Together With Eight Sleep
In 1942, the average American slept 7.9 hours a night.
Today, it’s closer to 6.5.
Somewhere in those missing 90 minutes is a different version of you. A calmer one. More patient. Sharper. Less reactive. Stronger in the gym. Kinder at the dinner table.
But instead, most of us live in the space between. Foggy mornings. Slow recovery. Cravings we can’t explain. An edge of tired that never quite leaves.
You don’t need a diagnosis to feel it. Just a moment of honesty. A quiet admission that something is off, and that maybe, just maybe, it’s not your fault. Maybe the world changed faster than your biology could adapt. Maybe your body still remembers how to rest.
That’s what this email is for. To help you get your sleep back. Not through hacks or heroics. But by stacking small, proven changes that work with your body, not against it.
These are the 15 most science-backed strategies for better sleep. Organized by priority. Written in a way that anyone can. Because it’s not about going to extremes; it was built for real people with real lives.
Start at the top. Layer what works. Let B+ be enough.
Because once you sleep better, everything gets easier.
TIER 1: THE FOUNDATION
1. Exercise: The Sleep Supercharger
Exercise is the closest thing we have to a universal sleep prescription. It helps regulate your circadian rhythm, reduces anxiety, and increases time spent in deep sleep, the most restorative stage. In large-scale reviews, people who exercised at least four times per week slept longer, woke up less often, and felt more rested.
The formula is simple: three short sessions of resistance training, and then finding time to move at a low intensity outside of the gym (walking does the trick). That’s it. Intensity and consistency. It doesn’t require long workouts, fancy machines, or complicated movements.
If you’re tired all the time, don’t wait for more energy to move. Movement is what brings the energy back.
2. Protect the 7-Hour Sweet Spot
Sleep is personal, but it’s not a mystery. Among 1.5 million people, the average sleep duration associated with the lowest risk of disease, the best cognitive performance, and the longest lifespan is 7 hours.
It’s tempting to believe you’re the exception. To shave an hour here or there, or tell yourself six is fine. And sometimes it is — for a while. But over time, chronic short sleep can affect your hormones, immune system, and recovery.
You don’t have to hit seven hours every single night. You just have to protect it like it matters. Because it does.
3. Keep a Consistent Schedule
It’s not just how much you sleep. It’s when.
Your brain is a rhythm machine. Melatonin, cortisol, body temperature, and hunger all follow 24-hour patterns. Shift those patterns too often, and you start to feel like you’re in a different time zone, even if you never left your house. Scientists call it “social jetlag.” You just call it Monday.
The fix is unglamorous but powerful: go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time each day, even on weekends. A 30-60 minute window is enough. This is how you build momentum without effort. It’s also why sleep routines work best when they begin in the morning.
4. Cool Your Cave
Your body has a built-in thermostat, and sleep depends on it dropping.
Roughly two hours before bed, your core temperature starts to fall. That cooling is one of the strongest biological signals your brain uses to initiate sleep. But if your environment is too warm, the signal gets blocked. You toss. You wake up. You wonder why you’re so tired.
In a review of over 200,000 sleep records, researchers found that even small increases in overnight temperature were associated with more wake-ups and less total sleep. The optimal bedroom range? Between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you can’t change your thermostat, adjust what you can: lighter blankets, breathable fabrics, a fan, or a cracked window. Small changes. Big difference.
Or, upgrade to an Eight Sleep. We’ve been sleeping on it for years, long before we started writing APC. It does the heavy lifting of ensuring you reach the right temperature to maximize your REM and deep sleep every night. (And all APC readers get a special discount)
5. Silence (or Smart) Sound
Silence is golden, until it’s impossible. And even then, sleep can still happen. It just needs a soundtrack your brain can ignore.
The World Health Organization recommends keeping bedroom noise under 30 decibels. That’s softer than a whisper. Most homes can’t get there. So instead of chasing silence, protect your sleep from sudden spikes. Planes, cars, sirens: these are the culprits that pull you from deep sleep, even if you don’t remember waking up.
The fix: mask sharp sounds with soft, steady ones. Pink or white noise, rainfall, ocean waves, a humming fan. Earplugs work too. The goal isn’t silence. It’s predictability. Because your brain can adapt to patterns, but it wakes when the pattern breaks.
TIER 2: OPTIMIZATION (Layer These Next)
6. Caffeine Cutoff
Caffeine is the world’s most popular stimulant, and one of the sneakiest saboteurs of sleep. It works by blocking adenosine, the chemical that builds sleep pressure throughout the day. The problem? Its effects can linger for 8–9 hours, even when you no longer feel “wired.”
In sleep studies, caffeine consumed in the afternoon reduced total sleep time, delayed deep sleep, and made people feel groggier the next morning, even when they didn’t notice the difference at night.
If you typically sleep around 10-11 p.m., aim to make 2 p.m. your last cup. And remember: decaf isn’t zero, and many pre-workouts or energy drinks contain more than you think.
Cutting off early isn’t punishment. It’s a head start on tomorrow’s energy.
7. Alcohol Timing
It’s called a nightcap for a reason. A drink helps people fall asleep faster, but almost always at the cost of staying asleep well.
Alcohol fragments REM sleep, increases early-morning wakeups, and reduces overall sleep quality. And the effects are not limited to heavy drinking. Even 1-2 drinks in the evening can shorten your deep sleep window.
The good news? You don’t have to quit entirely. Just shift the timing. If you’re going to drink, finish your last one 3–4 hours before bed. Hydrate between drinks. And try to avoid turning the wind-down drink into a nightly crutch.
Because sleep isn’t about sedation; it’s about restoration.
8. Dim the Evening
Light is not neutral. It’s a signal. And at night, it’s often the wrong one.
Your brain interprets bright light as daylight. That delays melatonin release, pushes your internal clock later, and makes it harder to fall asleep. But it’s not just the light, it’s the content. Doomscrolling or high-stimulation videos light up your nervous system, even in night mode.
The solution: dim the house two hours before bed. Use lamps instead of overhead lights. Turn on “night shift” on your devices, or better yet, turn them off. If you still need to use screens, blue-light-blocking glasses offer a buffer.
Your brain needs darkness to know it’s safe to rest.
9. Close the Kitchen
Food is fuel. But at the wrong time, it can become friction.
Eating late — especially heavy meals — raises core body temperature and triggers metabolic activity when your body should be winding down. In multiple studies, meals within 2-3 hours of bedtime were associated with more nighttime wakeups and reduced sleep efficiency.
If your schedule forces late dinners, keep the meal lighter and simpler. And if you genuinely need something before bed? Go small and protein-forward, like Greek yogurt or a scoop of cottage cheese.
Your body works hard enough while you sleep. Let it rest from digestion, too.
TIER 3: FINE-TUNING (Personalize As Needed)
10. CBT-I: The First-Line Fix for Insomnia
If your struggle with sleep feels deeper than a few bad nights — if it happens at least three times a week, for more than three months — it might be time for a different approach.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is the most effective non-drug treatment for chronic sleep issues. Dozens of randomized controlled trials show that it outperforms sleeping pills in both the short- and long-term.
It works by retraining your brain’s relationship with sleep. Techniques include sleep restriction (to rebuild drive), stimulus control (to associate bed only with rest), and cognitive restructuring (to reduce anxiety around sleep itself).
CBT-I is available through trained therapists or digital programs. If you’ve tried everything and still can’t sleep, this is where to go next.
11. Strategic Napping
Naps aren’t bad. But they can be mistimed. Short naps (20 to 30 minutes) can improve alertness, memory, and performance. But long naps, especially late in the day, can disrupt your ability to fall asleep at night.
If you’re dragging after a poor night, a short nap before 1 p.m. can help.
Just don’t make it a daily crutch. Naps supplement sleep; they don’t replace it.
12. Mindfulness to Quiet the Spin
Sometimes it’s not your body that’s restless, it’s your mind.
If you lie in bed cycling through to-do lists, anxieties, or future conversations, you’re not alone. But you don’t have to “clear your mind” to sleep. You just need to interrupt the spiral.
Enter mindfulness: breathwork, body scans, or progressive muscle relaxation. Just 10 to 20 minutes of mindfulness a night has been shown to reduce anxiety, improve sleep quality, and shorten the time it takes to fall asleep.
You can use a guided app or simply lie in bed and scan from head to toe, noticing tension and releasing it.
The goal isn’t to fall asleep. It’s to stop fighting wakefulness.
13. Hydration Timing You need water to sleep well. But you don’t need a full bladder at 2 a.m.
Dehydration can reduce REM sleep and leave you feeling more fatigued the next day. But drinking too much late in the evening leads to fragmented sleep from bathroom trips.
The fix is timing. Aim to get most of your fluids earlier in the day. Taper off in the final 1–2 hours before bed. If you wake up thirsty, try a small glass of water in the early evening, not right before lights-out.
This isn’t about cutting water. It’s about placing it where it helps, not hurts.
14. Pink Noise and Nature Sounds Your brain responds to sound patterns, even while you sleep.
While silence is best for some, others do better with a gentle hum. That’s where pink noise and nature sounds come in. Unlike white noise (which is higher-pitched), pink noise mimics natural soundscapes like rainfall, wind, or ocean waves. Studies show it can improve deep sleep and reduce the impact of sudden environmental noise.
Apps can do the trick. Just keep the volume steady and low. The goal isn’t to distract you. It’s to support a deeper, more stable sleep rhythm.
15. Dynamic Temperature Control Most people focus on the temperature when they fall asleep. But your body needs different conditions as the night unfolds.
In early sleep stages, your core temperature should drop. But as morning approaches — especially during REM sleep — your body becomes less able to regulate temperature. If your room stays too cold or too hot, your sleep quality suffers.
New technology, like the Eight Sleep Pod, adjusts temperature throughout the night to match these rhythms: cool early, warm later. And it learns your personal sleep cycles, to find the temperature that’s right for you.
Those who chilled their body by spending the night in a sleep pod experienced 34 percent more deep sleep and fell asleep 44 percent faster, increasing their deep and REM sleep, improving cardiovascular recovery, and reporting feeling calmer and more comfortable.
Temperature isn’t just comfort. It’s communication between your body and brain.
If you want to try Eight Sleep, you can do it risk-free and get up to $700 off. As an APC reader, just enter the code “PumpClub” and you can try the Eight Sleep for 30 days. If you don’t love it, just return it with no questions asked. We’ve all used the Eight Sleep for years, and it’s one of the best investments we’ve made. You can take advantage of this limited-time offer here.
Most importantly, if you want to sleep better, you don’t have to fix everything. You just have to start.
Better sleep isn’t a transformation; it’s a quiet shift. A room that’s two degrees cooler. A light that dims a little earlier. A walk you take even when you’re tired. These aren’t sacrifices. They’re invitations.
Because when sleep improves, everything improves. Strength. Mood. Focus. Memory. Hope.
And it doesn’t take long to feel the difference. Tonight’s change is tomorrow’s momentum. Let it begin.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
