You can watch Netflix at night. And in bed (if you like) (Part 4 of the Vault 5-Part Sleep Clarity Masterclass)
And still get "Person B" sleep. Here's the insight:
For many of us, that last hour before bed is a sanctuary.
It’s the only time in the day that feels entirely ours — to read a little, catch up on the news, enjoy a podcast, or unwind with a favorite show.
The last thing we want is yet another (stressful) 50-step “to-do” list just to get a good night’s sleep.
This is why I want to share an insight: You can watch Netflix before bed… and still get “Person B” sleep.
This was me: No devices after 8 PM, reading paper only, box breathing, meditation... Indeed, it was another to-do list … that I didn’t look forward to. Now, I’ll read on my iPad and then watch a show or two (or sometimes 3) before going to sleep.
What changed?
When you have found the right 5 solvers for your unique sleep issues, the other 45 rules don’t matter nearly as much. If the screen wasn’t your primary problem to begin with... avoiding it isn’t the primary solution, and using it isn’t going to disrupt your sleep that much or at all (controversial but true).
(Sure, it helps to make the screen orange, but it’s not the lynchpin holding your sleep together.)
This is the “Precise Comprehensiveness” I mentioned in Part 3.
The requirement to excellent sleep is precise comprehensiveness for you, not a comprehensive list of every sleep recommendation that exists.
To find your 5 solvers, we need to finish mapping the “Internal” world.
The Next Layer of the Internal World: The 2-Part Internal Sleep System
In Part 3 (refresher here), we separated external fixes (temperature, light, gadgets) from internal solvers — the physiological machinery that actually creates sleep.
Now we’ll take that a step further.
Even inside that internal world, there are two sides at work: Sleep Disruptors and Sleep Builders.
1. Internal Sleep Disruptors
These are the internal blockers that interfere with the body’s ability to generate the sleep signal — the internal version of blue-light exposure.
Here are some examples:
Inflammation:
Low-grade inflammation (from gut issues, food sensitivities, blood sugar dysregulation, environmental toxins, etc.) — triggers the body’s stress response and can raise nighttime cortisol, directly blocking sleep. Inflammation also disrupts how your hormones function at the tissue level.
Neuroinflammation (inflammation in the brain) can interfere with the sleep-wake circuitry itself.
Hormonal Imbalances:
Testosterone excess (typically from HRT replacement or anabolic use)) can interfere with sleep quality.
Estrogen excess (from poor clearance in women, or excessive aromatization in men) can disrupt sleep architecture.
2. Internal Sleep Builders & Supporters
This is the part we touched on last time.
These are what your body must have to create and sustain the sleep state—cofactors, enzymatic processes, and regulatory signals such as neurotransmitters & reproductive hormones (testosterone, estrogen, progesterone).
We need both sides working together — we can’t protect a castle that hasn’t been built, and we can’t keep one standing if it’s constantly under siege.
BTW, many people assume their sleep problem is “stress.”
A better question is whether your reaction to the same stress has changed. If your days look similar on paper but you now feel more wound up at night, you lie awake replaying conversations, or you snap more easily at small things, that often reflects hormone changes in the background. In Part 5, we’ll talk about how midlife shifts in testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone can set the stage for this kind of wired-at-night pattern.
Another common example: the “weak bladder” that isn’t: waking up to pee isn’t always a bladder issue
— it’s often a brain-hormone signaling problem.
Your body has a hormone (ADH) that’s supposed to concentrate urine and slow bladder filling at night. When the hormonal function that regulate ADH become less stable — often from the same midlife shifts we’ve been discussing — two things happen: sleep gets lighter, and the kidneys process water differently.
So, you wake to pee — then can’t fall back asleep.
Most people assume they need to stop drinking water after 7 PM. That logic is backwards. When sleep depth improves, you can drink water before bed and still sleep through — or return to sleep in seconds after a bathroom trip.
Today’s Win: Robust Sleep That Can Handle the Reality of Life
You’ve just learned that robust sleep depends on an internal two-part system:
Builders that create the biological capacity for sleep.
Disruptors that erode that capacity.
When both sides are addressed—when you remove your specific Disruptors and add your specific Builders—your body’s own sleep machinery runs smoothly enough to handle real life. Stressful days. Occasional late dinners. Even a Netflix episode or two.
That’s today’s win: understanding that when sleep is supported this way, it isn’t delicate.
This is through engineered strength, not restriction.
And it is achievable for almost anyone, at any life stage.
What Comes Next: You Haven’t Tried Everything For Sleep (Nor Do You Want To)
So, now that you know those internal solvers fall into two groups—Builders and Disruptors—you might be thinking, “Great, this just sounds like a new, more complex 50-step list.”
It is the opposite.
The key is the word your. You don’t need to address everything. You only need to find the your primary Disruptors and the your specific missing Builders.
This is the idea of Precise Comprehensiveness—that solving for sleep comes from the comprehensive combination of internal solvers for you and you only.
So, how do you figure out which Disruptors and Builders are the right ones for you?
This is the pivot point.
It’s where we stop the cycle of “trying” and start the focused, effective work of “doing.”
The “trying” approach is based on reactive process of trial and error: supplement X, pillow Y, and app Z, in the hope that something works.
We are not interested in that.
We want to find your specific, foundational “A, B, and C”—the proactive process of taking the targeted actions that support your sleep architecture. That is the path of doing.
The question now becomes, “What, specifically should I do next?”
Next Time: We’ll explore how to find that answer.
See you then,
Kat
P.S. I know this might feel like a lot to untangle. If you’re thinking this might be the stage where you’d rather pinpoint your Builder vs Disruptor pattern instead of spending years in trial and error, that’s the work I do with clients 1-1. You can learn more about my 1-1 sleep strategy mentorship and the application process here.
If you’re still mapping things out yourself, stay tuned—Part 5 will guide you through how to identify which internal system to focus on first.