If you're looking to improve your sleep, fall asleep faster, sleep for a longer duration,
and probably most important, improve your sleep quality, then this video is for you. Hi,
my name is Lucas. I'm a yoga teacher, and a breathing coach, and a health coach. For the
past 20 years I've done a whole bunch of things that are great for my health. I exercise a lot,
I eat really well, I do a lot of stress management through breathing, but my sleep has always been
my Achilles heel. What that's meant for me is I sleep on average about five hours per night until
recently. And, to be honest, I got away with it for a really long time. I think my healthy habits
balanced out my poor sleep, but no longer. Once you get past middle age I don't think that you can
get away with these little shortcuts. And here's what I've found my poor sleep has done to me,
maybe you can relate. Right now, if I get a week of bad sleep my mental health goes down
the drain. I'm really prone to rumination and negative thoughts. I can spin out into
anxiety, even depressive episodes that might last a couple of weeks, just from bad sleep. At work,
my concentration is terrible, that's no big surprise. I guess one thing that has surprised
me is that my recovery time from exercise is just terrible now if I don't sleep. That was
never like that in the past. But a little achy joint or sore muscles might take weeks to heal,
whereas previously it would take days. And lastly, my hunger will go up and down. Sometimes when I
sleep badly I crave junk food. Sometimes I crave no food at all. Neither of these solutions are
really, really good. My sleep is really crucial. In middle age and beyond, I've realized if I want
to prioritize my health, which I absolutely do, I have to improve my sleep. Because of my work and
because of my podcast, I've had unprecedented access to medical doctors and sleep experts,
psychologists as well. Some of the things I've learned in recent years have really helped me
move the needle and make some big changes. I'd like to share with you what I've learned.
Hopefully it can help you as well. In this video we'll discuss, first of all, what good sleep is,
we'll define it. Number two, we'll talk about why a lot of the pop advice around sleep is really,
really good, and not at all practical. We'll talk about the red wine paradox,
why it doesn't really help. Lastly, I'll share with you five tips that you can use,
some of which are obvious, some of which you haven't heard before, and I'll guide you through
a breathing practice that you can use right now or tonight to fall asleep. To support the channel,
hit subscribe down below. You'll find a PDF link in the description below for everything we'll
talk about, if you'd like to jump forward. Let's talk about what good sleep is, let's define it,
so we know what we are aiming for. The first thing we need to discuss is what's called sleep latency.
This is how quickly you fall asleep. In an ideal world, when your head hits the pillow about five
to ten minutes of nice drifting off to sleep is what we're looking for. If you fall asleep in an
instant it could be that you have a big sleep deficit. If it takes you a 15 or 20 minutes,
if you're ruminating, tossing and turning, I've certainly been there, that can be a really bad
sign. So, the first thing we're looking for is low sleep latency. The next thing is duration
and this is the obvious one, but most of us need more than we're getting. I mentioned five hours,
that's way off my target. Most of us need somewhere between seven and nine hours. Now,
there are people who need less, but let's assume you and I are not those people. Let's
aim for at least seven hours of sleep every single night. And just as important as duration is your
continuity of sleep and this becomes harder with age as well. As people get older there are kids,
and dogs, and prostates, and all kinds of other things. You might get up twice to pee,
once for the dog, once to help a young child in your house, and maybe you were in bed for eight
hours but your continuity of sleep was terrible. You were awake and asleep, awake and asleep,
and all of this plays into something called sleep quality. Sleep experts argue about exactly
what the breakdown should be, but most people land somewhere around 25 percent deep sleep,
50 percent light sleep, there's a few different stages, and then 25 REM sleep, that's the rapid
eye movement sleep. When we get poor sleep quality a lot of it often is very light sleep and you can
feel that, like I slept a lot but don't feel rested, and this is something we'd like to
avoid. The last thing to focus on when it comes to defining good sleep is your sleep position.
Mattress manufacturers for the past 30 years have convinced us that when you sleep you can somehow,
with the right mattress, fix your back, you can correct kyphosis, or fix a tech neck, or
overcome a sway back. There is zero evidence that this is true. In fact, quite the contrary. In
an attempt to fix your posture at night, you end up having poor sleeping posture. We want
to optimize our sleeping position for respiration and circulation. We'll talk more about this later.
Let's talk about why most of the popular advice right now around sleep is really, really great,
and not at all applicable. There are three main things and they really have to do with abstinence.
This is before bed - don't eat, don't look at your screen, and don't exercise, right? Don't eat,
don't look at your screen, and don't exercise. This is really good advice that I don't follow.
This is really good advice that you probably don't follow. I have no lack of willpower,
I have no lack of want. However, what I do have a lack of is control over my schedule. I've got
a business, I've got three kids, I've got a whole lot of stuff going on. At least once a week I need
to exercise at 11 o'clock at night. It happens. At least once a week I need to eat at 11 o'clock
at night. Again, it happens. Sometimes something goes wrong at work and there's no way around it,
It's midnight and I'm logged onto the computer. I assume there will be a time in my life when I
do have more control over my nighttime routine, right now I don't. And if you're in a position
like that too, it's okay, there are still a number of things you can do that can improve your sleep
quality. It's not that that pop advice is wrong, it's just wrong for me right now. It's probably
wrong for you as well. Which leads me into the red wine paradox. All of you know that if you have
two glasses of red wine before bed you will fall asleep. All of you know that if you take Ambien,
or if you take a sleeping medication, maybe you use CBD or THC, maybe you'll fall asleep quickly.
Unfortunately, all of these sleep aids, whether they're natural stuff like GABA, or valerian root,
or melatonin, or whether they're chemical stuff like pharmaceutical drugs, all of them over the
long term really mess up your sleep quality. Just because you're falling asleep quickly, or just
because you're asleep for a long time, doesn't mean you're getting that restorative sleep you
need. I'm not saying never use those things. I am saying put those in their right category, which is
a Band-Aid, a short-term solution for a long-term problem that needs a better fix. I'd like to share
with you five things that hopefully can help move the needle a little bit different than the pop
advice you might have heard. The first one is go to sleep in a cave - cold and dark. The dark thing
is really key. You need to get blackout curtains for your bedroom. There are ways to hack this that
are not so expensive, you can order temporary blackout curtains from Amazon and other places.
You need it as black as possible. One key trick is to use electrical tape to cover up any blinking
glowing lights that you might find on chargers or switches around your bedroom. The next thing
is cold and people do not like to do this, but you need your room a lot colder than you think.
Matthew Walker, the sleep expert and author of the book Why We Sleep, he recommends as cold as
65 degrees Fahrenheit or 18 degrees Celsius, which for a lot of people feels really chilly. You can
use blankets, but remember to fall asleep we need our core body temperature to drop. Now,
to wake up we need it to rise, but we'll cover that in a future video. So, a cold dark room,
that is the first thing. Now, the second thing is a consistent sleep schedule. If you talk to any
parent they'll tell you that bedtime and wake time for their young child is really crucial for their
kid to be emotionally balanced, right? Everybody knows this. Well, you and I, we're no different.
We just have a higher pain tolerance. There is no ideal schedule, some of us are morning people,
some of us are night owls. All of those things are fine, but you need to commit to going to bed and
waking up more or less at the same time. And don't do like I used to do and give yourself lifestyle
jet lag by staying up super late on Friday night and waking up super late on Saturday morning. That
can screw up a whole week's worth of sleep. The next thing to look at is mineral supplementation,
specifically magnesium. Magnesium is not a drug. This is not a pharmaceutical. In fact, it's not
even a sleep medicine. Magnesium is all over the place, it's one of the most abundant minerals in
our body, it's incredibly abundant in the world as well. But a lot of us don't get it because it
comes in things like nuts, and seeds, and green vegetables, and dark chocolate, and a lot of us
don't eat enough of those. So, by supplementing 200 to 400 milligrams of magnesium bisclycinate,
that's the form I'd recommend, before bed, it can make a huge difference in terms of relaxing
your body and helping you to fall asleep. The clinical evidence backs this up. The only real
downside is it can have a laxative effect, so you need to dose appropriately if you end up running
to the bathroom too much. The next thing you can do to improve your sleep is your sleep position.
We've done previous videos on this, but I'd like to reinforce the importance of sleeping correctly
for your respiration and your circulation. You have two good options. The first one is on your
side. This is the best. If you can manage it sleeping on your side in the fetal position,
this is great for your breathing, great for your circulation, great for your sleep quality. If you
can't, I can't, the next best is a modified Fowler's position, where you lie on your back
with your torso elevated. You could potentially elevate your knees a little bit as well too. This
is the position they use in hospital beds for good reason. It's great for your circulation,
great for your breathing. It is not so comfy, especially initially, but you can get used to it
and it can make a massive difference, especially if you have problems with mouth breathing,
especially if you have problems with snoring, or even minor sleep apnea.
If you have true obstructive sleep apnea, please go see a doctor. But for some people
people with very minor apnea and very minor snoring this can make a big, big difference.
Other little tricks in terms of sleep positioning could be something like Breathe Right strips,
a chin strap to keep your mouth closed, these little teeny tricks with your sleep position
can make a massive difference with your breathing at night. The last thing I want to share with you
is a breathing practice called 4-8 breathing, that you can do in bed. Before I jump in and guide you
through this practice I'd like to remind you that there's a PDF link down below. Let's get started,
4-8 belly breathing. This exercise will help to stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system,
slow down your heart rate, slow down your respiration rate, and put you in a ready
state for deep restful sleep. Lying on your back, place your right hand on your heart,
your left hand on your abdomen. As we practice, do your best to keep your right hand still,
do your best to allow your left hand to rise on the inhale and fall on the exhale.
We'll breathe in and out through our nose, four on the way in, eight on the way out.
Let's begin together. Inhale, belly rise, one, two, three, four. Exhale, belly falls, eight,
seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Inhale, belly rise, one, two, three, four.
Exhale, belly falls, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Inhale, belly rise,
one, two, three, four. Exhale, belly falls, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Inhale, belly rise, one, two, three, four. Exhale, belly falls, eight, seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one. Inhale, belly rise, one, two, three, four. Exhale, belly falls, eight,
seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Inhale, belly rise, one, two, three, four.
Exhale, belly falls, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Inhale, belly rises, one, two, three, four. Exhale, belly falls, eight, seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one. Inhale, belly rise, one, two, three, four. Exhale, belly falls,
eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Inhale, belly rises, one, two, three, four.
Exhale, belly falls, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Final round. Inhale,
belly rise, one, two, three, four. Exhale, belly falls, eight, seven, six, five, four, three,
two, one. Place your hands at your sides, eyes remain closed, breath is natural. Now,
in and out through your nose, remind yourself that no matter what's going on the very best
thing you could do right now, the very best thing is get a night of deep and restful sleep.