How I Brought ALL My Sleep Devices Together And [Actually] Improved My Sleep

Since age 3 (or the time I can remember), I've had trouble sleeping.

I was that kid that would fall from bed. Constantly.

So much so, that my father custom-built and welded a net at the top of my bed from a ping pong set.

Yeah, pretty crazy.

I would also be the type that would uncover himself overnight, then get sick.

A true parents' nightmare.

Anyway, fast forward to college, and here's the Gonzalo that would go to class during the day, and run an eBay Powerseller business at night.

Yes.

For some years, getting 6 hrs of sleep was unheard of for me. The normal was 3.

Anyway, not that this is a "I-sleep-less-than-you" competition or anything, but my point is that I used to have a pretty messed up sleeping cycle.

I just didn't think it was THAT important.

Until my brother showed me what'd I'd be capable if I slept well.

He started with the Vitals.

Focus On The Vitals To Elevate Your Career

While people tend to solely focus on a resume and online applications, I like to look into all the "weapons" we have to make a massive impact on the people we're coming into contact with with.

And it all starts with us.

There are four physical priorities that come into light, when I think of my wellbeing, first Physical, then Mental are:

• Sleep
• Cardio
• Exercise
• Nutrition

Today I'll be just focusing on Sleep.

The Tools I Use To Understand My Sleep

When people see me wearing my Oura ring, the first thing they ask me is: "does it work?"

Like if putting an Oura on your Finger would magically get you two extra hours of deep sleep.

The truth is that... well... it doesn't.

The way I see it, is that these tools are here to help me understand how I sleep, so I can "sleep smarter".

See, out of all four vitals above, sleep is the one that we have less control of. You don't have control over that construction site across the street from your apartment.

And sleep is the one Vital that affects the other three the most.

Without sleep, it's hard for me to focus on Cardio and Exercise well.

Typically, if I don't exercise well, I don't eat well. And you know where this goes.

Now, the "KPI" I measure my sleep by, is:

Sleep Efficiency = Hours Slept / Hours In Bed

And through the years, I've learned to used 4 tools to my advantage. So, without further due, here are the items I've used to dramatically increase my sleep efficiency:

• Magnesium - sprayed-on
• Oura Ring
• Eight Sleep Mattress Cover
• Rise App

I Got Into Magnesium in 2019

After reading the Sleep Smarter book by Sean Stevenson, I started hyper experimenting with my sleep.

Cycles.

Wake Up hours.

Room temperatures.

Candle lights 1 hour before sleeping (that actually worked - activated melatonyn naturally).

Testing a ton of things, like what I'd eat before bed, etc. And many micro discoveries came to light.

The one that stuck out to me that I still use today is, sprayed-on magnesium. See, when we train hard, go through an entire day of activity, stress, road rage, you name it. Our muscles get reeally stiff.

Magnesium takes care of that for me. Not only it "charges" my internal battery, it also forces my muscles to relax. Then everything else relaxes.

I use Ease Magnesium - you can find it on Amazon.

Magnesium was great and all, but come 2021, I wanted to operate at a whole new level.

That's when I decided that I needed data.

Then I Got My Oura Ring in 2021

Buying my Oura Ring was a great experience. It set me into a whole new different perspective on how to look into my sleep.

At the beginning it was really confusing, as you have all this data thrown at you that you probably don't understand.

Once you read up on it daily for weeks or months, and you get used to it, there is the part of not becoming a slave to your Ring.

What I mean by this, is that you start looking at the ring as the "be all" of your sleep. If the ring says you slept like crap, then you believe it, instead of questioning it.

Took me about 4 to 6 months to get over this, and realize that the ring (like anything else), isn't perfect.

And more importantly, that all these gadgets, are tools. Not solutions to your sleep.

Once you get over that, this all starts to make sense.

Anyway.

My Oura, got me to understand how I slept, when I slept, what was the most restorative sleep, and led me to see that my mattress wasn't working for me.

This took about a year.

Now though, it was reaally complicated. I needed something different

Then...

I Got My 8Sleep early 2022

The reason I got 8Sleep to be honest, was because someone close to me, recommended it.

Then finding out that the Mercedes F1 used it, helped feel really cool (even if they weren't winning lol).

I'm kidding here.

The reason I got my 8Sleep, is because I noticed I'd wake up in the middle of the night sweating.

Then I realized that my mattress' temperature was working against my sleep. My mattress would warm up through the night, but my body would cool down. Sort of like this:

Then I realized that I need something to invert that curve, and that was 8Sleep.

It made a massive difference in my sleep (though like anything, it also has a learning curve).

This is what the app looks like:

Other factors (details) that I like from it, are:

• That it wakes you up with a gentle vibration.
• It can even wake you up with with warmth!

Having said this, I must say that 8Sleep is still a upstart, and their product still has a lot of room for improvent.

It's great, but it's going to get greater.

I know.

All this magnesium, Oura, 8Sleep, was all fun and games. Made me feel special. Like I was taking it to the next 3 levels.

But it was one little app, the cheapest of all gadgets, that took it to the next level for me.

That's when I...

Finally Got Rise App In Late 2022

All these years understanding my sleep were great. They took me to incredible energy places. To perform age 35, faster, sharper, stronger than when I was 23!

Incredible.

Now.

There.

Was.

One thing missing! Actually two:

• One. I couldn't take a quick grasp from all my gadgets and understand, quickly, how I had slept.
• Since I didn't have that KPI, then I couldn't plan my energy/day accordingly.

That's when Rise App, showed up, with the perfect KPI"

Sleep Debt

And since then I'm really a happy camper. What slept is (for me), is keeping tabs on my energy.

See, I'm a very demanding person of myself, and I have a hard time slowing down, and allowing my body to recharge.

That's what Rise did for me.

Today, here's my energy-check process:

1. I check Rise in the morning
2. Make sure that it's taking it's data correctly from my Oura
3. Make sure that Oura recorded data well (i.e. didn't ran out of battery, etc).
4. Then all systems go. I can understand that data and plan my day accordingly (this is the coolest part of Rise).
5. I go into the Energy Tab (which I've set to integrate into my calendar), and then I understand My Energy Peaks, Energy Lows, and Melatonin Window. Here:

I then plan my day out this way. So I can allocate the best energy to the more important tasks of the day.

Once you implement these into your lifestyle, it'll take at least a couple of months to get used to it an make use of this data.

So be patient.

And enjoy the process!

Final Advise

You HONESTLY don't need all this. You can buy i. It's great. But to get started, you just need:

• Your Iphone/Android
• Rise App

That'll give you 50% to 70% of the functionalities you need. Then go from there.

-Gonzalo

#personaldevelopement #growth #careerstrategy #jobs

PS: I have a ton of referral links and freebies. Feel free to DM if you need one for any of the gadgets above!