How To Fix Your Sleep Schedule

Josh Felgoise (00:00.206)

Welcome to Guy's Set, the guy's guide to what you should be talking about. I'm Josh, I'm 23 years old, and I'm here to find all the tips, advice, and recommendations for guys in their 20s. Let's get into it.

Josh Felgoise (00:18.03)

Hi guys, welcome back to guyset, the guys guide to what should be talked about. So today I wanted to talk about sleep and tips for improving sleep because this has been something that has, has, how's, has just been really messing with me the past, let's say like two, three months where I just feel like I'm not getting enough sleep at all any night, any week.

especially when I'm supposed to be like getting more sleep on the weekends. I feel like I'm not doing that ever. And I'm staying up late on weeknights and then waking up early to try to go to the gym before work. And I just, it's something that I just like, haven't been prioritizing and I've noticed a decline in, feel like my like mental health or just like my thought processes throughout the day with getting less sleep on weeknights. So I'll run you through like,

a usual day for me and how much sleep I'm getting and my goal for how much I'm getting but it's I'm not getting close to it at all. So I feel like on a usual day like I'll try to go to bed by 12 and I'll end up like I want to just like procrastinate that sleep time and either going to bed like what 12 12 31 and then I'm waking up at like 7 7 30 and then I'm getting like six and a half six hours of like really good sleep.

And the rest of it is just like, I'm just like falling asleep half the time, half the time I'm waking up or like snoozing the alarm. And that's just not enough for me. For a while, I thought it was enough. And the more I've been doing it, the more I'm realizing that I'm just like declining slowly. And I just feel so much more exhausted and less myself and just like overall shittier throughout the day. less energized, less, less productive.

and I don't think I'm giving sleep enough credit and I'm not just recognizing how important it is every day. and then when I'm, when I'm catching up on sleep, let's say I'm sleeping in, if I'm going out late on a Saturday, I'm sleeping until like Sunday till like 12. It's not good sleep. It's just like shitty, like hungover drunk sleep. which I count as like redoing the shitty sleep I've gotten for the past week, but it's not, it's not good enough sleep. so

Josh Felgoise (02:42.061)

I've just kind of hit a wall recently and this week specifically where I've just like, I've just been so drained and exhausted. and I'm realizing that it's becoming more and more of a problem because I'm, I'm just not prioritizing, as I said. So I wanted to sit down and like just write out four tips for improving sleep. And I wanted to share them with you. These are things that I've written down for myself that I'm trying to put in place in my daily life that I may not be doing.

I'm not, I'm already not doing, as I said, I'm not doing this well, but like starting this week, I'm really going to make it a priority for myself. so the first tip is creating a routine for yourself every night. And of course you're not going to stick by this routine every single night, but having something in place that you can do most nights and just having that like imprinted in your brain and

your thought process for when you're winding down to go to bed, you're like, okay, I got to get, I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. And that already puts you in the mindset. Like once you've done it enough times, like consistency is key here. Once you've done it enough times, you, it becomes a part of your night and a part of your day, something either you look forward to or just something that, helps you get to that place of like rest and, and wind down.

So here are a few things that I'm including in my nighttime routine. Again, I'm not gonna stick by this every single night. If I'm going out or I'm like staying out late with friends or on a date or something like that, this routine's not gonna always say the same, but hopefully the majority of the nights I can put this in place. So brushing your teeth, washing your face, flossing, whatever you do in the bathroom, that's your prerogative. I don't care, but pooping.

I don't know. But yeah, yeah, doing your like nighttime stuff, getting everything done. I'm going to go I'll do an episode on like some of the products that I use in the bathroom, because I think like washing your face is a topic that guys don't talk about. But we have to do it too. I've talked about journaling before and I it's it's changed my life really. So for me, it's trying to journal for five to 10 minutes.

Josh Felgoise (05:01.655)

which I'll do and I'll dim the lights in my room. I'll talk more about that in a little bit, but I'll like turn off most of the lights and just put like a lamp on to do this. And I, at this point, right before I've journaled, I've also turned my phone on, do not disturb. So I've checked the re like the rest of my texts for the night. I've scrolled through Instagram or tick tock, whatever I want to do. And then I'm putting my phone down face forward or face flat. Like, so I can't see the screen. And

putting on just a serp so no more text will come through. Nothing else that that's going to set me from that like proactive to reactive mindset. And I'm going to go back to this because that's its own tip in itself. But that's a little bit later. So let's just go back to the nighttime routine itself. So I'm trying to journal or write something down. If you don't want to call it journaling you want to just call it like nighttime notes or like just writing some stuff about your day. I go into a lot of like journaling prompts and tips for journaling in

Episode, I think it's episode eight called let's talk mental health But just a couple quick things about what you could write about at night before bed and I call these the threes and I think they're a really great like Thought starter or writing prompt for any journal entry, but especially at night You could make a list of three things that you did today or that happened today Doesn't have to be good things or bad things. It can just be like things that happened

to start writing three things you're grateful for that happened today or things that are from today. You could write down three people that you want to call tomorrow. whoever that's going to be, you could write down three things you're looking forward to in the next week, three things you want to accomplish in the next day, three things you want to accomplish in the next week.

And I could go on and on about the three example or the threes, but this is just a really great way to start writing. If you have no idea where to start, think of three things, whether it's three things that happened today, three things that you want to do tomorrow, three people you want to call something really easy or quick just to get your hand, get, get the pen to paper, and start getting in this routine of prioritizing writing, and doing something that's off your phone and just for you where it's you and the paper is just like,

Josh Felgoise (07:24.245)

your time at night. I think this is going to help my sleep drastically. I hope it helps your sleep as well. I think it's also just going to help my mental state and my mindset when thinking about things like this. But yeah, so start with these threes if you have no idea where to start. So the next tip is called quiet, dark, cool. And I didn't invent this, but I did read it online somewhere and I really like it. So quiet, obviously going into like a quieter place or blocking out the noise.

I'm going into your bedroom at dark. You're starting to dim the lights. I've talked about this a little bit, but like I'm turning off my big lights. I'm putting on the lamp and then cool. Turning on your AC. I set my air cold, started roommates and our con ed bill. I can't sleep if it's not a cold room. So I, I, I turned my air pretty low.

and I'm dimming my lights at this point. So I'm trying to journal phones off and then I'll get in bed and instead of watching TV or instead of scrolling TikTok, like I usually love to do, I'm going to try and read instead. And this is my next tip for you. And it's something that really has worked for me in the past couple months. I haven't done it consistently, but when I do read instead of watch TV, I get better sleep. I feel better in the morning. I also feel like I've done something better than just like watch some

shitty episode of suits. Sorry, suits. But a couple books I read this summer and no, not just this summer. don't like I'm not like I'm trying to make myself smarter than I am. I've read a lot this summer, but not that much. But these are books I've read over the past year that I recommend. If you want to pick up a book. I just read the book. What? I'm forgetting it. What the fuck is it called?

Um, um, hold on. I'm pausing. Okay, I got it. It was called the silent patient. And now that I'm thinking about it, I actually don't recommend it for reading before bed because it was a thriller and really intense and I actually got kind of some nightmares from it. So don't read down before bed, but do read that book. Um, I read the book tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow that I really like and I highly recommend, uh, you can read that one before bed. Uh, I read Josh Peck's memoir. I forgot what it's called. Hold on. I'm to get that too. Shit. This is so shitty. Hold on.

Josh Felgoise (09:47.183)

Okay, it's called happy people are annoying and I loved it. It's great. Definitely read that. I also read atomic habits by James Clear and now I want to put you right to sleep. So definitely pick that one up. It's a great book, but like you will fall asleep. The subtle art of not giving a fuck. Another great one. I read yearbook by Seth Rogen. Another like memoir. really like celebrity memoirs. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. You must read that at some point. It's so, so good.

I might do whole episode on that book. That book kind of got me back into reading two summers ago, I think. And I've like passed around a couple friends and a lot of people have really loved it as well. So definitely read that one. I think that's a good amount to start with. You'll like one of those. Tuesdays with Maury was a really good one as well. I'm just looking through my list of books. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. Another great one. Will put you to sleep. There's a lot of details about food that you'll just like.

quickly. So another great book, but you'll you'll sleep. It was just it was is the point of what we're doing at some point. Also highly recommend Your Table is Ready by Michael Cechy Azzolina, who was my first ever guest on the podcast. That was so fucking cool that he came on after I just read his book and I DMed him and asked him if he'd be on and he said yes, which was really cool.

I went and tried out his restaurant a couple weeks ago, we're getting off topic, but really definitely read that book and then listen to episode three of the podcast called New Restaurants, Middle-Aged Celebrities in Old New York with Michael Cechy-Azulina. But yeah, anyway, those are all books I have read recently that I recommend that I think you'll really like. So reading before bed instead of watching TV or scrolling your phone is that tip. So speaking of scrolling your phone, my next tip, which I said a little bit earlier and I said I'd come back to,

now is that time, is turning your phone on do not disturb because well, first of all, this is something that I started doing a couple of weeks after I moved to New York because I realized that I would wake up in the morning before work and I would turn on my phone to just check the time and I would just see notifications, whether it was like a Snapchat notification or a text or a news alert or whatever the fuck. There was just like so many notifications I would see.

Josh Felgoise (12:02.909)

And this isn't to say that I have so many cool things coming in. This is just saying that there was a lot in the morning on my phone. It wasn't always a text or like a Snapchat or something that just I started with that to make me sound cool. But if it was like a news alert or a BuzzFeed article or some stupid thing that I just like have said on my phone, I just haven't gotten rid of. And I would just incessantly scroll and scroll and I would be laying in bed for like at least 15 minutes longer than I'd want to. And.

Lose first of all that time in the morning that I just didn't have to lose if I wanted to go get a workout in and get into work on time. So I was just losing that time in the morning, which was the first priority. But the second priority I realized I was just like already putting myself in this like weird head space where I've seen so much already and I haven't even put my feet on the ground or I haven't even like composed my own first thought yet. I've already read through so much or responded to so much that I haven't even like

decided that, okay, like is what I have to get done today, or this is what I need to make sure I do. You know what I mean? So it just like became this really unhealthy habit in the morning where I would just scroll and first of all, waste time. And second of all, not, not be in like a very productive mindset or very like me first mindset. So I decided that I would set my shit to do not disturb and then turn it off to not disturb like when I was on my way to work or

on the the gym, whatever I was doing in the morning. And I think this exact same thing comes into play at night when you're trying to go to bed and you're getting a text or you're seeing a notification or, and whatever the notification is, like it's just something that when you're trying to wind down and put yourself in this like sleep mode, getting a notification or getting a text just can like set you into like, shit, like you're just like a squirrel, like that energy of like panic or like you want to respond.

You're not thinking about your night and your rest. You're thinking about responding to this person or responding to a group chat or a notification, reading a news, whatever, doesn't matter. That was all to say I highly recommend putting your phone on Do Not Disturb to get better sleep. So to recap the four tips that I gave throughout this episode, I think the first one, I forget which order I said them in, but the first one was creating like your own nighttime or like before bed routine.

Josh Felgoise (14:24.377)

whether that's washing your face, brushing your teeth, taking a poop, doing all this stuff you have to do in the bathroom, then, lowering your lights in your room, going into that, like that quiet, dark, cool mode. So lowering your lights, going into your quiet or quieter space, putting on your AC, and then writing something down or journaling, using those, like those, that threes method and then turning your phone on, don't disturb instead of having all the notifications come in all the time.

and then reading or like listening to an audio book instead of watching TV or scrolling your phone. These are some things that I'm going to try for the next few weeks and then I'll come back on and give you an update because as I said in the beginning, my sleep has been so shit and I am not prioritizing it whatsoever. I'm just kind of running with it and running along and I feel like I'm just chugging on like fucking zero and I'm kind of losing it.

And I just needed to take a step back this week and be like, all right, like what is the common denominator of something that's, that's like creating this mindset of like, just like confusion and being not alert and not productive. And it's all coming back to my lack of sleep. So these are things I'm going to put in place to start prioritizing it and making sure I can get better sleep. and

Of course, obviously just trying to go to bed earlier or literally getting myself in bed earlier. Instead of going to bed at 12, I'm going to try and get in bed at around 11 and try to get seven or eight hours instead of six. So that's going to be my journey for the next couple of weeks. And I'll let you know how it goes. If you're somebody that is in this same like sleep mode or sleep boat of you're struggling with it or you're not prioritizing it because you just haven't been try out these tips and let me know what you think or try out one of these tips and let me know what you think.

Or if you have some other tips or things that you recommend that are working for you, please share them with me I'd love to hear them and I obviously as I said need them So I hope something of what I said works for you or you give it a shot and I'll come on and let you know what has worked for me and what hasn't very shortly. So stay tuned

Josh Felgoise (16:38.331)

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