Written by: Dr. Kirk Parsley
It’s likely you have a copy of Robb’s Paleo Quick Start guide on your computer from your early days of following his blog and recommendations.
Written for those unclear on what it means to be “Paleo,” it’s two fast and furious pages—simple and blatant and very Robb Wolf. A download on Robb’s knowledge of evolutionary biology and analysis of the science being performed in regards to diet exists (as you know) in great depth, both in print and online, but the Quick Start Guide is meant to be a no-bullshit catapult toward better health and performance.
At its very essence, the guide is boiled down to a five-point flow chart. The first four tasks are these: Clean out the pantry, go shopping, cook and go for a walk. In one afternoon, you can fully launch yourself into the realm of an anti-inflammatory diet.
It’s the fifth and final point on the flow-chart I want to talk about: Sleep. Robb writes:
Black out your room. I mean REALLY black out your room. No LED lights from alarm clocks, fire alarms, TV’s, cell phones. Do not watch TV or check email for at least 1 hour before bed. Go to bed early, get at least 8-9 hrs of sleep. You should wake up without an alarm, feeling refreshed.
Sleep comes at the tail end of the flow chart, but for some 85% of Americans it’s going to be the most valuable step when it comes to lowering chronic inflammation levels and freeing up physical and cognitive performance that is otherwise being left on the table.
As a former Navy SEAL and an MD that has long worked on health and performance issues with active-duty Navy SEALS, it’s become my personal mission to disrupt the construct that suggests that getting by on less sleep is some sort of badge of honor; that anything more than five or six hours of sleep per night is for the weak and undisciplined.
To begin making my point about how wrong this sentiment is (no matter how pervasive), I want to start you off in a very Robb Wolf-esque way: Try it for yourself and see what happens.
I challenge you to make sleep your number one priority for one week. Put aside any preconceptions you might have about sleep—particularly if you’re that type-A person who has a number of hot irons in the fire (career, family, athletics, etc) and cuts back on sleep to make time for more—and make getting a long, deep night of sleep your number one goal of each day for seven days, and see what happens.
This is what I want to happen and expect to happen: That you’ll be happier, healthier, faster, stronger and smarter. I want you to see that sleep is one of the best ways Americans can support their trademark work ethic. I want you to see that real, consistent sleep is required to achieve maximum productivity. Because I promise you that if you’re cutting sleep in the name of being more productive, it’s not working.
Why do I feel the need to say this? If you have seen my TED talk, titled, “America’s Biggest Problem,” you probably think that you know the answer to that question—and you’d be half right. The other half of the reason is that I feel we’re only just beginning to get the message out and that there’s a lot of work to be done.
I first started beating the sleep drum to the SEALs in 2009. A quick Google search for “sleep articles 2009” yields about 49-million hits—2015 yields 112-million hits. So the buzz is definitely growing. The downside is I read all of these articles that people send me and I’m reminded of the debates about the science. Educated, intelligent people are actually arguing against sleep in a few extreme cases, but a massive number of articles are dredging up statistics, seemingly in an effort minimize the deleterious effects of sleep deprivation. It’s not unlike reading the incendiary arguments between vegetarians and meat eaters.
So why is everyone so down on sleep? Why is sleep considered “optional” (at best)?
I work with, and have worked with some of the most elite people on the planet. This list includes world-class athletes, professional sports teams, the world’s most powerful CEO’s, the most successful entrepreneurs across the globe and the Navy SEALs.
What do these elite performers all have in common? All of them perform better with sleep.
What’s the second thing? The second thing they have in common is that nearly all of them consider their routine lack of sleep not to be a problem. When we first meet, that is. After we’ve worked together for a while, 100% of them understand that lack of sleep WAS affecting their performance.
This transformation doesn’t come easily, I should add. I have to beat them over the head with the idea, push, prod, cajole, and beg to get them to try the very same 7-Day Sleep Challenge that I’m pushing, prodding and cajoling you to take on.
It’s a strange belief and attitude; so deep-seated into our culture it takes a beating to get people to reconsider. Not just superstar athletes and CEO’s. The same is true when I work with the typical soccer mom, or Joe six-pack. The 112 MILLION sleep articles this year don’t seem to have changed anybody’s mind.
Let me set the record straight, however. I get it. I’ve been there.
If you don’t know anything about me, I have been as sleep deprived as anyone. I know how to punish myself. I have had an infant and two toddlers, while simultaneously going to medical school. I have pulled countless 36-plus hour hospital shifts, I have been a Navy SEAL, I’ve been through Hell Week, I am a serial entrepreneur, consultant, father, and athlete.
In fact, I literally went 10 consecutive years averaging about five hours of sleep per night. It was only when I returned to the NAVY SEALs and started working with them, listening to their challenges, studying their blood tests and stress hormone complications, and ultimately diagnosing their physical, mental and emotional difficulties that I realized I was seeing what was at the root of my own struggles with physical and psychological problems that were riddling my health, performance and personal life.
The Challenge:
Seven-days—-Black out the room, turn off the TV and digital devices at least an hour or two before bed, go to bed at the same time every night. If you’re going to read before bed do it in another room, and use a breathing exercise, meditation or visualization to help initiate sleep, and do this for seven days.
My SEAL instructors and leaders used to ask, “If I gave you a million dollars to do ‘x’ by a certain time, could you do it?” Almost always the answer to that question is, “yes”. Once they sucked you in they would reply, “Then you can do it without a million dollars.” So can you.
If this challenge seems vexing to you, if you’re not sure how to get to sleep without drugs or alcohol, go to Sleep Remedy to learn more.
Then take the 7-day Sleep Challenge and let me know what you discover—I’m on Twitter @docparsley.
I’m struggling with this being in a family. My hubby always looks at his iPad/iPhone before bed and wanting to be a good hubby, goes to bed when I go to bed (even if that means he sits there on his devices). I’ve tried eye masks (which end up being thrown off after 5 minutes…maybe I need to spend more money and get a good quality one) and politely asking him to stay out of the room if he isn’t ready for bed…I also get made “fun” of for going to bed so early. I wake up at 5 to work out so ideally I’d love to go to bed at 8, read a book for 30-45 minutes and then lights out. But kids and hubby also want my attention. Thoughts on how to better achieve these goals with family?
I’m also very interested in the answer to this – Jackie, I thought you were describing MY life!
Being a mother and raising a family makes self-care a different story, as the needs of others, specially the children, are a high priority. I would think that flowing with the rest of the family can be considered more important than the perfect rhythm for one person. I therefore am not sure going to sleep at 8 when the rest of the family is still alive and awake is the best strategy. As a parenting author and speaker, I always tend to look out for the children, and so I wonder if you can be more flexible for a few more years. It goes by so fast and you are missing some good time with your children who need you, and with your husband, which could be as nourishing as sleep. Maybe in the much longer part of life, when there are no kinds at home, you can then have such early bedtime and early rise.
Oh and also what are your recommendations on wake up times? While I have to work out at 5am to get everything done in the mornings on weekdays, I don’t have to wake up that early on weekends. Is it counterproductive to wake up later (usually only 2-2.5 hours later) and just go to bed a bit later those nights or should I stick with the same times…
This challenge is definitely something I need to try, since I’m guilty of using my phone every night before bed which is surely messing up my sleep. But this quote:
“If I gave you a million dollars to do ‘x’ by a certain time, could you do it?” Almost always the answer to that question is, “yes”. Once they sucked you in they would reply, “Then you can do it without a million dollars.”
Now that’s really something. I’ll try to remember this the next time I’m trying to make some BS excuse to not do something I should be doing (or shouldn’t be doing, like eating that cupcake).
> Go to bed early, get at least 8-9 hrs of sleep
Ironic given the new studies coming out showing that our hunter gatherer ancestors likely got far less sleep. Once again showing how easy it is to make incorrect recommendations when you’re basing everything off of little evidence.
No travis, it begs the question WHY do we require more??
What do you think of historical segmented sleep patterns? { http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783 } How do you think this fits into the puzzle? I don’t disagree with you that adequate sleep is VITAL to health, and that too many people are not prioritizing it. When we honor our rhythms, our other body rhythms (digestion, hormones) perform much better and are more balanced. Early to bed, early to rise is a classic Ayurvedic tenet for health.
A very large dose of knowledge, I have long been aware of how important sleep is, and the more a man knows, the more trying to improve in various aspects. For sure I will use the council of this post.
Hi Kirk,
“I’m tired” is such a common phrase that most people do not even give it any thought anymore. Sleep is a huge part of our lives. What do you suggest for people with fluctuating schedules though? Someone that is up at 5 am one day and then works a night shift the next night.
Couldn’t agree more than with the sentiments of this one….. I focused my efforts on sleep after reading Primal Blueprint and Robb’s book. I noticed the biggest improvement to my sleep quality was just eating ‘paleo’ and getting rid of the junk. Once I added sleeping in complete darkness…… it was such a shift in how I woke and how I felt throughout the following day
About “The Product”, what is it? It’s so confusing, because I thought you were going to give the Rx for the 7-day sleep gig. Can you explain? I went to the site and it’s just confusing and I didn’t want to make too many clicks. Plus I’m on iOS
Thanks
He gave recommendations to do the 7 day sleep gig in the post, but also mentioned at the end that if you have trouble his Sleep Cocktail might be of help. Here’s a section about the ingredients from the FAQ on the site:
What are the ingredients?
Our sleep product is simply very small amounts of the nutrients involved in the production of melatonin:
L-tryptophan
5HTP
Vitamin D3
Magnesium
… and a very small dose of melatonin.
Since an increase in brain GABA levels, is also a normal player in the initiation of sleep, we have also included a small amount of a GABA that can cross into the brain–called “phGABA”.
The quantities of each ingredient are intended to replenish normal levels of these nutrients, to allow for the normal production of melatonin, and to help initiate the initial cascade of events that lead to deep, natural sleep.
The ingredients also include Stevia and Xylitol. I thought these were off limits for a Paleo diet? I also have an auto-immune disease which is responding very well to the Paleo approach, but I often struggle with sleep and was interested in this product. But I dont want to be symptomatic again due to the sweeteners in this product. Is it ok or not?
One of the miraculous aspects of the Paleo diet is when your mouth begins to inform you regarding the dietary of body. I suppose animals have this “know what to eat sense as well. I take this approach with sleeping . I believe the body know how much sleep it needs once you nutrientiin chemistry is working properly. So as long as I go to bed before midnight no amount of room darkening etc changes my sleep pattern and my morning wood works as my natural wake up call every morning.
Dr. Parsley, I appreciate your focus on sleep. I had a boss several years ago who was a fantastic person but bragged about only getting 4 hours of sleep a night. I was horrified. Although I wasn’t a holistic nutritionist/coach back then, I knew that wasn’t healthy. He was a PhD scientist and I can’t help wondering what more he could have accomplished if he hadn’t been sleep deprived. The saddest part was that his brilliant mind went downhill with dementia and he never recovered from that.
Great post, Robb.
Since getting back in the pool (competitive swimmer) I have noticed flipping through my training logs that mood and performance is almost ALWAYS linked to a big night of sleep. Something I wish younger me had more fully grasped.
-Olivier
IGreat article. I think that is just good advice for sleep hygiene and sleep in general
I was hoping someone out there in Paleo/CrossFit land could help me with how the #*!! do we sleep through the night in the heart of hotflash/nightsweat Menopause waking up every hour on the hour in a puddle even though following strict paleo and sleep routine 🙁 HELP I’M GOING INSANE
Really nice article! I, like many I’m sure, struggle to get up early even if I go to bed at a decent hour. You have some good recommendation here. I’ve found that blacking out everything really does work. One other important thing is to just be motivated in the morning. Remind yourself the night before why you need to get up early. There’s a video I like to watch a couple hours before bed that helps remind me why it’s important to get up early – those who get up early are the ones who rule the world. I’ll link at the end. What do you think? http://blog.jaretgrossman.com/365-video-series/you-must-wake-up-early-88/
Hmm great post. It is really necessary to have a sound sleep especially in hectic schedules.
What about reading on device with program that cancel the light, for example f.lux ?
It’s definitely better than using a device without it, but not as good as not using a device. If you’re going to read, using a book or an e-ink ereader (Kindle, Nook, etc) without backlight would probably be a better choice. If you need to have a backlight or lit screen, using orange blue-blocking glasses helps too, even more so than using f.lux.
That’s a shrewd answer to a tricky quiseton
Hey and thanks for this article. I hope, that my sleep will get better with your input. Thanks!
So if it’s a choice between exercising and sleep, is sleep more important? I literally don’t have time 5o do both with my job. But I have a sit down job so it would seem that eliminating the whopping hour of exercise I get a day would be a bad idea…
Thank you for your summary and research. Yes, you are right. I need a lot of sleep. I know how helpful it is to get a good sleep for second days.
Having a completely dark room is so important for a good sleep.
I can definitely feel that my immune system suffers when I don’t sleep well.
I have been searching for recommendations for sleep enhancing bedtime snacks, but could not find any given by trustworthy experts. Do you know about proven / studied bedtime snacks?