Sleep

The #1 thing you can do for your health is get enough, good quality sleep.

During quality sleep your body:

• Repairs cells

• Fights off cancer cells

• Reduces stress and inflammation

• Gets rid of toxic emotions

• Protects your heart (lack of sleep has been associated with worsening blood pressure and higher cholesterol). Your heart is healthier if you sleep 7-9 hours a night

• Improves and preserves your memory

• Helps you repair itself overall

Lack of sleep:

• Causes your body to go into a state of stress.

• Causes high blood pressure and the release of stress hormones.

• Is linked to weight gain and obesity

• Causes brain fog

• Leads to short term memory damage/loss (damages hippocampus where short term memory is stored)

• Causes early onset of chronic disease

• Leads to the onset of cardiovascular disease

• Leads to shorter lifespan (specific kinds of surgeons are known to die several decades before their estimated lifespan—all because of long-term sleep deprivation).

• Can cause danger on the road—a tired driver is said to be far more dangerous than a drunk driver.

• Damages your DNA. Studies show damage to DNA begins from even one night of sleep deprivation. When you don’t get enough sleep, epigenetic switches get turned on that are involved with inflammation, cardiovascular disease and tumors.

Case studies:

During daylight savings time when we lose an hour of sleep, heart attacks go up 24% the following day. During the fall when people gain an hour, the heart attack rates go down 21%.

A weight loss study of two groups showed the following. One group was sleeping five and a half hours. The other group was sleeping eight and a half hours. The five and a half hour group lost 55% less body fat and 60% more muscle mass with their weight loss. In weight loss you want to protect your lean muscle mass at all costs. You want to be losing as much body fat as possible and preserving even building a little bit of lean body mass during your weight loss journey.

• Causes food cravings to go up significantly. Grelin, which is your hunger hormone, goes up about 28% following a night lacking sleep and of your willpower is compromised causing you to want to eat more of the wrong kinds of foods.

Another Case:

An athlete who tracks his blood sugar using a constant glucose monitor (a device that’s tracking your blood sugar 24 hours a day) found the following from a single night of lack of sleep—the following day, he looked like he was prediabetic, because when you have elevated blood sugar, your skin is aging faster and you actually are aging faster. This is the consequences of one bad night, not talking about decades of bad sleep.

Tips for good sleep:

• Dim lights about 90 minutes before targeted bedtime. This tells your brain it is time to start prepping for bed. Blue lights from computers and screens make it hard for your brain to want to go to sleep. This is because blue light disrupts circadian rhythm, the body’s natural biological clock, and suppresses the body’s production of melatonin.

• You want to make your bedroom as pitch black if possible. Get black out curtains and attempt to sleep with no light seeping through. You do not want to see your hand in the dark because if light hits your hand it disrupts melatonin production.

• Sleep in a very cold room. A very cold environment both in the room and underneath the sheets helps you get deep sleep. When you are hot your body does not go into deep sleep. (If you struggle being hot under the sheets you can utilize a Chilipad or Sleep Eight.)

• Go to bed at close to the same time each night. This improves your circadian response and gets your body in a healthy sleep pattern. Going to bed at the same time each night is more important than waking up at a certain time. As stated earlier, studies show that even going to bed one night super late and getting only a few hours a sleep causes the body to go into diabetic state.

• Sleep on your back or side if possible.

• Sleep on a good mattress.

• Do not eat at least 3 hours before going to bed. Digestion causes energy flow which hinders sleep.

• Go to be bed before midnight. Studies show that every hour before midnight counts for two hours.

More Sleep Facts:

Adults need 8 hours of sleep however for every hour of intense workout another hour should be added. i.e. Athletes who work out 3 hours a day should sleep about 11 hours a night.

With sleep it is not just about quantity it’s about quality. You want to make sure you are getting deep sleep.

Products to help you sleep:

Melatonin

Magnesium (we should be taking 600-800 mg a day of the right kind of magnesium, see my article on Magnesium.)

Gaba if you can’t turn your mind off

Sleep Breakthrough which can be purchased at the below website.

https://bioptimizers.com/shop

PEMF mat

Red light therapy lamp