Sean

[Sean @seany_90]

Stop chasing perfect sleep.

Stop forcing it.

Set things up properly.

Then let sleep take care of itself.

[Sean @seany_90]

If you’ve done all that and sleep still isn’t great —

the issue usually isn’t your routine.

It’s the pressure you’ve put on sleep.

[Sean @seany_90]

First, get the basics right that drive sleep:

✅Same bed and wake times

✅Morning sunlight

✅Move your body during the day

✅Wind down at night

✅Cool, dark room

[Sean @seany_90]

If sleep tracking is making your sleep worse — ditch it.

Trackers are fine for bedtimes and routines.

They’re terrible for obsessing over REM, deep sleep, or “sleep scores”.

[Sean @seany_90]

If you can’t sleep, get up.

Do something calm in low light.

Go back to bed when sleepy.

This retrains your brain that
bed = sleep, not stress.

[Sean @seany_90]

CBT-I recommends removing clocks from your room.

Seeing the time = stress spike

Stress spike = more awake

[Sean @seany_90]

Wake up in the middle of the night?

Completely normal.

What backfires is lying there forcing sleep, clock-watching, or doing the maths on how many hours sleep you will get.

[Sean @seany_90]

Instead, use paradoxical intention:

Tell yourself,
“I’m going to stay awake as long as I can.”

Pressure drops → sleep comes naturally.

[Sean @seany_90]

CBT-I even says:
"Don’t try to fall asleep".

Trying creates effort.

Effort creates alertness.

Alertness blocks sleep.

[Sean @seany_90]

This is why the best treatment for insomnia (CBT-I) focuses on doing LESS, not more.

Less effort.

Less monitoring.

Less control.

[Sean @seany_90]

Sleep isn’t something you do.

It’s something that happens.

And the more you try to force it, track it, or stress about it — the harder it becomes.

[Sean @seany_90]

A lot of sleep problems aren’t really a sleep problem.

They’re a stress and overthinking problem.

Watching the clock.

Checking your sleep tracker.

Thinking, “I HAVE to fall asleep right now.”

[Sean @seany_90]

Sleep is like sex

Or golf.

Sometimes the harder you try, the worse you get.

[Sean @seany_90]

Sleep is like sex.

Or golf.

The harder you try…

the worse you get at it.

[Sean @seany_90]

Forget the conditioning sessions you see on Instagram or HYROX where people are absolutely killing themselves.

Take tips from the best athletes and runners in the world:

80% low intensity/20% higher intensity.

Building cardio is about frequency, not intensity.

[Sean @seany_90]

How to know you’re in Zone 1

1️⃣ You can comfortably hold a conversation If you’re breathing hard, you’ve left the zone.

2️⃣ It feels like an embarrassing shuffle, not a run.

Most beginners jog VERY slowly — or walk — to stay aerobic.

[Sean @seany_90]

Want to stay in the right zone?

Alternate jogging and walking.
OR maybe it's just a brisk hilly walk.

This stops your heart rate skyrocketing
and keeps you in Zone 1 like the pros.

[Sean @seany_90]

But when you go too hard?

Your heart beats too fast to fill properly.

It pumps quickly but never fills fully,
so you don’t get that full stretch → contraction it needs.

And without that full stretch + squeeze
you miss the physiological changes that actually make you fitter.

[Sean @seany_90]

When you go slow, your heart has time to fill up properly
(the muscle stretches).

Then it contracts and pumps a full chamber of blood out (the muscle squeezes).

Exactly like your muscles in the gym -do that again and again…

and your heart + aerobic system get stronger.

[Sean @seany_90]

You don’t need to match their pace.

You need to match their heart rate zone.

When you go too hard, you miss the benefits of low-intensity work…

...the zone that actually builds your engine.