nelsonic
commented
5 years ago Good Blog post summarising the key points:
https://www.sportsleepcoach.com/blog/nick-littlehales-guide-to-understanding-sleep
- Myth of 8 hours sleep (in a single block). Reality is we need 5 blocks of 90 mins = 7.5h but the effectiveness/quality of those 90 mins is what counts. Being "in bed" for 8h at night when you are staring at your phone or the ceiling for 2h or spend the last hour "snoozing" is much less effective than getting 4.5h of good sleep and then having a nap in the afternoon.
- R90 technique: simply recovery in 90 minute cycles. In a clinical environment sleep is measured in 90-minute intervals.
- Learn your chronotype: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronotype
- The best sleeping position is foetal, on the OPPOSITE SIDE to your dominant more sensitive side.
- ONE shallow pillow, simply comforting the head, not raising it up
- A mattress for two adult partners should be at least two single bed sized sleeping areas, commonly known as Super king.
- Change the term, it is your sleeping recovery room and not a bedroom.
- Exclude TV’s, standby lights, smart devices and laptops from the room.
Make a target that you maintain every day and every week, even at the weekends and keep that time set in place as part of your daily routine. The most common one I find for the morning chronotype is the waking time of 6:30am. If you then roll back in 90 minute cycles you get 5am, 3:30am, 2am, 12:30am and then 11pm, which will be your set sleep time. 11pm through to 6:30am is your five 90 minute cycles, that’s 7.5 hours of sleep.
Nick Littlehales is one of the foremost experts on Sleep. He is not a "doctor" or "desk researcher", he is a "field expert" (pun intended) and has collated the data from the world's highest performers.
His book "Sleep": https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sleep-Change-sleep-this-minute/dp/0241975972
Is a an excellent read on the subject. It took em a little longer than 90mins to read, but it was definitely "worth it" for the insights. I very much want to build my own "sleep kit" from scratch see: https://www.r90sleepkit.com
And do everything I can to improve the effectiveness/quality of my sleep.
This interview/podcast episode is a good intro/summary:
Dr. Chatterjee talks to elite sports sleep coach and author of the book Sleep: The Myth of 8 Hours, the Power of Naps… and the New Plan to Recharge Your Body and Mind about his unique journey to coaching world famous sports teams, on improving performance through sleep patterns and on daily actionable tips for everyone.