honouring the rhythm of rest
Written by Desmond Olubunmi · Founder of Sunya
Sleep is not a switch to be forced — it is a natural biological rhythm to be honoured. The practice of aligning daily life with the body’s innate clock so that deep and restorative sleep unfolds effortlessly.
The human body operates on a built-in 24-hour clock called the circadian rhythm, which governs hormone release, body temperature, and cellular repair. This clock runs in 90-minute cycles across the night — prioritising physically restorative deep sleep in the first half, and mentally restorative REM sleep in the second.
Each person also carries a genetic chronotype — a natural tendency toward earlier or later sleep that cannot be overridden without cost. When this rhythm is disrupted, the body becomes confused: melatonin and the sleep- pressure chemical adenosine cannot be released at the right time, and the architecture of the night collapses.
The five most common rhythm killers are inconsistency in sleep timing, artificial light at night, eating too close to sleep, caffeine late in the day, and overstimulation before bed. By eliminating these disruptions and aligning with the body’s natural timing, you stop fighting your own biology — and sleep arrives on its own.
Honour your chronotype: Discover your natural sleep window — when you would sleep without alarms or obligations — and build your schedule around it as much as possible. Stop judging your biology.
Anchor the wake-up time: Going to bed at wildly different times confuses the internal clock. The single most powerful stabiliser is a consistent wake-up time — the same every day, including weekends.
Protect the deep sleep window: The body prioritises its most critical physical repair in the first half of the night. Consistently delaying sleep deprives cells, muscles, and the immune system of their primary restoration window. Lost deep sleep cannot be added back later — the timing must be protected.
Eliminate the rhythm killers: Stop eating heavy meals late at night. Cut off all caffeine by 2PM. Aggressively limit artificial blue light in the evening to protect melatonin production.
Desmond has written more extensively on sleep in The Sleep Rhythm Reset, an Amazon #1 bestseller in its category.
Occasional writing on the levers, the practices, and how to actually work with them.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Not sure this is the right practice for you? Sunya AI will identify where your system is contracted and which practice matters most right now.