I’m just going to lay it all out there because my brain is fried from trying to overwrite years of terrible habits. If you know me, you know my usual daily baseline is running on peak adrenaline. I'm talking sleeping through the sun, living on energy drinks, and staying up until 5 am on discord because my mind literally refuses to stop racing the second the lights go out. Last week I finally hit a wall where the exhaustion wasn't even funny anymore. I was feeling so disconnected and anxious, just sick of living like a nocturnal gremlin. Then I watched a video here from Pavel and it completely blew my mind. He was talking about how we get trapped in this loop of constantly chasing the next hit of excitement, and it inspired me to actually start this journey and try to fix things. But to be completely honest, the first time I sat down to try his technique today, my body violently revolted. My default setting is to always look for the next thing to do, so trying to just sit there and feel safe in my own body felt like trying to hold down a live wire. My mind was screaming a million miles an hour about things I needed to do, streams I needed to plan, and everything I was missing out on. There is such a frustrating, massive gap between the grounded, calm energy Pavel talks about and the frantic reality of my brain on a Monday. Instead of quitting like I usually do when things get uncomfortable, I just stayed with the friction today. I did a tiny bit of the breathing right at my desk before turning my PC on. I didn't magically transform into a zen master, and my brain is still buzzing a bit, but for the first time in a long time, my shoulders aren't glued to my ears. It’s wild realizing how much energy I waste just fighting my own internal pacing. I'm just trying to take it one day at a time, even if my old habits still want to sprint.

Stress is something we all experience, especially when there are a lot of things going on at the same time. When I feel overwhelmed, one thing that helps me is meditation. I usually take a few quiet minutes, sit comfortably, close my eyes, and focus on my breathing. It helps me slow down my thoughts and gives me a chance to relax. I’m not an expert at meditation, but I’ve found that even a few minutes of quiet time can make me feel a little lighter and more peaceful. How do you usually cope when stress starts to build up?

Just thought I’d share what I’m currently doing in the hopes of giving others some ideas of what they can add to their own wind-down/evening routine. I’d also love to hear any general feedback or suggestions. Based on years of tweaking my evening and morning routines, this is what I’m currently doing that has worked for me. I’ve also been using an Oura ring for the past few months so I was able to see some interesting correlations between my behavior and variables such as body temperature, resting HR and HRV. Here is my evening routine which is elaborate but I believe it’s totally worth the trouble considering how invaluable sleep is to ALL aspects of your health and overall quality of life: I have Philips Hue bulbs throughout my apartment that allow me to dim and turn all my lights to a warmer/more-orange tone. I usually do this by around sunset. By around 1900, I start wearing my blue light blocking glasses...I used $30 Amazon ones for a long time but recently upgraded to Felix Grays after being inspired by Peter Attia. I try to minimize any screen use after around 1900, and all my devices have some kind of blue light filtering software. I always take some kind of magnesium supplement in the evening- either some magnesium glycinate tablets with dinner, or magnesium citrate shortly before bed. I’m normally in bed by around 2100 and am only able to stay awake for 30min at the most while reading some kind of fiction novel. I have my AC in my room AND my Ooler cooling pad both set to 62 degrees... this is a good temperature for the first half of my sleep, but I’ll sometimes need to make it about 6 degrees warmer as it gets into the early morning hours. Some other things outside of my evening routine which I feel are key to my ability to fall asleep quickly: - Regular exercise or else a long work shift. I have some kind of moderate or vigorous workout every day except when I’m doing a 12hour shift in the hospital. On my 12hr days, there’s not really time for me to get a workout in and I’m thoroughly exhausted by the end of it, so I’m actually able to sleep really well after these long work days. - Overall consistent wake and sleep times. This doesn’t vary by more than about 1.5hours between the days that I work and the days that I’m off. I’m out of bed at 5am on work days, and usually no later than 6:30 on my days off. The same consistency goes for bedtime. I don’t care to socialize at night, so it’s easy for me to be in bed by 2100 every night. - Some form of mindfulness type meditation for 15-20 every morning (I rarely meditate in the evening). This helps with overall anxiety and ruminating thoughts. I’ve also found that doing similar mind exercises while in bed trying to fall asleep also helps (mainly just trying to keep my attention on my breathing). - I journal every morning and I also try to journal in the evening. I’ve noticed that the quality of my sleep tends to be better when I do journal in the evening as well.

Procrastinating low dopamine and increase cortisol levels. Theres nothing to do with tyrosine or ashwaganda, you will feel bad. if you do everything you had pending you will feel liberated and better.

Hey everyone! I just officially joined the community today. My nervous system has basically been living in survival mode from staying up late gaming and staring at screens 24/7. Ready to finally slow down, fix my routine, and dive into the 7-day protocol. Super excited to learn from you all!