Here are 3 of my latest biohacks for a great night of sleep

I’m Brandon Wilson. I am constantly working toward improving my mind, body, and spirit using various ancient techniques and cutting-edge biohacking tools and devices. I want to be healthy, but not at the expense of being happy. This simple idea is what it means to be wellthy.

First time reading? Let’s get you in the club.

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Do you know that trick where people ask, “How was your weekend?” and “Did you do anything fun?” and then barely listen to your response? Sometimes, it seems like the only reason they asked was to crowbar their exciting weekend into the conversation.

Rather than ask the typical, “How ya doing,” I like asking more specific questions. For example, how’s your sleep been lately? Sadly, the answer is usually not positive. What would be your answer? Have problems falling asleep? Waking up and not able to fall back asleep? Bed bugs? Here’s my answer.

My Oura ring sleep score for 12/22/24

Notice that the results are from last night, lest you think I might be cherry-picking. I cannot say I have spectacular sleep every night, but I usually get good-quality sleep.

I have written extensively on the importance of sleep, so I won’t belabor the point today. You can read all my sleep tips in a previous newsletter (unlocked for everyone). I want to share three of my latest biohacks, which have recently allowed me to go from good to great sleep.

Sleep Bioahack #1: Helight® Sleep Red Light Therapy

One of the strongest signals that affects our sleep-wake cycle is light. Starting with sunrise and throughout the day, broad-spectrum sunlight (including blue light) keeps us awake. After sunset, we should have warmer and more red spectrum light.

The Helight® is a light therapy device that emits 630 nm red light, which has been shown to help individuals fall asleep faster and enjoy deeper and more restorative sleep.¹ The Helight® uses a patented protocol of 14 minutes of continuous light followed by 14 minutes of a slow fadeout. The Helight® has three brightness settings and a battery that lasts several weeks on one charge. It is portable and great for traveling and combating jet lag. I use the Helight® every night when I go to bed, and I’ve used it occasionally when I wake up in the middle of the night and have difficulty falling back asleep. For more information, check out the website.

Sleep Biohack #2: Grounding sheet

Humans evolved to be in contact with the earth. In a previous newsletter, I wrote about the science and benefits of grounding. When our bare skin touches the earth through a conductive medium such as grass, sand, dirt, and even concrete to some degree, we receive free electrons that combat free radicals. Grounding is nature’s best anti-oxidant.

I realize walking outside barefoot is not always convenient, especially in the winter. Fortunately, we have many options to get grounded indoors. Perhaps the easiest is a grounding sheet made of cotton and silver threads. In the corner of the sheet, a metal snap affixes to a cord that plugs into the third prong (ground) in an electrical outlet. Put your regular sheets over the grounding sheet, and now you’re getting all the benefits during sleep when the body is repairing and rejuvenating.

You can find all sorts of grounding sheets on Amazon, but I would caution about the quality. I am using a grounding sheet from MitoLife, which has a 20% sale that ends on 12/24.

Sleep Biohack #3: LifeWave Phototherapy Patches

The benefits of LifeWave phototherapy patches, which I wrote about previously, continue to impress me. X39 gets all the attention (as it should), but I’ve also been using supporting patches Silent Nights and Alavida. While I rarely have challenges falling asleep, my issues tend to be waking up during the night. Since using these patches, my sleep has been much more consistent, with fewer wake-ups and ease of falling back asleep. More information is available on this website.

When launching this newsletter over four years ago, the first topic I covered was sleep. If you’re unsure where to start improving your health, start with sleep. Lock in your sleep, and everything else you do for your health will be easier and more effective.

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The Daily Habit is where I share my habits related to the fundamentals: sleep, diet, physical activity, mindfulness, and stress management.

I posted this once before, and I think it’s worth repeating. Dubbed the Greatest iPhone Health Hack of all Time, this tutorial shows you how to add four shortcut buttons on your iPhone: Red phone, Blue phone, Sleep, and Wake. These shortcuts change all the proper settings on your phone for each time period. I’m unfamiliar with Android functionality, but I found a guide to adjusting the blue light filter for Android.

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Refer Subscribers, Earn Perks!

With the new referral program, you can earn perks like a complimentary Club Membership and other goodies by unlocking three tiers:

• Get a 1-month complimentary membership to the Be Wellthy Club for 3 referrals.

• Get a 3-month complimentary membership to the Be Wellthy Club and receive a book from my personal library for 6 referrals.

• Get a 6-month complimentary membership to the Be Wellthy Club and a goodie bag prize for 15 referrals.

By the way, if you’re already a Club Member, the free months will be added to the end of your subscription. You'll get credit for new subscribers (free or paid) when you use the referral link below or the “Share” button on any post. Send the link in a text or email, or share it on social media with friends.

While signed into your Substack account, you can visit the leaderboard that shows you how many referrals you have.

To learn more about the referral program, check out Substack’s FAQ.

Thank you for helping get the word out about Be Wellthy!

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Last week’s answer

Be Wellthy Club entrants: Veronica C., Scott S., Steve H., Scott L., Ariel E., Renata B.

Raffle prizes are for Be Wellthy Club Members only. Club members can email bewellthy@substack.com with the correct answer to each week’s brain training and be entered into a monthly raffle to win one of two prize packages every month. I do respond to every email.

This week:

Using numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, put each of them in a circle with one condition: The circles connected by a line cannot have consecutive numbers. For example, 4 cannot be connected with 3 or 5.

See the answer.

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Three years ago, I wrote about my upgrade to the Oura Ring Gen 3. This is still my favorite wearable for sleep and activity tracking. Gen 4 was released recently, so you might get a discount on the Gen 3 ring. If you are interested in the latest and greatest Gen 4 ring, use this link to save 10% on your purchase.

Keep your loved ones informed with the most up-to-date information about wellness by sharing this newsletter.

1. https://helight.com/pages/science