How is your sleep in 2020?

SLEEP! My New Sleep Routine…

SLEEP! My New Sleep Routine:

Since March 2020, my entire life, as many, has changed…perhaps for the best if you see the “Gift” and the positive experiences that the “Pandemic” has provided for us. As the media and government continue to scare the country (and world) of all the deaths and overwhelmed hospitals, everyone locked themselves up inside their house with the fear of getting the deadly virus if they left their cage or home!

Now I know the virus was scary in the beginning, but it was the unknown- and no one knew how to treat the virus. Eight months later, November 2020, we are hopefully gaining more knowledge and collecting more research data on how to prevent or treat the virus.

You can learn more about how the immune system is supposed to work, when all the body systems, troops and weapons are in functioning order, in my new free eBook called “The Immune System 101 Resource Manual”.

My life has also dramatically changed, not only because my main job as a live personal trainer/health coach ended in March, but because my husband Neal and I both had new online jobs that we could work anywhere – so we picked an area that we have always loved to visit from Seattle for long weekend trips… North San Diego. We didn’t realize they had amazing “Tuscany” style mountains and crazy scenic hill riding just east of the coast – so we found the perfect place in a new house in between the beautiful beaches and the amazing mountains for cycling. Now we have a new home to move into and a new way of living life to adjust to this fall…including sleeping and exercising.

No longer do I wake up, or need to wake up, to workout at the gym around 5am then train clients at 6:30am. For the past twenty-five years or more, I have trained clients as early as 5:15AM at the fitness studio. Now my gym is outside up on our “Hilltop” in my glass house and outside cardio for swimming, biking, and running. My work hours begin some days at 730am with a client who I have trained for over twenty years but usually my first clients are at 930am! My sleep, workout, and work schedule as well as eating schedule is all different and new to me!!

Currently, in our new home, we wake up around 5:30 AM naturally and with an alarm “just in case” we don’t wake up. I get up and start my wake-up process by making coffee in our French Press. I add essential oils to the wall plug-in diffuser to get energized for the day and light a candle.

We like to do yoga (Inner Dimension TV) for 20-45 minutes to get started for the day and prepare the body for the Sunrise cardiovascular workout outside – bike, run or trail run.

In the evenings, I like to stop working around 5pm or 530PM after clients but usually my brain stops working around 5:30PM anyways!

During the weekdays, we eat our “main meal” together, depending on our work schedules, around 2pm or 3pm. Lately, as our kitchen is under a two-month remodel, we BBQ steak or grass-fed burgers outside on the grill plus sometimes some vegetables as broccoli, cauliflower, or grilled onions. I only add this into the “SLEEP” routine blog since we STOP eating after this meal or for sure NO EATING for me after 5pm. I do not sleep well when I eat close to bed as on weekends when eating with friends or family – and not controlling my own eating schedule. I make sure to take my digestive enzymes with my meal.

Also, to improve my sleep, I don’t do well with a hard workout or high intensity workout to close to bed- earlier evening is best for my workouts. I have found that a sleepy time yin yoga practice for 20-30 minutes helps my sleep or even doing 2-5 yoga flows before climbing into bed.

Around one hour before bed I take Magnesium, CBD with melatonin, Gaba then an hour later, right before sleep time, I take GI Detox (toxic binder) with a glass of filtered water and sea salt.

Do you allow yourself one to two hours to get ready for bed?

By the time I get ready for the next day (put out my workout clothes for the morning), wash my face or shower, brush my teeth, do my “sleepy time” yoga, write in my Gratitude Journal, work on my daily Spanish with Duolingo and then read at least three pages in my book…then get to sleep with my nasal breathing exercises (counting my inhales, pause/hold and counting exhales as Box Breathing) until I fall asleep plus my “sleepy time” music on a timer. We sleep with our room cold, dark (sleep mask recently as we don’t have curtains in our new bedroom) and with a sound machine (fan sound).

This is how we don’t have time to watch television or the negative media news in the evening or morning! Once the sunsets, we begin to wrap up the day and say good night with our sleep hygiene routine then start the day in the morning right before the sunrise begins. I love to workout in the morning as the sun is rising then watch the sun set at night while we are up in our new “hilltop” garden or working out in the “Pergie” (pergola) or our glass house.

What was my weekly routine before March 2020?

Extremely different!

Everything happens for a reason…even though it is taking most of our world LONGER to realize the important of GETTING HEALTHY to improve our immune system and resiliency.

The eight elements of “THE WHOLESTIC METHOD” include the key habits to focus on:

Nutrition – focus on eating real, nutrient dense, local, in season, organic, grass-fed, free-range, wild caught food that balances your blood sugar (Nutrisense!)- that fills your up for hours and leaves you full and satiated (no sugar cravings!). FOCUS on WHAT, WHEN, WHY and HOW you eat as well to burn fat, optimize health, and improve performance!

Exercise- The Goldilocks Effect… aerobic exercise outside, HIIT, strength training

Sleep– focus on prioritizing your sleep for ideal recovery and repair as well as detoxing

Stress– identify your sources of CHRONIC ongoing EXTERNAL and HIDDEN INTERNAL sources of stress as all other impacts will be sabotaged if you don’t slow down, reset, and reboot the WHOLE you from the inside out.

Movement- even though you may exercise in the morning but what if you are sitting the rest of the day? Get up and move outside a few times a day or at “mealtimes” for your 10,000 steps per day. Plus add 1-3 cardio bursts…20-second sprints throughout the day.

Digestion– HOW you eat is essential to health as we need to properly breakdown our foods into little pieces and be able to have a strong intact gut wall lining to absorb the nutrients. Sadly, most of us are deficient in digestive enzymes and HCL plus leaky gut and consume foods that are inflammatory or reactive (puts fuel on the fire – gut dysfunction- leaky gut- chronic inflammation)

Hydration- we often drink too much coffee and too much alcohol during stressful times which will make you feel worse in the long run! Hydrate more throughout the day with filtered water and minerals (sea salt!) – drink half your bodyweight in ounces of water each day but not during your meal or before bed.

Happiness- write in your gratitude journal, meditate, hum, sing, play, laugh and be silly…make sure to surround yourself with positive people and eliminate the negative toxic energy robbers.

Learn more about the EIGHT elements of THE WHOLESTIC METHOD in my manual and workbook available on Amazon!

Tips to improve your sleep

Best bedtime: 10:00PM Best rising time: 6:00AM
Adopt sleep hygiene habits that promote real rest and recovery.
Two hours of sleep before midnight are worth 4 hours of sleep after midnight to your HPA Axis/adrenal glands, hormones, immune system, brain function and detoxification systems.
Eat a glycemic ally balanced snack with mineral supplements before bed (w fat & protein)
No sugar and no alcohol for 90 days
Develop and stick to routines, such as sleeping and waking at the same time each day.
Do something relaxing before bed at night, such as an Epsom salt bath, meditation, gentle stretching, or reading.
Turn off all electronics two hours before bed. If you absolutely must use devices, use blue-light-blocking applications or glasses.
Melatonin production is affected by the light given off from electronics, which interrupts sleep.
Avoid caffeine after mid-day

Supplements to improve sleep:

MAGNESIUM:

Magnesium supplementation can be greatly beneficial in people suffering from increased production of cortisol. *
Magnesium also helps the body produce GABA, a calming neurotransmitter that helps to relieve stress and anxiousness. *

L-THEANINE:

This amino acid is supportive of brain health and sleep. *
L-theanine boosts levels of GABA and other soothing neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. *
It also works to lower excitatory brain chemicals that are linked to stress and anxiousness. *
Benefit of L-theanine is its ability to increase alpha brain waves, which are associated with a state of relaxation that you might experience while meditating, daydreaming, or during REM sleep. *
L-theanine is useful for promoting relaxation and sleep without an overly sedating effect. *

MELATONIN:

The pineal gland produces melatonin following the natural contrast between bright daily sun exposure and darkness at night.
Exposing the body to morning daylight and being outdoors during the day, along with sleeping in total darkness, can naturally promote healthy melatonin levels and sleep.
There is now substantial research showing that EMFs interfere with melatonin production and can also have other harmful health effects.
There are ways to measure EMF levels in your bedroom using a gauss meter, and you can also take simple measures to remove electronics from your sleeping space.

Other supplemental nutrients and herbs to support sleep include

Magnolia bark extract
Lemon balm extract
Rhodiola Rosea extract
Ashwagandha
Asparagus officinalis

HOW STRESS AFFECTS THE BRAIN Like sleep

Chronic stress impacts brain health
The effects of specific stressors vary from person to person, but it’s well-known that high cortisol and other stress hormones negatively impact cognitive health and function.
Stress and anxiousness can lead to forgetfulness, memory loss, and learning problems.
While acute stressors are normal and natural, stress and a buildup of cortisol in the brain can have adverse effects.
For example, research shows that high cortisol can disrupt synapse regulation, harm brain cells, and even limit brain size.
Some of the same nutrients that support sleep also support stress, such as L-theanine and magnesium. *
Others include Sam-e for neurotransmitter support, 5-HTP, Siberian ginseng, and other Adaptagenic herbs, like licorice root and ashwagandha. *
Gut health and stress are also closely tied together.
- If your gut isn’t functioning well, you may have dysbiosis or another gut microbiome imbalance.
- This acts as a significant stressor on the body.
- Eighty percent of brain chemicals, such as neurotransmitters, are produced in the gut.
- Therefore many integrative medical providers refer to the gut as the second brain.
- All GI-supportive foods, supplements, and lifestyle changes will boost brain health, such as pre and probiotics. *

Resources:

DaVinci-Labs-Brain-Health-Nutrition-Guide.pdf
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/sleep-hygiene