seeing as how I was physically exhausted nearly every day and needed to optimize recovery, I looked at sleep. I can’t recall where I came across this book but when I did (thank you to whoever helped me find it), things changed.

Nick Littlehales, renowned “sleep expert”, wrote a book called Sleep: The Myth of 8 Hours, the Power of Naps, and the New Plan to Recharge Your Body & Mind. He was well known for working with Ronaldo and various football clubs to implement stronger sleep practices.

Mat Fraser, 5X Crossfit champ, had previously talked about how one of the key changes he made to get his “edge” over everyone else, was sleep. He felt he was working just as hard if not harder than everyone else. That should be enough, right?

Khabib Nurmagomedov, famous UFC champion, has previously talked about how the best recovery method out there isn’t these tools everyone talked about like massages or supplements but rather, sleep.

So, what does Nick Littlehales talk about in his book? Here are some of the key points that stuck with me.

• Sleep is not a matter of hours but rather cycles.

  • Each cycle is 90 minutes. It is proposed that 90 mins is the amount of time it takes for the REM stages to occur.

  • i.e. 5 cycles = 7.5 hours.

• Sleep environment.

  • your bedroom should be dark.

    • Use black-out curtains.

    • No screens.

  • your bedroom should be quiet.

  • your bedroom should be cool. Optimal temperature is between 60-64*F.

    • A cooler environment promotes deeper sleep and helps regulate your body temperature naturally throughout the night.

• Sleep position.

  • sleeping on your side (on the non-dominant side). I remember he mentioned that this is the position our brain likes because our body is secure. In the most primal sense, our dominant arm and leg are are protecting our heart and other organs, and your genitals.

• Naps.

  • 15-20 minutes.

Additional principles I’ve learned/heard over the years:

1. No screens 1 hour before bed.

2. Wake up to natural light.

3. Get up when you wake up, don’t go back to bed.

4. No alcohol, strenuous activity, or cannabis before bed.