SLEEP

Sleeping well is the number one most important thing for your health; After that comes getting plenty of sunlight, eating healthy, and minimizing stress.
The best sleep I've gotten in recent years was in December 2022.
I slept on a sheepskin on the floor, was phyiscally fit (had good lung capacity and strong muscles), and sleeping on the floor did not hurt my back (if your back is weak sleeping on a hard surface results in your lower back aching).
I slept so well that I woke up completely refreshed two hours earlier than I usually do for work! So I could either go to work very early or do something else. I decided to go to the gym. At the gym I did everything I usually do and wasn't the least bit tired.

I still had a lot of time before I needed to head to work so I did more exercises and hurt my lower back :(
This happened because I added weight too fast between sets of "good-mornings."
In case you were not aware:

Before we continue I want to mention a few things. You do not have to agree with, like, or follow what is written in this article. Ignore it at your own risk; I am providing a lot of valuable information not easily found or discussed all in one place. Much of what is written was tested on myself, and anecdotal evidence is real evidence unlike studies, most of which cannot be reproduced.

Stress

All stress is bad, affects you negatively and drains you. In middle-school (the curriculum is controlled by a certain family that does not have your best interest at heart) they taught us there's good stress, eustress, and bad stress, distress. This is 100% incorrect; here's the definition of eustress:

1. One hour of additional sleep, studies show, can reduce the risk of heart attack by as much as 20% in short sleepers.
2. While the new findings may ease fears about heart attacks, other studies have linked the time change to increased risk of stroke, car accidents, and workplace injuries.

These people do not give A FUCK about your health. I believe they ACTUALLY fucking hate you. They claim DST isn't an issue in their title only to proceed to DEBUNK THEIR OWN CLAIM by stating how beneficial it is to sleep just one more hour when you're tired. So people who use alarms to wake up are chronically tired, have crazy blood pressure spikes, have increased stress and anxiety, slower reaction times, and impared focus, but losing an hour of sleep once a year every year isn't a big deal. These people literally want you to fucking die as soon as you hit the age to start benefitting from your retirement and social-security. So the truth is losing an hour of sleep every year results in an increase in heart attacks the morning of the next business day (strange, people don't seem to set an alarm on weekends...) and gaining an hour of sleep results in a decrease of heart attacks that Sunday/Monday.

Improving Your Sleep

There are many aspects that affect sleep, all are health related. Besides setting up your bedroom for proper sleep, there are things you can do while awake to set yourself up for success (can't do much while sleeping). I will try to go in chronological order.

• NOT mouth-breathing (see myofunctional therapy below). Proper tongue posture and swallowing actually helps you breathe better throughout the day and at night.
• Proper posture (helps you have more oxygen throughout the day) ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10}
• Keep many plants in your house (and bedroom at night) to breathe fresh air ^{1 2 3 4 5}
• Get sunlight first thing in the morning insha’allah ^{1 2 3 4 5}
• Walk outside ^{1 2 3}
• At night use candle light and/or a red light filter on every light source ^{1 2 3 4 5}
• Sleep in a room that is 18.3°C (65°F) and 45%-55% relative humidity ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}
• Wear wool socks if your feet are cold (helps fall asleep faster) ^{1 2 3 4 5}
• Keep a journal next to your bed for brain dump ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}
• Sleep naked for better temperature regulation, especially for men due to their scrotum ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}

• Linen sheets ^{1 2 3 4 5 6}
• Silk-filled comforter (never overheat) ^{1 2 3 4 5}
• Firm latex mattress (I currently use a topper by SleepOnLatex, they claim it is an enhanced Dunlop. I'm sure a wool mattress would also be comfortable.) ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14}
• Wool pillow with adjustable fill. (I also had a 900+ fill-power down pillow which was nice but got ruined by rain when I left my window open) ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}
• Pillow under knees when back-sleeping ^{1 2 3 4}
• Pillow between knees when side-sleeping ^{1 2 3 4}

As you can see natural materials and a natural environment help a lot with sleep. Certain workouts can also help you sleep better.

Exercise

A light to moderate amount of exercise can help you sleep better. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6} However, anything beyond light exercise is quite stressful to the body and actually has detrimental effects, likely shaving years off your life. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9}
Minimizing stress is very important this includes physical stress not just mental and emotional. Many people claim "working out isn't stressful" but a person's face at the gym says otherwise. Another claim is "yeah it can be stressful if you overdo it" this is stupid because where is the cutoff between overdoing it and not? No one can actually tell you, especially not someone who says that. There is a minimum fitness level for us to be healthy, having good stability prevents old people from falling and grip strength has been found to be a good indicator of risk of injury. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9}
Here are some exercises that I believe are beneficial to sleep when done in low-quanity with little to no added weight:

• Neck extensions, curls, and raises
• Glute Bridges (biased opinion since I have 2 back injuries, but a weak lower back does need lumbar support)
• Squats
• Dips (decompress spine)
• Pull-ups or just hanging from a pull-up bar (decompress spine)
• Back extensions seated or on a machine (again, biased)
• Walking backwards ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11}

About 50% of people who go to the gym get injured (like me 🙃 and it is under-reported). ^{1 2 3 4}
If you do end up working out, I would recommend you do not use machines that isolate certain muscles or muscle groups. It results in you not using your body's stabilizing muscles

Myofunctional Therapy - Anti Mouth-Breathing

Myofunctional therapy involves targeted exercises to train and strengthen the muscles of the face, mouth, tongue, lips, and throat. It aims to correct improper muscle patterns and promote better function in areas like breathing, swallowing, chewing, speaking, and resting posture of the tongue.
Think of it as "physical therapy for your face and mouth." It addresses abnormal patterns where muscles don't work together properly, often leading to issues like mouth breathing, improper swallowing (e.g., tongue thrust), teeth misalignment, or sleep-related breathing problems.

The main objectives:

• Proper tongue posture (resting against the roof of the mouth)
• Nasal breathing (instead of mouth breathing)
• Lip seal at rest
• Correct swallowing pattern (without tongue pushing against teeth)

1. Mouth closed — Lips lightly sealed (no tension), teeth slightly apart or lightly touching (not clenched).
2. Create a vacuum/suction — Press the whole tongue (especially the back and middle) up against the roof of your mouth and swallow. This squeezes out air between the tongue and palate, forming a gentle seal or "suction hold." It often feels like the tongue is lightly "stuck" or vacuumed upward.
3. Tip of tongue position — The very front (tip) of the tongue should rest against the alveolar ridge — the bumpy/ridged area on the roof of the mouth, just behind (not directly on) your upper front two teeth. Many describe it as touching the "spot" right behind the teeth, or lightly contacting the back edge of the front teeth without pushing forward against them.

If you have a hard time mewing you might need to strengthen your tongue. Here are some exercises that might help:

• Tongue push-ups — Press the tip of your tongue firmly against the roof of your mouth (just behind the front teeth) and hold for several seconds to build strength.
• Tongue slides — Slide your tongue back along the roof of your mouth while keeping the tip in contact.
• Tongue stretches — Stick your tongue out as far as possible or try to touch your chin/nose while looking up.
• Cheek pushes — Use your tongue to push against the inside of your cheeks.
• Swallowing practice — Focus on swallowing with the tongue pressed up, without cheek or lip movement.

Consistency is key — many see improvements in weeks to months, with long-term retention of benefits.

Notes

Latex is made from the sap of the rubber tree. It is anti-microbial and doesn't smell weird the way plastic made of petroleum does. The sap is mixed with water to form latex which is whipped into a frothy foam. The two types of latex are talalay and dunlop.

Talalay pillows bounce back to their original shape very quickly (what I call rebound). This strong rebound makes my head feel like it's being shaken at night as if I'm on a water bed with my head being pushed side to side and I don't like it. This might be good for a pillow that supports your knees while back sleeping but for a pillow that supports the head I prefer wool pillows.