Sleep + Stress

If you are under stress then you won't sleep well & if you are not sleeping well then you will feel more stressed.  This is one of life's most beautiful Catch 22s, but we are here to help! 

Sleep: Remember you need to get 7 hrs minimum and should shoot for 8 hrs - even more if you are younger and still growing.  Drop the temperature of the room down and also, either use black out shades or a sleep mask.  Darkness is a necessity and going to bed earlier vs later is always a safe bet (think better quality even if the quantity is the same).

Stress: Meditation, Cardio, and Prayer all have the same physiological effect on the body which is to reduce the influence of the sympathetic (fight or flight aka "wind up") portion of the nervous system and increase the influence of the parasympathetic (energy conservation aka "wind down") portion of the nervous system.

Here are some other things you need know

 
 

Tips for Falling Asleep?

  1. Establish a wind down ritual for 2-3 hours before bed - the nervous system has inertia so don’t wind it up when you should be winding it down.  Part of the wind down routine should be switching over to airplane mode as well as blocking blue light.

  2. Blue Blocking Glasses (see ugly picture on the left) - if blue light enters the eye it will tell the body to halt the natural hormonal cascade (including Melatonin release) that is supposed to happen before bed. Recently, Warby Parker started producing lenses that block 70% of blue light.. For Non-prescription and non-hideous glasses check out Felix Gray here.

  3. A Bath or Shower - In general we want to drop the core temperature before we go night night. It may sound counter intuitive, but a warm bath may be just the trick according to Matthew Walker - the guy who wrote the book on sleep. The theory for why it works is because it moves the blood into the arms and legs and away from the organs of the body = core body temp drop. Other schools of thought would say a cool shower would be appropriate to trick the nervous system into a rest and digest state because if we still lived outside that would be the temperature we would be feeling - best way to find out is to try both and see what works for you!

 
 

Connects to Hydration + Diet * Breathing + Connection * Exercise

Tips for Staying Asleep?

  1. Sun light ASAP in the morning - get those peepers exposed to NATURAL light as early as possible to start the production of Melanopsin which is the precursor to Melatonin. PS - Make sure there are not eye glasses or contact lenses to obstruct that sweet sweet sun.

  2. Visualization meditation - Dreaming, imagination, and visualization all have similarities in the brain. If you want to stay asleep longer, do some direct exercise for that part of the brain while you are awake by frequent visualization meditations. To find these types of mediations and learn more about the appropriate mindset give a quick look and listen here.

  3. Ooler unit - remember when we told you that the body used temperature to get its cues on whether you should be awake or asleep? Well, this cold pad that goes under your sheets is a life hack to keep things colder in the morning so your body thinks it's still night time.  Click to the left and purchase one of these dream machines.

  4. Eye mask + Ear Plugs - your partner may leave you, but at least you are having restful sleep, am i right?? If you can’t get the room dark enough in the morning put on one of these eye masks and see your way to sweet sweet slumber. They also come with free ear plugs so double covered!

Want to find out how you are sleeping? We recommend the OURA ring to get a glimpse into your sleep cycles along with your HRV, a metric that tells you how well your nervous system is recovered

 

Stress - A Mindfulness Practice

We preach exercising the body daily as an important part of your routine and THE ONLY thing we would consider placing above it is exercising your mind.  Having the ability to get just a little bit of space from emotions can give you a shot at understanding them that much better.  We are also huge into education and HEADSPACE educates on the nature of the mind better than anyone else we have seen.  Don’t believe us? Try it for 14 days on us by clicking on the image to the left or do 10 minutes right now and see how you feel :)

 

Stress - Talk to a licensed Psychological Therapist

Emotions are like a faucet.  On one side you have a "warm-positive emotion" water supply & on the other side you have a "cold-negative emotion" water supply.  It would be nice if you could turn off the cold-negative emotions, but that's not how the brain works.  You can either turn off the faucet as a whole and be numb or turn it on to some degree, but you don't get to choose which emotions you feel.  If you want to start to feel warm-positive emotions you have to do that while draining the tank of the cold-negative emotions.  Just like you would see a physical therapist to deal with a painful shoulder, you should hire an expert to deal with anything on your mind.  Everyone can benefit from seeing a skilled Psychological Therapist to help them make connections and communicate better. Break the stigma!