Sleep

Sleep is not a virtue and not a skill. It is a set of conditions, and conditions can be changed. What follows is about the conditions: light, timing, temperature, and the stories we tell ourselves at 3am.

• Why You Wake at 3am

  The 3am wake is common, patterned, and mostly fixable: a blood sugar and cortisol story, not a character flaw.

• The Case for a Boring Bedtime

  Same time, same order, same dark. Novelty is the enemy, and a fixed dull sequence does the deciding for you.

• Light in the Morning, Dark at Night

  Twenty minutes of daylight in the first hour anchors the whole day. Indoor light, however bright, does not come close.