#185 HIW #6 - Journey to Dreamland Crafting Restorative Nightly Rituals

Are you giving your sleep the attention it deserves, or is it an afterthought in your bustling life? Join me, Jordan, and my remarkable guest, Singh Kim, as we embark on a journey into the essence of sleep and its profound influence on our health. Amidst sharing his own health battles, Singh Kim unravels the intricate connections between rest and our well-being, from the purging of brain waste to bolstering memory. We take a critical look at the often-overlooked impact of lifestyle choices, like diet and exercise, and even the foundation of your rest — the mattress. It's time to awaken to the pivotal role sleep plays in our lives.

Unlock the secrets to enhancing your sleep hygiene with practical advice, from the effects of alcohol to the wonders of magnesium bisglycinate, which personally revolutionized my own sleep patterns. We dissect the "3-2-1" rule, shedding light on how to craft the perfect pre-sleep routine; dimming not just the lights, but also your engagement with food, work, and screens. Singh and I delve into the cool, calming embrace of an ideal sleep environment, informed by luminaries like Dr. Andrew Huberman. Grasp the tools to craft your night-time haven and align your circadian rhythm, for a journey to dreamland paved with intention and consistency.

Concluding our soulful exploration, we illuminate the transformative effects of deep, intentional sleep on every facet of life. From productivity to personal relationships, achieving restorative sleep isn't just about closing your eyes—it's about opening the door to a life of enriched potential. With Singh's insights and our shared experiences, we provide you with an arsenal of strategies, from gratitude exercises to meal timing that holds the key to unlocking your best self. Embrace the power of sleep and its ripple effect through your days; join us in this commitment to nurturing health as the foundation of a vibrant life.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:01

hey, what's going on guys? This is jordan, with edwards consulting and hashtag clocked in podcast and I'm excited for a special guest. Today we've segment number six of the health is wealth podcast, and saying kim is here again. We've talked about a variety of subjects, but one subject we have not spoken about, and it's about sleep. It's something that we do for at least a quarter of our life, maybe a third of our life, depending how much sleep you're really getting, but we'll dive into that today. Singh, how are you doing?

Speaker 2: 1:37

Yeah, I'm doing okay. Like I said, I'm dealing with this, uh, atrial fibrillation. You know it's I'm a little unedged about it. However, you know, I've got, uh a deeper sense of confidence, uh knowing that, um, I do have access to lots of experts that can help me to solve for my own personal AFib Right.

Speaker 1: 2:17

So it's yeah, yeah, so I don't have as much energy, but you mentioned he has access to some of the best experts in the world through his network. Not everybody does, so that's why we're doing this. Health is wealth and talking about sleep today, looking into this sleep dynamic. Start thinking about it, start realizing how it affects you, because most people are just like, hey, I got eight hours, I'm good. Is that good enough nowadays? Like, how do you think about that?

Speaker 2: 2:53

Yeah, you know what I would say. I started getting deeper into my own health and you know, I can tell you it was january 2010.

Speaker 2: 3:09

oh, I started to go to san diego for a seminar in conference called values-based financial planning um, with bell backrack. So you know, when you go to cal, to California, there's all this woo-woo and this health, and I started. I picked up yoga, I saw a functional medicine doctor, so I started to go a lot deeper. So that's 14 years ago, right. So you know, that was when I was 43, wow, and I just thought I'm a healthy guy, but I want to stay healthy.

Speaker 3: 3:51

Yes.

Speaker 2: 3:52

Right, so it was more of that. And being in California, people are a little bit more healthy there, with all the sun, all the food, access to fresh food etc.

Speaker 1: 4:06

A hundred percent. I even noticed that I was saying before. I actually got back from a trip where me and Madison were traveling for seven weeks and I'm actually releasing a podcast about that soon. If that one comes out or this one comes out first, I'm not sure that one comes out or this one comes out first, I'm not sure. But the food in Europe and the walkability that people were, having just had a much bigger exercise dynamic where it was just the lifestyle, was different.

Speaker 2: 4:34

I didn't let you healthier living.

Speaker 1: 4:36

Yeah, you start having fresh foods, like things are just. It's just a healthier lifestyle. So what does sleep have to do with a healthy lifestyle, and where does sleep even play a part in this?

Speaker 2: 4:50

yeah, you know as well as I do, jordan, when you don't get a good night's sleep, you feel like crap. The next day you're, you're, maybe you've got some extra cravings, right, maybe you are thirstier or you know it's just you don't feel 100 percent Right. So this, this notion of you can sleep when you're dead, you know that's a that's a lot of BS, right. Can sleep when you're dead? You know that's a lot of BS, right. And you know, and just from my review of literature, from studying a number of different sleep experts, like most of them are going to agree that most people will need anywhere from six to eight hours-ish of sleep.

Speaker 2: 5:39

And depending on your chronotype, you know, some people don't need as much sleep and that can be genetically driven, right, some people need a little bit more sleep. But I think the experts agree, you know, six to eight hours of good sleep and restful sleep. So that means getting you're going to have light sleep, you're going to have that deep sleep and then you're going to have that REM sleep or that rapid eye movement sleep. So all three get rid of the beta amyloid plaque that builds up in our brain, which is like black tar, you can watch a video on YouTube of beta amyloid plaque and for people that don't get enough deep sleep.

Speaker 2: 6:38

they don't get rid of this waste product.

Speaker 2: 6:41

This waste product from the brain. Is this black tar, and it looks like black tar. So, um, and if you don't get rid of it, well, guess what? Your brain does not function well with black tar, right? So you're gonna have brain issues, whether if it's in the form of dementia or you know. You know you're just not functioning properly, right, and that's, that's an important function. I mean, it's so important for you know self-recovery metabolism, you know. Just just to go through memory as well, just to go through memory as well you know, we need to get into these sleep cycles to retain what we learned as well, right?

Speaker 2: 7:29

So there's so many different aspects of it, but we all know that we need a certain amount of sleep, right?

Speaker 1: 7:40

So how do we optimize that? Yeah, 100%, yeah, a hundred percent. And the thing is I I was thinking about this because when we were trying to figure out a topic in the beginning, it's like why would we talk about sleep? And I sat there and I'm like this is the only thing we should be talking about. It's the only thing that people do every single day, regardless. That means if you're lazy, if you're active, if you're an athlete, if you're in anything, yeah. And the crazy part is that we don't like I had someone in my group talk about, uh, investing in a mattress and I was like, oh, they're like it's not that big of a deal. I'm like, no, it's a massive deal. It's a huge deal because if you're not relaxed and can't relax yourself, like yeah, what are you doing? I mean, you said more on car payments than they do their mattress like yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 8:29

You think about what's a good night's sleep worth. You know financially well if you don't get a good night's sleep and you get a sales meeting and you're trying to retain a, a new client well that could be a million dollar deal right.

Speaker 2: 8:45

You're not 100%. You know you had a restless sleep, so you're not as sharp. Maybe you forgot something right, like let's go down to the root cause of some of these issues that we have as human beings. You know, if someone's really irritable, well, maybe they have sleep apnea. They need to get a sleep test right in there, you know and how does that even work?

Speaker 1: 9:13

like, what is sleep apnea or what? Like I I am like very I know a little bit about sleep, but not that much, and that that's why I like bringing you on once a month just to learn about all these different areas. So what leads to sleep apnea and how does someone get it? Like, what is it exactly?

Speaker 2: 9:33

Yeah, I mean, I mean essentially. I mean there's different causes of sleep apnea, sleep apnea, but what they do know is that if you snore, your chances of sleep apnea go up dramatically, right? So, um, you know, and actually I've been experimenting with this new app called shut eye, and it actually is is different than the other tracking devices like the WootBand, the Oral Gain, the Fitbit- to the.

Speaker 2: 10:08

World right. You know the Apple Watch right. And what's neat about this simple app? I think it's like 50 bucks for the year and it tracks the sound in your room and you're snoring.

Speaker 3: 10:23

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 10:24

So you know, if you think that you don't have sleep apnea, you go oh yeah, that's BS. Well, try this app that actually listens to you. And you go holy mackerel, that's the way I sound. Maybe I should get this checked out. Or your spouse or your wife, you know, says you snore a lot, and then the guy says the husband says no, I don't, no way, I don't know a lot.

Speaker 2: 10:50

Well, hey, try this app, and then you can actually hear yourself and it'll measure the decibels you go and then it'll. It'll give you a ranking on if you have a low risk of sleep apnea or a higher risk of sleep apnea. I mean, essentially, in the middle of the night you actually stop breathing, oh wow.

Speaker 2: 11:10

Right. So so you can affect your heart, your heart, you know your, your heart may become irregular in the way it beats. So with my AFib I've got to get down a little bit deeper. You know, I've got a a lower risk of sleep apnea right now because I'm wearing a snore guard but, but you know what, maybe that's not even enough, right? So I definitely have to get a sleep study and I, who knows, maybe I need to get a c-pat machine to give constant pressure.

Speaker 2: 11:45

You know the big, you know the big ugly machine with the yeah you know, you know it basically regulates the pressure in your, you know, your, the way that you breathe, right through your nose, your mouth and all the way down your your trachea, right, so it keeps the airways open right.

Speaker 2: 12:07

So some people need that and there's a number of different devices out there that that can help with breathing. Yeah, as well, you know. And then some people they've got a, you know, I actually a friend of mine's a dentist and he actually had some surgery and, you know, had some laser surgery in his, in his throat area and got some extra flaps around the mouth. You know, you know the, you know, you know, in the side of your mouth, near inside your throat. So he, you know, they carved it out with laser, um, and actually got his sinuses cleaned out as well and made sure that the the flow of air through the nasal passages were clear, so that that helped him out quite a bit with his snoring and, and he doesn't, he, you know I, I've roomed with him on golf trips. He doesn't snore any longer, right, and he's sleeping much better, right oh, so there's different surgeries or different things and different ways of yeah kind of being proactive, but.

Speaker 1: 13:16

But let's just bring it back to just sleep in general. How can someone show up better for sleep? I know you introduced me to actually this one tactic. I don't know if you remember it was the, the three, two, one yeah, it's very, very simple and it's out there, right?

Speaker 2: 13:34

a lot of coaches talk about three, two, one. You know from the grand, you know the ben greenfields of the world, right? Um, yeah, yeah, so really, you know from the Ben Greenfields of the world, right? Yeah, yeah, so really you know. The idea is three hours before your bedtime. So let's say, I'm shooting to go to bed by 10pm, so by seven o'clock, three hours before. No more food, right? And you think about it. If you got food in your gut right near bedtime, the blood and your body is working Right. So it's on, it's not resting, it's working to digest your food, instead of just relaxing and getting you ready for sleep.

Speaker 3: 14:22

Right.

Speaker 1: 14:23

So snacking in the evening for most people, not so good for sleep, right, and this is yeah, and this is a massive thing because I've had myself and some buddies where they might fast for a day and they'll literally get a hundred percent recovery because their body doesn't have to focus on the food consumption. So, like for myself, I try to eat earlier because, think about it, if you stop eating at I don't know, seven, six, five, mostly like six, let's call it six, and then you go to bed at nine, 10. That's four hours right there. Then you're going to sleep another six, seven, eight hours. You're almost into a 12 hour fast without even trying, which is good for the purification of your body and it allows you to get better sleep.

Speaker 2: 15:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely so. And the thing is you got to test that out and with the three hours I would say alcohol right, like I don't drink a lot of alcohol and I know from doing my, you know I tested out the Oura Ring and the Whoop Band and the Fitbit and having one drink right.

Speaker 2: 15:43

I've heard this Glass of wine, one beer or one shot of whiskey or scotch. Yeah, it disrupts my sleep by 20%. So my quality of sleep decreases by a minimum of 20% with one drink, right? So that's not great for longevity, right? It ages you, right.

Speaker 1: 16:12

A hundred percent. So then you start to sit there and you're like, basically, what ends up happening once you realize that then it's the elimination of like, well, if I'm only gonna have one drink, what's the point of having a drink? You know what I mean in which, yeah, then you can sit there and like eliminate that and now you're gonna have a much better restful sleep, because all we're talking about here are just habits and patterns. So, like, if we can break these habits down and keep them very simple rules, like if you follow the three, two, one which we'll get further into that and then if you don't drink alcohol during the week and maybe drink on, like friday, saturday, like your sleep's just gonna be better, you're to show up better and you're going to be. Now I'm not saying that like, the rules don't break from time to time, but it's just. It's just an awareness and an understanding that, hey, I'm not going to get a good sleep because I'm having this yeah, yeah, and, and you know what?

Speaker 2: 17:18

I think one of the best things to do to prove to yourself that one drink affects your sleep is you can only improve something that you measure Right. So get your device out, you know, get one of those devices and and all those, you know those devices, all three of those devices that I talked about. You know they are all good because they give you a baseline and then you measure from your baseline, right?

Speaker 1: 17:47

Yes, right.

Speaker 2: 17:48

And that's the key right, because they all have their pros and cons, right and they all work well. But now you got a baseline and then you can see the changes, or the delta, that happens with your sleep, and you can test it with supplements, you can test it with changing one variable and you go oh yeah, that affects my sleep. So when I started taking magnesium bisglycinate in the evening on a on a regular basis, my sleep improved by 10 to 20 percent oh wow, magnesium, for example.

Speaker 2: 18:23

So I tested it and and I was surprised yeah so I tested out one variable, right, but back to the two hours, um, you know. And. And then, yeah, three hours before, no food, no drink. And I understand, I mean you're gonna have a drink every now and then, but during the week, you know when you to go to work the next day and you got to be on top of your game, you know, maybe you shouldn't have that drink, or just wait till Friday to have those beers. I mean, you'll show up the best of your abilities not to be on screens, because the blue light that we get from screens and the light that you get in your house could really affect your sleep, right?

Speaker 3: 19:20

So dimming the lights it is important you know having blackout curtains you know, can really help um, wearing um blu-ray blocker sunglasses helps as well.

Speaker 2: 19:35

So if you're on the computer, get yourself a 50 to 100 blu-ray blocking glasses in the evening, and then that'll help. Right, because that blu-ray hitting your eyes is a stimulus. It tells you that you should be awake 100. Meanwhile, you want to. You want to calm down.

Speaker 1: 19:57

Right, you want to cool down right, so I was actually just looking up the three. We went online and it said that the three was no food or drink, the two was actually no work and then the one was no screens.

Speaker 3: 20:13

Yeah, I go. I try to get off the screens as soon as possible.

Speaker 2: 20:19

Some people will interchange those. You know, I tried to get off the screens as soon as possible, right? So, yeah, yeah, some people will interchange those, right.

Speaker 3: 20:28

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:28

But definitely the work right, it should be the 3-2-2.

Speaker 2: 20:33

Yeah, the 3-2-2. Right, because you know if you're working and your brain is racing before you go to bed, you know what are the what's the likelihood of you actually going to bed rested yes, absolutely, and the other thing about sleep is.

Speaker 1: 20:55

That's just one tip, or is there any other tips that you have for sleeping or are sleeping?

Speaker 2: 21:00

oh gosh, there's, there's probably, you know I, there's probably about 50 variables that oh, wow I've investigated myself. You know um and and it depends too right, like when I, when I took my dna test, I was suboptimal for sleep.

Speaker 3: 21:22

Oh really.

Speaker 2: 21:23

Yeah, so genetically, I've got to make sure my circadian rhythm is on track, which means that going to bed at a regular time and getting up at a regular time. I really need to do that, because my body does not adapt well when my circadian rhythm is off.

Speaker 3: 21:46

Yes, right.

Speaker 2: 21:47

So that affects me even more than a person that has an optimal circadian rhythm gene right and for me that's good to know right.

Speaker 1: 21:58

So being consistent with bedtime, being consistent with waking up, is really important well, I think, regardless of who you are, that is one of the biggest hacks, because, um, for me it was always. If you don't keep it, obviously you break rules sometimes, right, like if you're traveling or stuff comes up or you're hanging out but if you can realistically stay at the same wake up time, super beneficial, like super, super beneficial.

Speaker 2: 22:30

Yeah, for, for, for sure, For sure. I mean that's. I think that consistency is, is is really important, and I mean that's. I think that consistency is really important. And I love what Dr Andrew Huberman talks about, the neuroscientist from Stanford. You know when you get up in the morning, you know getting up when the sun gets up, so that your eyes, the cells in your eyes, receive that morning light.

Speaker 2: 23:06

And it's so refreshing right it just wakes me up and sets my circadian rhythm, and that's really important. I really enjoy doing that because I feel much better when I do right. That's one of the reasons why I like golfing first thing in the morning in the summer, because I get that morning sun. Oh, that's awesome Right oh, that's awesome, right, so so I you know I. I'm a member of the club right nearby my place and getting a seven o'clock tea off time means that I'm up by six, right and you're seeing one son absolutely packs in.

Speaker 1: 23:52

Yeah, absolutely, and so I mean just back to the sleep, like Absolutely. And so I mean just back to the sleep, like what is it that people can do to optimize their sleep? Or out of the 50 things you found, what were some of the best ones for you? Like, I know, one of the big ones for me was and it's kind of like everyone kind of talks about it, I feel like the cold room. Like when the room's colder you get a better sleep. I don't know the validity on that, but I've been hearing that a lot. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 24:27

You know the. You know, according to a lot of these, a lot of sleep experts, you know the two biggest variables are temperature and light. Oh wow, yeah, yeah. So those are. Those are two things that you've got to negotiate with your partner, right?

Speaker 3: 24:39

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 24:40

So the temperature ideally it's 63 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, so it's on the cooler side, right? So you know a lot of women like to have it warmer and guys generally like to have it cooler, right so you got to negotiate that and hopefully your significant other can bundle up right on half of their bed right while we stay cool, but that cool air, you think about it. When you're breathing that cool air um your body is more relaxed yeah right, it's, it's not.

Speaker 2: 25:19

Um, you know, when the air is too warm, you just feel a little bit more congested, right and that's really okay, you know you know, that's just uh, and your body reacts to that, right. You, just you toss and turn. You know when you're too warm yeah right and you're. You're likely not going to sleep as well.

Speaker 1: 25:38

Okay, I bring this up because I'm so impressed about how aware you are about what certain variables affect you, and then I started to realize it because, as you're eating different stuff, as you're sleeping, as you start to become more astute and, like you mentioned, one of the major things for everyone is measuring and monitoring this stuff. You can't improve what you don't know. So if you could put on one of these trackers and just for even if you don't want to track your steps and all that kind of stuff, but even just tracking your sleep, because what ends up happening is like you kind of gamify it to figure out like, how do I get better sleep? How do I think about this? To figure out like, yeah, how do I get better sleep? How do I think about this? I'd like literally just offered a six month free uh fitbit pro, like whatever it is. Like a lot of stuff. Isn't that much money?

Speaker 2: 26:29

like it's just it's a good way to know what's going on yeah, and and back to the temperature thing is, and there's some great products out there, right where you know you can get a cooling mattress. So, for example, let's say, your significant other wants it warm, so you can get a cooling mattress and you can, you know, move the temperature so it's more precise for you. That's used, that's probably going to be 63 to 60 degrees so that you're cool right yeah, and you can have it on your side of the bed.

Speaker 2: 27:09

So you know that could actually save a marriage, right? You like it, you like it cold and and she likes a little bit warmer, right? So so there are solutions to the sleeping thing. But what I found, too, is that getting a good full mattress for me and you've got to test it out for yourself but, um, it wicks the heat off. With a good full mattress, I don't get as hot with a good full mattress, right, and?

Speaker 2: 27:38

and that makes a huge difference. And and actually, I've tested different sheets, right? So I like the bamboo sheets because if you're sweating, you know the cotton doesn't dry out Wow, it doesn't wick the moisture, and I found the bamboo feels cool all the time. Well, and I found the bamboo feels cool all the time. It's remarkable, right. So you know, figuring that out for yourself, what, what your preference is. But I think, um, you know, if you haven't tried bamboo sheets and you know bamboo sheets are wonderful, right?

Speaker 1: 28:13

yeah, yeah, and there's different like the right counts and you can get softness. There's so many things and a lot of people think it's BS, but when you really sit there and think about it just as an individual, this is where I'm going to spend eight hours a day or six hours a day or whatever it is. You spend so much time. Most people have these cars that they barely they'll go in the car for 20 minutes a day minutes a day, like you know what I mean and we'll spend more on that than we do. The bad, which is kind of a fascinating concept when you do the comparison oh yeah, there's.

Speaker 2: 28:48

There's so much to talk about. Right like um. So as you get older, um, you probably don't have this issue, jordan, but you know, after you're over 40, just say right and you might get this. You know, you might get this acid reflux gas and things like that, and there's actually a simple solution. You don't have to go buy a $10,000 Tempur-Bedic bed that moves up and down. You know, the head goes up, the feet goes up and all that stuff. Right, you could actually just put some books at the headboard on both sides and tilt the bed a couple of inches so that there is a slant. There's a slope from your head to your toe and that'll help keep your gastric juices flowing down oh, wow right, and it's very subtle, right, so you can do that.

Speaker 2: 29:47

Um, as well, you can take, you know, like like some people like myself take betaine hydrochloride to to manage that and then that works out really well for digestion. Right, because you know everything's connected right.

Speaker 1: 30:04

There's definitely levels to this, yeah. Yeah, we can just go on forever right.

Speaker 2: 30:08

But but it's interesting that, uh, just recently, I mean I was really getting annoyed because I was getting up, you know so I'm. I'm 56, I'll be 57 soon, right, I? Because I was getting up, you know, so I'm, I'm 56, I'll be 57 soon, right, I'm. I'm getting up to go pee two or three times a night. But recently I've sort of I've hacked it. Now I'm not, I'm sleeping through the night like a baby now, which is great.

Speaker 1: 30:35

Just by the bed lift, like just lifting the thing a little bit well, you know, you know, doing, doing that.

Speaker 2: 30:42

Uh, the temperature. I mean some people need to wear earplugs because you might be, if you're a little sensitive to sound yeah right and that might disturb your sleep, so you got to figure this out right. So I hopefully we inspire people to take charge of your sleep and you got to figure this out right. It's a Just become aware of it.

Speaker 1: 31:04

Yeah, there's literally nothing to sell here. That's the other thing. There's literally nothing. It's just all awareness on like, how do you think about sleep? Is your pillow good? Is your sheets good? Is your comforter? Is the blanket? Is all of it?

Speaker 2: 31:20

because all of it's variable yeah, exactly like if you're a tactile person, right, and your sheets aren't smooth and and you get little pills like little cotton, you know, you know, like, let's say, your sheets aren't great sheets, they don't have a high thread count, like 800 or or 1,000, or they're not bamboo and they're a little pilly, just that can really affect your sleep because it's annoying you, it's just pissing you off all night and maybe you're not even aware of it right, You're going. Geez, I didn't sleep well, so some people are very sensitive to that.

Speaker 1: 31:59

Well, you got to try bamboo sheets right yeah, and you don't even know where you're going to end up Like. You don't know what this impact can change, because when people get good sleep, then they start showing up differently to things. They're not upset or irritated and everything kind of changes.

Speaker 2: 32:17

Yeah, absolutely, you know. Another big variable for me is caffeine. I'm very sensitive to caffeine, so I cannot have a dark chocolate or anything like a coffee or even a strong tea after 3 pm. Oh, wow, yeah it's crazy. 3 pm is sort of like my, my cutoff point, yeah, you know. So it's got to be a decaf tea.

Speaker 2: 32:50

You know, I don't drink a lot of coffee anymore because it actually creates stress in the body, right, it actually raises your cortisol levels up right, oh, actually, wow yeah yeah, so you got to be, you know, like a, like a couple days, I think it's good, but but anyways um, like, yeah, so for after dinner I'll have a decaffeinated tea for digestion, right, it'll help calm you down, right, because, like, like a peppermint tea, right, decaf teas, um, like, peppermint, will have l-theanine in it, so that's a nice organic substance that helps you to calm down right.

Speaker 1: 33:30

So having, like the magnesium dysglycinate before bed and a calming tea soup, right, it really helps prepare the body for sleep pretty much what I'm taking out here is that a lot conventional wisdom and conventional ways of doing things can be good or can be challenged. You know what I mean, and it's kind of like this idea of how do we optimize for the best experience we can in regards to the sleep and by listening what's saying, because you know, sometimes after a meal they're like you. I mean, I was just in europe so they're like oh, do you want an espresso? And I'm like it's 10 pm. No, I don't want an espresso, I'm good.

Speaker 2: 34:16

Yeah, and some people don't react to caffeine.

Speaker 3: 34:21

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 34:22

You know, some people can handle the caffeine and it gets processed really well through their body and they can go to bed Right. But a lot of us we can't handle it. It's just it's very potent.

Speaker 1: 34:34

Right, a hundred percent, and it's the tolerance. So my point being here is that I don't want this to be like something's good or something's bad or something's right or wrong. It's just how do we optimize for where we're at? So if we've never even thought about sleep and we're at a two, what are some of the easy wins we could do outside of what we brought up temperature, bedding, all of that stuff? Are there any other easy wins you think people could? Yeah?

Speaker 2: 35:02

yeah, I think. I mean you know, if you exercise, that helps with sleep, right, and it kind of makes sense, right. You've taxed your body and it could be. It could be a 20-minute walk, right. So some kind of exercise is going to help with sleep, right? And what I mean by, that is, throughout the day, right Now. Some people can exercise in the evening and then they're okay, they can fall asleep, but a lot of us it's a stimulant. Exercise stimulates the body, you, you know, and you're getting the adrenaline flowing, right you?

Speaker 2: 35:44

might get the dopamine up, the oxytocin, the endorphins, and I cannot do a workout in the evening because those endorphins and adrenaline will be in my body for about three hours.

Speaker 3: 36:01

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 36:02

So I will not be able to go to sleep right for three hours after I work out. So if I worked out at 10 pm and I tested this right, probably by 1.30, I might be able to start falling asleep.

Speaker 3: 36:19

Oh, wow. And that's just the way my body is right yeah.

Speaker 1: 36:25

Yeah, no, I hear that I've usually been a morning person, just because I think you attack the day. It's just you show up better. And plus, if you're going to get that energy, why not have it in the beginning of the day, yeah, or the middle of the day?

Speaker 2: 36:39

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 36:39

The beginning of the day, yeah, or the middle of the day, yeah. The end of the day, never really, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 36:42

I just never got into it, really yeah yeah, and there's a couple of you know a couple other things that really help as well, and it's it's counterintuitive, like a hot shower before bed, right? Right, so this is the theory, right? So you take a hot shower not only it's calming and it's relaxing, right? So when you get out of the shower, your body is too hot. So what does the body do? The body needs to cool down. So there's an automatic response to cool your body down, so the water evaporates from your skin, takes heat away from your skin. Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 37:24

That evaporation process takes heat away, so it's an exothermic reaction, right Evaporation, and then it's cooling your body down before bed. So it's actually a good way, just like how I've had three kids Bath time before bed is very soothing. Calms them down and cools them down for bed. That really helps. Then, obviously, reading a book, getting a book, really helps. Yeah, bedtime routines right.

Speaker 2: 38:03

And just like when we were kids you know if our parents read us we have this neural pathway that's been developed for years and years, and if your parents read books before bedtime and you had the bath this neural pathway is there we could get back on it and fall asleep. Really well, right.

Speaker 1: 38:24

Yeah, and you're bringing up a very good point. So a lot of us have a morning routine, but do we have a bedtime routine and what does that look like and how do we think about that? Because a lot of people are like I talk to a lot of people and a lot of them are like yeah, like when I want to go to bed at 11, say I'm gonna go to bed at 10, like I want to change it up, go to bed at 10, I'll just mosey on into my room at like 10 15, and it's like no, it takes you like an hour to get to sleep or you have to be prepared to sleep. So now it's like let's get in the room, brush your teeth, relax, not have to do anything, and like kind of simmer down and slow down what you're doing, because we're in such a chaotic environment, so chaotic, and everyone's wants to be doing more than the other person, and we're super doers and we're all doing a hundred thousand things, and it's like how do we slow down and do one thing?

Speaker 3: 39:26

yeah, so yeah, that one thing.

Speaker 2: 39:28

Yeah, that's a great point. That that's a great point. I mean, um, here's another variable um, is these naps, right? So some of us are fortunate, uh, to be able to take a nap in the afternoon. You know if you're working from home or you're doing your own business right. Not everyone has that. You know luxury, but if you do, you know most of the experts are going to talk about. You know those naps being 20 to 30 minutes maximum.

Speaker 2: 40:01

Yeah so it can be very, very helpful, but what I found with me anyways is if I have a nap that's longer than that, that's not helpful for sleep, because you get too deep.

Speaker 1: 40:17

You get too deep. I felt the same thing. Yeah, the under 20 minutes is ideal. Anything more than 20 minutes, you're playing with fire.

Speaker 2: 40:27

Yeah, and if I'm not, you know, let's say I didn't have a great night's sleep and I feel like I need a nap, but I can't go to sleep in the afternoon, so I'll do a meditation or I'll use the NuCalm device you know, that's something else that we can talk about in another podcast, in another chat is a NuCom device and it really brings you into this theta brainwave state.

Speaker 3: 40:57

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 40:59

And that theta brainwave is. You know, let's say it's less than 10 millihertzhertz or whatever the 4 to 10. It's very calming, you know. It's that state where you're almost asleep, you know, and you're very relaxed. So this device helps you to get into that meditative state like very quickly. So it's a great device for people that can't meditate or have challenges meditating, and it just relaxes you so much and gets your your heart rate variability to an optimal place so that you're yeah, you're calm, your nervous system is calm and you're in the parasympathetic part of the nervous system and not the stressful.

Speaker 1: 41:47

You know sympathetic nervous system is firing up yeah, and that's another tool um the, the sound waves I've heard about that where people use sounds to yes, yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of apps out there or even on youtube, like you look up, sound like white noise sounds or whatever it is yeah, and it's yeah.

Speaker 2: 42:10

A lot of it's free right on youtube or you know you got an app um these work right, it's really.

Speaker 1: 42:18

How do you create that nighttime environment to sleep and then to rise the next day so that you're ready to go and do these different things? Because a lot of us have very stressful lives, a lot of us have a lot going on and a lot of us have a lot of challenges. So why are we putting ourselves through the challenges each day? When we sleep, it's like let's overcome this, let's figure out a way. So is there anything else you would throw in there that you think the audience must do? Um, to optimize the sleep or the nighttime routine component?

Speaker 2: 42:53

yeah, yeah, but I think I think um what. What helps me out and lots of apps also would recommend this is doing 15 minutes of stretching, right really well, well, you think about it. Most of us are sitting way too long.

Speaker 3: 43:09

Yes.

Speaker 2: 43:10

So our hamstrings need to get stretched. Our hamstrings start to get really tight. So you think about it, you have tight hamstrings and now you've got a lower back that's not in an optimal position, right? So now your chances of pulling something in your lower back goes up, right? And you're yeah, yeah, so maybe you've got tech neck and you're not in a good position for your computer or you're doing this with your iPhone, right? You know you're, you're doing this kind of stuff, right?

Speaker 2: 43:50

and and now our posture is basically deformed yeah, right so we're tight, and if you're tight before going to bed, your body is relaxed. So sleep. Your body is trying to relax but it can't because you're too tight.

Speaker 3: 44:11

Yes.

Speaker 2: 44:12

And it's trying to get comfortable into this comfortable position and there's this uneasiness of the body. So doing some stretching can really help you out if you're, if you're tight absolutely.

Speaker 1: 44:29

I mean, as you mentioned, that it was kind of funny.

Speaker 1: 44:30

So when you go on an airplane like the little tip on the airplane is every hour you're supposed to do like 20 air squats, yeah, and you start to realize that, like people will sit in offices for eight hours straight and it's like go for a walk, man, like yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:46

Or just take your phone with you, like just do what you got to do, but like yeah, don't sacrifice your health just for one extra dial or whatever it is, because, yeah, the thing is like you need that. You only have one body, don't disrespect it. So I'm actually I don't know if you realize it right now, but I'm actually at a standing desk, like I have a desk up and down, so I'm standing. So I'm actually I don't know if you realize right now, but I'm actually at a standing desk, like I have a desk up down, so I'm standing, so I stand during the podcast because it allows me to just show up better. And then, two, it's just you give your your legs a break, because when they're sitting there it's not in a good place, and it's just you gotta. You gotta realize you only have one body and it's.

Speaker 3: 45:28

How do you treat that body with respect so that it can last the longest, and yeah, I love that, yeah, you have to, you have to yeah, and I'm glad you brought up the standing desk right um you.

Speaker 2: 45:42

We do have to change that position because we sit way too long and it has a lot of unintended consequences, you know.

Speaker 1: 45:51

And the other thing I want to note is this Amazon standing desk. I ordered like maybe 150 bucks, probably like a hundred bucks, and the thing is, to upgrade our things is so minuscule in comparison to like what we really think it is to change. You know what I mean? It doesn't, it's just the intentionality of what you're doing, and if you could just be a little more intentional. So my hope from this podcast is that something causes you to be more intentional about your sleep, whether it's you wearing a Fitbit, or you making it colder at night, or you eating three hours before bed, like any of these. I hope one of these tips really lands because it helps you optimize what you're trying to do.

Speaker 2: 46:38

Yeah, yeah, oh, 100%. You know, and you know we're just hitting the tip of the iceberg, and you know we're just hitting the tip of the iceberg, right? And I think it's important for our audience to know, that is, that we're all different and you've got to discover these things for yourself and you've got to test and see what works for yourself and what doesn't work. And if you're not feeling refreshed after sleep, you know, on most days, you know, get a sleep test. You know that's something that is going to be good for you, and then maybe you need some kind of appliance, whether if it's an oral appliance, whether it's a CPAP machine or something, but we need to sleep in a, you know, in a good way, because it's restorative, right.

Speaker 1: 47:34

Yeah, and it's not even like like I think sometimes it can be. We're like oh, worst case scenario, how do we go from a one to a 10? It's not even that. It's like you might get a five or a six and might be like I don't think this is anything, but if you can get to a seven or eight, now you're showing up better in society and now you're not being as irritable to people, and now we're like helping our people around us and not so like it's all about me. You know what I mean, because these little things affect us, us and like, the other major thing about sleep that we didn't really mention is, like, when you're angry, like I think gratitude is one of the best things because, like when you're grateful you, it calms you down.

Speaker 1: 48:17

And I actually did this incredible exercise with my group this week both groups actually where we talked about, um, there was this guy and he basically talked about the five senses of gratitude and it was like what's your seeing gratitude, what's your hearing gratitude, your taste, your touch, uh, and your smelling gratitude, and you have moments for each of those, and it's just this incredible experience when you go through it, because you pick a specific moment, like so, seeing it might be me on the beach as I'm on my knee, like getting engaged, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 48:55

And you get this like warm, fuzzy feeling in your heart and you do this for all five of them and you sit there and you're like Whoa, like I feel really good right now and like if you do that before bed, you're going to show up better and not be worried about the one person who might've talked bad about you or the one person who hung up on you or your friend argument or anything like. You got to get yourself clear and conscious and realize like I am going to bed. I'm excited for this experience.

Speaker 2: 49:23

When your head when your mind's moving too much that's why you got to do some of these exercises to prep it and kind of tone it down. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100, 100, right, like I think you know, most of us and and I'm I'm super aware of this. But by all means I I am not perfect at sleep. I mean, I do the best I can, you know, and every day is different.

Speaker 2: 49:50

But I think for most of us we don't need all the stimulation prior to sleep, whether if it's you know working, whether if it's social media because, you know, sometimes I get caught in the evenings with social media and that's why I think, like reading a book, you know, prior to bed forces you to get off the phone. And social media, because that in itself stimulates the brain, because these algorithms are to give you dopamine hits and those dopamine hits probably will keep you awake a little bit longer than you should A hundred percent A hundred percent.

Speaker 2: 50:36

So it's sort of like you've got to exchange this phone that we have access to with something else.

Speaker 3: 50:44

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 50:45

It's like a smoker, right, you give, give us. You know a smoker needs something to do with their hands. So if you, you know, you take a smoker and you get rid of the cigarette and you give them a little um, what do you call those little um? What do you call those little things, those little twirly things, to use your?

Speaker 2: 51:09

fidget spinners, yeah, yeah, the little spinners, right, and it keeps their fingers occupied. So you get rid of the one bad habit and then you insert a positive habit or a neutral habit, right. So get rid of the phone and exchange it with a book. Yes, I think that'll. Maybe. Maybe it's a boring book and it'll help you to get the bed faster.

Speaker 1: 51:36

Encyclopedia, whatever, maybe or maybe it's a good book and now you're learning more and like you can wake up and you have these new ideas ready for the day. Exactly the thing is that we're having positive outputs or positive inputs, because the inputs we take in, we have to be deciding on them and intentional on them. So you guys listening to this podcast today, that's a positive input. I appreciate that, sang appreciates it, and that's how we optimize what we're trying to do here.

Speaker 1: 52:05

Yeah, it's that's how we optimize what we're trying to do here. Yeah, so I would highly recommend everyone optimize for your sleep, optimize for what you're trying to accomplish today, because you have to realize that it's not just your day to day and your actions, but it's how you show up every single day so saying is there anything else you want to leave with the audience?

Speaker 2: 52:25

Well, I think you know there's a lot there. I would encourage you to, you know, implement one or two of the things that we talked about. Become super aware of what affects your sleep. You know, usually there's one or two things that are bothering you, and maybe there's some strategies for you to get more calm before sleep. It could be a meditation, it could be a book or it could be a warm shower. I think we've got enough ideas here and I encourage people to do some more research on sleep too. Then you're invested and think about what your life would be like if you had great sleep every day, like look at all the things you could do and all the people you would meet and connect with. And maybe you want to grow your business, or maybe you want a new relationship or you know whatever you want. Right without the, the deep sleep and the REM sleep, right, you know, what can you really accomplish? Maybe you're at a functioning at 60 70 percent. What if you were functioning at 80, 95%, 100%? What's possible for you?

Speaker 1: 53:48

Yeah, I love that, and it really is. It's just one action could change your entire way of going about your life. So I really hope you guys got some value in this and I'm excited to see what we come up with next. Sang, thank you so much for coming on. It's always a pleasure and we will talk very soon.

Speaker 2: 54:08

Yeah, absolutely Bye for now.