Behaviors

Before bed, use warm water and warming strategies for the extremities to support sleep onset via thermoregulation; specifically, wash face and hands with warm water and warm the hands and feet.

Get sunlight in your eyes in the middle of the day for mood benefits; this does not shift circadian timing.

When traveling or trying not to shift your clock, wear sunglasses and a brimmed hat to reduce light exposure and avoid unwanted circadian shifting.

Use the minimal effective dose with sauna and cold exposure; do not overdo either stimulus.

If overactivated or jittery during precise work, use rhythmic movement such as tapping your foot or another context-appropriate body part to dispel anticipatory energy and steady performance.

Parents, educators, police, and the public should enforce and regulate the U.S. legal age of 21 for nicotine product sales because teens were described as obtaining them too easily from vape shops.

Avoid vaping cannabis and avoid high-THC cannabis products, especially in youth, due to addiction risk, inhalation-related chemical exposure, and concern that cannabis may trigger psychosis in predisposed individuals.

During nicotine withdrawal, use short distraction and urge-management strategies such as listening to a 3–4 minute song, running or doing something active, chewing on a plain toothpick, and otherwise getting your mind off the feeling until the urge passes.

During nicotine cessation, avoid parties or settings where friends are vaping because visual and smell cues can trigger relapse; instead, set up a social milieu with friends who are not using and involve family support.

Teach teens how to say no and feel good about saying no, rather than simply telling them 'just say no.'

Appeal to teens' concern for the environment by explaining harms from pods, plastics, benzoic acid, and secondhand or thirdhand aerosol.

If alcohol or other substances are involved, use a designated driver, sober driver, Uber, Lyft, or another rideshare rather than driving impaired.

Have one sober person at a party not only for driving but also to help prevent unsafe sexual situations, falls, or other harms.

Use condoms, get STI testing, and use birth control as part of safer sexual behavior.

Use comprehensive education rather than only 'just say no.' If a teen may engage in risky behavior, provide practical safety guidance and put safety first—for example, tell them to call for a ride if they've been drinking, teach negotiation and healthy relationship skills, discuss fentanyl test strips, advise against buying drugs off the internet, and emphasize not using drugs alone.

Ask teens about their goals and aspirations, then link current choices and risks to those future outcomes.

If underslept and you have a choice of when to learn, schedule learning for the time of day when your chronotype puts you at your best operating temperature; for early chronotypes this may be around 10–11 a.m., for later chronotypes around midday or 1 p.m.

Set an evening alarm to help begin winding down and support the transition into sleep.

A daytime nap can improve motor skill learning versus staying awake, showing the benefit is due to sleep rather than nighttime itself.

Avoid cutting off the final part of sleep, because stage 2 sleep and sleep spindles in the last quarter of the night are especially linked to motor memory benefit.

If sleep tracking causes sleep-related anxiety, avoid checking it daily; either review data only once weekly, such as Sunday afternoon, or stop using the tracker temporarily, restore sleep confidence, and only then return to using it.

Delay phone use for at least the first 30 minutes after waking to avoid eclipsing sleep-derived creative insights with external sensory input.

Capture ideas that emerge after waking by writing them down; suggested as a way to preserve sleep-derived creative insights.

If you have severe or persistent back pain, get a proper assessment and diagnosis from a qualified back expert; if non-surgical methods fail, consult a surgeon.

If you have a thicker, less mobile spine, emphasize work aimed at generating more flexibility in side-to-side and angled planes of motion.

Especially if you have back pain or posterior disc bulging/herniation, avoid sit-ups and abdominal crunches because they can worsen disc bulging, nerve impingement, and pain.

McGill Big Three exercise: Lie on your back with one knee bent and the other leg extended, place both hands under the lower back to preserve its arch, keep the head neutral with the tongue on the roof of the mouth, and breathe through the nose. Lift the elbows and upper chest only 5–10 degrees by leading with the chest, not the chin, contract the abdominals for 8–10 seconds, rest 10–30 seconds between reps, then switch sides; a typical routine is 3–5 sets with descending holds (5, 4, 3, 2, 1 reps), done daily or 1–2 times per week.

Aim to do the Big Three at least once or twice per week; some people may do them daily. Even 1–2 sets of each can be completed in 5–10 minutes.

If any movement worsens your back pain, stop doing it.

Hold onto a sturdy overhead bar or object with arms overhead while keeping toes, feet, or heels in contact with the floor so it is not a full dead hang; avoid twisting; aim to lengthen the spine for 10–30 seconds, walk around, then repeat 2–3 times.