Getting an Oura ring was both a game-changer for my health and a bit like getting a digital nanny. It helps me ease off when I’m pushing too hard at work, aided my recovery from surgery, and even revealed how alcohol impacted my sleep.
I went from being a big craft beer aficionado to (essentially) a teetotaler because the effects on my rest were so stark and obvious.
I’ve never been a good sleeper. I both have trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep.
Often, I wake up in the middle of the night and I’m up for at least an hour or two. Left to my own devices, it takes me at least an hour to get to sleep and I wake up at 2 or 3 AM and I’m up until about 5 AM. Or if something wakes me up (noise, pets, other humans), I’m wide awake and can’t get back to sleep.
A couple of years ago, I was determined to tackle my sleep issues. The difference in my mental performance and mood with even one hour less sleep is undeniable.
None of the tactics, techniques, or supplements listed here have a lot of calories or sugar as I don’t want to add bad stuff into my diet. THC gave me panic attacks so that was out.
Note that I am not a doctor, medical professional, or remotely educated in medicine in any way. This is just my own personal experience.
Supplements I take
For supplements, I buy everything through Fullscript, an online pharmacy my doctor uses. Every brand sold on Fullscript is continuously tested for quality and they must submit third-party lab tests to ensure they can still be sold on the platform.
If your doctor doesn’t use Fullscript, I like the brands Thorne, Pure Encapsulations, Nordic Naturals, Nootropics Depot, Integrative Therapeutics, and Life Extension.
I do not trust any supplement you can buy on Amazon – supplements are already wildly unregulated and the risk for filler ingredients or dangerous additives is too high.
My #1 recommendation is magnesium. Like Vitamin D, it’s an incredibly essential mineral, but is one Americans are chronically deficient in. If you live in a warm, sweaty climate, I’d bet money you are low in magnesium.
There are different types of magnesium, some are better for sleep, some are better for cognition, and some have laxative effects (yikes!). I take magnesium glycinate specifically right before I go to bed.
Tim Ferriss recommended apigenin as a supplement to stay asleep and I have been testing it since January 1 of 2024.
I’ve done two 2-week breaks from it so I have good data, and it absolutely decreases the middle-of-the-night wakeups. I take one just before bed and if I do happen to wake up in the night (usually from the dog moving around), I can get back to sleep easily.
It’s a miracle!
It is very new to the wellness world, so I have no idea of the long-term effects but honestly, it’s so effective that I don’t care.
For OTC meds, I also use Benadryl and Unisom (the doxylamine succinate specifically, NOT the diphenhydramine) intermittently. Don’t take them together.
I also found that doubling the dose of benadryl ironically made it way harder to go to sleep. So I just take one.
There are one or two studies that say benadryl can be neurodegenerative, but that’s in very high doses over a long period of time, and in my opinion, it’s better than prescription drugs like ambien or xanax.
I also cycle ashwagandha, an adaptogenic herb. It’s not good to take it every day for years, so I do a few months on, a month off, etc. Ashwagandha is very effective for helping your body process stress. It’s becoming very trendy to put into relaxation gummies or drinks, but it’s really only effective with regular use.
A major reason why people wake up in the middle of the night is that your body is processing all your extra cortisol, after 1-3 sleep cycle stages, your body kicks out the cortisol, hence the wakeup.
Ashwagandha reduces your cortisol levels and hence helps you sleep better. It does not start taking effect until about 20 days of taking it, so be patient.
Other sleep aids
I take 1-2 of these Sleepy Bear Gummies a night just before I go to bed. I take them every night, and they help me get to sleep (no effect on the duration of my sleep).
They make a version with melatonin, but I get the CBD/CBN ones without melatonin. CBN is a derivative of CBD that’s better for sleep (think N = night).
Sleepy Bear is a veteran-owned business that supposedly developed a proprietary way of getting better efficacy from these compounds, I dunno, but it works. These are NOT psychoactive, meaning you won’t feel high. There is no THC in this product.
Sleep aids that didn’t work for me
Without my Oura ring I never would have figured these out, but some very common and popular sleep aids did in fact worsen my sleep:
I do NOT take melatonin, as I discovered it was making me wake up in the middle of the night. Even a very low dose would cause this. It gets me to sleep, but I don’t stay asleep (even with apigenin and the other supplements).
L-Theanine is a common additive to relaxation gummies, supplements or drinks, and also caused me to wake up in the middle of the night. I also didn’t find it helped me get to sleep either.
Evening Relaxation
Once I cut out alcohol, I found I missed the ritual of sipping on something to help me unwind after a long and busy day. This is a common issue with trying to break a habit. Instead of trying to completely change your behavior, replace it with something else.
For example, when I had to give up coffee (too acidic for my stomach), I swapped it out for Mudwtr. I still drink a cup of hot something in the morning, but it’s much easier on my body.
I really enjoy Athletic Brewing’s line of non-alcoholic beers. They’re all good and they have multiple styles. Many bars and restaurants carry them now. I also like Grüvi’s Golden Lager.
Töst makes a really interesting non-alcoholic sparkling beverage… it’s not quite like champagne, but scratches the itch.
I used to drink Recess drinks every evening – they are a product category all of their own. They have multiple product offerings, but these ones specifically I liked very much:
I only stopped drinking them because I realized the L-Theanine was making me wake up in the middle of the night. I don’t see many other people self-reporting that effect from Theanine so I think it’s just me specifically.
Sleep hygiene
This video about sleep routines really changed a lot for me. There are tons of books, podcasts, articles, and social media posts about optimizing your morning routine – but what about your bedtime routine?
I stop eating by 7 pm, and stop drinking by 8 pm. Eating too close to bedtime disrupts sleep, and drinking fluids means waking up in the night to, you know, produce fluids.
I try to turn off all screens by 8 or 8:30 pm and switch to calming, slow activities – not cleaning the kitchen, but anything that does not get my heart rate up. I read books only in their paper versions or on a Kindle Paperwhite, not a blue light-emitting device like an ipad or phone.
However, I am a huge hypocrite because I scroll a low-stress social media platform as I fall asleep in bed (a habit I’m looking to break by the end of the year).
If you do look at your phone within an hour or two of bedtime, there’s a built-in tool in iOS to reduce the amount of blue light your phone is emitting at night. Learn more about it here.
Final Thoughts
I did not make all these changes overnight (pun intended), nor should you try to. Especially when it comes to supplements, it’s recommended to add one in at a time. If you start taking multiple at once, you won’t know which one is really having a good effect.
On average, I now get 8.5 hours of sleep per night. A couple of years ago, I was getting around 6 or 7 hours of sleep, and it was very fitful, restless sleep. And no, I don’t have kids – I realize I am at an advantage here when it comes to sleep!