Last week, we tackled movement. Simple, repeatable workouts designed for busy dads who want to get 1,000+ intentional seconds of movements a day without spending hours in the gym. If you missed it, you can check it out here.
This week, we’re diving into Sleep Optimization—because no amount of kettlebell swings or chin-ups will matter if your recovery is trash.
Why Sleep Matters
As dads, we tend to put our own rest on the back burner. Between late-night work, early-morning chaos, and keeping the household running, sleep often feels like a luxury. But here’s the reality: Sleep is the foundation of everything. Your workouts, energy, focus, and patience all depend on how well you recover.
The good news? You don’t need to overhaul your life to fix your sleep. You just need a few tweaks to stack the odds in your favor.
A word to the wise -- none of the below optimizations are enough by themselves, they compound on eachother to create a solid and personalized sleep hygiene plan that works for YOU.
The Sleep Optimization Playbook
Here’s how to reclaim your nights and wake up ready to crush the day:
1. Mouth Taping
This one sounds strange, but it works. Mouth taping promotes nasal breathing, which reduces snoring and improves oxygen flow while you sleep. If you want to double dip, I've been using nasal strips to open my nostrils a bit more -- I haven't noticed a diff in my Oura Ring sleep scores, but it does seem to help me on nights where I'm stuffed up and otherwise wouldn't be able to tape my mouth.
Recommendation: Buy the cheap mouth tape, but don't skimp on the nasal strips, the shitty ones rip up the skin on the bridge of our mouth. Checkout Hostage Tape (zero affiliation, just a solid product).
2. Red Light Glasses
Blue light from screens messes with your body’s natural sleep signals. Toss on a pair of red-light-blocking glasses in the evening to help your brain start winding down.
I've been wearing red lense glasses before bed for 5+ years, they make a difference. I opted for the perscription version since I wear glasses normally. I have an alarm set for sunset, when it goes off I take my contacts out and put my glasses on.
Recommendation: Don't buy shitty ones, quality matters here. I have a pair of Roka glasses, King Huberman (my former quantification bro self still has a man crush on him) partnered with them recently.
3. Ambient Lighting
Ditch the bright overheads and dim the lights after sunset. Bonus points if you hook up your house with smart lights.
Our entire house is hooked up with lights that shift to warm oranges and reds as the night goes on. I'll do a write up of the automations and equipment we set up if I get enough comments that people are interested.
Recommendation: Get a few smart bulbs for lamps throughout your house so you don't spend a fortune on replcing every bulb in your house.
4. Temperature Tweaks
Cracking a window and getting your spouse a heating pad can make a big difference in creating a comfortable sleep environment. There are also tempature controlled mattress pads, but I've never felt like spending $4k was worth the incremental sleep bump. If thats within your budget, fire away and let me know how it goes!
Recommendation: Get that heating pad and an extra blanket, then crank that window open.
5. Evening Eating Habits
Stop eating at least two hours before bed. Your body shouldn’t be digesting food when it’s supposed to be repairing and recharging.
Recommendation: Set an alarm on your phone thats 2hrs before your planned bed time. Don't eat after it goes off, don't overcomplicate it.
6. Optional Boosters
For those who want to experiment, consider:
• THC + CBN Microdoses: A little can go a long way for relaxation. Science says THC fucks your sleep up, my own experimentation tells me a diff story. Never more than 2.5mg of THC for me, and its not an everynight thing.
• CBD Macrodoses: If you’re going the CBD route, aim for ~60-80mg for maximum effect. This works insanely well for me, but it also breaks the bank, so I rarely follow this protocol for more than a few days. Its worth experimenting with if you have a sleep tracker like an Oura, Whoop, or Garmin.
Pick one or two of these tips to try this week. Keep it simple—this isn’t about perfection, it’s about progress. Once you see the benefits, you’ll be motivated to layer in more changes.
Remember, better sleep isn’t just about you. When you’re well-rested, you’re a better dad, partner, and human being.
Next week, we’ll close out the 22-Day Kick in the D*ck Mini-Course with: Nutrition.
Until then, focus on learning about how your daily choices impact your sleep quality. A lot of shit is out of your control, so take ownership of what you can and start building better sleep hygiene.
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