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.
