Unlocking the Power of Sleep: Top 10 Health Benefits of Restful Rejuvenation | Ep 154

So the first thing is to create a sleep hygiene routine. Now I did cover this way back when I first started this podcast in Episode Five. So I'm not going to go into the same amount of detail but if you want to go back and listen to that episode episode, you will capture all of that information. What I do want to add here is that as part of your bedtime routine which not only should children have but adults should as well because we do have to let our brain know When to start producing melatonin, and it's this sleep bedtime routine, the habit that we create that does trigger our brain to be aware of the fact that, oh, she's doing this, and then this and then this, and then this, I know this routine, that means she's getting ready for bed, I'm going to start producing melatonin. Now back in our hunter gatherer days, the brain would have known to start producing melatonin when it was dusk. But because we have electricity, now we've got the lights on in our house, the brain doesn't know when it's time to start producing melatonin. So we have to teach the brain that by creating a bedtime routine, and that bedtime routine should take you anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. And to create it, you want to do the same four to six activities in the same order every night for 30 days. We all do this with our kids, right? We'll have them have dinner, and then get in the bath, and then put on their jammies and brush their teeth and get into bed and have storytime. And we do it in the same order every night. So the kids know what's going on. And I used to think when I did this for my own kids, that that was the purpose of it. And since getting into health and wellness, I realized it wasn't just that wasn't the only purpose, the other purpose was helping their little brains know to start producing melatonin so they could have a better night's sleep. Therefore, we adults have to do this as well. And each person's hygiene routine is going to be different to the next. So it's whatever works for you. You know, for some people that could be wash the dishes, take the dog out for a walk, have a shower, get into bed and read. For someone else it might be have a sauna, do some yoga, stretching, have a shower, and then get into bed and journal right. So it's whatever works for you that you will do in the same order every night for a minimum of 30 nights so that your brain knows that when you start doing the first thing in your routine, that's when it's going to start producing the melatonin because it knows what's coming. So the other thing that you want to factor in is that three hours before bed is when you want to stop eating food. So there should be no food after three hours before bed. So if you go to bed at 10pm, you don't eat after 7pm. Two hours before bed, you want to stop all drinks. And one hour before bed, you want to completely get off your screens. Now let's just talk about screens, because screens emit blue light. And I want you to come back in a couple of weeks and listen to episode 156 with Rudy native, where we talk about blue light blocking glasses. And we're going to dive into that in much greater detail in that episode. But the reason that we have to be aware of blue light, and also using blue light blocking glasses, is the fact that blue light from our screens or devices or TVs, et cetera, et cetera, is the light that is emitted by the Sun at high noon. So it tells the brain that It's high noon, which means it's time to be active and outside doing things right. It's not telling the brain that it's time to start getting ready for bed and to start producing melatonin. And for what's also important to know is that for every hour that we are on screens getting blue light into our eyes, we are then blocking the brain's ability to produce melatonin for another 30 minutes. So if you're on screens for three hours in the evening, you your brain can't start producing melatonin for another 90 minutes after that. And when you wear blue light blocking glasses and good quality blue light blocking glasses that are blocking all of the blue light, then your brain isn't impacted and it can be producing the melatonin as per the bedtime hygiene routine that you have created. So definitely come back and check out that episode with Rudy naisip. You'll also want to find what works for you when it comes to calming the body and getting to sleep. And so I invite you to come back and listen to the next episode 157 with Jennifer Hasson Yaga we all hear about meditation and meditation is great and it's great for many people and it does calm the monkey mind if you have a monkey mind that needs calming, but you also might be somebody who feels like that's not working for me. Don't beat yourself up, find something that does work for you. We are all individuals. And so we are much better off finding what works for us. That does allow our brain to calm and us to get into A little bit of restorative time, then for us to try something that doesn't work, and then get all stressed out about the fact that it doesn't work that isn't helping you at. All right. So come back and listen to that episode. The other thing that you want to consider is tracking your sleep, especially as you're starting a new bedtime hygiene routine, and starting to focus on your sleep because of course, what we track we focus on right. So I'm wearing an aura ring here, I love my aura ring. And it is my favorite device for tracking sleep. It shows me how much deep sleep I get every night, how much REM sleep I get every night, my total sleep, my heart rate, my heart rate variability, it tracks by steps through the day, it does a lot of great tracking, so that I have information about how I'm doing. In fact, sometimes I've woken up and looked at my stats, and it says it appears you might be you know, coming down with something. And I haven't even noticed that yet. However, I see that and I'm like, Okay, I'm just gonna take it easy today. And then sure enough, the next day, I might feel like I have a sore throat coming on or something. So it kind of gives me a head up, which is great, because then I can start taking countermeasures and increasing my vitamin C and my immune protocol, in order to minimize any sickness or cold virus that I might be getting. So I find this to be very helpful. Now, when you track your sleep, you might be wondering, well, what do I aim for? First of all, all adults need seven to nine hours of sleep per night, if you're feeling like you're getting sick, it's going to be closer to the nine range. Or if you're just overworked and tired, exhausted, listen to your body, it will guide you. If you're feeling great, you have good energy, maybe you only need seven hours of sleep per night. But ideally, what we want to have within that time that we're sleeping is 120 minutes of REM sleep, which is supporting our mental health. And then 90 minutes of deep sleep, which is supporting our physical health. And that's something else that we're seeing an awful lot of and huge surges in anxiety and depression with people. And for those people, if you're listening, and that's something that you struggle with, stop and ask yourself, are you getting good enough sleep? Are you getting 120 minutes of REM sleep each night? And if you're not what steps can you take in order to improve that because that is going to support your mental health. And again, reach out if you need help with that. Something else that I would love to share is an S D are non sleep deep rest for daytime rest. And this is to calm our nervous system during the day. For example, yoga nidra, stretching after a workout enjoying time in a sauna, or meditating or progressive muscle relaxation, or taking a nap on a PEM format, which is pulsed electronic magnetic magnetic fields. This is a great way of just calming your nervous system through the day and breaking up your day. And this can be done in very short stints of time. And the best times are mid morning, right after lunch, mid afternoon, or post workout. And I know that we're all busy and so sometimes will or very often will push through and just keep going because we all have so much to do. But you will find that if you give yourself this non sleep deep rest during the day, that you're more productive, overall, more focused and less stressed. So it is indeed powerful. Many, many people are struggling with sleep. And when you struggle with sleep, you're not functioning at your best cognitively, you're not functioning at your best physically. And your body isn't able to heal and thrive. And then life feels hard. When we get good sleep life feels much easier.

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