#113: 5 Tools I Use For Faster And Better Sleep

This short (~20 min) episode covers the latest tools, gadgets, and tactics I'm using for faster and better sleep. As a lifelong insomniac, I've tried everything, and these are the critical few that make the cut. Enjoy! This podcast is brought to you by 99Designs http://99designs.com/tim, the world's largest marketplace of graphic designers. Did you know I used 99Designs to rapid prototype the cover http://99designs.com/tim for The 4-Hour Body? Here are some of the impressive results http://99designs.com/tim. Click this link http://www.99designs.com/tim and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run… This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront https://wealthfront.com/tim. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last 2 years, and now has more than $2.5B under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim http://wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you—for free–exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim http://wealthfront.com/tim. Mandatory disclaimer: Wealthfront Inc. is an SEC registered Investment Advisor. Investing in securities involves risks, and there is the possibility of losing money. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please visit Wealthfront dot com to read their full disclosure.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Can I ask you a personal question?

• 0:08Tim Ferriss?

  Now would seem an appropriate time.

• 0:12Speaker 00

  I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.

• 0:23Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront, and this is a very unique sponsor. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive, in a good way, set it and forget it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years, and they now have more than $2.5 billion under management. In fact, some of my very good friends, investors in Silicon Valley, have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. So the question is, why? Why is it so popular? Why is it unique? Because you can get services previously reserved for the ultra wealthy, but only pay pennies on the dollar for them. And this is because they use smarter software instead of retail locations, bloated sales teams, etc. And I'll come back to that in a second. I suggest you check out wealthfront.com/tim.

• 1:08Tim Ferriss?

  Take the risk assessment quiz, which only takes two to five minutes, and they'll show you for free exactly the portfolio they put you in. And if you just want to take their advice, run with it, do it yourself, you can do that. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. And here's why. The value of Wealthfront is in the automation of habits and strategies that investors should be using on a regular basis, but normally aren't. Great investing is a marathon, not a sprint, and little things that you may or may not be familiar with, like automatic tax loss harvesting, rebalancing your portfolio across more than 10 asset classes, and dividend reinvestment add up to very large amounts of money over longer periods of time. Wealthfront, as I mentioned, since it's using software instead of retail locations, etc.,

• 1:50Tim Ferriss?

  can offer all of this at low costs that were previously completely impossible. Right off the bat, you never pay commissions or account fees. For everything, they charge 0.25% per year on assets above the first $15,000, which is managed for free if you use my link, wealthfront.com/tim. That is less than $5 a month to invest a $30,000 account, for instance. Now, normally, when I have a sponsor on this show, it's because I use them and recommend them. In this case, it's a little different. I don't use Wealthfront yet because I'm not allowed to. Here's the deal. They wanted to sponsor this podcast, but because of SEC regulations, companies that invest your money are not allowed to use client testimonials. So I couldn't be a user and have them on the podcast.

• 2:33Tim Ferriss?

  But I've been so impressed by Wealthfront that I've invested a significant amount of my own money, at least for me, in the team and the company itself. So I am an investor and hope to soon use it as a client. Now, back to the recommendation. As a Tim Ferriss Show listener, you'll get $15,000 managed for free if you decide to open an account. But just start with seeing the portfolio that they would suggest for you. Take two minutes, fill out their questionnaire at wealthfront.com/tim. It's fast, it's free. There's no downside that I can think of. Now, I do have to read a mandatory disclaimer. Wealthfront, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment advisor. Investing in securities involves risks, and there is the possibility of losing money. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please visit wealthfront.com to read their full disclosure. So, check it out, guys.

• 3:18Tim Ferriss?

  This is one of the hottest, most innovative companies coming out of Silicon Valley, and they're killing it. They've become massively popular. Just take a look, see what portfolio they would create for you, and you can use that information however you want. Wealthfront.com/tim.

• 3:35Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by 99designs.com. Now, I have used this for years, and a bunch of you have now used 99designs and produced some amazing graphic designs, logos, et cetera. And all of you can check out those real-world examples at 99designs.com/tim. We'll get back to that. When your business needs a logo, a website, an app thumbnail, business card, car rap, whatever, any other design, I recommend checking out 99designs. I've used them to create book cover prototypes for The Four Hour Body, which went on to become number one New York Times bestseller. I've used them for banner ads and different types of display advertising, as well as illustrations. And in that case, I used their one-to-one service,

• 4:19Tim Ferriss?

  which is non-spec for those people who want to go that route. They have both. And with 99designs, you get, in the case of the contest, basically, a Variety of original designs from designers around the world. You give your feedback or direction and then you pick your favorite. So you are happy or you get your money back. Check out some of my designs, some of my actual competitions at 99designs.com/tim. And again, you can check out actual designs that Tim Ferriss Show listeners have produced using 99designs. And what's cool about that is even if you never buy anything on the service, it shows you how you can use design to accelerate the branding and growth of your business. So check it out and you listeners, my precious listeners, can get a free $99 upgrade on

• 5:04Tim Ferriss?

  your first design. That's 99designs.com/tim. Hello, boys and girls. This is Tim Ferriss and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. This is an in-betweenisode, a short little morsel that I sometimes do in place of the longer format interviews, which are often one, two, three hours in length and involve deconstructing world-class performers from the worlds of finance, sports, music, art, everything in between. But this time, we're going to talk about sleep because many of you have been asking for more in-betweenisodes and I thought that I would touch upon some of the tools and approaches that I have found very helpful for facilitating not only rapid onset of sleep, but higher quality sleep.

• 5:49Tim Ferriss?

  And I have struggled with insomnia for most of my adult life and that would be onset insomnia. So if these things can work for me, I think they can work for many of you as well. So here we go. I'm going to talk about five or so things that have really helped me very, very directly. The first is something called the Chili Pad and that is spelled C-H-I-L-I, pad. And this was introduced to me by either Rick Rubin, legendary music producer, or Kelly Starrett. I was going to say Kevin Kelly because I always mix up those two. Kelly Starrett, mobility wad, famed CrossFit coach. Both of these guys recommended the Chili Pad before I bought one.

• 6:33Tim Ferriss?

  And what the Chili Pad entails is a thin sheet. That you put under your normal bed sheets and a unit next to the bed that circulates water through that sheet and you can modulate the temperature between 55 degrees and 110 degrees Fahrenheit. So you can use it to keep cool and you can use it to heat yourself up. But what makes it very unique is you have multiple zones. So let's just say that you are sleeping with a partner in a bed and many women are like space heaters. I mean, they're just so, they run so, so hot. I don't understand it yet. They're under like three or four blankets. And I've heard this from many, many guys who have to sleep with one leg on

• 7:18Tim Ferriss?

  top of the sheet and then they get cold and then they put it under, then they overheat, etc., etc. And the Chili Pad solves all of this. But even if you are not with someone else, it is extremely effective for, in most cases, allowing you to sleep cool, but very comfortable and get to sleep sooner, but dramatically improve also the quality of your, your sleep and feeling of rest, restedness, restfulness in the morning. This has been a game changer for, I know both Rick and Kelly, and I've experienced it myself and friends that I've recommended it to in Silicon Valley have said, in several cases, Tim, have loved your advice, read the books for years, etc. This is the single biggest game changer that you've

• 8:02Tim Ferriss?

  introduced me to. So the Chili Pad, it's not inexpensive, but check it out and you can make your own decision. You can get it on Amazon or other places. Chili Pad, C-H-I-L-I-P-A-D. That is number one. Number two is hanging upside down. I've spoken about this in other podcasts, so I'm not going to spend a ton of time on it, but this was recommended to me by a, an Olympic weightlifter who has four or five world records, is in his 60s and can still throw hundreds of pounds overhead and land in a ass to heels squat, you know, snatch position. And he's a beast. He can also do that on a wobble board, like an indo board, just to give you an idea of, of the shape this guy is in. And one of his principles is hanging

• 8:48Tim Ferriss?

  Upside down after any weight training session. And what I've taken that to mean for my own life, even when I'm not on a training day, is, and this is a controversial term, but decompressing the spine or elongating the spine, at the very least, by hanging upside down using, in my case, gravity boots. Teeter Hang Up Gravity Boots, T-E-E-T-E-R, what I use. There are a number of different options out there. That can have some safety risks, since they're basically ski boots with hooks on them, and you flip yourself upside down and hang upside down from, say, a standard pull-up bar or something like that. You could use an inversion table. Teeter makes those as well, which is much easier to control.

• 9:31Tim Ferriss?

  Or you could use a device that allows you to stretch the spine on the floor. And there's something called the Lynx, L-Y-N-X. Teeter also makes one of these devices, and I will often have all of them in my house in various places, since not all nights do I want to go into the garage, strap on these ski boots, flip upside down, and in some cases, hold weights then to further, I suppose, emphasize the traction of sorts. So, hanging upside down, that would be number two. And I should emphasize that you don't need to do all of these things. If you add even one or two of these, I think each can have a tremendous effect on your onset and quality of sleep.

• 10:15Tim Ferriss?

  Next, we have sleep mask and earplugs. I'm going to count this as one unit. Now, that doesn't sound very interesting or original, until I tell you very, very specifically what I'm using, because I have tried every sleep mask imaginable, and most of them suckballs. They're terrible. They're so uncomfortable, they fall off, they get twisted on your face, they're just the worst. Earplugs, ditto. So, I have found two models in each, respectively, that work tremendously well. So, the Sleep Master Sleep Mask, cheesy name, great product. Sleep Master Sleep Mask. And this was introduced to me by a friend named Jeffrey Zurofsky. Some of you may recognize his name.

• 10:56Tim Ferriss?

  He was Jay-Z, a chef in The 4-Hour Chef, was very, very involved with the entire process. We did the food marathon together, among other things, in New York City. So the Sleepmaster Sleep Mask. A few things that make this very interesting. Number one, it is basically satin, so it's very, very comfortable. It's not rough, doesn't have edges on it that would bother you. The most important feature, I think, is that it goes over your ears, not on top of your ears. This is, seems like a very minor detail, and it turns out to be a huge design change. That means a number of things. That it quiets things down for you, it doesn't irritate your ears, it doesn't move around a lot, and number three, if you are in a very hot room, it could be a little toasty

• 11:41Tim Ferriss?

  for you. But the Sleepmaster Sleep Mask, check it out, it's fantastic. Also doesn't use elastic, it uses Velcro on the very back. The earplugs, I've tried a lot of earplugs, and the earplugs I ended up, that using most often are the 3M, and get ready for the worst product name ever, Earsoft FX, spelled E hyphen A hyphen R, lowercase S-O-F-T, FX. So 3M Earsoft FX. And these are disposable earplugs that I often reuse until they lose their bounce. But you'll get a box of these on Amazon for like 20 bucks, and they're industrial strength.

• 12:22Tim Ferriss?

  I absolutely love these things and travel with them constantly. Next, so those are three. We have Chili Pad, we have Hanging Ups and Down, we have the Sleep Mask and Earplugs. Next, we have tea. And I had laughed at my girlfriend because she drank this tea, and I was like, oh, that must be very helpful for, at the time, you know, menstrual cramps, but I don't really need it. And the branding is very targeted at women, but this is specifically Yogi Soothing Caramel Bedtime Tea. Supports a good night's sleep. Rainforest Alliance certified, so it's got a lot going on here. But Yogi Soothing Caramel Bedtime Tea.

• 13:07Tim Ferriss?

  And I saw this, and I remember I was at home alone one night, my girlfriend was out for some reason. And I was like, I'll have some tea. I don't feel like having anything caffeinated, but I want something with flavor. And I drank this tea. I let it brew for maybe five minutes. And I felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in the payphone scene from Wolf of Wall Street, where he's taken too many Quaaludes and it all hits him at once. I felt like I'd been hit with a trank dart and had to, in the most awkward fashion possible, drag myself to the bedroom and just go to sleep. I was very impressed with how strong this stuff is. Your mileage may vary. You may find that it seems ridiculously ineffective for you,

• 13:51Tim Ferriss?

  but for whatever reason, this stuff knocks me out even more so than something I used to use, which I think also has applications, and that's just straight California poppy that you can put in drops in, say, water. Alright, so that's the tea. Another option, another brand is something called sleepytime tea. But this one, to start with, they also have the worst kind of fortunes slash mantras on these tags imaginable. I have no idea who they paid in some non-native English-speaking country to put these together, but they are kind of hilarious at times. So yogi soothing caramel bedtime tea. And then, last but not

• 14:32Tim Ferriss?

  least, we have visual overwriting. And that's not a term I've heard used, but that's the way I think of it. This is what you do right before bed to, in effect, crowd out whatever is replaying in your mind, or whatever you happen to be obsessing about that is going to inhibit sleep. So that could be email. That could be things you have to do the next morning. That could be an argument or debate you had that day. It could be any number of things. But if you're anything like me, you lay down at night, and for whatever reason, that's when your brain decides to rev up. Meditation helps a lot with this. I've talked about my morning routines before, which include meditation, so I'm not going to repeat this

• 15:14Tim Ferriss?

  here. You can listen to that short podcast if you want my morning routines. Meditation helps a lot to dial down the volume and frequency and intensity of this internal chatter at night. But what also helps very, very much... Is either playing Tetris for 10 minutes. And this can also be applied to PTSD and other things. You can listen to my interview on this podcast with Jane McGonigal on game design and using games for everything from weight loss to mitigating the damage from traumatic brain injury, PTSD, et cetera. Tetris for 10 minutes, I won't get into all the explanation, but that can be very, very

• 15:54Tim Ferriss?

  helpful for the visual overriding for purposes of sleep. The other option, which I take advantage of all the time, is short episodic television. And I'll give you one particular recommendation. If you've ever dreamed or fantasized that bell in the background is my puppy doing back flips on the floor for some reason. If you've ever fantasized about just saying fuck it, quitting your job and going back to the land, getting out of the city and going to Montana or going to god knows where in some rural utopia and tilling the soil and making your own food and whatnot, then Escape to River Cottage, Season One is what you have to watch.

• 16:39Tim Ferriss?

  It's a blast. It's a really, really good episode. It features the celebrity chef Hugh Fernley Wittingstall, most British name ever, fantastic host, excellent chef, and really a good philosophical exploration and pragmatic reality check of what it means to go from city slicker to farmer effectively, or homesteader. And it's a great, it's a really great series. I really enjoyed it and it's very retro in a way that I find endearing and engaging in a way that modern CGI, I think, has lost some of its allure. In any case, so those are the five points.

• 17:22Tim Ferriss?

  I'm not going to make this any longer than it has to be. Chili pad hanging upside down, the Sleepmaster sleep mask with the 3M earplugs that I mentioned, the tea, the yogi soothing caramel bedtime tea, and then using some type of visual overriding, whether that is 10 minutes of Tetris before bed on a dimmed screen, don't forget that, or Escape to River Cottage, Season One, or other episodic television. And if you haven't signed up for Five Bullet Friday, please do that. That's my closing request. Five Bullet Friday is the The little sampling of awesomeness, hopefully, the most interesting things that I have found or experimented with in a given week.

• 18:06Tim Ferriss?

  And that's a short email with five bolts. It goes out every Friday and you can check that out by going to fourhourworkweek.com/friday. Just go to fourhourworkweek.com, all spelled out, forward slash Friday, or go to fourhourworkweek.com and just fill in your email there. It's free. All right, guys, thanks very much for listening. Until next time, keep up the experimentation, sleep well, and take care. This episode is brought to you by 99designs.com. Now, I have used this for years and a bunch of you have now used 99designs and produced some amazing graphic designs, logos, et cetera. And all of you can check out those real world examples at 99designs.com/tim. We'll get back to that.

• 18:49Tim Ferriss?

  When your business needs a logo, a website, an app thumbnail, business card, car wrap, whatever, any other design, I recommend checking out 99designs. I've used them to create book cover prototypes for the Four Hour Body, which went on to become number one New York Times bestseller. I've used them for banner ads and different types of display advertising, as well as illustrations. And in that case, I used their one-to-one service, which is non-spec for those people who want to go that route. They have both. And with 99designs, you get, in the case of the contest, basically, a variety of original designs from designers around the world. You give your feedback or direction and then you pick your favorite. So you are happy or you get your money back.

• 19:29Tim Ferriss?

  Check out some of my designs, some of my actual competitions, at 99designs.com/tim. And again, you can check out actual designs that Tim Ferriss Show listeners have produced using 99designs. And what's cool about that is even if you never buy anything on the service, it shows you how you can use design to accelerate the branding and growth of your business. So, check it out. And you listeners, my precious listeners, can get a free $99 upgrade on your first design. That's 99designs.com/tim.

• 20:01Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront, and this is a very unique sponsor. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive, in a good way, set it and forget it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple and world famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years, and they now have more than $2.5 billion under management. In fact, some of my very good friends, investors in Silicon Valley, have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. So the question is, why? Why is it so popular? Why is it unique? Because you can get services previously reserved for the ultra wealthy, but only pay pennies on the dollar for them. And this is because they use smarter software instead of retail locations, bloated sales teams, etc. And I'll come back to that in a second.

• 20:43Tim Ferriss?

  I suggest you check out wealthfront.com/tim. Take the risk assessment quiz, which only takes two to five minutes, and they'll show you for free exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. And if you just want to take their advice, run with it, do it yourself, you can do that. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. And here's why. The value of Wealthfront is in the automation of habits and strategies that investors should be using on a regular basis, but normally aren't. Great investing is a marathon, not a sprint, and little things that you may or may not be familiar with, like automatic tax loss harvesting, rebalancing your portfolio across more than 10 asset classes, and dividend reinvestment add up to very large amounts of money over longer periods of time. Wealthfront, as I mentioned, since it's using software instead of retail locations, etc.,

• 21:28Tim Ferriss?

  can offer all of this at low costs that were previously completely impossible. Right off the bat, you never pay commissions or account fees. For everything, they charge 0.25% per year on assets above the first $15,000, which is managed for free if you use my link, wealthfront.com/tim. That is less than $5 a month to invest a $30,000 account, for instance. Now, normally, when I have a sponsor on this show, it's because I use them and recommend them. In this case, it's a little different. I don't use Wealthfront yet because I'm not allowed to. Here's the deal. They wanted to sponsor this podcast, but because of SEC regulations, companies that invest your money are not allowed to use client testimonials. So I couldn't be a user and have them on the podcast.

• 22:11Tim Ferriss?

  But I've been so impressed by Wealthfront that I've invested a significant amount of my own money, at least for me, in the team and the company itself. So I am an investor and hope to soon use it as a client. Now, back to the recommendation. As a Tim Ferriss Show listener, you'll get $15,000 managed for free if you decide to open an account. But just start with seeing the portfolio that they would suggest for you. Take two minutes, fill out their questionnaire at wealthfront.com/tim. It's fast, it's free. There's no downside that I can think of. Now, I do have to read a mandatory disclaimer. Wealthfront, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment advisor. Investing in securities involves risks, and there is the possibility of losing money. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please visit wealthfront.com to read their full disclosure. So, check it out, guys.

• 22:56Tim Ferriss?

  This is one of the hottest, most innovative companies coming out of Silicon Valley, and they're killing it. They've become massively popular. Just take a look, see what portfolio they would create for you, and you can use that information however you want. Wealthfront.com/tim.