Episode 71 – The Stoic’s Guide to a Good Night’s Sleep

This episode reframes insomnia and nighttime anxiety not as a purely medical issue, but as a philosophical one rooted in a "disorderly mind." It presents the Stoic approach to achieving restful sleep, which involves a structured, three-phase nightly routine designed to calm the mind and process the day's events rationally. The core principle is that the anxieties keeping us awake—worries about money, reputation, or future events—are almost always focused on external factors that are ultimately outside our direct control.

The first phase of this "sleep hack" is rigorously applying the Dichotomy of Control, consciously filtering out and detaching from any concern that isn't squarely within our volition. The second phase involves proactively addressing future fears through premeditatio malorum, or the premeditation of evils. This is not morbid worrying, but a calm, intellectual exercise of contemplating potential hardships to strip them of their shock value and mentally rehearse a rational response, thus preventing future anxieties from ambushing us in the middle of the night. This practice builds resilience and reinforces the understanding that we can handle adversity by focusing on our virtuous response.

The final and most crucial phase is the nightly philosophical review, famously practiced by Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. This involves putting oneself on trial, honestly assessing the day's actions and judgments against one's own principles: "What bad habit did I cure? What vice did I resist? In what respect am I a better person?" This process is not about self-flagellation, but about taking ownership of one's character, celebrating small wins in self-control, and learning from mistakes. By concluding the day with this clear-eyed, rational audit, the mind can achieve a state of peace and order, having fulfilled its duty and earned its right to rest.