A drywaller named Louie lay in bed at 10 PM. His body was destroyed. His brain wouldn’t shut up.
“I’m exhausted,” he told me. “Every muscle aches. But I stare at the ceiling for hours.”
This is one of the cruelest ironies of physical labor. The more you need sleep, the harder it is to get.
Here’s why—and what to do about it.
The cortisol problem
Physical stress and mental stress trigger the same hormone: cortisol.
Cortisol is useful. It keeps you alert, mobilizes energy, and helps you push through hard work. But it also suppresses melatonin, the hormone that tells your body it’s time to sleep.
When you’ve been working hard all day, your cortisol levels are elevated. They don’t drop just because you stop working.
Louie’s problem: He was finishing work at 6, eating dinner at 7, and trying to sleep at 10. His cortisol was still elevated from the day’s labor.
The fix: Louie needed a buffer zone.
The wind-down window
You can’t go from 100 mph to 0 mph in ten minutes. Your body needs time to transition.
The 90-minute rule: Give yourself at least 90 minutes between the end of physical work and attempted sleep.
Louie’s new routine:
6:00 PM: Finish work 6:00-6:30 PM: Light movement (walk, gentle stretch) while cortisol starts to drop 6:30 PM: Shower (warm, not hot—starts the cooling process that signals sleep) 7:00 PM: Dinner 7:30-9:00 PM: Low stimulation—no screens, no work talk, no bills 9:00 PM: Start winding down for bed 9:30 PM: Lights out
Result: Asleep within 20 minutes instead of staring at the ceiling for hours.
The nervous system switch
Your body has two modes: sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest).
Work keeps you in sympathetic mode. You need to actively switch to parasympathetic mode before sleep is possible.
Techniques that work:
Box breathing. Inhale 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds, exhale 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds. Repeat for 5 minutes. Forces your nervous system to shift gears.
Temperature drop. Your body needs to cool down to initiate sleep. A warm shower followed by a cool room triggers this naturally.
Physical release. Ten minutes of gentle stretching or foam rolling. Not exercise—just releasing the tension you’ve been holding.
Magnesium. Specifically magnesium glycinate before bed. Helps muscles relax and supports the nervous system switch. Brands like Built Daily Supply make sleep formulas that include it.
The stimulation traps
Louie had three habits that were sabotaging his sleep:
TV until bedtime. Blue light suppresses melatonin. Louie switched to reading or audio.
Late caffeine. His last coffee was at 2 PM. Caffeine has a half-life of 5-6 hours. 2 PM coffee means half of it is still in his system at 8 PM. He moved his cutoff to noon.
Work brain. He’d lie in bed thinking about tomorrow’s job. Now he writes a brief list of tomorrow’s tasks before leaving the kitchen. Gets it out of his head.
The body temperature factor
Your core body temperature needs to drop about 2 degrees to initiate sleep.
Physical work raises your core temperature. If you try to sleep before it drops, you’ll struggle.
A warm shower seems counterintuitive, but it works: The warm water raises your skin temperature, and when you step out, your body rapidly cools down. That drop signals sleep.
Cool room (65-68°F), warm shower before bed. Counterintuitive but effective.
The bottom line
Physical exhaustion doesn’t guarantee sleep. In fact, it often prevents it.
Build a buffer zone. Drop your cortisol. Switch your nervous system. Cool your body.
Louie’s getting 7 hours now instead of 5. Feels like a different person.