Throughout my life I've rarely had issues with sleeping, luckily. But with that being said, it has only been recently since consistently monitoring my sleep with the Whoop that I've become more interested in learning how to optimize sleep. Not sure if there is an ultimate marker that gives me clarity into knowing whether or not my sleep is the most optimal it can be, but for now I base it off how I subjectively feel in the morning as well as throughout the day in terms of overall energy. The Whoop also gives me metrics on sleep which covers quality of sleep (hours spent in light, deep, and REM sleep), respiratory rate, blood oxygen, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin temperature. I forgot where I heard this idea being said (probably on the Huberman Podcast or some other health related podcast) but essentially the concept was quality sleep begins from the moment you wake up. Often, we hear of modalities that one can implement right before sleep or a few hours before sleep in order to induce better sleep, however, the way of thinking in which we set ourselves up for the best possible sleep from the moment we awake makes sense to me, and thus I have been more conscious of what I do from the beginning of the day to the end in order to maximize sleep efficiency.
What I do the moment I wake up is turn on my light box or get some sort of bright light exposure whether it be naturally through the sun, or even just by turning on the room light if it's bright enough. The light box, which is just a bright light that you can set up on a desk that emits a high amount of LUX, has helped me wake up much easier compared to before. I rarely have trouble going to sleep, but I regularly had issues waking up and feeling alert immediately after waking, and I would have very inconsistent wake times, but by using the light box and making sure to get bright light exposure first thing in the morning, I wake up more consistently and am ready to take on the day as soon as I awake.
Other protocols I implement throughout the day to improve sleep include regular exercise, deliberate cold and hot exposure, being conscious of what I eat and drink at what time of day, and allowing myself to relax as bed time approaches.
One modality I have implemented these past couple of weeks that has helped me fall fast asleep has been listening to white noise as I prepare for sleep. I do a round or two of putting my legs up for 20 minutes while meditating and focusing on white noise throughout the day to get some non sleep deep rest, but I now also set a timer on a sleep sound app for 30 minutes or so, lay in my bed, and simply focus on the sound (I like the sound of crickets in a forest). And I'll usually be completely out within 15 to 20 minutes, and ever since practicing this, I sleep deep and soundly through the whole night without any mid sleep disruptions or wakening.
Subjectively, after implementing the relaxation protocol of listening to white noise while preparing for sleep I feel I sleep even better than I did before. And in waking, the light box has helped immensely in setting my circadian rhythm and getting me up and alert a lot faster than prior to. Whoop metric wise, my restorative sleep percentage (deep and REM) has been gradually trending up and my waking hours have been much more consistent compared to before. The bonus of practicing non sleep deep rest is it can help fill the gap of rest on those nights where you may have not gotten enough sleep or the quality of sleep was crappy.
How do you feel your overall sleep hygiene is? What protocols do you practice that help with your sleep? Do you think sleep is all about quantity, quality, or both?