Sleep 7-9 Hours
The single highest-ROI health intervention. Nothing else works if this is broken.
Sleep deprivation isn’t a badge of honor. It’s a cognitive impairment. One night of <6 hours drops reaction time, judgment, and emotional regulation to levels comparable to legal intoxication (Walker, 2017). Chronic short sleep increases all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, depression, and dementia risk [@cappuccio2010].
Yet one in three adults doesn’t get enough (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Most of them think they’ve adapted. They haven’t. They’ve just forgotten what “rested” feels like.
Objective
Achieve 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night, consistently. Not occasionally. Not on weekends. Every night. The 7-9 hour target comes from consensus clinical research: sleeping less than 7 hours is associated with adverse health outcomes across every system measured (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016; Watson et al., 2015).
Why This Is Protocol #1
Every other protocol in this system depends on sleep:
| Domain | Sleep Impact | | :------------ | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------- | | Training | Growth hormone peaks during deep sleep. Muscle repair requires it. Under-sleeping athletes get injured 1.7× more [@milewski2014] | | Nutrition | One bad night increases ghrelin (hunger hormone) and decreases leptin (satiety). You eat ~385 extra calories the next day [@alhassan2022] | | Cognition | Prefrontal cortex performance drops 30% after one bad night. Decision quality, willpower, and focus all degrade (Walker, 2017) | | Mood | REM sleep processes emotional experiences. Skip it and yesterday’s stress stays raw [@goldstein2013] | | Wealth | Tired people make impulsive financial decisions. See Sleep → Wealth Bridge |
Fix sleep first. Then stack other protocols on top.
The Protocol
Phase 1: Fix the Schedule (Week 1-2)
The most impactful single change: anchor your wake time.
- Pick a fixed wake time and keep it ±30 minutes, including weekends. Your circadian rhythm anchors to wake time, not bedtime (Czeisler et al., 1999). Sleeping in on weekends creates “social jet lag” that makes Monday worse.
- Count backwards 8 hours from your wake time. That’s your “lights out” target. If you wake at 6:30am, aim for 10:30pm lights out.
- Set a “wind-down alarm” 60 minutes before lights-out. This is when screens stop and the pre-sleep routine begins.
Don’t try to change anything else yet. Schedule consistency alone improves sleep quality within 2 weeks.
Phase 2: Control the Environment (Week 3-4)
Your bedroom should be a cave: dark, cool, and quiet.
Temperature: 65-68°F / 18-20°C. Core body temperature must drop ~2°F to initiate sleep [@harding2019]. A warm room fights this process. A warm shower 1-2 hours before bed paradoxically helps: it draws blood to the surface, accelerating core cooling.
Light: Blackout curtains or a sleep mask. Even dim light during sleep suppresses melatonin and fragments sleep architecture [@cho2015]. Cover LEDs on devices. No nightlights.
Sound: Earplugs, white noise machine, or both. Partner snoring is the #1 environmentally caused sleep disruption. Address it rather than tolerating it.
Bed = sleep. Stop working, scrolling, or watching TV in bed. The association between bed and wakefulness is a learned behavior that can be unlearned [@bootzin2011].
Phase 3: Manage Inputs (Week 5-6)
Three substances reliably destroy sleep quality, even when you think they don’t:
Caffeine. Half-life is 5-7 hours. A 2pm coffee means half the caffeine is still active at 9pm. Even if you “fall asleep fine,” caffeine reduces deep sleep by 15-20% [@drake2013]. Rule: No caffeine after noon. If you’re sensitive, stop by 10am.
Alcohol. Alcohol is a sedative, not a sleep aid. It fragments sleep architecture, suppresses REM, and causes early morning waking [@ebrahim2013]. Two drinks in the evening measurably reduce sleep quality, even if you “pass out” quickly. Rule: Stop drinking 3+ hours before bed, or skip it entirely on weeknights.
Screens. Blue light from phones and laptops suppresses melatonin by up to 50% and delays sleep onset by ~30 minutes [@chang2015]. It’s not just the light: the content keeps your mind activated. Rule: No screens 60 minutes before bed. If this feels impossible, that’s information about your relationship with your phone.
Phase 4: Build a Wind-Down Routine (Ongoing)
Your brain needs a transition signal between “day mode” and “sleep mode.” Design a 30-60 minute routine that you do every night:
Example routine:
- Screens off (phone charges outside bedroom)
- Dim lights throughout house
- Light stretching or foam rolling (5 min)
- Read physical book or journal (20-30 min)
- Lights out at target time
The specific activities matter less than the consistency. Your brain learns: “this sequence means sleep is coming.”
Conditional Paths
”I sleep 7+ hours but wake up exhausted”
The issue is sleep quality, not quantity. Check:
- Alcohol: Even 1-2 drinks fragment sleep architecture. Try 2 weeks dry and compare.
- Sleep apnea: Snoring, gasping, morning headaches, or excessive daytime sleepiness are red flags. Get a sleep study. Apnea affects ~25% of men and ~10% of women and is massively underdiagnosed [@peppard2013].
- Late eating: Large meals within 2 hours of bed disrupt sleep. Move dinner earlier.
- Temperature: Too warm = fragmented sleep. Try lowering the thermostat 2°F.
”I can’t fall asleep”
- Are you going to bed too early? If you’re not sleepy, you’ll lie awake. Move bedtime later until you’re falling asleep within 20 minutes, then gradually move it earlier.
- Racing thoughts? Try a “worry dump” — write everything on your mind on paper before the wind-down routine. Getting it out of your head and onto paper reduces rumination.
- Stimulus control: If you’re not asleep within 20 minutes, get up. Go to a dim room and read until sleepy. Return to bed. Don’t train your brain that bed = frustration [@bootzin2011].
”I wake up at 3am and can’t get back to sleep”
- Rule out medical causes (especially if this is new or persistent)
- Check alcohol — the #1 cause of early waking
- Check stress/anxiety — cortisol spikes from unresolved worry. Morning journaling or mindfulness practice can help
- Don’t look at the clock. Clock-watching creates anxiety about not sleeping, which prevents sleep. Turn clocks away from the bed.
”I’m a shift worker”
Shift work is genuinely harder. The evidence-based approach:
- Blackout curtains are mandatory, not optional
- Melatonin (0.5-3mg) taken 30 min before your target sleep time can help shift your rhythm [@costello2014]
- Bright light exposure at the start of your “day” (even if it’s midnight) helps reset the clock
- Keep the same schedule on days off if possible — rotating schedules are the worst scenario
Naps
Naps are a tool, not a replacement:
- Power nap (10-20 min): Restores alertness without grogginess. Best before 2pm.
- Full cycle (90 min): Includes deep sleep and REM. Useful for acute sleep debt.
- Danger zone (30-60 min): You wake from deep sleep feeling worse. Avoid this duration.
- Rule: No naps after 3pm — they steal from nighttime sleep pressure.
Cadence
- Daily: Execute wind-down routine; maintain fixed wake time
- Weekly: Review sleep data (wearable or diary). Adjust bedtime if averaging <7h
- Monthly: Check 30-day average against 7h target. Audit caffeine/alcohol patterns
- Quarterly: Reassess: is the protocol working? Do you need a sleep study?
KPIs
| Indicator | Type | Target | How to measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed wake time compliance | Leading | 7/7 days (±30 min) | Manual log or wearable |
| Screen-off compliance | Leading | 7/7 nights, 60 min before bed | Screen time app |
| Wind-down routine executed | Leading | 7/7 nights | Habit tracker |
| Average sleep duration | Lagging | ≥7h | Wearable or sleep diary |
| Sleep onset latency | Lagging | <20 min | Subjective or wearable |
| Daytime alertness | Lagging | No caffeine needed before 10am | Self-assessment |
| Morning mood | Lagging | Positive/neutral on waking | 1-10 scale |
Failure Modes
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Averaging <7 hours despite good habits | Audit actual bedtime vs planned; most people lie to themselves. Track for 1 week |
| Can’t fall asleep within 20 min | Stimulus control: get up, read in dim light, return when sleepy. Move bedtime later |
| Waking 3-4am consistently | Check alcohol, stress, and room temperature. Rule out medical causes if persistent |
| Insomnia persists 3+ weeks | See a doctor. Rule out apnea, thyroid, or other disorders. CBT-I is first-line treatment |
| Sleeping 9+ hours and still exhausted | Get a sleep study. Something else is wrong (apnea, depression, thyroid) |
| Partner disrupts sleep (snoring, different schedule) | Address directly. Earplugs, white noise, or separate blankets. Untreated snoring may be apnea |
| Travel/jet lag | Upon arrival, anchor to local wake time. Morning sunlight. Short-term melatonin (0.5-3mg) |
| Weekend sleep-in habit | Keep wake time within 30 min of weekday. “Social jet lag” compounds weekly |
Related
- Concept: Sleep Architecture (why sleep cycles matter)
- Concept: Circadian Rhythm (the 24-hour clock that governs sleep timing)
- Complement: Practice Mindfulness (meditation improves sleep quality)
- Complement: Train Strength (exercise improves deep sleep; once sleep is stable, add this)
- Bridge: Sleep → Wealth (how sleep affects earning capacity)
- Bridge: Exercise → Meaning (sleep enables the mood benefits of exercise)
- Anti-Patterns: Health Anti-Patterns (revenge bedtime procrastination, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”)
- Environment: Environment Design (bedroom as a sleep-optimized environment)