It was the winter before 2020, and I was determined to change my life.
I had all sorts of plans for the new year, but one thing was standing in my way. My sleep schedule.
As a business owner running the largest edible company in the state, I quickly learned that if I wanted to level up, show up my best, and develop the skills necessary to reach the goals I'd laid out for myself, I needed to get my sleep in check.
But to quote my friend:
"a human is a human is a human." ~Matt Gottesman~
I had let things slide a bit. My sleeping habits were terrible, and it was starting to take their toll on me.
I would stay up late watching Netflix and scrolling through social media and then sleep until 10 am (I know people who sleep past noon 🤯) the next day.
This resulted in me being tired and grumpy all the time. Not exactly the ideal state for learning and bettering myself.
So, I made a plan: every night at 10:30 pm, no matter what, I would go to bed. And it worked!
After about two weeks of sticking to this routine, my energy levels were back up, and a noticeable difference occurred.
I was tired by 9:30 most nights because I was consistently waking up early, and I was waking up early because I was consistently going to sleep early, lol.
I was getting full days of work (two because I was so sharp) between wake and sleep, plus a solid workout and dinner.
My focus became sharper, my decision-making increased, and I became more emotionally stable.
I share this story because It’s simple, and you can likely relate to binge-watching or scrolling social late into the night.
Ok, I just wanted to share a little personal story as I’m working on my storytelling craft. It relates fully to the subject matter we’re about to dive into below.
Let me know in the comments below if you enjoyed that!
A quick recap of last week’s letter. 👇
We dove into the biology of the monster within us and how to use the activating system to tame our desires without suffering. Which, in short, is our overall stress response.
The biology of our primordial nature is comprised of 3 components:
The Master Cycle
The Psychology of the Monster
Let’s get into this week's topic of understanding the Master Cycle and how it plays a HUGE role in our ability behind impulse behaviors, decision-making, and how we walk through this world day to day, shall we?
The Master Cycle
The second major system related to the Monster's biology is our circadian rhythm or the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle we go through every day.
In our model, we call this the “Master Cycle.”
Everything in life happens in cycles, some macro, some micro, and everything in between.
When we understand the cycle and what we call the nested cycles, we begin to see the patterns of reality more easily.
Your sleep-wake cycle is called a circadian rhythm which occurs every 24 hrs.
The nested cycles are the week, month, season, and year above, and the 90-minute cycles below are called Ultradian rhythms. More on that later.
This circadian rhythm is predicated on when your eyes receive enough sunlight to trigger a signal in a brain region called the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN), which is your body's master clock.
This starts your first spike of stress hormones and neuromodulators that prime your energy levels for the rest of the day.
As the day goes on, your body shifts from being primarily in the activating system toward the rejuvenating system.
As the sun goes down, it sends a second signal to the SCN that it’s reaching the latter half of the master cycle.
Once the sun goes down, the body naturally starts to use the rejuvenating system to get us relaxed and eventually ready for bed.
Priming your master cycle is an essential foundational first step because it is the master key that sets the tone of our nervous system.
Research shows that poor sleep quality is associated with an increased risk of:
Chronic disease
Mental disorders
Decreases in learning, memory, and focus
We make worse decisions, act more emotionally, and get drained faster.
Good sleep quality has the opposite effect.
Our focus becomes sharper, we make better decisions, and we are more emotionally stable.
Consider this; every mental disorder is associated with some form of sleep disruption, and much of that disruption is due to our inability to gain conscious control of our sleep-wake cycle.
When our master cycle is disrupted, we are more impulsive and emotional, which leads to greater variation in our activating system.
This increase in our activating system drives us away from the inner pain we experience towards the easy sources of pleasure rooted in our appetites and desires.
Our untamed Monster, desires, and appetites increase feelings of shame, powerlessness, and frustration, which again fuel the very inner pain we were running from in the first place.
This is the vicious downward spiral of self-destruction rather than self-transformation.
So what can we do about this spiral of self-destruction due to a hi-jacked sleep cycle?
Circadian Priming
The first tool we’ll talk about is called “Circadian Priming,” which helps set a solid foundation and can be used to break patterns that no longer serve us.
We begin by getting up with the sun.
By just getting up with the sunrise, you already won the day.
Typically this would be around 5:30 am - 7:00 am with a little wiggle room.
The next thing you will want to do is get outside into the sunlight.
5 - 10 min is plenty if there is not heavy cloud cover, but if there is, it might be 15 - 20 min.
Don’t get hung up on the numbers, though!
You want to avoid sunglasses or windows and try to get direct sun exposure, as this will be the most intense light and the easiest way to activate the SCN.
You can do other things to ramp this up, like movement and temperature. When the sun is up, it’s time to move and create heat within the body. But more on that later in a later letter.
The second thing you will want to do is get a small bout of sun exposure mid-day again for 5-10 min that, which helps your brain keep track of the external cycle.
Lastly, you will want to try and get one last 5 - 10 min sun exposure as the sun is setting, which will signal the wind-down and helps prevent blue light exposure from later damaging your sleep.
The biggest key here is that the sun rises and sets at a low solar angle.
The effect is greatly diminished if you get sun exposure after or before those windows.
Also, because so many of us drink Caffeine, here is a pro tip…Avoid drinking caffeine until 90 - 120 min after you wake up. I know, I know….but give it a shot for a few weeks.
This will help your body naturally learn to wake up on its own, reduce caffeine dependence, and increase the effectiveness of caffeine.
Avoid caffeine later in the day, ideally not past 2:00 pm.
It has a long half-life; even if you can’t tell, it will mess 100% up your sleep.
When it comes to the nighttime, you will want to do the exact opposite.
You will want to limit the light you are exposed to, keep lights red, and ideally, no overhead lights.
Again, we are trying to mimic the environment we evolved to thrive in as much as possible.
We need to cover the last bit of biology, the psychology of the monster, before we get into the remaining tools and resources.
Sorry to tease you. I assure you it’ll be worth it by the end.
There is a reason Derek and I are taking you on this extended journey.
And that is because there is no shortcut.
Nobody is going to save you.
There is no magic pill.
There is no waistband to lose 20 lbs in 2 weeks.
We have to show up for ourselves.
We have to be patient.
We have to remain dedicated and persistent in the pursuit of transformation.
When we ground ourselves in these principles, we develop the ability to remember what it feels like to feel good.
To connect with ourselves so that we may connect with others.
You have my word you will have 5 available tools you can implement anytime you choose that will make you unrecognizable even to yourself, so long as you apply them, remain consistent, and have grace on yourself.
Next week we will cover the psychology of the monster, which is rooted in our negative early life experiences and the personality trait of neuroticism, as well as our thoughts and behaviors.
Final Thoughts
Words Matter, but feelings matter more.
It's not the words that enter the subconscious mind; it's the feeling the words elicit.
If you want to change your subconscious mind, change how you feel about yourself and your world.
Use affirmations and visualizations to fill your mind with positive thoughts and images but take action towards your goals day by day, just 1%, and soon, you'll find that your subconscious mind is working for you instead of against you.
The words we use are important, of course.
But it's the emotions they convey that get under our skin and shape our beliefs.
When you're ready, Here are some ways I can help you:
→ Build 1 Thing Community -
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How Sleep Impacts Your Impulse Desires