Do you ever wake up in the morning after a solid night’s sleep… And still feel tired? I can bet you have a hectic sleep schedule…

That’s exactly what was happening recently to a cousin of mine on pretty much a nightly basis, and the solution was actually surprising, but I’ll get to that a bit later. Here’s how he described it,

“It doesn’t seem to matter how many hours of sleep I get – some nights I make it a point to sleep 8 or 9 hours and I’m still groggy in the morning…

And some nights I only get 6 hours and I’m perfectly refreshed when I roll out of bed…

What the heck is going on with me?”

Now, what I told him and what I’ll share with you as well is that sleep is more complicated than most people will tell you…

And it’s not about just getting your 7 or 8 hours per night…

The secret to waking up in the morning ready to start the day has to do with timing, and in particular, your sleep cycles…

Today, I’ll help you figure out the perfect hour to go to sleep to finally put an end to those rough mornings…

And it all starts with…

A Better Sleep Schedule: Understanding Your Body’s Sleep Cycles

To find your perfect time to go to sleep, you first need to understand the concept of sleep cycles…

But don’t worry – I won’t get too technical.

For now, all you need to know is that there are 4 essential stages to your sleep…

• Stage 1, Pre-Sleep: You know this stage is when you’re drifting off to sleep – it’s that “in-between” period when you likely bounce between awake and sleep states.
• Stage 2, Transition Sleep: Once you no longer recognize that you’re asleep in your bed, you’ve reached Stage 2. In addition, your body goes through some physical changes – your temperature drops a few degrees and your heart rate and breathing stabilize.
• Stage 3, Recovery Sleep: This is when your body goes through its nightly healing routine – sleep hormones are released and your cells perform restorative processes.
• Stage 4, REM Sleep: It’s the deepest sleep stage and when your brain becomes active, producing dreams.

Now, here’s the important part…

A complete sleep cycle will usually take somewhere between 1-2 hours…

And that changes over the course of the night – your early sleep cycles are shorter and your later cycles are longer…

And if you’re like most people, then you’ll probably have about 5 complete sleep cycles in a standard night…

So if you’re already getting through those 5 cycles, you’re probably asking yourself…

Why Do I Wake Up Tired?

Well, this is the trick of sleep cycles…

If you’re tired in the morning, then what’s happening is that you’re waking up in the MIDDLE of a sleep cycle…

And your body expects to continue sleeping…

That’s why you naturally want to stay in bed for another 15-30 minutes or even longer…

Your body wants to finish what it started!

And in that sense, making sure you get a full 8 hours is much less important than making sure you’re waking up at the end of a complete cycle.

How do you do that?

It may take about a week of trial and error, but the first step is…

A Better Sleep Schedule: Figuring Out Your Personal Cycles

For my cousin, he was shocked when I asked him to CUT BACK on the hours he slept…

But in the end, that simple change was all he needed to put his sleeping back in order…

You see, a good starting point is 7.5 hours – that’s 5 complete cycles at an average of 90 minutes per cycle…

So, simply subtract 7.5 hours from the time you usually wake up and that’s your new bedtime. Here’s a chart to make it even easier:

Bedtime	Time You Wake Up
9:30 pm	5:00 am
10:00 pm	5:30 am
10:30 pm	6:00 am
11:00 pm	6:30 am
11:30 pm	7:00 am
12:00 am	7:30 am
12:30 am	8:00 am

Now, what I encourage you to do is keep a piece of paper or notebook near your bed…

And every morning when you wake up, rate how you feel on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being “Alarm clock through the window!” and 10 being “Ready to take on the world!”

Everyone is different, so you’ll have to adjust your sleeping time up or down a bit…

But once you find that sweet spot of 5 complete cycles, it’ll truly be a game-changer… and you’ll start waking up every day with…

• Mental alertness
• Plenty of energy
• A better mood

And you’ll actually start getting out of bed when you wake up instead of reaching for the snooze button!

But if you’re still having issues, then here’s a few…

Tips for Troubleshooting Your Sleep

For most people, the middle 2 stages of sleep are automatic and present no problem…

However, the Pre-Sleep and REM Sleep stages are where you may be experiencing obstacles that reduce both the amount and quality of your sleep…

Pre-Sleep is when insomnia is a major concern – no matter what you try, you simply can’t fall asleep…

In many cases, it has to do with external factors and here are a few of my solutions for fixing Pre-Sleep issues…

• Give yourself at least 1 hour between looking at a screen and laying down in bed.
• Create a “bedtime routine” that subconsciously prepares your body for sleep (reading, brushing your teeth, etc., in the same order each night).
• Don’t eat a meal directly before bedtime.
• Invest in more comfortable sheets, blankets, and pillows.

But if you’re falling asleep just fine and find yourself waking up several times throughout the night, then it’s likely a REM Sleep problem…

Something is causing you to snap out of your REM state – the most common culprit is sound, but it could also be light, being thirsty, or other disturbances.

And you guessed it, I’ve got some tips for that as well…

• Use a white noise machine or app to cover up any other sounds that could be waking you up.
• Reduce the amount of light in your bedroom.
• Keep a glass of water by your bed to avoid night dehydration.

Long-time readers will already know how important I consider your sleep to be…

And when you’re getting enough hours AND waking up at the end of your sleep cycles, then you’ll truly have mastered your sleep…

Making your body more efficient and increasing your health by leaps and bounds!