Sleep:

An Answer to Health?

Often overlooked, sleep is a key component to optimizing health and well-being

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Let's simplify this...

The absence of quality sleep is the absence of quality health

How do I Improve Sleep?

1. Consistency:

   • Set a bedtime and wake time everyday...and stick to it! (Even on weekends)

   • Once your alarm goes off...get out of bed. 

   • Keep consistency even if you have a difficult or restless night...we want to increase our drive for sleep!

2. Set a bedtime routine

   • Engage in something that is relaxing each night​

   • Biohacking Tip: Try engaging in some mindfulness meditation right before bed. Maybe a body scan or mindfulness of breath exercise.

3. Dial in your lighting

   • Excessive blue light (i.e., tv, cellphones, tablets, overhead lights) will tell the brain to stay up.​

   • Biohacking Tip: 1-2 hours before bedtime, try turning off all electrical equipment/stimulation. Light the home with either candles or red LED bulbs. This will help to increase melatonin secretion.

   • Invest in a pair of TrueDark Twilights

4. Keep your bedroom cool and dark

   • Heat keeps us up; light keeps us up​

   • Invest in some blackout curtains

   • Eliminate all light in room--including cellphones, alarm clocks, etc.

5. Nutrition!

   • Reduce/Eliminate processed sugars​

   • Try an intermittent fasting protocol where you stop eating your last meal around 6-7pm

   • Increase foods containing magnesium: avocado, nuts, seeds, dark and leafy greens.

6. Track your sleep

   • Check out wearable technologies like the OuraRing​

7. Try taking an Epsom Salt bath

8. Use your bed for two things: Sleep and Sex

   1. We do not want to associate the bed w/ watching tv, restlessness, or wakefulness.​

9. Avoid caffeine later in the day

   • Biohacking tip: rule​ of thumb, stop drinking caffeine after 1200pm

   • Avoid strenuous exercise 2-4 hours before bedtime

10. If you experience insomnia, do not stay in bed longer than 15 minutes when experiencing "tossing and turning."

    • Again, we do not want to associate the bed with this state of restlessness and frustration​

    • Get out of bed and engage in something relaxing and mindful--do not turn on the television or do something overly activating.

11. Stop looking at the clock!

    • This only causes frustration, increases stress, and leads to poorer sleep quality.​

12. Avoid naps during the day

    • Remember, ​we want to increase our drive for sleep. Napping may fool our brain into thinking it got the rest it needed when it really did not.

Light

Does light exposure have an impact on mental and physical well-being?

Exercise

What effects does exercise have on overall physical and mental performance?

Water

Does the type of water I drink matter? What does water have to do with mental and physical well-being?

Sleep

Sleep better for better physical and mental well-being