Pursuit of Wellness - The Secret To Better Sleep: Tips To Optimize Your Routine w/ Todd Anderson
Episode Date: May 6, 2024Ep. #96 On today’s episode of Pursuit of Wellness, I am joined by Todd Anderson, a former NFL conditioning coach and sleep optimization expert, as he shares his insights on how proper sleep can enha...nce hormone balance and overall health. We discuss his career evolution and fitness journey, as well as the founding of Dream Recovery, which explores the vital relationship between sleep stages and daily vitality. We’ll delve into the psychological aspects of weight loss and learn about lesser-known sleep practices that can transform your night, like sauna sessions and mouth taping. Sleep is such an important part of our health, so let’s jump in and learn how to optimize our sleep! Leave Me a Message - click here! For Mari’s Instagram click here! For Pursuit of Wellness Podcast’s Instagram click here! For Mari’s Newsletter click here! For Todd Anderson’s Instagram click here! For Dream Recovery’s Instagram click here! Sponsored By: Bite is offering our listeners 20% off your first order. Go to trybite.com/POW or use code POW at checkout to claim this deal. Right now, my listeners can receive 40% off Earth Breeze just by going to earthbreeze.com/pow. Go to Hungryroot.com/POW to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies. Show links: Mouth Tape Eye Mask Silk Pillow Case Dreamrecovery.io Eight Sleep Pad Topics Discussed 02:20 - Todd’s athletic background 05:52 - Quality vs. quantity of sleep 08:26 - Front loading hydration and optimal meal times 14:33 - Implications of quality sleep 16:11 - Todd’s weight loss story 25:02 - Alcohol’s effect on sleep quality 29:13 - Heart rate variability 33:58 - Benefits of sauna and cold plunge 39:18- Cryotherapy 40:00- Optimal bedroom temperature 42:05- Mouth taping and mouth breathing 46:42 - Eye masks 49:07 - Nose strips 51:11 - TV and phones before bed 53:51 - Sleep apnea 54:23 - Melatonin 55:14 - CBD and weed before bed 56:14 - Differences in men and women’s sleep needs 56:54- WiFi and bluetooth effects on sleep 57:35- Tips for shift workers
Transcript
Discussion (0)
If you really want to make someone feel better
and impact the quality of their life,
sleep is the most impactful thing you can do.
This is the Pursuit of Wellness podcast
and I'm your host, Mari Llewellyn.
Hello guys, welcome back to the Pursuit of Wellness podcast.
I am so excited today we have our first deep dive episode
with a sleep expert, Todd Anderson.
Todd is an NFL conditioning coach and sleep optimization expert. He gave us so much advice
on proper sleep routines and how it can really enhance hormone balance and overall health.
It really is so important and I think people are just starting to realize that. And I was
really excited to pick Todd's brain today. We talked about so many different things, quality versus
quantity of sleep, how hydration can affect sleep and optimal meal times, alcohol's effect on sleep
quality, heart rate variability, what it means and how you can improve it, the benefits of the sauna
and cold plunge on sleep, optimal bedroom temperature, mouth taping
and mouth breathing, eye masks, nose strips, TV and phones before bed, sleep apnea, melatonin,
is it good or bad, CBD and weed before sleep, the differences in men and women's sleep needs,
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and tips for shift workers. This was the first time that we've ever
had a sleep expert on the show, and it was so, so interesting. I cannot wait to honestly keep
talking about it more because I really think sleep quality is one of the biggest and most
important parts of a health routine when it comes to weight loss, clearing skin, balancing hormones,
energy levels. Anything that you may be struggling with will be improved by an optimal sleep routine. So
highly recommend getting a pen and paper for this one. It was so interesting. And on top of it,
Todd also had a weight loss journey. So we discussed weight loss and what that's like.
Without further ado, let's hop into this episode with Todd. Todd, welcome to the show.
Excited to be here.
Very excited to have you. I actually have not done a dedicated sleep episode. And when
I posted you on my story, everyone freaked out. Everyone has questions.
I love that.
We have a lot to discuss. So let's get started by hearing about how you personally became
interested in sleep and optimizing performance.
Yeah, I mean, really, my interest sparked college. Like, so I walked out of Michigan
State, meaning I wasn't good enough to be recruited. And I always had this kind of chip
on my shoulder mentality of, I had to wring out every ounce of ability to even compete with the
guys I was around. So, you know, I started digging into research and I was a kinesiology exercise science major
at the end of my career.
And at the time, this was like 2010,
sleep kept popping up with relation to hormone levels and testosterone.
And I would kind of make sure I prioritize sleep a little bit,
as much as you can in college, because I was still a normal college
kid. But I would make sure before big workouts or competitions, we wouldn't be going out and doing
dumb stuff. And I started to realize the importance, because I'm thinking in my head, okay,
if getting five hours of sleep affects my testosterone levels that much, it's probably
systemically affecting a lot of other things. Fast forward, I played in the NFL for a
little bit, but after that ended, I started training people in the strength conditioning
world and more and more information started coming out in sleep. And at the same time,
I got to spend a lot of time and learn from Dr. Jennifer Martin out at UCLA. And she's a top sleep
psychologist, which I love because psychology of sleep is far more important than the physiology
of sleep as far as changing your behavior and actually improving your sleep.
And so what I realized as more and more data came out, it's like if you really want to make someone feel better and impact the quality of their life, sleep is the most impactful thing you can do.
And it's also something that people enjoy.
It's easy to implement different behaviors. It's really this
silver bullet of health and wellness that at the time, this was like 2015, everyone was
overlooking. Nobody's talking about sleep back then. And so I went all in and took courses and
learned as much as I could. And I started speaking on sleep about seven, six years ago,
mostly in New York to different corporations, law firms, the New York Bar Association, which was, that was a wild.
I feel like those guys aren't sleeping.
None.
Just drinks and no sleep.
Full street vibes.
Yeah.
And just hearing the feedback of how much when people change their sleep, it changed their life in a positive way.
It was so motivating.
So I just kind of dug my heels in and, you know, I started Dream Recovery because I would go and speak and kind of spread the word about sleep
and I could ask questions about what products to implement and use and I never had a great answer.
So about a year ago, I was like, well, there's clearly a need.
I don't feel great about recommending anything and let's do it ourselves.
Were you guys one of the first brands to do the mouth tape?
We were.
Yeah, definitely.
We were in the first Um, but that came from
just none of the brands I've tried. All of them, none of them were great. It was like, you know,
there was maybe they were using a sketchy adhesive, which is not something people often think
about, you know, it's on your face for eight hours a night. So people are so aware of what's in their,
their lotions and their oils and their treatments. But yet think about if you're going to use mouth tape,
it's on your face longer.
It doesn't even evaporate.
So adhesives, materials, the production.
So we just thought we could do it better.
And it was really self-serving.
I was like, I don't have anything that I enjoy or works well for me.
So let's make the best of the best.
That's how the best businesses start, I feel like.
Yeah, it's almost refinement
as opposed to coming up with something completely new.
So I want to talk about that in a bit about the benefits of mouth tape. But let's start kind
of broad for people listening. What is the difference between quality, sleep and quantity?
Like which is more important? On the clinical level or just in general, there's a lot more
data on quantity. And that's really the best place to start.
Because I would assume most people listening to this
are probably relatively healthy.
They don't have any crazy clinical sleep issues going on.
So-
You should have seen the DMs.
Well, I would say that we'll go with the majority.
But if you're getting the optimal quantity of sleep
and you feel good,
chances are the quality of your sleep is pretty high.
What would you say that is, eight hours?
Yeah, for most people, it's right on eight hours, anywhere from seven to nine hours.
And oftentimes, it's probably more than people think. So on average, based on the data,
about 90 minutes, people are about 90 minutes underslept on average. So whatever you're
sleeping now, based on statistics, you need about 90 minutes more of sleep across the United States. And why is quality sleep so important? Like what
is it impacting? Yeah. So you have to think about sleep is, I think often we think about sleep is
just like being awake or being asleep, but you know, we have the different sleep stages and they
all play different roles in our physiology. And it's important. It's not about
one type of sleep being better than the other, right? You have your slow wave sleep, your deep
sleep, you'll see on your trackers and your REM sleep and your stage one and two. And it's not
like, oh, how can I get the most REM sleep? It's more about the proportions. I always compare it
to like a band. It's like, it's not about having the most guitar. It's about how does the guitar blend in
with the bass and the vocals.
And you can't make up for less bass with more guitar.
That's not how it works.
Same with REM sleep and deep sleep.
Like you need these proportions
of the different sleep cycles
in order to optimize your function,
especially your brain.
So the only way to do that
is give yourself optimal time
and allow yourself to flow through these stages of sleep.
But if things are disrupted
and things are breaking your sleep up,
you kind of start back at one.
You have to progress through these stages
as the night goes on and it chops those up.
So a lot of times,
because our deep sleep takes longer to get into,
that's what is affected the most, right?
You kind of go stage one, two, three,
which is like your deep sleep and then your REM cycle, and then you start over again. So if you're waking up in
your stage two of sleep, you just keep starting over and over and you don't get into those deeper
parts of sleep. So getting up to pee, you start back from the beginning. Yeah. And that's honestly
one of the main things people mess up is hydration and being intentional.
I use the word intentional with sleep a lot because the first thing people talk about with hydration is how much water you're drinking.
But really they should be thinking about how much water are you drinking and when are you drinking it?
Because front-loading your hydration the first half of the day is extremely impactful to eliminating how many times you get up in the middle of the night.
Yeah. I still run into that issue all the time and I'm pretty intentional with my sleep,
but the hydration is hard. It's hard. It's hard to get enough water in general,
I would say, especially if you're busy. But it's totally normal to get up in the middle of the
night and go to the bathroom. If you're out there and that's normal one or two times,
but if you're waking up four times to go to the bathroom, I think you need to be more strategic with your hydration. And a lot of times it has
to do with your timing of your meals because people tend to have more fluid around a meal.
And that's also a good tool is just moving that last meal up a little bit.
Yeah. When would you say is the optimal time to have dinner?
Yeah. So rule of thumb is three hours. If you can give yourself a three-hour gap, that's a pretty good window.
A lot of people feel significantly better just from a digestion perspective in the morning,
which I'm one of those people.
If you pair that up with like a light walk post-dinner, you can feel really good.
But a couple of reasons.
When you give yourself that gap, that first sleep cycle of the night is oftentimes when
you have the biggest
spike in growth hormone, which can be great for longevity and keeping you feeling healthy and
performing at a high level. So that's your biggest spike. When you have a meal really close to bed,
your body doesn't go into that growth hormone spike. It doesn't produce it the same way it
would. And you just kind of miss out on it. It doesn't produce that spike the following sleep
cycle. You just kind of miss out on it that night and you move on. So allowing your body to digest and then also giving enough time to
have your blood sugar stabilize and basically let your body calm down. Three hours is a pretty good
rule of thumb. And that's also a good thing to do when you're traveling. Having a consistent gap
there is another way to trigger your body basically to say, hey,
we're getting ready to go to bed. And if you're traveling time zones, you can use that as a tool to reset yourself when you move time zones. I'm sure you deal with that a lot.
Love that. I'm a big fan of the 5 p.m. dinner reservation. I'm not sure why people don't do
that. So I lived in Miami for three years and people are like, let's go to dinner at 9 p.m.
And not to mention everyone in Miami is 30 minutes late to everything.
So it's wild.
Miami is not for me.
No, if you value sleep,
that is not the place to be.
The nightclubs open at midnight.
I think of like Spain, they have dinner at like 10.
I can't do that.
I can't do that either.
But they're so healthy.
It confuses me.
I mean, Europe in general, some of that stuff is very contradicting. It's wild. But I think
their stress levels are low. And I think that the lifestyle in the United States is fast and furious
for better for worse. But chronic stress, that'll tear you apart over time no matter what. And
we talk about these things that take away from our health and longevity,
alcohol, which Spain tends to, you know,
utilize a lot in their life.
But in general, you know, things like that,
stress will out, the chronic stress will outweigh all the substances.
And most of the time it wrecks havoc on our body.
And I don't think we realize,
I think because our baseline is a little bit skewed here,
we don't realize what our baseline of stress levels are.
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Quality sleep, other than impacting our energy levels,
which is like obviously the obvious benefit,
what else is it impacting?
Like hormones, fat loss, muscle?
Yeah, top to bottom.
I think with fat loss specifically,
people overlook sleep and it really should be the first thing you think about.
So if anyone comes to me and they have a weight loss goal,
the first thing I would look at is their sleep schedule,
which is a little bit counterintuitive
because I think people think about calorie burn,
energy expenditure, energy balance.
And it does come down to energy balance.
But when we sleep, that's when we optimize our hunger hormones.
And on average, if someone is only sleeping five hours compared to like eight hours,
you consume about 300 to 400 more calories when you're underslept.
And it's not because you're awake longer.
They've done plenty of studies to figure out why that's happening.
And that's happening because you crave high fat,
high sodium foods that are more calorically dense
and you crave food more.
Like your hunger hormones are all thrown off.
So it's about like, when you have a weight loss goal,
we already know the stats on weight loss outcomes.
It's not very good.
A lot of people don't follow through.
So I think it's about how do I set myself up
for the highest chances of success?
Not how do I attack this with the most aggressive plan?
How do I make it happen the fastest?
It's like, let's get these behaviors in place
that's gonna increase my chances the highest
as opposed to what's the most effective plan
because that's gonna be a much better long-term outcome.
So just by sleeping
the optimal amount, you're going to reduce your caloric intake by about 300 to 400 calories
because you're not going to crave food as much. So you have a weight loss story. I do. Kind of
like me. What was your situation? Yeah. I mean, I always slept well. That's the one thing I did
always prioritize. So I can't say that that contributed to it as much. But yeah, when I got done playing football,
I was a big guy.
I had a ton of muscle on me from football.
It's just what you had to do.
But about five years after,
I found myself just not having great purpose
in what I was doing.
And trying to find myself in the business world,
took a couple of chances
and it was around people that just like,
yeah, I just didn't feel inspired.
Didn't work out, started drinking a lot.
I gained about 50 pounds in five months, and I felt so bad. drawn to setting your plan up to have the highest chances of success is because until you've been
in that situation where you're not feeling great about yourself, maybe you're depressed,
maybe you're probably going through other things beyond just your physical appearance and how you
feel. It feels like you're moving a mountain to start that journey. And that's why I always come back to like,
how do we increase these chances?
Because it's hard to get that ball rolling.
And I think it's also hard for people
to even put themselves in those shoes.
People don't realize how incredibly difficult it is
to even get to the gym when you feel like that about yourself.
Not only just from your self-conscious,
but also energy and mood and it's nearly impossible. So anything
you can do to optimize your mental health and your motivation, I think is a great start.
But it was a battle. And I remember distinctly, I was in Chicago. I went on a boat, picture got
taken, got posted to Facebook the same day I had a physical and i got on the scale i was
like 296 pounds which is four pounds away from 300 and i texted my wife and i was like like this
is rock bottom like i i don't know how i let it get to this point like this doesn't even reflect
what i value as a person like i love health wellness longevity i was in the space like
how did this happen but But it happens fast.
And if, you know, if you're not around people that are inspiring you, if you don't feel like
you're doing something with purpose, it can happen. And you don't even realize you're losing
that perspective. So luckily, you know, a lot of times like weight loss goals happen gradually and
you have a long-term plan,
but that was almost that moment
that just like sparked a fire.
And I went on like a nine month tear
and really got things back in order.
And, you know, I've had a pretty good balance ever since.
I was probably a little too aggressive,
but I could not stand like what that picture represented.
And it wasn't even just the physical,
it was just about like what I saw.
When I saw the picture,
it was about like what reflected back at me
and knowing my mindset that I had at one time,
even my relationship with food,
probably like how I treated people around me.
I wasn't the same, I didn't have the same energy.
I wasn't as uplifting and optimistic
and I just knew that wasn't me.
So I was willing to do anything
to get back to where
I was at one point. I relate in so many ways that even the nine month span, like mine was a full
nine month span, but I was probably a little too aggressive. And I sometimes get nervous to say
that because girls are like, how did you do it? And I wish I could say, I think I was lucky because
I had my husband who's a bodybuilder
and I came from the approach of wanting muscle and it wasn't, many women go into it being like,
I want to be smaller and smaller and smaller, but I always wanted muscle and I prioritized protein,
but I was pretty aggressive about the way I went about it. And similar to you, it was not so much
about the way I looked, but more so like, who am I? I was lacking
discipline, purpose, didn't have anyone around me who was like, inspiring me to be better.
And it really was a full life change. So I completely relate.
Yeah, well, make no mistake. I also I think it's what it was about how I look too. You know,
it's like, I think you're lying to yourself. Everybody wants to feel good about how they look.
And it's okay to say that.
I think it's okay to have aesthetic goals
as long as they're in line and healthy.
But I also think though,
even the psychology behind nutrition and change,
like obviously the longer it takes you to lose weight,
the better long-term outcomes.
But I also think there's something to be said.
Like when you have like a burning motivation and you have this you to lose weight, the better long-term outcomes. But I also think there's something to be said, like when you have like a burning motivation
and you have this desire to make change,
if you can ride that wave and implement changes,
but at the same time, educate yourself
and set up this lifestyle for sustainability,
I think that can be really useful.
Like my mentality, I'm an all in or all out kind of guy.
And so I think that was the only thing
that would have worked for me. And like you said, it's like, I think if all in or all out kind of guy. And so I think that was the only thing that would have worked for me.
And like you said, it's like,
I think if you, on the other side,
you set things up to make sure it's sustainable,
I think it can be okay.
But I think the biggest thing with weight loss,
it's like you have to think of yourself
as a different person.
Because oftentimes, and I've done this in smaller,
on a smaller scale, it's like,
you think I'm gonna get to this goal and then I can relax. And It's like, you think I'm gonna get to this goal
and then I can relax.
And it's like, and then I'm good.
And then that's when it all comes back.
But it's like, you literally have to think of yourself
as a different human being
and where you are gonna live a different life.
And there's never gonna be a point
where you necessarily can relax.
You just have to change the way that you exist.
And at first that's really terrifying
and hard to wrap your brain around it. But then that's exactly what happens. And it becomes sustainable because
you don't ever feel like you want to get back to that point where you were. You just look at things
differently. You have a different outlook on how you approach things. And if anything, you kind of
figure out who you really are. Like that's how I've always thought about it. It really showed me
what my true potential is. Yeah. Have you heard that quote where it's like, if you start running, tell yourself you are a runner, not that you are
running. That makes sense. Now I haven't heard that quote, but I love that. But I kind of did
that. I need to start doing that because I've been running a lot and I still am like, I'm running.
I'm not a runner. You are a runner, like you are. And even when I started working out,
even when I was still heavier and not fully there yet, I considered myself a weightlifter.
And even when I was like in my daily life, I wore my weightlifting clothes 24 seven. Cause I was
like, this is who I am. Like, this is my life. I love that. And now I'm a bit more fluid with the
way I identify myself, but like, it is such a big part of my life and has become more and more
comfortable for me. I mean, my life now, I can't imagine not
working out or not eating the way I eat. Right. And that becomes part of you. And it's difficult
to imagine that at the beginning. I think it's in the beginning, it's slightly terrifying. Yeah.
Because you do. Well, I think it's also like you realize how good you could feel
and everything that surrounds that. And you value that more than those things that
you used to.
Like I used to value binging on pizza and having beers
and going out to the bar.
Well, then I feel how it feels to be healthy and fit
and have a sustainable life.
And I'm like, I would not trade that for this.
And it becomes a relatively easy decision.
But until you feel that,
you'll never think you'll give up those things.
100%.
But it's, man, it was a journey,
emotional rollercoaster for sure.
But kind of a blessing,
I always say to experience rock bottom
because a lot of people don't have that.
Yeah, no, I agree.
And I also, I get frustrated sometimes in this space
because just how you feel at that rock bottom
when I see people who haven't been there
giving advice about,
just start moving and changing your diet and all this stuff,
so much easier said than done.
If you could just feel what it feels like,
you wouldn't be saying it with the tone that you're saying.
I promise you that.
And you got to meet people where they are.
And I think everyone has a different thing that gets them going and you
kind of have to find that and it's very individualized, but there's not a lot of
empathy there. So if anyone's out there on that journey and just getting to the gym is incredible,
especially with everything going on in people's life, moms. And I mean, it's pretty incredible.
I talked about before, it's way harder for a mom to get to the gym for the first time of the year that doesn't feel good about going than a pro athlete going to an off-season workout.
It could be the hardest workout ever, but overcoming those like emotional barriers and just being self-conscious, like there's nothing worse.
Like going back to that is, I can't even get myself there.
And, you know, knowing how much better it feels now,
it's like, but you just have to know it's gonna be worth it.
I know.
Shout out to the people listening who are just showing up
because that's all you can do.
Just show up every day.
Even if it's not a good workout, you got there.
Check the box.
Back to sleep.
Yeah.
We went on a whole tangent.
We had to though, we had to.
You said you were tracking your sleep back when
you were less healthy and you still track now, seven years later. What have you seen improve
over time? Funny enough, my sleep was pretty good. But like when I was drinking, it's insane
how much alcohol affects your sleep. I mean, it's unbelievable. What is that? Why? There's a lot
of reasons. You know, alcohol, and actually like some of the reasons are actually a little up in
the air still. It's a lot has to do with like just the chemicals that are produced from the
breakdown of the alcohol. But alcohol is sedating, which is not the same as sleeping. So it does make
you fall asleep faster.
And what happens is it really segments your sleep. You wake up much more often.
And because of that, you don't get into your REM cycles. It really suppresses your REM sleep. And your REM sleep is what really helps with your emotional regulation and your mood stability.
So when you think about alcohol and what drives people to alcohol, it kind of creates this cycle,
this negative cycle, because that type of sleep is exactly what you need probably to set you on
the right course. So alcohol, you bounce around these lighter stages of sleep, but what happens
is you're waking up a lot, but you don't remember you're waking up a lot. It's very brief and it's
segmented. So when you wake up, you feel like you slept really
well because what happens is your brain, you don't get any of this REM sleep the entire night because
of the alcohol. You metabolize the alcohol, it gets out of your system. And then the last couple
hours of the night, your brain is deprived of this REM sleep. So it's like, I need to make up for it.
You go into these deep REM cycles. And when you wake up, you're like, I was sleeping like a rock.
You don't realize you're waking up
a million times throughout the night.
And then also it feels like
you're coming out of this super deep sleep
because your brain was deprived
of this REM sleep the entire night.
And so you have the illusion
that you fell asleep
because you wake up from a deep sleep
and also you fell asleep faster
because of the sedating effects of the alcohol.
So people get in the habit, I'll have a glass of wine and two glasses of wine at night
to help me sleep. But in reality, like you're saying, you might be getting the quantity,
but you're definitely not getting the quality of sleep, which at that point,
when the quality of sleep is that poor, the quantity doesn't really matter as much. so i have been eating gluten-free and dairy-free for a while now because of my skin
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I was telling you prior to our conversation,
my HRV is usually close to 200, if not over 200.
Which is incredible.
Which I don't understand and we need to talk about it.
And my followers are like, how. Which I don't understand and we need to talk about it and my followers are like, how?
And I don't know.
But when I have one alcoholic beverage,
it's generally like 100 or less.
Yeah.
Like half of what it normally is.
Yeah.
People don't realize how much,
like just one drink can affect your sleep.
There's been studies that like,
even, you know,
two drinks in the early afternoon,
they can see in, you know in some of these brain activity readings
that it's affecting your sleep.
So it's just how much, it's just a balance.
And I do have drinks.
I was about to ask you, do you drink?
People don't think I do.
I do drink, I'll have drinks.
I enjoy wine.
I enjoy a couple of glasses of wine,
but I think it's about being intentional.
And it's like, if you're gonna go out to dinner,
at the end of the day,
the number one longevity tool
is the depth of your social connections.
When you have real meaningful relationships
and it's predictable,
it's not just, this is not just a theory.
There's studies to back this up.
If you have great meaningful relationships,
you will live longer and healthier.
So I think it's about,
and it's a fact that in our society,
alcohol is deeply intertwined in the social world. So if you're gonna go out and it's worth it and you're around people, you know, and it's a fact that in our society, alcohol is deeply intertwined in the social world.
So if you're going to go out and it's worth it
and you're around people that you love,
you're going to have a great time
and you're strategic about what time you're going to have the drinks
and what you have the next day, it can be fine.
It can be a useful tool.
And I don't necessarily tell people they shouldn't drink,
but it's just when it becomes habitual,
you know, when you're having drinks every single night
or you're having four or five, six drinks, like that can be pretty
detrimental. But there, you know, there's things you can do to combat that, but just be intentional.
And I said, make sure it's worth it. Make sure you're not just having drinks to have drinks.
So what is HRV?
Yeah. So HRV just stands for heart rate variability. And it's a little counterintuitive to what you'd think.
So basically, the more relaxed your nervous system is,
it's a nervous system reading,
the more relaxed your nervous system is, right?
So the more you're in your parasympathetic state nervous system,
the bigger variance between your heartbeats.
Okay, so the slower your heartbeats.
So it's almost like irregular.
So that measurement
is just how big of variants there are. So how big of differences there are between your heartbeats.
Okay. But you would think it'd be the opposite. You think it'd be like super regular, like on
pattern, but you actually want there to be more variants. And the more variants we're finding,
the more prepared your body is for one, to take on stress, like activity levels. And then two,
what type of stress state your body is in from a recovery perspective. So if you go do a crazy
workout or you have alcohol, your heartbeat gets more and more regular. So it's just basically
that measurement and average throughout the night, for example, in a sleep tracker.
So is it considered healthier to have a higher HRV?
Yes. Yeah. So you want a
higher HRV, similar to like you want a lower resting heart rate. The one thing with HRV is
it's more individualized than a heart rate. Across the population, it's more predictable,
like what a good resting heart rate is, where HRV, it's more dependent on your baseline. So
HRV is also affected by a lot of things,
medications, all sorts of different medications.
So it's more about looking at your baseline
and trying to improve that
as opposed to like looking at your crazy HRV of 200
and some and trying to get there.
It's not a metric that you should compare to other people
as opposed to see where you're at
and then try to improve upon it.
Like when all these trackers,
like a whoop, for example, or a ring, they take your HRV and they normalize what your norm is. And then they based your recovery score based on what percentile you're
in based on your average, not like the population's average. Okay. Because whenever I post it,
people get really upset. Yeah. It's not something to compare yourself to. Everyone's different. Some people just have a unique ability to have really high HRV.
Now, there is a higher...
If someone's in ridiculously good cardiovascular condition,
endurance athletes oftentimes have really high HRVs.
I don't think that's me.
Maybe it is.
I don't know.
I'm not a runner.
You got to tell yourself you are a runner.
You're not running.
You're an HRVer. I'm happy it's high, you gotta tell yourself you are a runner you're not running you're hrv-er
i'm i'm happy it's high but i also don't know i i said to you before when i saw on a cold plunge
the the night before the day before i sleep it's way higher um but i i don't know why mine is so
astronomically high i'm not. But people get really upset.
Also, from what I've seen, women tend to have a higher HRV.
Oh, interesting.
Mine's higher than my husband's and it's like my flex.
That's pretty common.
Yeah.
Is your resting heart rate lower?
That's pretty common too.
Yeah.
Why does sauna cold plunge help so much?
Yeah.
So I mean, it is, well, it depends.
It depends on what the mechanism is. So do you
do it at night or do you do? Yes, usually at night. Yeah. So sauna is great for, I'm just
curious what your protocol is. Okay. Well, it's not as good as yours. I promise you. You don't
even know what mine is. Yeah. You go in and out, right? Well, it depends if you get a spray tan.
Oh yeah. Well, spray, thank you for recognizing the spray tan.
Yes.
It's important.
It looks great.
Thank you.
But I do it quite frequently leading up to the spray tan
because it gets it off.
But I will basically sit in the sauna until I'm dying.
So 15 to 20 minutes.
How hot, do you know?
Greg gets, he hacks the thermometer
and it gets up to like 230, I think.
Wow. Is that crazy? 230, I think. Wow.
Is that crazy?
That's pretty hot.
Yeah.
We do the water on the coals.
So I basically go till I'm dying and I want to get in the cold plunge.
Get in the cold plunge quick, get back in the sauna, probably another 10, end on cold.
How long do you do cold?
Not long, like maybe a minute or two.
Yeah.
So I would guess the reason that affects your affects your HRV so much is just your sleep
and you're probably more relaxed.
So heat before bed is great.
Any heat, it could be a shower, it can be a hot tub, it can be a sauna.
Sauna is amazing for health and longevity in general for a few reasons,
but I'm just going to talk about sleep.
So what happens is when you heat yourself up,
it basically expands your blood vessels
and your veins and everything.
It's a vasodilator.
So, and your extremities especially,
everything expands and the blood rushes
from like your trunk, your torso to your extremities.
And in order to sleep well,
the reason why a cold bedroom is really important
is it allows you to cool your core body temperature down.
And you need to drop your core body temperature
about a degree or two
in order to get into that first sleep cycle,
and especially deep sleep cycles.
So one, you have a cool bedroom, it's really useful.
But two, when you heat yourself up before bed,
your blood is rushed to your extremities
because dilates all your blood vessels. And then it cools your torso down, to your extremities because, you know, dilates all your
blood vessels and then it cools your torso down. Like your core body temperature much faster.
So I think what's probably happening is the sauna is doing that. You're replying the heat before bed,
you go into a cool bedroom probably, and then you're able to fall asleep really quickly. And
it really relaxes your nervous system. And you're able to basically be in the most relaxed state,
which increases your
variability of your heart rate. That's basically just saying how relaxed is my body, how relaxed
is my nervous system. The higher that number gets, the more relaxed you are. What is your
sauna protocol? Mine is similar. It depends. So I've been playing around with this because
I like to experiment.
And you're in that every night.
Yeah, we also have a lot of people over.
So if people come over, it's a little different experience because people kind of want to push the limits.
But if it's just me
and I'm trying to like maximize my biometrics,
there is actually some data that too hot is a stressor
and it can actually have some detrimental effects
as far as like dementia, Alzheimer's,
like all the positive effects of sauna,
like eliminating those long-term diseases.
If it's too hot and it's really stressful,
it can have a negative effect.
So I've been actually going a little lower with the temperature,
like 180.
I have a Sisu sauna and they're awesome
because it's just on an app and I can set the temperature.
Oh, that's nice.
From inside.
I can be on the way home from dinner and start the sauna.
Yeah, we don't have that.
Yeah, it's amazing.
That's nice.
Yours is traditional, not red.
Yeah, because all the data on saunas is on traditional saunas.
I agree with you.
Why is everyone getting red?
Well, the infrareds are conceptually,
I understand why it's trendy because it penetrates.
It's just a different heating mechanism so it
penetrates the skin deeper and essentially they'll tell you it heats from the inside out but it you
know it it heats through vibrating the molecules inside of our body as opposed to just the air
outside of it but you have 40 year studies coming out of Europe that are amazing studies all using
traditional saunas and all these unbelievable outcomes.
As soon as you change one variable
of what type of sauna it is,
you have to kind of throw that study out of the window.
So why not use the exact same heating mechanism
that all these great studies are using?
That's my opinion.
I also think it's a better experience.
The other thing with infrared, it's a cheaper option
and you can usually plug it into a regular outlet
as opposed to like a hard wire. So it's just easier for most people. That's honestly- It's kind of option and you can usually plug it into a regular outlet as opposed to a hard wire.
So it's just easier for most people.
It's kind of wild installing it.
It's not great.
Do you have it inside or outside?
Inside right now.
We used to have one outside.
Yeah, that's hard.
It's not easy, but worth it.
Sorry, tell me your protocol.
I've been going actually like 180 degrees
for like 25 minutes.
I'll go dip in the cold like 10 seconds
because I don't want to get too cold
and I want to keep dilated all my blood vessels.
Keep dilated and then I go back in for about 10,
dip and then I'll actually end with the hot tub.
Yeah.
Okay.
The hot tub, you know, water is similar to the cold plunge.
Water transfers heat so well that it tends to be really relaxing.
And, you know, it just makes me sleepy.
And that's why a cold plunge is so much more effective than cryotherapy.
Yeah.
It's because it transfers heat so well.
Are we all done with cryotherapy now?
I think I'm ready to, you know.
I'm ready to get rid of it.
I mean, I was ready to get rid of it before.
I think it's BS now.
Yeah, well, so it's just, it's really one that's,
the price is wild a lot of times.
But yeah, so like air,
so if you measure your skin temperature,
it takes like the full three minutes
to get your skin temperature to like 37 degrees.
Whereas in a cold plunge,
you instantly get that down to 37
and you get three minutes at that really low temperature.
So like the air temperature is very misleading
as far as its effectiveness
because you got to look at the skin temperature.
And so you're really getting,
the entire time you're in the cryotherapy,
it's just cooling itself down.
It's not actually getting the outcomes
that you would instantly in a cold plunge.
What is the optimal temperature to have the bedroom?
68?
That's on the higher
side, surprisingly, like 65 to 68 is pretty standard, but it's okay to be warm. And the
other thing that actually is a useful tool is having warm feet. So there's studies showing
like if you wear socks, it helps you fall asleep faster. Or if you just have like a double, a good
tip is to have like a double blanket on your feet because again, you want the blood to flow to your extremities.
So the colder your feet are, the less it's going to want to go.
So you want to increase the blood flow to your feet
and that'll allow you to cool your core body temperature down faster
and you'll fall asleep faster.
Okay.
And then obviously there's tools you can add like the Eight Sleep Pad.
Eight Sleep, yeah.
I love the Eight Sleep Pad.
Yeah.
I work with
them and it's uh it's pretty incredible so my dad has this um this this you know he was born with it
i'm not exactly sure the name of it he can't he sweats when it's cold and he has really hard time
regulating his temperature and my mom is going through menopause and she's so hot and so they
can like control their temperature separate on the sides of bed.
So that's going to be their Christmas present.
They don't know.
I don't know if they're going to listen to this,
but just be surprised if they listen to it.
I'm only child.
So they listen.
Oh, you're the main character.
Yeah, they listen to quite a few things.
My parents have never once listened to my show.
Really?
Not once.
Oh man.
Thank God.
My parents will listen.
Hi mom and dad.
Yeah.
Thanks for listening.
Todd's doing great.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My parents are all in.
Does Katie, your wife, like the eight sleep too?
Does she use her side?
Yes.
But my wife can sleep through a hurricane.
Like she is out.
Really?
She's a big mouth taper.
She was hard no in the beginning.
Wow.
We were like, to the point, like we were selling it.
The company was launched and I'm like, can you just please try this?
Like, I mean, just for me, you know, and she tried it one the company was launched, and I'm like, can you just please try this? Just for me.
And she tried it one night, 10 minutes, took it off.
She was a little freaked out about it, which is totally normal.
But now she cannot go back.
And she was a mouth breather.
Was she?
Yeah, she'd probably kill me if she still knew I had the pictures.
But I would take pictures of her with her mouth on and be like,
see, I'm telling you, you need this.
Okay, wait, let's dive into mouth tape because I think I'm still a little bit unsure of it.
Tell us the benefits of mouth tape.
So it's a weird concept for sure, no doubt. And I get why people are kind of freaked out.
My husband does it. And it's also pretty handy because he wants to stop talking to me. So he'll
just...
Well, first off, it's great for if you're in an argument, boom, argument's over.
And honestly, you know what's crazy?
I joke about this all the time, but like if you're ever really mad
and then you just sleep and you wake up, you feel like...
True.
It kind of puts everything in perspective.
True.
You're like, what were we even talking about?
Yeah, you're like, what are we doing?
Because I think naturally, the human brain builds anxiety through the day.
So it resets and your REM sleep helps reduce anxiety.
So it makes sense.
But really what you're doing is harnessing the power of nasal breathing.
And over the last five or so years,
we've really started to understand how powerful breathing through your nose is.
And basically our nose is meant to breathe.
Our mouth is meant to eat and talk.
And you're really only supposed to breathe out of your mouth
at really high levels of exertion.
And we didn't evolve breathing out of our mouth at night.
But now about 60% of the population
breathes out of their mouth when they're sleeping.
A lot of different reasons,
like our stress levels have definitely changed.
Orthodontics have changed,
like the way that they can create the structure
in the teeth and the airway, a lot of different things.
But in general, like so many positive things
come from breathing through your nose.
And your nose, think of your nose
as the steering wheel of your nervous system.
So when you change your breath
from mouth breathing to nasal breathing,
you instantly down-regulate and relax your nervous system.
So when you're
breathing out of your mouth throughout the entire night, it's kind of like chronic low level of
stress the entire night. And that's why you'll see your HRV go up when you breathe through your nose
the entire night, which could be why you have really- I think I just had an epiphany.
Could be. I'm a nose breather.
Could be it. That could be it. And it will, I mean, if you were an HRV monitor, like when you're
awake and you start doing nasal breathing, you'll see your HRV jump up instantly.
So just imagine the entire night.
So that happens.
The other thing that happens is in your nose, you produce nitric oxide, which is a vasodilator.
So it allows you breathe it down into your lungs and expands your airways, allows you
to breathe in more oxygen.
And again, it just reduces the amount of stress.
The amount of, basically the thing about about it as reducing the amount of effort your body has to use to maintain its homeostasis
and just exist. The other thing it does is it makes you more tolerant to carbon dioxide,
which seems like a bad thing. When you're breathing out of your mouth, you can actually
over-breathe and you're expelling all this carbon dioxide, but it's more the balance of carbon
dioxide and oxygen
that allows your body to utilize the oxygen. At the cellular level, when you have more carbon
dioxide, you actually are able to use more of the oxygen that's in your blood, which makes sense.
Like if you're having a hard time to breathe, your body, like think of it as releasing this
oxygen into your system. So it's this balance and it enables you to get used to that. And then I guess the two
other benefits would be one like oral hygiene and dentists are starting to love mouth tape because
when your mouth is open, it becomes very acidic. And so like, you know, on a pH level, water's
around seven, that's like neutral. Your mouth, once your pH drops below five and a half, your
teeth start breaking down pretty fast and a lot higher chances of cavities and things like neutral. Your mouth, once your pH drops below five and a half, your teeth start breaking down pretty fast
and a lot higher chances of cavities and things like that.
When your mouth is open,
it usually gets to about three and a half.
So your mouth becomes very acidic,
you have bad breath and your teeth break down.
And a lot of reasons why people have cavities
isn't necessarily because they don't have good oral hygiene,
it's because their mouth is open the entire night.
And then jaw structure.
So we see this, especially in kids,
your jaw will take the shape of whatever position it's in.
You know, our body is very adaptable.
So if your mouth is open the entire night,
it starts to take that shape and adjust.
And likewise-
Less defined.
Yeah, so if your mouth is closed the entire time,
it takes the shape of the position it's in,
which looks more defined.
So over time, your body adapts either way.
Wow.
Especially in kids.
It's also pretty incredible
some of the studies coming out with kids
and learning disabilities and mouth breathing
because mouth breathing is also,
it's depriving your brain of oxygen in short bursts.
So when you think about that,
like over time and the development of the brain,
it can be pretty impactful.
Some wild stuff coming out. I also think think about animals like when you look at dogs
that are mouth breathers like pugs or french bulldogs they always have health problems and
you think about sleeping you never see an animal sleeping with their mouth open right it's so
interesting how it just changes the facial structure and then you're also a fan of eye masks. Love eye masks. How come?
It's more about the psychology because it's incredible how smart our brain is on the
subconscious level of attaching different behaviors and environments with sleep and
awakefulness and restfulness.
And so an eye mask is an example of something that if you have totally blackout shades,
it's not necessarily about the blackout.
For me, it's about the trigger of,
I'm putting this eye mask on, it's time to go to sleep.
And my brain, my body knows, boom, it's bedtime
and I fall asleep almost instantly.
Where before I'd kind of roll around,
there wasn't that trigger.
And the other thing people need to be aware of
is like just how much your body associates
either restfulness or being awake
with your bed in your bedroom.
Like if you wake up and you're rolling around
trying to fall asleep
and you're in your bed for 40 minutes,
your brain is gonna start to associate your bed
with being awake and being stressed
about not being able to sleep.
So people should not just be in their bed,
not being able to sleep. If you can't sleep for like 15 minutes, like get up, take your mind off
it, go read a book, change your environment, get out of the space that's meant for sleeping
and go somewhere else. Because that subconscious interaction is very powerful. And I think the
sleep mask is a way to kind of bring that to a smaller scale. And also you're able to take it
with you anywhere you go. So for athletes especially like when you're traveling you never know the situation in the hotel room
but now you can control the light and still have that psychological trigger to actually go to sleep
my husband is the king of eye masks i mean the second he puts it on his face he's out
i'm i'm excited for him to try ours ours is like i'm, I'm a big fan of ours. I'm going to try it too.
So it's the highest quality silk, same with our pillowcases,
and especially for females with skincare and their hair.
So silk is like on a zero to 30, it's a Mame scale.
So it's like 24 karat gold is pure gold, 30 Mame silk is pure silk.
So ours are all 30.
Wow.
Intentionally, because that allows you to keep all
the moisture and oils on your skin and hair, which makes you feel much cooler throughout the night.
So that's like the most important thing. I didn't know that. Yeah. So like I said,
temperature regulation is one of the main reasons people can't sleep in a pillowcase and using a
silk pillowcase and silk sleep mask is a way to really keep things cool. If anything says it's
a cooling pillowcase, if it's not silk, chances are it's not going to work.
Yeah, it's not going to work that well.
Okay, and nose strips.
Can I talk about it?
Yeah, yeah.
So you're releasing nose strips.
We are.
It'll be a little bit, but we're super excited about it.
What's the deal with nose strips?
So that's just making the nasal breathing even easier.
People have different septum issues
and just trying to expand the volume of the nose and allow
you to bring in more air and not have to resort to mouth breathing, even in exercise or in sleep.
So it's literally just expanding it. But just with the physics of some nasal strips, we tweak some
things and ours are very different than a lot of the ones out there. And they're able to get a lot
more dilation and you can feel the difference. So I think it's like, think about like if your
threshold to breathe out of your mouth, like you started breathing out of your mouth when you were
exercising at 60%, we're just trying to push that to 75% and just keep your body like a lower stress
the entire time. And then again, it allows you to, you know, get used to having a little bit
higher levels of carbon dioxide,
which is actually a really good thing.
Do you know Alex Hormozy?
Yes.
You know how he always wears the no-strip?
Yes.
My husband does too, and it's become like the entrepreneur uniform.
Oh, yeah.
It's a look.
I mean, I'll probably have him on every day, all day.
And ours are also setting out to make them look much cooler than the ones out there.
I mean, the bar's pretty low. They're not the best looking things out there.
It's tough to make them look cute.
Yeah, they're not great and they're big.
But if you just wear it with confidence, it kind of is a vibe.
Well, I think it's like, you know, now it's like cool to take care of yourself. So it's
almost like a badge. It's like, hey, I'm into this.
So I biohack.
Right.
Just so everyone knows.
I'm trying to think of something else.
It's like the Stanley Cup of biohacking.
Yes, yes.
Especially for men.
I see men wearing it a lot.
Yeah, it's like Stanley doesn't have quite the same vibe.
People thought that Greg got a nose job
because he was wearing it all day, every day.
What color does he wear?
Nude.
Oh, that kind of looks like a band-aid.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a full band-aid.
Yeah, yeah.
He doesn't care.
He has a glass jar next to his bed full of them.
I can't wait to get him ours.
I know.
He's going to love it.
I know.
I'm so excited.
Yeah.
Also, question that he wanted me to ask you.
So TV, phones before bed.
Yeah.
So light is obviously energizing to our brain.
We've heard that.
So blue light blocking glasses can be great.
They're useful. They're useful.
They're relaxing.
Do they need to be orange?
They don't necessarily have to be,
but those definitely work better.
Those are better, right?
But they just are so extreme.
Like are the see-through ones fine too?
Yeah, they don't work as well though.
Okay.
We're developing some.
So I've been testing a lot of them.
You can feel a substantial difference.
I don't have any data on the
difference necessarily. I really don't know
study wise but I feel
a substantial difference from the orange.
I do too. I've done both. I've actually
worn the orange at the airport before.
Do you have normal looking ones or do you
have the big old...
Ben Greenfield wears them. I do that
sometimes.
It works.
I've actually the the last month,
I've really looked into this and it seems to me, I would bet that I think people are really into the light and how light impacts their sleep. I actually think the content and what you're
consuming is more impactful. So if something's in the background and you're not really into it,
and let's say like you're relaxed by having the background and the lights there, I would venture
to say that's less impactful than if you had a smaller amount of light, but you were super
engaged. So I think that there's more to learn there. And in general, I think it's about being
conscious of how engaged you are with something, what type of mood it puts you in,
what type of feelings you have surrounding it.
And just be aware of like, protect your sleep,
be aware of your sleep.
And you want to go to bed in a low stress state.
So be aware of the type of stuff
you're consuming surrounding sleep.
I think that's actually going to be a shift
over the next couple of years or so.
There's a lot of like high stress content out there. Like i always think of that show the bear the chef one did you ever
see that i've seen now i haven't seen i haven't watched it but it moves so i'm in suits right now
did you watch oh no i never did i didn't but then you know kind of made like a resurgence
you should watch it it's it's great we just finished gentlemen the gentleman okay i haven't
seen but the bear is so high stress
and all the scenes like overlap
and everyone's talking over each other.
And I was like, I don't-
That was like Ozark.
Yeah.
Like I was like, you know-
Can't do that.
I'm just stressed the whole time.
No, that's probably not-
People's heads are getting chopped off.
Right.
And I feel like I'm Marty.
So it's like, I couldn't do this.
Yeah, yeah.
And so then you hear a noise outside
and you're all freaked out.
Yeah, so- I'm high strung like that anyway. Yeah, yeah. And so then you hear a noise outside and you're all freaked out. Yeah, so-
I'm high strung like that anyway.
So, okay.
Do you mind if we do a little rapid fire
from the listeners?
They had some questions.
Is sleep apnea reversible?
Yes, for sure.
Oftentimes weight loss is a really great tool,
but there's so many interventions
like the nasal strips,
even dietary stuff,
sleeping positions. There's a lot
of things you can do. Always work with your doctor if you're going with a doctor, but always,
there's a lot of things you can do. And the one thing I'll say is sleep apnea is absolutely not
something to be ignored. The long-term health outcomes from sleep apnea are not good. So if
it's any suspicion, which is snoring is a pretty good sign, do a sleep study.
Feelings on melatonin?
Mixed, I only utilize it when I'm traveling
and trying to get in different time zone.
It's a hormone.
Most people, if you control the light,
it's produced from an absence of light.
So if you control your light,
which is really where most people run into issues,
you can produce a lot of melatonin.
It should gradually be produced throughout the evening.
So start dimming your lights when the sun goes down
and you'll gradually get sleepier and sleepier
that melatonin is produced.
The problem is when you take it,
a lot of times it's taken
and your levels go to a super physiological amount.
And when they actually measure
people's melatonin levels in the morning,
they're way higher than most people's even at night still.
So there's people feel groggy. Like, you know, it's not that natural flow of hormones. And there's so many behavior, holistic interventions you can do before something
like that. Is it okay to take CBD every night or smoke weed every night? Well, those are very
different. So CBD mix more information needed, definitely not,
doesn't seem bad,
but I don't know if it's necessarily a huge plus.
THC on the other hand though,
THC is a similar effect of alcohol,
totally different substances,
but it also minimizes the amount of REM sleep you get.
So a lot of times you'll hear people say
they don't dream when they use THC.
And when they stop, they have like crazy vivid dreams. That's because it's doing the same thing. It's suppressing your REM sleep you get. So a lot of times you'll hear people say they don't dream when they use THC. And when they stop, they have like crazy vivid dreams. That's because it's doing the same thing.
It's suppressing your REM sleep, which is super impactful for your emotional stability,
your mood regulation, really, really important things. It's a very important stage of sleep.
REM and your deep sleep, those two are the ones that get all the attention. So
you're not getting nearly as much and it stays in your system for a long time. So the only thing it does is help you fall asleep faster. It's sedating, but
long-term outcomes from chronic usage is not good. Would you say men or women need more sleep or
even amount? Women actually need slightly more sleep. And women actually get slightly more
REM sleep. They are naturally just prone to a little bit more anxiety. And women actually get slightly more REM sleep. They are naturally just prone to a
little bit more anxiety. And what's funny is when we have more anxiety, our brain will actually
put us into more REM sleep to combat that. Because like I said, it helps with your emotional
stability. So our brain is very adaptive and you'll see that happen, which could be a reason
why women get slightly more. But it's not a ton. We're talking 15 minutes on average.
Okay.
But it's a good excuse.
Like if you're ever like, I need to sleep in,
it's like, it's not me.
I do sleep a little bit later than Greg.
I mean, he's up at 5 a.m.
So does wifi or Bluetooth in the room interfere with sleep?
That's interesting.
I would say TBD, more information needed.
There's also just so many, well, a lot of times too,
it's like when they do in sleep studies,
there's a lot of electromagnetic waves and energy.
So I actually, I don't have a definitive answer on that,
but I think all that stuff probably has more of an impact
than we realize.
And so I would recommend,
if you can take your Wi-Fi
routers out of your bedroom, get your phone away, even some of the blocking sleeves can be useful
for some of the electromagnetic radiation. And do you have any tips for shift workers?
Shift workers, just know like it's an uphill battle and you have to be very intentional
because it can be really, really tough on your health.
And so I think with that is consistency
is the most important thing.
The worst thing you can do as a shift worker
is do two days at night.
And let's say you have a weekend day
where you don't have to work
and then you try to go back
into like normal society schedule
and then jump back into like your shift schedule.
That can be super hard on the body
and the brain and your sleep schedule.
So consistency is key.
And then the best thing you can do
besides being consistent
is really try to control the light in your timing.
But I feel for those people, it's hard.
It's very hard.
And you have to have a really good plan.
I think people don't realize like over the course of maybe 10 years,
they're like, I'm just going to do this for a little while.
Just how much of an impact it can have later in your life,
not sleeping that much.
So it's worth investing in things like a sleep mask,
a blackout shades.
And as much as I know people probably want their day off
to be up during the day, if you can keep it regular, it's not worth the long-term outcomes to like go back and forth.
It's brutal on your body.
Todd, thank you so much.
I have a million questions for you.
We'll have to do a part two at some point.
I'll have to come on your potential show.
Yeah, that'd be great.
Oh, I don't know if we'll be able to ask many questions.
You might be too sweaty.
It'll be in the sauna, guys.
Where can everyone find
you online? Where can they find Dream Recovery? Yeah, I mean, so dreamrecovery.io and then we're
just dreamrecovery on Instagram. And I do most of my stuff on Instagram. And honestly, with sleep
questions, I love helping people. So if you shoot me a DM, I try to get back to as many people as
possible because that motivates me. That's why I'm here. Awesome. Thank you so much.
Thanks for joining us on the Pursuit of Wellness podcast.
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This is a Wellness
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