Diving into the topic of SLEEP
A few weeks ago a little bit into the topic of sleep in one of my Radiant Leadership Mailers. I had ‘watched’ a 3+ hour poddie on sleep with two scientists, Andrew Huberman and Matthew Walker - who knew you could watch podcasts now?!
I LOVED listening to the level of knowledge and passion that Matt Walker has on his topic! And his quirky Liverpudlian accent warmed my cockles! And Huberman I’m on the fence with! He brings the science that is for sure but I miss the warmth and emotional connection that I get from other podcast hosts and there are very few women guests on his show*. My mind remains open because this episode gave me so much food for thought when it comes to sleep!
Three of my top takeaways:
We must move from assessing how long we sleep to how well we sleep.
The most important gauge for checking your sleep is assessing how vital you feel when you wake in the morning. So many of us are obsessed with the amount of sleep we get but we are missing the huge element of sleep quality. If you are not waking feeling rested after > 7 hours sleep - tweaks need to be made to ensure you are getting top qual sleep.
Our morning intake of natural light greatly impacts how well we sleep at night.
Morning sunlight before 10am is one of the biggest contributors to how long and well you sleep and how fast you will fall asleep at night.
Coffee doesn’t stop us from being tired, it stops the messages going to the brain that tell us we are tired!
Adenosine is the chemical that builds in our body over the day and makes us sleepy - caffeine blocks adenosine receptors so this signal is not getting to the brain. Really we want to stop caffeine intake 8-10 hour before bed to make sure there is no caffeine blocking those beautiful receptors.
*I think Huberman felt my energy as on the day after me writing this newsletter he has released an episode with Sr Sara Gottfried on female hormone optimisation! Added to the listen list.
Here is the Huberman Lab podcast with Dr Matt Walker on sleep - it is +3 hours long so I would suggest chunking it down so your head doesn’t explode with facts! Matt Walker has also started his own podcast - I haven’t listened to it yet but I’m pretty sure it’ll be epic and it is in a much shorter format. He has a 3-part series on chronotype (evening types vs morning types) which I intend to dive into soon. You can listen to the first episode here - it is only 12 mins.
One thing I know for sure is that when my mind is overly busy and restless, my sleep suffers most. So I have included this blog with some ideas for switching off from work and quietening those busy minds so they are more settled when we are ready to sleep.
Note: For those of you that are parents of young kids - I see you!
And whilst I do not claim to understand the torture of sleepless night with young babies, I understand that some of these tips / watching 3 hour podcasts may feel quite far reaching for you. I would love your recs / thoughts on how you have kept yourselves sane during tough periods so I can share any great tidbits with this community. You’re doing bloody marvellously and I salute you!
Here are our top four tips for a better sleep:
Check in with your digital habits - do you have solid boundaries to give your brain a break?
Make a commitment to only check your phone at set times during the day to break the habit of constantly picking up your phone
Avoid temptation by keeping your phone in a different room from you
Make sure you are not overwhelming your brain throughout the day
Get organised with your workload and create a simple task list - what 3 things do you need to achieve today?
DO NOT MULTITASK
Take breaks every 90 minutes - screen free so your brain can actually rest. E.g. breathing techniques / get into nature / meditate.
If your mind is particularly wild - discharge some of your extra brain zing like high intensity exercise.
Apply your brain to something that is not your own life! e.g. learn something new.
Nail your bedtime routine so you’re ready to sleep
Get rid of your phone at least two hours before you want to go to sleep - put it in a place where you won’t access it until the next morning! Go to bed before you want to fall asleep and wind down with a book, podcast, music...sexy time??!!
I wish you all a beautiful, blissful sleep! Let us know in the comments, what is your relationship with sleep like?
If you would like to dive into the topic of sleeping and how it can effect your wellbeing, read more about coaching here.