Bedtimes are for Grownups

My partner and I bought an age measurement kit to get some objective information on how we are doing. Are we healthy or unhealthy?

The kits can accurately assess your biological age by measuring your biomarkers (commonly DNA methylation) though in our case we bought the GlycanAge kit which measures specific types of proteins associated with age called Glycans.

Technical details aside I scored dead average (within a year of my actual age) and my partner was 5 years less than her biological age (she’s 25!). That’s a big spread. She was surprised by the result because she thinks I am healthier than her.

However, while I might eat less treats and be more fit there are a few key areas she outperforms me.

1) she sleeps better 2) she is less likely to sit like a lump for long hours at a time 3) she seems less stressed / anxious

These are areas I can see she is doing better than me. And sleep is critical! It should not be played with but I’ve been neglecting it. Staying up late and playing games like I’m 10.

Now, since this test was taken we’ve started working out (3rd month of p90X3) and eating from a meal plan (homechef). The food is not guaranteed healthy per se but it’s has basically eliminated the 3-4 weekly meals we were getting from takeout and generally has been an improvement.

So I expect both our measurements to improve since we are 1) fitter 2) eating more fruits / veggies and less takeout

On the next round of GlycanAge I would expect us to have similar movement against our age profile. I’ve ordered a second test because I plan to make some changes based on our comparision, limitations of that comparison not withstanding.

For now I will focus on sleep in the next three months then I will get another kit to see if there was an effect.

At the end of the day bedtimes are for grown ups. The mature know that sleep is critical to:

• health
• mental state / judgement
• weight loss / overeating

Basically, the regulation of every aspect of your life hinges on sleep. And yet as a society we have terrible sleep health myself included.

Luckily, I have a way to measure my sleep quality! I own a fancy Sleep Number bed which gives me a SleepIQ score which I can cross compare to my apple watch.

I love feedback.

Anyway, my sleep score has improved from 50-60’s to low 70’s (where 100 is perfect) in the last 4 months – likely because of exercise and less stress. But there is room to improve and being consistent is the big one.

So, I’m committing today to a bedtime of 2230 by starting my sleep routine at 2200 (brush teeth, floss, meditating / journalling). My cue for this behavior will be a 2200 daily alarm on my apple devices.