Title The Power of When
Author Michael Breus
Year Published 2016
Kind of Book: Productivity/self-help
How strongly I recommend it 8/10
My Impressions This book helps you understand circadian rhythms and chronotype in order to find the best time to do everything. Breus explains why certain things like drinking coffee in the morning and having sex at night are not optimal the optimal times to do either of these things. The book aims to improve your sleep, decision making, productivity, creativity etc. by living in alignment with your biology. Lots of practical takeaways.
Date Read March 2019
Practical Takeaways
Take a nap aprx 7hrs after waking. so around 2pm-3pm
Either nap for 10-20min for catnap or 90mins (for one complete sleep cycle)
Don’t eat for three hours before bed
(for bears) wake up at 7am go to sleep at 11pm
Don’t sleep in. Only sleep in up to 45min past your normal wake time if you must
Don't have caffeine first thing in the morning
Have caffeine at 10-12pm or after lunch
Have a snack around 4pm (around 250 calories 75% carbs 25% protein (eg. apple with peanut butter)
Do your creative work at night 8-10pm (for bears) when alertness and concentration are low and diffuse mode is high
Do your focused/productive work from 10am-12pm when your focused mode is peaking (for bears)
Go on dates in the evening not the afternoon (after 4pm)
Have sex in the morning 7-10am when testosterone is highest and your desire is strong or before bed: 10pm-11pm
Set a consistent wake time and sleep time
Shift your biggest meal from dinner to breakfast
Use early morning hours for practical work and the late evenings for creative brainstorming
Socialize with colleagues in the afternoon instead of the morning
Try to be active before and after each meal, even if it’s just a taking a 5 minute walk
Don’t eat food or drink alcohol after 8pm
Even if you stay up late, continue to wake up within 45mins of your regular time
Have sex in the morning instead of late at night
Take a twenty minute power nap at 2:30pm (or meditate then)
Call your Grandparents anytime as much as possible
Call your friends to catch up in the evening after the sun has gone down. Not in the morning/afternoon
Call people late at night to communicate your relationship is close
Go to bed angry ie.‘don’t fight/argue when you're tired. Sleep on it’
“Don’t pick a fight unless you’ve had a decent night’s sleep.”
Don't go for a run immediately after waking. Wait at least 90minutes (around 7:30 or 12pm)
Don't do Sunrise yoga immediately after waking
Do Yoga pre-lunch or after-work
Do light intensity stretching an hour before bed to power down
Don't do strength training immediately after waking.
Do strength training between 4pm-7pm
Schedule surgery for the morning
Get plenty of sleep when you're sick
Take a cold shower in the morning
Take a hot batch before bed
Don't nap 4hrs or less before bed
Post on social media 7-11pm on weekdays
Surf the web between 7-10pm when creativity is high and alertness is low
Eat every 4hours
Drink caffeine right before a 10 minute nap
Don’t fixate on the number of hours you sleep. Think quality and aligning with circadian rhythm not just quantity
Eat a big breakfast within an hour of waking 8am
Eat a medium-sized lunch four hours later 12pm *1/3 protein 1/3 complex carbs 1/3 simple carbs ex: apple w/ peanut butter
Eat a small snack 4 hours later 4pm
Eat a small dinner at 7:30
Don’t eat from 9pm-5am
Move before and after meals
Go to bed as close to 11pm as possible
Don't drink caffeine 3hrs before bedtime
Don’t get in Bed unless you’re tired
Don’t Go to Bed Early!
Only use your bed for sleep and sex
If you can’t sleep (over 20mins) Get out of bed sit on a chair and count your breaths
Create a Power Down hour an hour before bed
if you know you’re going to have a really late night you can take a “Disco nap” for 90minutes before going out (disco nap)
Ask for a raise Friday afternoon (second would be thursday afternoon) not Monday Morning (or Tuesday AkA statistically most hectic day of the week)
adjusting to DLST: Get as much sunlight as possible. Stick to your on-the-clock eating schedule even if you’re not hungry. Exercise at dusk for three days after the change
Learn something new 10am-2pm wide awake. peak of learning curve. Second would be 4pm-10pm
Make presentations or speeches 20mins or shorter
Make chapters short and use pictures and graphs to break reading into small chuncks
Make big decisions between 3-10pm
Do creative writing /comedy writing at night or early morning when alertness is low 9pm-11pm or 6am-8am
Do editing/analytical writing between10am
If you can’t fall asleep (over 20mins) Get out of bed sit on a chair and count your breaths
Power Down Hour
One hour before sleep
power off all screens
turn off phone
dim lights
hot bath
stretch
meditate
creative writing
read (especially fiction)( book is better than kindle) “reading lowers cortisol levels which is good before bed"
For Bear (Chronotype)
alertness: start to feel tired by mid to late afternoon. Most alernt/productive: late morning to mid afternoon. Takes them a couple of hours to feel fully awake in the morning.
Productive work: 10-12pm “your cognitive peak comes mid-morning.
Creativity Peak: 8-10pm “when alertness and concentration are low, creativity is at its peak”
Sleep: at least 8 hours per night, if not longer.
wake up: 7am
sleep: 11pm
sleeping in: don’t do it (it disrupts circadian rhythm and you won’t get the same quality of sleep anyway) only sleep in up to 45min if you must
napping: the best time to nap is aprx 7hrs after waking. so around 2pm-3pm either nap for 10-20min for catnap or 90mins (for one complete sleep cycle)
Breakfast: 7:30am eat within a half hour of waking to sync the master clock in your brain to the minor clocks in your stomach and digestive system. Big breakfast. High protein. low carb
Lunch: 12-1pm medium-sized
after-noon snack: 4pm small around 250 calories 75% carbs 25% protein (apple with peanut butter)
Dinner: 7:30pm-8pm smallest meal of the day (soup or stew w/ salad) if you can delay dinner until 8pm you’ll be less likely to snack at 10pm
Late-night snacking: Don’t do it. don’t eat for three hours before bed. weight gain. disrupts and delays sleep. Bad for acid reflux. No eating after dinner. A latter dinner helps you avoid late night snacking.
Caffeine: 10-12pm or after lunch not first thing in the morning
sex: morning 7-am (testosterone is highest and your desire is strong) before bed: 10-11pm
Big Ideas
Knowing when enables you to perform ‘what’ and ‘how’ to your maximum potential.
We evolved to do things in time with our Biological clocks
Surprising Facts
There are statistically less botched surgeries in the morning
There is a spike in the number of traffic accidents the day after daylight savings time
In one study 62% of patients with depression recovered after bright-light exposure and consistent sleep times
Some people have higher sleep drives than others, just as some have stronger sex drives than others.
your chronotype is determined by your PER3 gene.
“Caffeine isn’t responsible for the laxative effect….coffee’s unique acidity quality [is]”
“When it gets dark out and melatonin starts being secreted from the pineal gland, the GI tract and bowel function are suppressed.”
“Drinking coffee first thing in the morning does not wake you up, make you alert, or give you an energy boost. All it does, according to science, is raise your tolerance for caffeine so that you need to drink more and more of it to feel any effects at all.”
"If you drink caffeine when cortisol is high, the effects are nonexistent.”
“IF you drink coffee when cortisol level is low, caffeine gently nudges your adrenals to give you a hit of adrenaline, and you will feel more awake and alert"
Reading lowers cortisol
insulin, adrenaline and cortisol are released when you first wake up in the morning
Chronic caffeine consumption can burn out your adrenal gland so that they can't produce enough cortisol on their own
Adrenal fatigue from over caffeination can lead to depression, weight gain, low sex drive, and exhaustion
Alcohol and marijuana may help people fall asleep, but negatively affects QUALITY of sleep
“the retrieval of short term and long term memory is impaired by sleep deprivation.”
Memory consolidation occurs during REM sleep (between 4am and 7am)
within a decade of the invention of the lightbulb our circadian rhythms were thrown off
“It takes a day for the body to adjust to one-hour time zone difference, and, on horseback or in a coach, it’d take about that long to go that far.”
“Some people have higher sleep drives than others, just as some have stronger sex drives than others.”
“Your sleep drive is genetic, and it determines how much sleep you need and your depth of sleep”
Your Chronotype changes throughout your life
Newborns: newborns don’t use their biological clocks at all until they are two or three months old (why babies are up all night)
Toddlers: Lions. with nap times
Adolescence: Bears or Lion.
Teens: Wolves
Adult (22-65) Bears
Seniors (65+) Lions or Dolphins *50% of seniors struggle with Insomnia
Unknown Terms
SCN:the master clock that controls dozens of other clocks throughout your body. “..it’s a group of nerves called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), in the hypothalamus, right above the pituitary gland…The SCN is the master clock that controls dozens of other clocks throughout your body.”pg4
Circadian Rhythm - (latin for around a day)
Chrono biology- The study of circadian rhythm and its effect on human health and wellness
Chronomisalignment: Being out of sync with bio-time. Devastating to one’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Cognitive Backlog: People generally can’t absorb any more concepts or statistics after 20minutes. This is why TED talks are always under 20minutes. This is also why many authors make their chapters short.
Old model
Larks: early risers
Hummingbirds: neither early nor late risers
Owls: late risers
New Model
Lions: early risers low sleep drive 6am wakeup 10pm sleep
Bears: rise with sun high sleep drive 50% of adults are Bears 7am wakeup 11pm sleep
Wolves: late risers medium sleep drive 8am wake up 12am sleep
Dolphins: sporadic sleepers (insomniacs) low sleep drive **real dolphins sleep with only half of their brain at a time (which is why they’re call unihemispheric sleepers) The other half is awake and alert, concentrating on swimming and looking for predators.