Sleep is Widely Misunderstood

Sleep is a widely misunderstood topic. People seem to underrate its importance saying things like “I just don’t need that much sleep” or they assume that since they lie in bed for an average of 6 – 8 hours most nights, that they are getting enough sleep.

The truth is that the quality of your sleep is much more important than the number of hours you spend lying in bed. If you aren’t tracking your deep sleep, then you’re missing out on an easy opportunity to improve your health. You’re probably already allocating time each night to sleep, so shouldn’t you get your money’s worth, so to speak?

We talk a lot about sleep in the 90-Day Jumpstart. I share all of my best tips and tricks for improving the quality of sleep. If you're having trouble falling asleep, I explain reasons why this might be happening and share ideas that may help you. Trouble staying asleep? We talk about this too and I may know the root cause of why that's happening to you.

Here are a few tips to get you started.

First, I track my sleep. I use an Apple iWatch as my preferred tracking device, but there are lots of tracking options available. I like the Apple iWatch because it tracks my heart rate and my movement, so I feel like it gives an accurate picture of whether or not I’m really in deep sleep vs light sleep.

They say "a tracked number grows" and I agree. When you track something, you focus on it. You start paying attention to things that make it better or worse. In the case of sleep, sometimes things that make it worse are caffeine and alcohol consumption. What time you eat your last meal and how big or heavy the meal was can also make a big difference.

Second, I have a nighttime routine. I learned the hard way that working right up until I need to crawl into bed doesn’t work well for me, nor does it work for most of my clients. We need downtime. Time to unwind from the day and to start preparing our bodies for a time of rest. During my downtime I generally eat a small grain bowl and drink some sort of sleepy time tea.

Third, I learned to shut down the thinking part of my brain for the night. I know it still works subconsciously, but I am a thinker and my brain was always thinking. At bedtime I found myself thinking about tomorrow and everything I needed to get done. Now, I include some thinking about tomorrow time in my nighttime routine, and I can shut that part of my brain down for the night when I lie down to go to sleep.

Fourth, I did a lot of hard work fixing my adrenal glands and my endocrine system. My cortisol levels, the hormones responsible for “fight or flight”, were in overdrive thanks to my old lifestyle, so I had to get to the root cause of those issues and correct them. I was also waking up most nights around 2AM thanks to some reactive hypoglycemia issues, which I learned to correct. I go into more detail about these inside the 90-Day Jumpstart.

There are also medical reasons why people don’t sleep well. I’ve had clients with insomnia and sleep apnea, both of which interfere with deep sleep. But, there are root causes for these issues. They don't just randomly happen to people, and they can often be corrected with lifestyle changes.

There are a few ways I can help you, depending on your specific health goals. The first thing you should do is to schedule your free consultation with us here. That way, we can chat and learn more about your health goals and what symptoms you would like to improve. You can schedule your free consult here.

If you already know you want to start working towards improving your health, then the 90-Day Jumpstart might be right for you. Check it out over on our services page. There are three videos available for you to watch, taken directly from days 13, 16, and 71 of the program.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can serve you in any way.