The 13th Month: Sleep Bio-Hack
How many times have you heard someone lament, “I wish there was more time in the day”?
We have all heard it and at times we are the guilty party.
What if I told you there was a way to add 30 more days to every year of your life, would you believe me?
Well, it is true!
We are told we need 8 hours of sleep, thus the average person wakes up at 7 am and goes to sleep at 11 pm. With this schedule you are asleep for a third of your life, so if you live to be 75 years old, you would have spent 25 years asleep!
Think about that for one moment.
As Sadhguru rightly stated, it is equivalent to your car being in the shop for maintenance 10 days a month, something none of us would be okay with.
I remember as a teenager waking up at noon almost everyday of summer, hearing my mom say, “you are going to sleep your little life away.” Well apparently, that is precisely what we do.
Over the last couple of years, bio-hacking has been a prominent topic I have read about, which led me to re-evaluating my sleep pattern.
I am a man of many ideas and a question I often ask myself is “how much time do I need to bring this to fruition?”. This question led to me researching the sleep schedule of Nikola Tesla, who I study often.
Tesla was said to have utilised a version of the Uberman Sleep schedule, which is a polyphasic sleep cycle consisting of just 3 hours of sleep by taking six 20 minute naps every 4 hours. This is a bit extreme, but when considering the thoughts (energy) running through the mind of Tesla, it is easy to understand why he chose this cycle.
A monophasic sleep pattern is the most common cycle due to the 8 hour work day. However, in some countries like Greece for example, a biphasic sleep pattern is the cultural norm and they even have a law enforcing the afternoon quiet hours.
How can you bio-hack your sleep while still working a full-time job?
It is very simple actually. In order to experience the elusive & coveted 13th month, all you have to do is stay awake 2 hours more than normal.
Based on the example above, to add 30 days to each year, you would need to either wake up at 5 am and go to sleep at 11 pm or wake up at 6 am and go to sleep at midnight.
You may be wondering if subtracting 2 hours of your daily sleep will be detrimental to your health.
This simple answer is no.
The quality of your sleep is what determines how well your body regenerates itself overnight. Theoretically speaking, you could actually improve your sleep quality with less sleep by altering your habits before bed.
For example, the majority of us will spend the 3 hours before sleep staring at a screen, whether it is our smart device or television. Studies have shown the blue light from these devices may not only slow down the production of melatonin, often referred to as the sleep hormone, but it may stop it completely.
Over a period of time, this leads to insomnia, which creates low energy and may lead to anxiety & depression as a result. All of us experience either co-workers or family members who always seem to be stuck in a low vibrational state no matter what environment they are in. It is usually due to sleep deprivation.
It is no wonder the late Steve Jobs strictly limited the time his kids were allowed to spend on the devices that made him an icon to us all.
Replace the screen with a book.
There are numerous benefits of reading before sleep, but I think it is the secret weapon needed to reach REM sleep quicker to make up for the 2 hours you eliminated.
Optimise your sleep to make The 13th Month productive.
These two charts below provide further insights into how to make the most of your sleep in order to wake up feeling refreshed and motivated.
Journaling is another habit you should add before bed to ensure a high quality of sleep. Writing before bed allows you to clear your mind of any thoughts or feelings that may keep you up at night. Furthermore, it will allow you to organise the next day with daily goals in order to hit the ground running when you wake up.
“Don’t sleep on me” is a phrase commonly used to warn people not to underestimate our ability. But, the reality is we limit our ability and capability by sleeping on ourselves, literally.
With an extra 30 days every year starting in 2020, think of how differently your life would look by your 75th birthday. As I am 30 years old, it would add an extra 3.75 years to my life, by simply keeping my eyes open.
We all have passion projects we have put to the side and blame life for getting in the way. Not only is that not true, but it undermines our own life purpose.
Stepping into your light and fulfilling your potential are the main benefits of The 13th Month, as it would change your entire outlook on life and increase your self-confidence, thus raising your vibrational frequency. We are unaware of our energetic field and underestimate its power, which causes us to become reactive instead of proactive in shaping the environment that creates our reality.
I plan on starting & documenting my experience with the Uberman Sleep schedule for 1–2 weeks (depending on results) in order to increase my productivity in a short period of time.
Stay tuned for The Uberman Sleep Experiment blog.
