😴 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP 😴

Sleep is just as important as your nutrition and training. Your body builds muscle while you’re sleeping - that's when it happens NOT at the gym. The gym is basically the stimulus but sleep is where the magic happens. SO if you’re eating perfectly and killing it in the gym you still might not see results if you’re not getting quality sleep.

Also, Aside from feeling refreshed and energized and all that good stuff, there's some pretty staggering study results...

Those who regularly sleep 5 hours a night have a 65% increased risk of dying at any time and are TWICE as likely to be classified by doctors as being in poor health. That's nuts.

SO… here are a few steps to take!

💥 AVOID ALCOHOL AND MARIJUANA - This one is probably the most important and very misunderstood. Although it feels like it helps you sleep the reality is actually quite the opposite. ALCOHOL is classified as a sedative and being sedated is very different from being asleep. Alcohol also will completely block or significantly reduce your REM sleep which we know is essential. MARIJUANA is not a sedative but it does block your REM sleep to the same degree as alcohol which ironically will lead to increased anxiety and depression and cause you to seek more Marijuana to medicare those symptoms.

💥 CONSISTENCY - Your body has what's called the circadian rhythm. This is its natural sleep/ awake cycle. The body seeks consistency in this cycle so it knows when to shut down and when to start up again. Being as consistent with your bedtime and when you wake up will help a ton. This is why we struggle with jet-lag.

💥 CAFFEINE - Caffeine has a half life of 5-7 hours. That just means that if you have 200 mg of caffeine at 4:00 PM, you'll still have 100 mg of caffeine running around your body from 9-10PM. And 50 mg at 12-1 in the morning. If you go to bed at 11, that's like drinking a quarter cup of coffee and then trying to go to sleep. Try to have your last dose of caffeine by 2-3 in the afternoon.

💥 LIGHT - Our Circadian rhythm was largely based on the light and dark of the day. However since the introduction of 24 hour light, that cycle gets disrupted. BLUE LIGHT (phones, tv, computers, etc) in particular is the most damaging to our rhythms. You can get blue light blocking glasses which help a lot and also just limit your exposure to blue light an hour or two before bed.

💥 MOVEMENT - Specifically STRETCHING! Doing a quick 15-20 minute stretching session before bed will make a HUGE difference.

💥 SUPPLEMENTS - two supplements that I recommend to help improve sleep quality and quantity are MAGNESIUM and 5HTP...

👉🏼 MAGNESIUM has a ton of functions one of which is promoting deep sleep - you can buy a magnesium supplement and take it about an hour before bed.

👉🏼 5HTP is an amino acid building block for MELATONIN which is one of our bodies sleep agents. You can buy melatonin and take it directly but it's HIGHLY recommended that you DON'T take melatonin directly. Taking a melatonin supplement will decrease your own body's natural production of melatonin.

You’ll hear me say it over and over on this page - Sleep, Nutrition, and Training are all equally important when it comes to living a healthy satisfied life and especially if you’re working towards a specific physique goal.

If you're looking for a comprehensive, thoughtful, progressive program that will finally get you the results you want, look no further.

Nutrition, fitness, sleep, and lifestyle/habit coaching is my passion and I'd be honored to be a part of your journey.

Book your first your first coaching call today so I can get to know you a little better and we can decide if we're a good fit!

Warmly,

Nick