You know the type of people that leap out of bed every morning, with a big smile on their face, ready to give their day a knock out punch?

That was definitely not me. I hated those assholes.

They’d always brag about “not needing an alarm clock because they have some sort of internal built in blah blah” shutup. I found these people more annoying than vegans.

Well, that’s until I figured how these assholes nice people woke-up so cheerful every morning: REM Sleep

Skipping over the details and putting it simply, you don’t want to wake-up during REM Sleep….If you do, you’ll be pissed off and tired all day.

In fact, once I set my sleep around REM cycles, I actually felt More Energized from Less Sleep.

What’s even better, it’s Flexible – you can adjust your sleep times up or down, based on when you have to wakeup. This is great for times when my schedule gets hectic or when travelling.

How to Get That Jumping Out of Bed Feeling:

Sleep in 1.5hour cycles, and add 30 minutes to fall asleep

Example: Let’s assume you have to wake-up at 6am . Using the formula above, below are the different times you could go to sleep.

4:00am (1.5 hours sleep + 30minute buffer to fall asleep)

2:30am (3 hours sleep + 30 minute buffer to fall asleep)

1:00am (4.5 hours sleep + 30 minute buffer to fall asleep)

11:30pm (6 hours sleep + 30 minute buffer to fall asleep)

10:00pm (7.5 hours sleep + 30 minute buffer to fall asleep)

As an example, sleeping at 10:00pm gives you 5 sleep cycles (1.5hours x 5 cycles = 7.5)

Personally, I function best on 5 sleep cycles and a minimum of 4 cycles.

Anything less than 4 cycles is too little sleep, but if less is needed I’ll follow the above formula and can still function pretty well.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Adjust the buffer time up/down, based on how long it usually takes you to fall asleep (and how tired you are) Sleeping outside these cycles never works for me (even a +/-30 minute variance makes me exhausted the next day)

The great thing about this is, you’re not tied to a set time to go to bed every night. For those who like a less rigid schedule, this works great.

It also works in reverse. Let’s say you had to getup super early at 5am some days. Well, just use the formula and adjust your bed times.

This was a Life game-changer for myself. I’m more energized off “less sleep” vs. sleeping longer and waking up in the middle of REM sleep. “Less sleep” doesn’t mean I sleep 1.5hours per night. It means I personally function better on 7.5 hours rather than 8.5 hours, due to REM cycles.

This keeps me on-time in the morning, reduces stress and makes my day more productive.

P.S. There are apps out their that track similar REM sleep patterns, but try this out. It’s free, easy and it worked for me!