Hello friend Kris here I help people cultivate energy restore balance and keep the weight off. Today’s show we have a trivia question no trivia questions aren’t that popular these days because we have Google you might want to google this and fill in the blank. Why am I so… Let me give you three different clues here. The first one is “Why am I so anxious and depressed” and this is one of the symptoms that you’re going to experience when we finally fill out this missing word here this missing word causes things like anxiousness and depression and also causes hungriness and also causes lack of hunger. So if you are always hungry or never hungry then that is another symptom of this. Key word here. The trivia that we’re playing tonight and the last and final one is are you always sick. That is another symptom in all three of the symptoms I’ve suffered from them and I don’t know if you ever have but a lot of my clients suffer from them as well.

 

And I find that it’s the most misdiagnosed symptoms. You know we always look at different things and unfortunately sometimes we look at medication to solve these problems especially anxiety and depression problems. But usually it’s a little simpler than that. So let’s fill in the blank here. That missing word we’re looking for is “why am I so tired”. And that is the subject we’re going to wake up to a very important subject which is sleep and it’s a subject that a lot of people are not really talking about they’re not really focused on. And I think it’s because we’re focused on so much else in her life there’s so much else going on her life and we’re not really focused on the not doing things because that’s what we’re doing. We’re sleeping we’re we’re not doing anything and for some of us that’s really difficult to handle to handle actually you know taking a time out letting our our body and or nervous system recover you know for some of us you know we only let our bodies do that for maybe four to six hours and you probably heard this before. I’m not telling you anything new. We need about seven to eight hours. And that might be unfathomable for some people to even consider getting that much sleep that you know they just don’t have that time in their busy lifestyles for that kind of sleep.

 

But before I get into the five biggest things that you can do to help your sleep I want to give you that sleep story and it’s all about rhythm and I want to ask you this really really important question is do you have rhythm?

 

Because that’s what our body in our biology is all about it all relies on rhythm and most times were utter rhythm. We’re out of balance and our biology is always trying to correct that but we’re always trying to manipulate because we’re always trying to get more done in our lives. Understandably but we pay the price when our body biology is out of balance in so many different ways and you know some of the most obvious and TMS and the ones that you can really see on people is weight gain and sometimes the ones you can’t really see unless you really know the person well is the emotional problems like anxiety and depression and also addiction problems as well which are sort of behind the surface but they’re still there and they’re still crippling for a lot of people.

 

And when it comes down to it for a lot of these people a simple solution would be first and foremost. Any ways to look at their sleep. So again the sleep story is all about rhythm. And let me explain myself here. It’s called their six circadian rhythm you’ve probably heard about it. But let me explain it really simply and briefly for you. So if this is a time line and if we were to put some times here we’ll start off with 6 a.m. in the morning and we’ll draw a midpoint here OK of 6 pm. And because the circadian rhythm is a 24 hour cycle will jump right into 6 a.m. the next day over here. So this is the two hormones that are synergistically working in opposite measures to control our sleep to make sure that we get that seven to eight hours which is is recommended if you’re a human being if you’re a machine. Well hey you know maybe you need as much as Donald Trump needs which apparently he only needs four hours. But hey I want you to be happy and not grumpy and still effective and productive so let’s try to get the seven to eight and let’s try to understand the two hormones that are going to make that possible the first one is cortisol. You may have heard of this and a lot of people look at cortisol and they say well yeah that’s the stress hormone that’s the bad hormone that’s the hormone that we don’t want but I’ll tell you now we need this hormone. And I’ve actually started calling it the sleep mode and not the stress hormone.

 

Yes it does have a lot to do with stress if it’s activated by stress and yes we do have a lot of stress in our lifestyles. Our North American lifestyles that is. But this is all is imperative when it comes to this sleep awakes cycle that we call the circadian rhythm which is really identified by the time of day and how much light there is that second hormone that we’re talking about is melatonin. You may have heard of this as well. There’s even a supplement that you can take when you’re having sleep problems that assist you with getting to bed. And these are the two hormones that again work in opposite measures but synergistically Let me show you over this timeframe of 24 hours in the circadian rhythm from daylight or 6am. So what happens with cortisol is you’re going to see a sharp spike and that Spike usually ends around 9:00 a.m. for most people and that Spike decreases and basically dips down.

 

All the way back until it loops around at 6 a.m.. Now the melatonin takes it a different pathway here you’ll see that the melatonin. Ends up being just slightly increased throughout the daytime hours and around after 6:00 p.m. OK when we’re supposed to wind down at the end of the day then you’ll see a sharp dip and you’ll see something that looks more like this up to the 24 hour point or wait time the next day. So as you can see they run in different patterns and they both have different types of goals for us the cortisol. What is trying to do is trying to wake us up this is our wakeup call here at 6:00 a.m. this is when our our body biology is just naturally prone to wake up if we’re in balance and you may have seen that that especially when we’ve got you know really the daylight savings time and we’ve got early mornings that have some sunshine. You’ll find that you’re getting up a little sooner than you would be if it’s dark outside and that’s all about the trigger that the light has focused on these two different hormones cortisol and melatonin. So essentially here the melatonin has to stay low because that’s a signal for our body not to wake up it’s to actually wind down and get to bed. And it normally peaks here in about 12 a.m. in the morning and that’s when it’s at its lowest and this is where we’re in the deepest of sleep as well.

 

Now back over here if we look at this Cortisol when we’re waking up if you feel stressful in the morning and maybe a little bit more anxious than you are during the rest of the day. Well that’s because of this cortisol and that’s because we’re trying to wind up our bodies are trying to assist us with that and get on with our day. And you should naturally after p.m. especially if you’re helping yourself by winding down and trying to relax at the end of the day they are naturally just drifting into a sleep. So there’s a lot of other hormones that are again synergistically working this entire timeframe here.

 

Growth hormone for example testosterone estrogen the hunger hormones Grehlin and leptin. But it’s really these two particular hormones that are really critical when it comes to being in sync with the circadian rhythm and making sure that we get the proper sleep that we need. Now knowing this what I’d like to do is give you the top five sleep tips that I use personally and in hopes of getting you more sleep and having a better immune system being able to control your hunger throughout the day. Also you know being able to control your emotions and having better emotional health being a lot less reactive and responding to situations especially situations that don’t go our way you know you’ll probably find that that all three of those symptoms do subside subside substantially when you get enough sleep the night before. Now here’s the mistake that most people make if you’re used to getting four or six hours per night. That is your norm and your body has adjusted to that. But that doesn’t mean that your body would not respond better to seven to eight which is the recommended amount of sleep. It’s actually an eight to nine if you’re really highly active like an athlete for example and it’s even higher than that it’s even up to 10 hours if you’re an adolescent or child. So if you were to try to shift into more sleep by perhaps using these these top five sleep tricks or tips that I have for you today then you’ll actually adjust to more sleep and you’ll end up seeing more benefits if you give it that time of adaptation.

 

And know that it’s going to take a few nights before you get better it’s going to get worse before you get better. In that sense so give that a shot.

 

But more particularly try this that the top of one thing that I have for sleep tips right now is what I call the kill switch.

 

And that means hit the lights hit all the electronic devices that could distract you because that’s typically was distracting us it’s our cell phones it’s our iPads it’s our TVs it’s it’s it’s the lights it’s it’s anything that is going to interfere with us winding down in letting those two hormones do their job where you know cortisol will take that dip along with the melatonin and allow for that sleep to commence. So making sure that you know if you if you’re going to be doing any reading for example it’s not going to be on an electronic device. And you know if it’s going to be TV then it’s going to be a little bit of TV but you’re not going to be in the end of watching an entire movie for example because that’s just going to interrupt your sleep. The other thing I want to talk about. Speaking of reading is reading and journaling that is the second tip that I have for you now with reading I don’t know about you but. I usually get through just about a few pages of my book whatever I’m reading and I’ll end up falling asleep. That’s how good a job reading does for allowing me to relax into wind down. So depending on the literature what you’re reading if you know maybe it’s a sigh as if it’s a thriller that might not be the right reading material maybe it’s it’s going out to be something that you find very boring maybe it’s National Geographic I don’t know but pick the right literature okay to make sure that you do get bored quickly and you do get tired and commence to sleep.

 

Now the journaling is is something that I really recommend especially if you’ve had a really hard day. And along with this video there will be a link there and a free book is what I’m offering my free book. Today the all inclusive diet along with all the free downloads for the material and all the exercises that are in the book and one of them is the five minute Journal something a friend of mine developed and it’s incredible in the sense that it has an evening journaling component and it’s it’s essentially a gratitude journal. So it really switches your thinking into positive thoughts before you go to bed which is really important because if again you’ve had that rough day then all of those negative thoughts are just revving you up and not allowing you to wind down properly. So again get that free download with that link and consider doing some journaling. If it’s just getting your thoughts out on paper and reflecting on the day and what happened and remembering what happened that went well and not just focusing on all the negative things but just getting everything out on paper and expressing yourself and clearing it basically clears your mind and allows you to go into that rest state that you need before going into sleep. So the third thing here is late night snacks.

 

Now a lot of people might be confused why I would be even recommending having any late night snacks at all.

 

Well first of all you know if you ever remember having warm milk and cookies and have remembering that soothing feeling that perhaps you hadn’t that good night’s sleep you know that that old sort of maybe wise tale of what mothers used to do for us or even fathers that is there’s some truth in that. There really is. And that’s because if you’re late night snacks are going to be high in tryptophan OK or essentially any dairy products you’re going to end up having the results of tryptophan which is sleepiness. So it’s a great amino acid which is found in protein foods primarily but but specifically in dairy foods also in some fruits like bananas for example and also in honey as well. So that would make a really interesting combination of wouldn’t it. You’ve got the dairy you’ve got the bananas you’ve got the honey it sort of sounds like a banana split. Maybe maybe not having a dark room. We know now knowing the melatonin cycle really relies on the light and when there is light. OK. That is is our cue to wake up and that’s when quarters all spikes. All right. And we also know that when there isn’t any light that’s when melatonin comes into the picture and it really helps us get to sleep. So knowing that we we really want to have a dark room while we’re sleeping. We want to avoid any types of electronic devices even alarm clocks for example they emit a lot of light that you would want to avoid especially if you’re already having problems sleeping right now perhaps having some of those symptoms that we talked about.

 

The other thing is keeping it cool. Now this is something that you probably wouldn’t imagine or even want to do in the first place. You know trying to have your your home or your room a little bit cooler but that’s what’s required when you’re getting to bed. And the reason being is that our body naturally cools when we get into a sleep state especially when we go into a deep sleep OK which is sort of the midway point in any duration of sleep. Our bodies are definitely a few degrees cooler now. We can assist that. OK when is this the sleeping startup process. If we already commence into a cool room so 68 degrees Fahrenheit which I think is probably about 20 degrees Celsius that’s where you want your room to be. And that will help you get to sleep now. That doesn’t mean that you can’t bundle up. I know that you know typically typically females are a couple of degrees cooler than male just to begin with so you might want to bundle up in the sheets but it’s more so the outside environment outside your bed or your your blankets that that’s where we need the the coonass are 68 degrees to 20 degrees Celsius is where you want it. Keeping things quiet. Now some white noise. You know I even know people that use music to help them get to sleep. In fact you know before I was shooting this show I was thinking there hasn’t been much change in how to get a good night’s sleep. And I remember what my mom did to me and it really hasn’t changed that much.

 

You know maybe a warm glass of milk maybe a good night story. You know tucked me in in some warm blankets perhaps a lullaby before I go to bed. Cindy off to sleep. Those are really the things that still help us today as adults to get to sleep. No no perhaps it’s going to be different content these days. You know what I mean. And it’s not going to be what our mothers were giving us but it’s still really is things that we can consider especially the music for example to help us to get to sleep or any other type of white noise that that just gives us that feeling of security and allows us to fall asleep.

 

The fifth thing is.

 

Tell me in the morning or let me sleep on it and I really practice this one and is not easy sometimes what I mean by this is if you’ve had a terrible day and there’s there’s there’s been you know perhaps a lot of trauma in your day and in a lot of problems that you know you were faced with and had to solve and perhaps a lot of that that mess wasn’t cleaned up and you still brought it home with you and you’ve actually brought it into bed with you. What I typically do is I don’t try to solve those problems. I actually sleep on it and I sleep on it because I know that my mental alertness is always going to be the highest because I am in rhythm I’m I’m within my circadian rhythm I get my my seventy eight hours of sleep or at least I attempt to do that every night. So I know that I’m more mentally cognitive active and just smarter in the morning. So I will wait till the morning to deal with that problem and to sort it out and it works like a charm and I try to the other way as well. I’ve tried to sort things out and go to the grindstone when I’m already completely defeated and exhausted with dealing perhaps with the problem for an entire day and nothing really happens. And then the lights go on. I mean like the lights go on in my head in the morning and I’m able to solve it. So sleep on it.

 

It’s paradoxal kind of advice because of course we want answers we want them now and we think perhaps you know wasting a night of sleep would not be able to solve that problem. But this is where our subconscious comes in and when we put a seed. Maybe it’s a problem that we need solve for example into our subconscious. It’s working as we’re sleeping. It truly is. It’s magical. They’ve done lots of studies on on reading literature before you go to bed. For example students that need to study and need to remember things on a test the next day and their scores are substantially higher when they’re studying right before they go to bed. And what ends up happening is you’ve heard of RPM or rapid eye movement sleep is it’s a type of sleep that is a dream state but also it’s a file storage state. So what happens in this stage is everything that we’ve collected all that information that really can’t be held onto it’s it’s like a computer with RAM you know it’s it’s that the memory for right now or for that particular day. But it needs to be stored away into the hard drive sort of speak. And that’s what happens with EMC. So it’s a really cool thing that we can collect all that information as long as we get into our IN sleep within X amount of hours or within that day. Odds are we will remember a lot of that information.

 

So that’s food for thought when it comes to increasing your cognitive skills your memory skills and generally being smarter and solving a lot of perhaps life’s problems. So I’m going to leave you with this year.

 

Always know that sleep is not a privilege. OK. Sleep is really a priority and when you’re having any of these symptoms if it’s if it’s going to be health symptoms or emotional symptoms and in light just seems really out of whack out of balance I really want you to look at your sleep and if that means logging in if it means getting one of these devices an activity device that also tracks sleep and leaving it on while you go to bed. And just figuring out how you feel when you get six hours. How do you feel when you get two hours how do you feel when you get eight hours you start focusing in asking yourself these questions and just see the restorative benefits of sleep with your health with your relationships with your career as well until the next time our friend inspired to aspire!