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First, on the subject of going to bed when you’re sleepy… to do this correctly requires a mixture of awareness and common sense.

If you’re doing stimulating activities before bed, you’ll be able to stay up later and stave off sleepiness for a while.

The onset of sleepiness I’m referring to is when your brain starts releasing hormones to knock you out.

But in order for this to happen, you need to create the right conditions for it to occur. This means giving yourself some downtime before bedtime.

Another test you can use is this. Ask yourself, “If I were to go to bed now, how quickly could I fall asleep?” If you think it would take more than 15 minutes to fall asleep, I say go ahead and stay up.

If you consume caffeine during the day, it’s likely to mess with your sleep cycles.

I recommend getting up at the same time for 30 days straight to lock in the habit, but after that you’ll be so conditioned to waking up at the same time that it will be hard to sleep in.