How to Sleep Better Naturally: Sleep Is the Cornerstone

Before you read: this article talks about raw cream. Raw animal foods carry a risk of food poisoning. Buy from a farmer you trust, keep it fresh and make your own call.

Sleep is the cornerstone.

If this one thing is off, everything slides.

Your lifts go down. Your focus goes. You get softer, slower and shorter with the people you love.

Get it right, and everything else gets easier.

I’m grateful for my sleep. I fall asleep fast. I wake before the alarm. I’m switched on all day.

That came from knowing how to sleep well, and doing it every single day.

Here is exactly how I do it. No pills. No trackers. Just the natural inputs your body has always run on.

Why sleep matters more than anything else you do

So many men don’t have the energy to build something outside their day job.

The reason is usually simple.

They’re tired.

When are you most irritable? When do you snap at your family, or the guy at work?

When you’re tired.

Poor sleep touches every part of your life. Your training. Your work. Your mood. Your relationships. Your drive.

Short sleep stresses your entire system. It cuts your recovery. You walk into the next day already behind.

Sleep is where the day is built.

Getting on top of your sleep is the first move to building a better life.

Sleep and testosterone

This one matters for men.

In one study, researchers put ten healthy young men on five-hour bedtimes for a week. Their daytime testosterone came in lower than when they were well rested. Their sense of vigour dropped night after night. (Leproult and Van Cauter, JAMA, 2011)

The same paper notes that most of a man’s daily testosterone release happens during sleep.

People will try everything under the sun before they try going to bed early.

Go to bed early.

More on this in How to Increase Testosterone Naturally.

Signs you’re sleeping well

You don’t need a ring or a watch to tell you.

You already know.

Good sleep looks like this:

• You fall asleep within about 10 minutes.
• You wake up naturally, before the alarm, wide awake.
• You wake up with morning wood.
• You don’t hit a wall in the afternoon.
• Sore muscles feel better by morning.

If most of those are missing, start with the rules below.

How to sleep better naturally: my 12 rules

1. Good sleep starts in the morning

This is the one most people miss.

Get outside within the first hour of waking. Get morning sunlight on your face and into your eyes. No sunglasses. No window in the way.

Give it at least 10 minutes. Then spend at least an hour outside across your day.

That light times your body clock. It tells your body when the day starts, so it knows when the night starts.

You’ll feel sleepy earlier in the evening.

That’s the point.

The full method is in How to Reset Your Circadian Rhythm.

2. Same time, every day

Go to bed and get up at the same time every day.

Weekends too.

Your body loves rhythm. Give it one and it settles in.

Use an alarm once, to set the time you want to get up. After that, you shouldn’t need one. Your body learns the time and wakes you on its own.

I go deeper on this in How to Reset Your Circadian Rhythm.

3. Sleep earlier and rise earlier

Live closer to the sun.

Down not long after sunset. Up with the sunrise.

My rule is simple. In bed by nine. Up at five or six.

The old saying goes that an hour of sleep before midnight is worth two after it. I live by that. Eight hours from eleven or midnight never leaves me as fresh as eight hours from nine.

You can’t out-train late nights.

Up with the sun.

Watch your energy change.

4. Kill the bright light after sunset

Once the sun goes down, the house goes dim.

Candles. Salt lamps. A low lamp near the floor.

No overhead lights. No bright screens.

If you can’t avoid screens or bright lights, wear blue light blocking glasses from sunset until bed. I wear mine every night. They make me tired earlier, which is exactly what I want. I use Ra Optics. They’re on my Top Picks page too.

The why behind this is in the circadian rhythm guide.

5. Watch the sunset

Catch the sunset outside when you can.

Watch the sun drop. Outside, with no glass between you and it.

Morning light opens your day.

Evening light tells your brain the day is closing.

6. Caffeine in the morning only

If you drink coffee, have it in the morning.

Never in the afternoon.

Take days off it. When your sleep is dialled, you’ll find you need it less anyway.

7. Eat early and walk after dinner

Don’t go to bed on a huge meal.

Eat dinner early. Then walk it off.

A slow walk after dinner settles the body and helps you digest before you lie down.

8. Breathe through your nose

Your nose is for breathing. Your mouth is for eating.

I tape my mouth at night so I only breathe through my nose. It made a huge difference to how rested I wake up.

If you find you don’t sleep as well without mouth tape, you may have restricted fascia in your neck and jaw. Work on releasing those areas. It reduces the tension and opens up your airways.

9. Make the room dark and cool

Dark room.

Cool air.

Window cracked open for fresh air if you can.

Where I live there’s no artificial light at night, so I don’t need an eye mask.

Plenty of men aren’t so lucky. Street lights. A neighbour’s porch light. A hotel room with a glowing smoke alarm.

If there’s artificial light around you that you can’t move or change, wear an eye mask. Get one made of 100% silk. Sleep comes easier, and it takes the stress of that light off you.

10. Wind the body down

Stretch before bed.

Press into the soles of your feet.

Massage your jaw.

Release the tension you held all day. You want to slide into bed relaxed, ready to drop off.

11. A natural night-time drink

Here is my sleep elixir.

Steep camomile flowers in hot water. Let it cool a little. Stir in a spoonful of cream, raw cream if you can get it, and a big spoon of raw honey.

Fats, herbs and natural sugar.

It calms me right down and I sleep deep after it.

Pair it with morning sunlight and an evening sunset, and sleep stops being a problem.

12. Liquid magnesium before bed

I put minerals in my water every day.

Your body runs on them, and a man who sweats, trains and lives in the sun goes through them fast.

Before bed, I take liquid magnesium. I put it straight into my sleep elixir. The one I use is Aurum Ionic Liquid Magnesium.

A simple daily sleep routine

Here is how the whole day fits together.

Time	What I do
Sunrise	Outside. Light in the eyes. Phone stays inside.
Morning	Coffee if I want it. Train.
Midday	Back outside for more light.
Afternoon	No caffeine.
Sunset	Watch it outside. House lights go low. Glasses on if a screen comes out.
Early evening	Early dinner, then a walk.
8pm	Stretch, sleep elixir with magnesium, phone in another room.
9pm	Dark, cool room. Lights out.
5 to 6am	Up with the sun.

You don’t have to nail every line on day one.

Start with the morning light and the early bedtime. Those two do most of the work.

Sleep is the base of your energy as a man

Everything I teach sits on top of sleep.

Sunlight. Training. Food. Your sexual energy.

None of it works as well on a tired body.

Once your sleep is dialled, the next level is keeping your energy instead of leaking it. That’s what I teach in Retention Mastery.

Get Retention Mastery

And if you want me to walk you through the whole system, with sleep as part of the foundation, apply for The Apollo Method.

FAQ

How can I fall asleep faster naturally?

Get morning sunlight, keep your evenings dim and go to bed at the same time every night. Add a slow walk after dinner, a stretch before bed and a camomile tea. Do it every day for two weeks, then judge it by how fast you drop off.

Is it bad to go to bed after midnight?

I don’t do it. Your body is built to sleep not long after the sun goes down. I’m in bed by nine and I feel the difference every time I’m not.

How many hours of sleep do I need?

Aim for seven to nine hours of real sleep, starting around nine or ten at night. Judge it by how you feel. Wake before the alarm, stay sharp all day, and you’re getting enough.

Do I need a sleep tracker?

No. You already know when you’ve slept well. Use the signs above.

Does sleep affect testosterone?

Yes. The bulk of a man’s daily testosterone release happens during sleep, and one study found a week of five-hour nights lowered daytime testosterone in young men. (JAMA, 2011)

Stay Golden, Sol