Today we walk to Dr. Quiets office and find out what he has in store for us….
Why do we need sleep? How much do we need? Does it matter when we sleep?
Dr Quiets Benefits:
Mental Clarity
Improved Concentration
Physical/Mental Repairs of the Body
Increased Energy
Increased Memory
First let’s take a look at our ancestors and their sleep patterns to see how far we are from what we should be doing.
They followed the natural light and dark cycles of day and night to get the amount of rest that they needed.
Which means, going to sleep by at least 10:30 and getting 8 hours of sleep.
The only way they were able to do this was because it started getting dark a couple hours before it was time to sleep and the light from day slowly dimming played a role in their growth hormone and melatonin release. Because, in fact light alone can trigger coritsol release from your body. The light on your skin and eyes makes your body think “ITS DAYTIME, time to get up and stay awake.” So…
Start turning off the lights in the house a few hours before your going to sleep. Dim the computer monitor. Make sure the only thing on is the glow from your TV or computer screen or even more preferable a candle light while you read a book :)
I can bet our ancestors did not have the amount of caffeine or sugar in their diets that we have currently. Caffeine has a half life of 6 hours. So if your still knockin back Redbulls or Coffee after 3pm you can bet your butt that you’ll be having some trouble sleeping! SUGAR is known to suppress the immune system for up to 4 hours! That means for you that have those big desserts every night your making your body fight a pretty hard battle when it comes to physical repairs which happen from 10pm-12am hours. Not to mention the sugar rush when your trying to SLEEP. Remember…
No Caffeine after 3 pm. If your diet is going to have any amount of sugar make sure to get some quality fats in to slow down the blood sugar late at night.
Hunter/Gatherers weren’t on Youtube and Facebook all day either. I don’t think they sat in cubicles or had any other sort of desk jobs… These folks were moving all day! “ I never get a good nights sleep.” Well guess what, if your drinking caffeine nonstop throughout the day, your up til 12am every night on the computer or watching TV or whatever else your doing, and you dont get any exercise in throughout the day, I would say that’s makes sense you can’t get to sleep or wake up with energy like you should be. We need movement! Get some physical activity in during the day. And im not saying walking from the computer to the car :) I will be covering Dr Movement on one of my next blog posts… For now MOVE!
Get some movement in during the day using Paul Cheks “No workout, workout” which is parking your car farther from the building, taking the stairs instead of the elevator and go for a walk after dinner.
One last thing, If for some reason your job doesnt allow you to get the kind of sleep that you need or at the right times this is what you can do for now:
On a lunch break or sometime during the day take some time to find a quiet place away from work, the computer, even your cell phone, and do some self-reflection. Ask yourself questions like: “Who am I?, What do I love?, Am I happy where Im at?, What can I do to live life, instead of letting life live me?”.
These questions help us to live a more purposeful life and you would be amazed what kind of sleep you get when you know where it is your going in life and not just living day to day.
Go for a slow walk, have a Taiji or light Yoga session, any kind of movement that doesnt break a sweat is perfect for Dr Quiet and what Chek calls Working In.
That’s about all I have today for you. I know I kind of go off on tangents so hopefully I was able to keep you on track with the message I am trying to send which is, WE NEED QUALITY SLEEP AND QUIET TIME. There are even more psychological benefits I did not mention in relation to your thoughts but we wont get there today. So, have a good weekend and if you have any questions please leave them I they WILL get answered. THANKS!
Peace & Love,
Resources:
“How to Eat,Move and Be Healthy” by Paul Chek