- Diet (healthy eating)
- Environment (pollution, physical surroundings)
- Stress (managing + reducing it)
- Sleep (quantity + quality)
GENERAL FACTS ON SLEEP LOSS
FACT 1. Men who sleep five to six hours per night will have the testosterone levels of someone 10 years their senior. That is to say it can age you by up to 10 years, give you a lack of virility and muscle strength, and reduce sexual performance. FACT 2. Half of your brain will not sleep as deeply as the other half when you’re travelling. This is a “threat detection reaction” from being in a foreign environment. That half won’t enter the REM sleep cycle, remaining in a lighter stage of sleep. FACT 3. Marijuana has been seen to help put people to sleep quicker. The problem, however, is that it disrupts REM sleep in a way that negatively impacts it, sometimes shutting it down and blocking it all together. I love something that Dr. Walker shared in the episode: he said “It took Mother Nature 3.6 million years to establish this eight-hour sleep cycle for us. And in the last 100 years or so, we’ve been knocking it back by almost 20 percent—which is terrible for us.”It took mother nature 3.6 million years to establish this eight-hour sleep cycle for us. And in the last 100 years or so, we’ve been knocking that back by almost 20 percent— which is terrible for us.
SLEEP + OUR GENERATION
A lot of the content shared in the podcast was super interesting and informational, but it was also completely new for me. I guess I’d never properly done the research myself before. So, in a (tiny) effort to measure the sleep health of my generation, and compare the results to see how I stack up, I opened up a few polls to my Instagram followers (20.5k followers at the time the poll was taken). Some of the questions + answers are listed here: Q1: on average, I am asleep for less than six (6) hours per night.-
- True: 27%
- False: 73%
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- True: 54%
- False: 46%
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- True: 57%
- False: 43%
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- True: 31%
- False: 69%
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- True: 6%
- False: 94%
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- True: 69%
- False: 31%
Why is it that our generation isn’t getting enough sleep? Is it us?
Conditional factors? Diet? Pollution? Constant adrenal stimulation? Being overworked? Or worse, all of the above? I think it’s pretty clear to many of us that getting a full night’s rest is key to overall good health. The science behind it, though, is what drives me to learn more.Getting a full night’s sleep helps to expel a buildup of fluid in the brain, clearing out toxins and stress hormones that have accumulated during the day.
If a full night of quality sleep allows our mind, body, muscles, and organs to rest and recover, why are so many of us suffering from sleep loss? I honestly believe that for a lot of us, particularly those working in corporate, our lack of sleep is a combination of:- Being overworked
- Constant adrenal stimulation
- Too much screen-time
- Diets high in sugar + starchy carbs, but low in fiber
THE SLEEP + DIET CONNECTION
“Diets high in sugar and starchy carbohydrates and low in fiber, those diets tend not to be good for sleep. You tend to have less deep sleep and also more fragmented sleep throughout the night.” – Dr. Walker I can personally relate to losing sleep, particularly when I was working the corporate 9:00-5:00, (really it was 7:00-5:45), juggling several projects and careers at once. Though I still today experience sleep loss from time to time, I’m getting better at identifying the culprit and correcting it.BUSINESS LEADERS + SLEEP + CORPORATE LIFESTYLE
A part of the podcast that really struck me was on underslept employees and the impact on our workforce. Studies show that underslept employees:- Will take on fewer work challenges overall
- Take on simpler tasks or challenges and rely more on their peers
- Produce fewer creative solutions to challenges they’ve been given
- Will slack off more and exhibit “social loafing” where they “coast” on the work of their colleagues
Lack of sleep doesn’t discriminate, though. It goes all the way up to the top with the leaders themselves.
Studies show that the more or less sleep a business leader gets the prior night, the more or less charismatic their employees will rate that business leader despite them knowing nothing at all about the sleep of that CEO or leader. It’s evident in their behavior, their nature, their posture and countenance, and interactions with others. The ultimate takeaway for business leaders and those working in corporate: less sleep does not equal more productivity. We really shouldn’t be over-evaluating employees who under-sleep.NATURAL REMEDIES TO HELP WITH SLEEP
Some of the natural remedies I’ve tried include:- Adding plants to the bedroom
- Using the lavender-scented Saje “sleep well” kit
- Lighting vanilla and lavender candles before bed
- Flora’s Sleep•Essence, natural sleep aid
- Soaking in an Epsom salt bath before bed
- Eliminating food, exercise and water intake two hours before bed
- Meditation, alone and/or with the use of phone apps
- Why I Started Drinking Wheatgrass Juice Regularly
- Red Beet Crystal Chia Pudding
- Vegan Omega 3+6+9 – Udo’s Oil
TIPS TO HELP FALL + STAY ASLEEP
From some of the research I’ve done online and some of what Dr. Walker shared in the podcast, here are tips to help fall asleep and have a more meaningful, quality night’s rest:- Make the room cold – at least 3-4 degrees below room temperature.
- Keeps hands and feet warm where possible. (i.e., wearing socks on your feet).
- Adjust your diet or time that you eat so that you aren’t going to bed too full or too hungry. (Hunger can signal your brain that you’re going into low-level starvation).
