Training intensity, clean nutrition, high effort—they all mean nothing if your sleep is broken.

Sleep isn’t passive rest. It’s when growth, repair, and hormonal balance are regulated. It’s your most effective recovery tool—and the one most people underuse or misunderstand.

If your progress has stalled, your mood feels off, or your strength isn’t holding—look at your sleep. Here’s how to fix it like we do with our clients.

1. Quantity Isn’t the Same as Quality

Yes, you need 7–9 hours. But sleep depth matters more than time in bed.

Symptoms of poor sleep quality:

• Waking up unrefreshed, even after “8 hours”

• Regularly waking up between 2–4am

• Afternoon fatigue or reliance on caffeine

• Slow recovery from training or stress

These are nervous system cues—not laziness or lack of discipline.

2. Your Nervous System Sets the Tone

The body doesn't just "fall asleep"—it needs to shift into parasympathetic mode (rest/digest state).

If you're training late, answering emails at 10 pm, or sleeping next to blue light, your nervous system is still firing. This delays deep sleep and reduces growth hormone output.

To correct it:

• Finish training at least 2–3 hours before bed

• Avoid screens 60 mins before sleep (or wear blue-light blockers)

• Breathe slow and long post-training and pre-sleep (e.g., 4-7-8 breathing)
  

3. Build a Wind-Down System, Not a Bedtime Ritual

What you do in the 90 minutes before bed determines your sleep quality.
Create a wind-down structure that calms your system reliably.

Try:

• Magnesium glycinate + glycine

• Reading (paper, not device)

• Stretching or foam rolling

• Epsom salt bath or infrared sauna

• Journaling a “brain dump” to reduce mental noise

Do 2–3 of these each night. Not perfectly—but predictably.

4. Morning Routine Starts the Night Before

What ruins good sleep?

• Late caffeine

• Big meals close to bed

• Alcohol

• Late screen time

• Unregulated stress

Set yourself up at night so you don’t need three coffees and a podcast just to feel human in the morning.

Aim for:

• No caffeine after 2pm

• A final meal 2–3 hours before bed

• Dimmed lights after 8pm

• 5–10 mins of quiet before you sleep (not scrolling)

Sleep is not a luxury—it’s performance insurance.
The people who progress the fastest are the ones who treat recovery as a priority, not a reward.

Train hard. Eat well. Then sleep like someone who wants it to actually matter.