Longevity Hacks: Ten tips for a healthy sleep

How do you extend your life? Humanity has been pondering this question for thousands of years. The good news: the answer is not found in expensive supplements, exotic superfoods or the latest biohacking gadgets. Research is clear: the fundamental basics make the biggest difference.

Our author Markus Sekulla dedicates this five-part series to the pillars of the so-called “Biohacker Playbook”:

• Sleep, the superpower
• Mindfulness, nervous system optimization and breathwork
• Nutrition, polyphenols, timing and fermentation
• Exercise, Zone 2 and targeted stress
• Work and Play, passion for work and for people
   

Let‘s get right into it with the first 10 hacks.

Part 1 of 5: Sleeping in Seattle

Good sleep is the central multiplier for everything else, the foundation of long-term health. When you are well-rested, you feel like a smartphone after a full night on the charger: full, shiny and ready for anything. Poor sleep turns you into a marionette with cut strings.

Hack 1: Morning light has gold in its mouth

The best alarm clock is not espresso but sunlight. If you get five to ten minutes of bright daylight within 30 minutes after waking, you reset your circadian rhythm and lower cortisol. This boosts daytime energy and helps you feel sleepy in the evening without any melatonin supplements.

A short walk works best. But a south-facing balcony or open window does the job too, even with your eyes closed. And if it is cloudy, no problem. Even on grey days you get more light outdoors than in any office.

Hack 2: No caffeine after 2pm

If you cannot fall asleep at night, your afternoon coffee may be the reason. Caffeine has a half-life of about four hours but lingers much longer in the body. I usually go to sleep at 11 p.m., so my last coffee should be no later than 2 p.m.

After 2 p.m., I switch to decaf. As a Coffee Lover, I do not want to give up my favorite drink, so I simply adjust the timing.

Alcohol shows a similar negative effect. A glass of wine may help you fall asleep, but it disrupts REM sleep, the phase in which the brain processes memories and regenerates. The result: you fall asleep, but you do not sleep well.

Hack 3: No eating or training right before bed

It used to be easier. Grabbing a late-night kebab after a party and still waking up fresh for morning class. Today even a small late snack can make you toss and turn all night.

Food and exercise are two of the biggest levers for good sleep. Heavy or late meals keep the body busy and the heart rate elevated. Ideally, you finish your last meal at least two hours before bedtime. The same applies to exercise. Intense workouts should be four to six hours before sleep. Light movement like yoga or walking is usually fine. Yin Yoga is especially sleep-promoting in my experience.

If you want to reduce your sleep routine to a single indicator, watch your resting heart rate before bed. It reliably predicts sleep quality.

Hack 4: The cherry without the cake

Improving sleep does not always require supplements. Sometimes a glass of tart cherry juice is enough. No joke, during this year’s Tour de France it was one of the big trends. Studies show that tart cherry juice boosts melatonin levels and improves both sleep duration and quality.

The effect is not only due to melatonin. Tart cherries also contain tryptophan and anti-inflammatory polyphenols that relax the body on several levels.

If cherry juice is not your thing, try ashwagandha. This Ayurvedic adaptogen has been shown to improve sleep quality and shorten the time needed to fall asleep.

Hack 5: No blue light please

If you check your phone “just for a second” at night and suddenly feel wide awake, it is usually not the content but the light.

Blue light between 460 and 480 nanometres suppresses melatonin and keeps you alert. Going screen-free is difficult, but most devices now offer a night mode that shifts the light into the reddish spectrum.

If you want to be extra careful, wear amber tinted blue-light blocking glasses after 8 p.m. If your display looks like a Martian sunset, you are doing it right.

Hack 6: The flight mode rule

The phone is the natural enemy of bedtime. Every message, every tiny blink, every “just one more quick scroll” keeps the brain active. After 10 p.m., the rule is flight mode on and keep your distance.

The two-metre rule helps. Keep your phone at least two metres away from the bed, ideally in another room. That way you will not reach for it out of habit.

And the alarm clock excuse does not count. An analogue alarm clock is inexpensive and wakes you just as reliably, only with more rest.

Hack 7: Ten minutes of reading before bed

And with an actual book. Not an e-reader, not a phone, not “just checking the weather report.” Paper. Letters. Quiet. Preferably a novel. And the rule is: the less exciting, the better. Thrillers can wait until your pulse is back at daytime settings.

A dab of lavender oil on the temples, a page or two, and your heart rate drops as if someone were slowly dimming the lights. The brain loves rituals. After a few weeks reading itself becomes the sleep cue. Greetings to Pavlov.

And yes, Matt Walker’s “Why We Sleep” is highly recommended.

Hack 8: The 30-minute rule against overthinking

If you still cannot fall asleep after all these tips, do not stay in bed and do not get annoyed. If you are still awake after 30 minutes, get up. Do not doomscroll. Go to another room and read something in dim light.

Why it works: staying in bed while awake teaches the brain that the bed is for wakefulness. It is one of the most effective strategies from cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.

Hack 9: Go to bed at the same time

The body loves rhythm. If you go to sleep and wake up at roughly the same time each day, you give your inner clock a stable signal. Resting heart rate drops and sleep becomes deeper.

Irregular hours, late weekends or “series jetlag” throw things off. Even an hour can make you feel like you have taken a long-haul flight. But let us keep things reasonable, life is still meant to be lived.

Hack 10: Mouth tape, nasal breathing against snoring

It sounds unusual but works surprisingly well. I found this hack in James Nestor’s book “Breath”. And several snoring friends have confirmed that it is actually working really well.

Mouth taping means gently sealing your mouth at night with a special hypoallergenic tape. A study showed that it can reduce snoring and sleep apnoea by about half. Mouth breathing narrows the airway and increases nighttime vibrations. Nasal breathing keeps the airway stable and promotes calmer sleep.

Important: do not use it with a blocked nose or untreated sleep apnoea. First test it during the day for 30 minutes. And to be clear, no packing tape, no masking tape, no duct tape. There are specific mouth tapes for this.

tl;dr

Sleep is not an isolated pillar of health. It is the foundation everything else stands on. The upcoming parts of this series will show how Mindfulness, Nutrition, Exercise and Work interact.

Start today. Choose two or three strategies from this list, apply them for two weeks and then add new ones. Longevity is a marathon, not a sprint.

Next week continues with Part 2. Mindfulness takes centre stage.