Most sleep supplements are either sedatives that suppress REM, placebos at clinical doses, or targeting the wrong mechanism entirely. The evidence-based sleep stack — Magnesium L-Threonate for SWS depth, Ashwagandha for cortisol-driven disruption, L-theanine for non-sedating onset — with the compounds to avoid and why popular OTC sleep aids actively harm sleep quality.

Sleep deprivation impairs attention, working memory, emotional regulation, creativity, and memory consolidation simultaneously — and the research shows most people cannot accurately detect their own impairment. The complete neuroscience of what insufficient sleep costs you cognitively, why the “I function fine on 6 hours” belief is systematically wrong, and the cognitive dividend of sleep optimization.

Difficulty falling asleep is a neurobiological problem with neurobiological solutions. Three mechanisms cause sleep onset delay — insufficient sleep pressure, circadian phase mismatch, and hyperarousal — and each requires a different intervention. The complete evidence-based toolkit: cognitive shuffle, 4-7-8 breathing, written to-do discharge, stimulus control, L-theanine, and the temperature protocol.

Sleep is not a uniform state — it is a precisely orchestrated sequence of four neurologically distinct stages cycling through a predictable pattern across the night. Understanding sleep architecture tells you which stages are being disrupted, why, and exactly which interventions fix them. The complete neuroscience of N1, N2, SWS, and REM — and the stage-specific optimization protocol.

Sleep is not one pillar among many — it is the foundation every other optimization strategy stands on. The complete neuroscience of sleep architecture, glymphatic clearance, and circadian biology, the evidence-based behavioral strategies for deeper SWS and REM, and the supplementation stack that directly supports the neurological mechanisms of restorative sleep.