Today I want to talk to you about sleep. It’s not something we really delve deeply into in clinic. Obviously, we do touch on this when I ask you what time you wake up and what time you’re going to bed, and what your energy is like first thing in the morning. But for those who want to learn more, in the online course we spend a whole module talking all about the health benefits of sleep, and how important it is to start setting a bed-time and committing to making sure that you get enough sleep.
This is such a timely article because, as you know, the last week my puppy has been sick so I haven’t been sleeping as well, as I’ve been so worried about her throughout the night. Normally I bounce out of bed wanting to go to the gym, but last week, I didn’t bounce out of bed and go to the gym, I had a slower start. And gosh sleep impacts your life so much!
When you’re sleeping, that’s when your brain is not having to do all the functions that it does during the day. So that is when your brain can actually start to clear out all the toxins and everything that’s happening and all the cleaning and the repairing that it needs to do during the night.
So while we have our eyes shut, our brains are at their busiest. So if you’re not allowing your body enough time to do this, when is it meant to do the repair, detoxification and getting toxins out of your body? Because remember, our brains are mainly fat, right? What stores in fat? Toxins. So toxins are being stored in your head. So it’s crucial that we sleep.
One thing most of you know, is that I was an absolutely terrible sleeper my whole life until I got sick. I suffered from insomnia for most of my life. From childhood, my mum had to do all sorts of things. We tried anything and everything. But it wasn’t until I got sick and was working with a breathing expert I discovered how important it is to be a nose breather when we are sleeping. I was a mouth breather from a very young age as I was born with a blocked nose, but also more importantly, when we are mouth breathing we are using up extra energy.
I always slept with my mouth open, which means that I was just over-breathing for starters, and exhausting my body. It’s a major drain of energy number one, during the day, but you also can’t get into your deep, deep sleep when you’re only breathing through your mouth.
I don’t know where I’d read it at the time, because a lot of sites hadn’t come out. But I remember telling all my colleagues that I’ve studied with, that they need to get on this, and since then they’ve all had such great benefits too. I started taping my mouth shut every single night. It was a tape that’s breathable, so there’s little holes in it, but I wore it religiously.
Some nights I’d wake up and I had obviously pulled it off during the night, but the more I did it, the more my sleep quality changed. This was one strategy, along with Vagal 2.0 (that you all know), to change my neural pathways and to really flick me into parasympathetic dominant. This was an absolutely amazing strategy that I used to totally change my sleep, and it was a game changer.
A lot of you are struggling with your sleep, getting to sleep, the quality of sleep. There is all different reasons why this is happening, but I just wanted to share with you this one technique. First of all, I want you to work out straight away, are you a nose breather or a mouth breather? If you’re a mouth breather, it’s got to be paramount priority that you switch to breathing through your nose. You might be like me where you need to tape your mouth shut or you might have another way of doing it, but you need to make this a number one priority.
This is hot off the press. I haven’t even shared that tip in the sleep module yet. So I’ve got to add this, but you guys are getting it first.
Second thing is, if you’re already a nose breather, we’ve got to get you committing to a bedtime. Too many clients in clinic aren’t getting to bed early enough. We all know how important sleep is, but you’ve just learnt that you NEED to sleep so your brain has enough time to do all the cleaning it needs to do EVERY night!
Who wants weight loss? Guess what guys? Sleep goes hand in hand with weight loss. When I go into corporates and talk all about this, they don’t want to hear me. Who wants to be told that we need to sleep more? It’s old news. We all know it, but why aren’t we doing it? Number one priority is for our health. I challenge you, give it a go and see how you feel.
So let’s get accountable on our social meda posts or LinkedIn comments on what your bed time is going to be, let’s get accountable on this!! I’m in bed by 9.30pm every night, without fail. My friends tease me when they come for dinner as they know they will get kicked out.
Now let me know if you are a nose breather or a mouth breather. Easy right!