The Most Powerful Way to Uplevel Your Performance & Vitality

The personal development market was valued at 40 billion dollars in 2022.

It’s estimated to grow an additional 7% over the next ten years.

The amount of resources people pour into feeling better within and about themselves is staggering.

And these resources are spent on things like:

• Dieting

• Exercise routines

• Gym memberships

• Personal development courses

• Therapy

• Meditation apps

And although these things can be helpful, there is ONE thing that would trump all of these combined.

And that is…

Getting 8 Hours of High-Quality Sleep A Night

You may have heard the importance of getting a good night's sleep, but I’ll share with you that it isn't just important, but essential.

Your life depends on it.

That is not an exaggeration.

Nothing else you can do will give you the benefits of a good night's sleep. As a matter of fact, there is nothing more productive you can do than get a good night’s sleep.

If you’re looking to significantly up-level your overall vitality, the most effective way isn't even to start exercising or eating better.

It's imperative to prioritize optimizing your sleep as the initial step. If you’re not getting 8 hours of QUALITY sleep a night, that should be the ONLY thing you focus on.

When the goal is pursuing Vitality, optimizing sleep is a non-negotiable first step.

Let's dive deeper into why we have undervalued such an essential aspect of our well-being.

Humans Are The Only Species That Undersleeps

It's ironic that humans, often regarded as the most sophisticated species on Earth, fail to recognize the paramount importance of sleep for optimizing wellness.

We are the only species that undersleep for NO apparent gain.

Undersleeping and overworking are not only normalized in our society but it’s actually valued?!

How has it become a badge of honor to work excessive hours and not sleep?!

"I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"I pulled an all-nighter."

"Yeah, I only got 4 hours of sleep last night."

"I put in about 80-100 hours of work a week."

These are sayings I’ve personally said and have heard for decades.

All of these are said with the air of, "Check me out—I can tolerate more stress than you can."

It's quite crazy when you step back and look at it. We’ve convinced ourselves that we’re more productive by increasing work and decreasing rest time.

And although we've convinced ourselves of this, all the data proves the exact opposite.

In his book “Rest”, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang shares that the optimal number of work hours in a day is no more than 4. That means 20 hours a week of highly focused, concentrated work.

Anything above this will decrease productivity.

For example, working 50 hours a week won’t be near the same quality as working just 20 hours a week. Anything more than 4 hours a day will actually have diminishing returns as your quality of work drops.

Talk about a colossal waste of time!!

Alex shares that deliberate rest is one of the most critical components of maximizing productivity. Sleep is the most critical deliberate rest we get every day, and not getting this intentional rest is highly detrimental.

The Cost of Sleep Deprivation

The list of side effects and damage caused by sleep deprivation is infinitely long.

There is not ONE symptom you could have, now or ever, that doesn't DIRECTLY correlate to a lack of quality sleep.

Here’s a "short list" of some of the effects of sleep deprivation:

• Ages skin

• Shortens attention

• Increases appetite

• Impairs memory & learning

• Lowers libido

• Worsens mood

• Decreases activity

• Puts pressure on the heart

• Slows reactions

• Weakens immune system

• Poor judgment

• Increased stress levels

• Headaches

• Muscle aches

• Blurred vision

• Restlessness

• Decreased motivation

• Difficulty regulating emotions

If our society valued getting 8 hours of high-quality sleep every night, we would bankrupt many pharmaceutical companies.

Every symptom mentioned above has a corresponding drug available, not to mention sleep medications.

Staggering Statistics

• 1 out of 3 adults in the United States reported not getting enough rest or sleep daily.

• 2 out of 5 reports falling asleep during the day without meaning to.

• 1 out of 4 are taking sleeping pills.

I'd say it’s time to value sleep more than work!

Why Starting with Exercise is a BAD Idea

The most common "go-to" that I’ve found people default to when attempting to "be healthier" is starting to exercise.

If these individuals are not getting optimal sleep or are relying on a sleep aid to get sleep, adding exercise is not what I'd recommend. Undersleeping is a significant stress to the systemic system—not to mention stressful mentally and emotionally. Starting an exercise program would only add physical stress to the body.

The reason why you may "feel better" exercising is because of the adrenaline response. While this adrenal response creates a temporary surge of energy and well-being, it comes at a cost. Adrenal fatigue could be one of them.

In fact, it’s estimated that 80% of Americans will experience adrenal fatigue at some point!

Some of the most common symptoms of adrenal fatigue are:

• Difficulty getting up in the morning

• Not fully awake until after 10 am

• Need caffeine to get going.

• Energy low mid to late afternoon

• Better energy after 6 pm until around 9 pm

• Second wind from around 11 pm to 1 am

• Snacks on salty and sweet foods and caffeine to keep going

• Feels run down

• Harder to bounce back from illness or other stresses

• Difficulty concentrating and thinking clearly

• Lower libido

• Poor sleep

Adding the physical stress of exercise to this mess is not helping you.

The “Health and Happiness” approach would recommend you diet, exercise, and take supplements or medications to help you sleep.

The Vitality & Fulfillment approach prioritizes optimizing your lifestyle to ensure deliberate rest.

What Happens When We Sleep

I’ve found one of the main reasons people can’t get optimal sleep is the idea that they have too much to do.

They can’t get it all done! Therefore, they have to cut out everything that brings down productivity—which includes sleep.

But this could not be further from the truth.

Sleep is one of the most productive activities you do every day of your life.

A 2010 Harvard study showed that brain activity when sleeping is just as active compared to when we’re awake. The sleeping brain is actually more active for a short amount of time.

When you sleep, your body is performing essential repairs. One is what you might call “brainwashing,” which is when the body flushes out all the toxins and waste products in your brain.

Deliberate rest, like sleeping, has also been directly correlated to creativity, immune function, and emotional intelligence.

This makes sleep a high-performance state.

Sleep is the most rapid form of self-development that you can find. It’s more powerful than any supplement, meditation, or personal development weekend seminar you've ever encountered.

It’s actually the most powerful meditation you will do every day.

Getting a good night of quality sleep is analogous to sharpening your saw as a lumbar jack.

Not sleeping would be continuing to cut down trees with a dull blade, convinced that it’s more productive to skip the sharpening of the blade and continue cutting with a dull blade.

This makes sleep the most critical component in pursuing a lifestyle of vitality.

The Most Essential Block to Building Vitality & Fulfillment

Think of the things you do daily as fixed Tetris blocks that you have to fit into a 24-block container. The first block to set is your SLEEP block and is incompressible.

Your sleep block is 9 hours.

This means 9 hours in bed, which equates to at least 8 hours of sleep.

This could look like 9 pm in bed, wake up at 6 am. All other activities fit around this block, which means you have 15 hours for everything else.

Highest Impact Variables to Optimize Sleep

Here are 5 Variables that will help you create a lifestyle that prioritizes your sleep:

1. Time: 9 hours in bed, 8 hours of sleep. Going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time is imperative to set your circadian rhythm. The best first step is to set a wake-up time and work from there.

2. Tracking: I highly recommend tracking your quality of sleep. This can be extremely helpful for calibrating your routines. Common sleep trackers are the Aura Ring, Garmin, Whoop, and Apple Watch. The ideal breakdown is about 1-2 hours of non-REM sleep and 2+ hours of REM sleep.

3. Temperature: A cold bedroom will optimize your quality of sleep. Ideal temperatures are around 65 degrees.

4. Dark: The darker, the better. Blackout shades or masks are great options.

5. Substances: No caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine within 10-12 hours of bedtime

Don't Crash Land Into Bed

Step one is getting into bed at the best time to get enough sleep.

The next essential component is setting yourself up for quality sleep. This is where you'll need to prepare to get into bed.

Many of my clients' evening routines typically involve screen time, whether it's on their computer or watching TV, providing continual stimulation until they fall asleep. Some even mention keeping the TV on in the background without actively watching it.

This constant stimulation to the brain up until the point you pass out is what I refer to as a crash landing into bed. This crash landing into bed impacts the quality of your sleep.

To improve the quality of your sleep, it is essential to have a winding down period.

Winding down before bed sets the stage for a restful and rejuvenating night's sleep by reducing stress, promoting relaxation, and signaling to your body that it's time to rest and recover.

This is what I refer to as a soft landing into bed.

Prepare for Soft Landing to Improve Sleep Quality

There are 5 components to optimizing the quality of sleep:

1. Turn off all screens 2 hours before bedtime.

2. Turn off all overhead lights at sunset.

3. No eating or liquids 2 hours before bedtime

4. Brain Dump - Journaling

5. Hot Shower/Bath/Sauna/Steam within an hour of bedtime

If you're experiencing poor sleep quality and don't incorporate these five things into your routine, addressing this should be your initial step.

First Steps to Pursuing Vitality

As I illustrated in my article, “How to Step Out of the Rat Race of Pursuing Health & Happiness,” pursuing Vitality is a completely different game and mindset than trying to be healthy.

Pursuing Vitality is about optimizing for physical strength and mental vigor in order to have the capacity to live your most meaningful and purposeful existence.

Health and Happiness is about survival and finding moments that “feel good.”

The Vitality Level Method program I am developing starts with these first 2 steps:

STEP ONE: Optimize Lifestyle to Optimize Sleep

STEP TWO: Getting Connected to Yourself with MES Journaling which I explain in my article, “Living a Fulfilling Life”

As I share with my clients all the time, it isn’t about where you are in any moment, it’s about the trajectory you’re on. You don’t need to make ALL the changes today, just pick ONE thing that you are going to start implementing that puts you on the path towards Vitality.

Starting with optimizing your sleep is the BEST place to begin.

Wishing you the most amazing and restorative sleep,

Matt

References

CDC Analyzes Sleep Medication Usage

Are You Among the 80% of Americans Who Experience Adrenal Fatigue?

Is Your Brain More Active at Night or During the Day?