Shutdown Sequence: A Precision Pre‑Bed Framework to Accelerate Sleep Onset

System builders don’t need pep talks—they need a procedure. Shutdown Sequence gives hobbyists a crisp, instrumented pre‑bed framework that compresses time‑to‑sleep using controllable inputs and measurable checkpoints. Over twelve minutes you’ll run a deterministic chain: photic taper with lumen and Kelvin targets, thermal drift via distal warming and core cooling, respiratory cadence programming (transitioning from 4‑6‑8 to slow nasal 6‑0‑6), proprioceptive loading, and a two‑minute cognitive down‑ramp that clears looping tasks. Each step specifies timing windows, intensities, and pass/fail criteria so you can log outcomes and iterate like a micro‑experiment.

Inside you’ll find a wall‑mount timing card, actuator checklists, travel variations, and troubleshooting trees for late workouts, heavy meals, or screen‑dense nights. The emphasis is practical mechanics over theory: what to do, when to do it, and how to verify it’s working with simple markers (latency, wake‑after‑sleep onset, and morning alertness).

Run it tonight, record the delta tomorrow, and tune the parameters across a week. If you love dialing in systems until they click, this is your pre‑sleep edge—clean, repeatable, and built for real‑world nights.