How and Why to Get Better Sleep.

I have had conversation after conversation with people talking about sleep.  People tell me all the time “I’m cool as long as I get 3-4 hours of sleep.” This BLOWS my mind because I know that if I came off 3-4 hours of sleep I would be crushing pizzas, not working out, not studying, not talking to anybody, and watching movies all day. So I did some research, and talked to some sleep experts to see how important sleep actually is to our health, and how to increase the quality of sleep when we do actually get to bed.

In college, I understand it is tough to get the optimal 7-9 hours of sleep recommended by health professionals. Most of us are chronic procrastinators which causes us to pull all-nighters every once in awhile. Personally, I am not a huge pull-an-all-nighter person. I figure I’ll probably do better on the test is I can keep my eyes open rather than stuff more info into my brain late at night. My lack of sleep comes on Friday and Saturday (and maybe an occasional Thursday) when the bars and clubs are live.  Some of you can relate I am sure..

Importance of Sleep

Think of your body and mind as a battery. You need to recharge that shit! Sleep is a hormonal reset button (or your charger). When you “recharge” your mind and body with good, quality sleep you reduce the stress hormone cortisol which leads to less hunger, less cravings, and more energy throughout the day.

A study published online at the Public Library of science shows the correlation between sleep and hormones that control appetite. This was a study of 1,024 people, and their sleep and eating habits. People who slept less than 7-8 hours throughout the night showed a significant increase in appetite. These same people who slept less tended to weight more than the individuals that got more sleep.

Positives of Sleep:

• Increased energy and motivation
• Decreased hunger and cravings
• You’re definitely better looking (you know how when you come off a rough night of sleep people let you know that you look like you you had a rough night of sleep? Then you think “Yeah, I know, I was there asshole”)
• Increased mood
• Increased Productivity
• Increased Sex drive (#nice)

Negatives of NOT Getting a Sufficient Amount Sleep

• You get fat
• You look rough.. No offense..
• You have an increased appetite
• You don’t want to do anything
• If somebody speaks to you want to deck them in the face for no reason

Why You Can’t Sleep

Some of you may get angry and say “Look bro, I want to sleep. I just CAN”T!!” That is understandable. There is nothing worse than rolling around in bed for hours, or waking up at 4:00am and not being able to fall asleep.

Let me try to help you understand why. Usually an inability to sleep has to do with an imbalance in blood sugar. For example, let’s say you eat dinner at 7pm, and you plan on going to bed early because you feel exhausted from a long day. However, come 10:00, 11:00, & 12:00 o’clock you feel wide awake! Why? When you go for that extended period of time without eating your blood sugar levels drop. To combat this, your body releases stress hormones (adrenalin, noradrenaline, and cortisol) to raise your blood sugar back up. This causes your mind to feel alert and wide awake.

Something else that stimulates this response of your stress hormones is light. Yeah dude, light. So when you are zoning out at night by watching TV or surfing the web you are steadily increasing those same stress hormones to keep your brain alert and awake.

“Sooo How Do I Sleep Better?”

Remember, we are all different, so you may have to do a little experimentation to figure out what works best for you.

• IF you are the type that stays up at night here is what you do; Eat a little bit of carbohydrate before bed. This should spike your blood sugar to help you fall asleep.
• IF you are the type who wakes up frequently or wakes up at 4am here is what you should do; Eat a little protein &  fiber before bed. Protein stabilizes blood sugar for a longer period of time helping you stay asleep at night
• Keep the lights low: I know it’s tempting to watch TV or surf the web to “calm down” before bed, but here is what you should do instead.

1. Dim the lights, or light candles
2. Read a book
3. Have sex (the candles set the mood and everything)
4. Do some visualization exercises: Many successful people (Muhammad Ali, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, MLK, Michael Jordan) all say that they saw their success in great detail before it ever happened. Take time to close your eyes and picture vividly the success of your future.
5. Dim the lights on your computer if you must be on Facebook
6. Take a hot shower
7. Study

• Yogi Bedtime Tea: This is a favorite of mine. If you put 4-5 bags in 8 oz of water it is similar to taking a small dose of Xanax. Good for relaxing before bed. You can get this at the grocery store.
•  Magnesium (Glycinate)- This can be found at GNC or Vitamin Shoppe or even Walmart. Taking Magnesium before be is a great natural way to relax your muscles & calm the nervous system.

I always want to hear your comments about my blog posts. Tell me what you do before bed to help relax.

Make Fitness Goals…. And Stick With Them!

 

I get a ton of emails from friends (and strangers) on how lose “get in shape” or “lose weight” or “gain muscle”, so I’ll usually respond with some sort of 8-week program, and some diet tips. However, when I follow up with those same individuals a month later to check their progress the usual answer is “I haven’t started yet.” I don’t get it? Why would people take time out of their day to email me, and then not take advantage of the information I give them?

 

I have found that lifestyle changes are VERY difficult for people. Things like going from an unhealthy to healthy lifestyle, or from a spending money to saving money lifestyle. But why?

 

People, in general, want to be “Perfectionists”, meaning we have an “all-or-nothing” approach to many things in life. In his book, Being Happy, Tal Ben-Shahar goes into great detail of what a Perfectionist is. General beliefs/descriptions of the Perfectionist are: focused on a destination (rather than being present in the process), a fear of failure (resulting in inaction), All-or-Nothing mindset, defensiveness, Faultfinder tendencies (“A faultfinder will find faults even in paradise” -Henry David Thoreau), harsh (on themselves, and others), and tend to be very rigid. Most of us has some sort of Perfectionist in us.

This is why it is so difficult for us to keep our New Year’s resolutions, change our bodies, change our minds, change our spending habits, and all other lifestyle changes. We try to do it all-the-way or not at all.

 

Let’s use this Perfectionist model with fitness. How can you possibly expect to go from never working out and eating fast food everyday, to working out six days per week on a chicken & asparagus diet? It is absurd to think you can do this. It is the same thing as waking up today, and saying  “next week I am going to go do Olympic trial runs.” Olympians train for years and years and years to get where they are! The key to change is small victories. For every small victory you have, pat yourself on the back, and be happy about it! Here are some tips on how to go from not doing ANYTHING to living a healthier, more fit, life.

 

• JUST GO to the gym: Do not set a ridiculous goal of going to the gym 6 days/week for 2 hours/day. Begin with 1-2 days for just thirty minutes each session. For the next 4-6 weeks make it a habit to get your 1-2 days. Write up a workout and just do that same routine for the next 4-6 weeks. After that 4-6 weeks is up (and you succeed!) be happy about it! Congratulate yourself, and then maybe add another day or two.
• ELIMINATE 1-2 things: Look at your current diet, and pick 1-2 things that you can limit, or eliminate for the next 4-6 weeks. If you eat pizza 3 nights/week knock it down to zero or one night per week. If you drink alcohol 4 nights/week knock it down to 1-2 nights per week. An idea for the first foods to look at eliminating are:sugar/starchy carbohydrates (such as cereals, breads, candies, chips, cookies, and cakes), and the combination of fats/carbs (such as pizzas, cheeseburgers, alcohol combined with cheese).
• WRITE DOWN your goals: I am the WORST at writing down my goals and keeping them. However, I wrote down my New Years Resolutions in 2012 for the first time ever. Much to my surprise I am not only still on path with these goals and resolutions, but have already completed some! So write your fitness goals down, and put them somewhere you can see them every single day.
• DON’T get down on yourself: Maybe you are doing wonderful, and are on track to crush your goals, but then one week you drink three nights in a row, eat two large pizzas/day, and don’t make it to the gym. DO NOT get down on yourself. Just make a conscious choice right to get back on the game plan. Sometimes I will have my diet on lock, be killin’ it in the weight room for two weeks strait, and start telling myself that I look sexy when I check myself out in the mirror. But then I hit the movies, eat a large popcorn, and then refill it (kind of gross, I know. I like it to be wet with butter too! Don’t judge me..). When I walk out of the movies I feel sluggish, tired, and bloated. However, rather than getting mad at myself, and picking up a cheeseburger, and going home to watch TV I go do heavy squats and sprints. I am not saying you have to do squats every time you crush an ice cream this is just what works for me. The point is to ease up on yourself a little bit. If you mess up your plan it’s all good just force yourself to get back on it.

Remember! Celebrate your successes, and learn from your failures. This model will not only work for body change, but any major lifestyle change. How do you implement body change?