The secret to a better night of sleep is as easy as 1, 2, 3, 10

Sleep is one of the most over-looked things when it comes to your overall health and wellness. Most people don't even know the true correlation between sleep and productivity. Many have no idea how sleep effects your metabolism and fat loss.

In today's day and age, I hear so many people say things like "sleep is overrated" or "I'll sleep when I'm dead" as if it's some sort of badge of honor to operate on little to no sleep. The fact of the matter is sleep is UNDERRATED and saying putting off sleep til your dead is a surefire way to get dead fast.

One commonly known sleep myth is that you need 8 hours of sleep every night. The truth of the matter is it's not the amount of sleep you get but the quality of sleep that matter most. Being able to fall into deep REM sleep is critical on many fronts. But rather than discuss the various states of sleep (will do that in a follow-up blog) let's talk about a proven method to get a better night of sleet TONIGHT.

Many of you know I follow a very select group of people for daily motivation and insights. One of these people is Craig Ballantyne. Rather than speak all of his accomplishments, just Google the guy or check out his instagram. Trust me...you will not be disappointed. Anyhow, one of the most important things I picked up from Craig was what he calls the 10, 3, 2, 1 process for a great night of sleep.

The 10, 3, 2, 1 process WORKS. I have not only personally used it but have told hundreds of people about it. And like clockwork, EVERYONE comes back to me with the same response: "Holy $%&* that really works." So what is this incredible little trick? Well, it's not a trick at all. It's simply 4 rules to follow to get an amazing night of sleep. And I can assure you that if you 100% follow these 4 rules, you will have one of your best nights of sleep in recent history. However, the caveat is that you MUST FOLLOW ALL 4 RULES. I know many who have come back and said, "I tried it. It didn't work." But when I ask them to tell me truthfully what they PRECISELY did, I always discover that they cheated on one or more of the rules.

So, if you are going to do...DO IT RIGHT. If not, don't do it at all. Don't do 3 out of 4 and then say "it didn't work." Don't bend the rules here and there and then say "it didn't work." Follow the damn rules for JUST ONE NIGHT and you'll see what I'm talking about. Let me say this again...YOU MUST FOLLOW ALL 4 RULES TO THE T. If you can't stick to all 4 on any given night, wait for a day in which you can. This will NOT work if you just do 2 or 3 out of 4. Got it? Good!

So here we go...

RULE #1: No caffeine 10 hours before bed. That's correct. Craig (and many others) speak about how the half-life of caffeine in our bodies is 8 hours. This means drinking a cup of coffee with 200mg of caffeine leads to 100mg of caffeine still being in our system 8 hours later. Now if you say you need caffeine to get through the afternoon slump, it's most likely because you slept like crap the night before. So do this right and you won't need that afternoon run to Starbucks.

RULE #2: No food or alcohol 3 hours before bed. Once again, I know this is tough for many of us with busy lives. But if you truly want to see results, you must be willing to bend. Results don't come by you doing nothing. So ask yourself, how important is your vitality to you? NOTE: Water before bed is ok. 

RULE #3: No work 2 hours before bed. That's right...no emails, research, follow-ups, nothing. SHUT IT DOWN. Get it done before that 2 hour window and pick it up the following day. If it's there 2 hours before bed it will be there when you wake up. Unless someone is going to die, let it wait until the AM. 

RULE #4: No screens of ANY KIND 1 hour before bed. Folks THIS is the one that gets most everyone! In 2018, it's nearly impossible for many of us to not be looking at either our TV, tablet or phone in the hour before bed. The trick that saved me here is BOOKS! I wake up using my iphone alarm clock and typically set the alarm right before I went to sleep. So to not break the rules, I set my alarm 2 hours before bed time and I plug the phone in on the dresser...NOT the night stand. I also put the phone with the screen facing down so the screen lighting up in the middle of the night doesn't effect my sleep. And of course I put it on sleep mode so it doesn't ring, ding or vibrate.

Now Craig Ballantyne says that if you follow these four rules there's one other number that will come into the equation....ZERO! Craig says that if you 100% stick to these 4 rules for the best night of sleep ever, ZERO is the number of times you'll hit the snooze button when your alarm goes off in the morning. And I can tell you from personal experience doing this for well over a year...he's right!

If you're serious about getting healthier, feeling better, being more productive, thinking clearer, increasing your metabolism, burning more body fat and losing weight, you'd be silly to not give this a try. No gym. No crazy diet. Just sleep!