Dec 16, 2020
You can’t cheat sleep.
Over the years, we’ve learned to sacrifice sleep. I’ll just stay up later, I’ll wake up earlier…
But, you’re actually sacrificing so much more than your sleep. By shortchanging your sleep, you are compromising:
Your mood
Your performance
Your hormonal balance
Even your immunity
And, so much more…
We sat down and talked with Dr. Joseph Ojile of the Clayton Sleep Institute in St. Louis and learned some things that will change the way you think about sleep.
First, start thinking of sleep as a pitcher of water.
When you go to sleep at night, your pitcher is empty. While you sleep, you are filling up that pitcher with water, or energy.
As you go throughout your day, you are emptying out that pitcher.
If you are sleep deprived, you are pouring from an empty cup.
If you are constantly moving around your sleep/wake times, your hormones can’t keep up. They’re misaligned. It’s as if you got on a plane and flew to Paris. You’ve effectively given yourself jet lag and you didn’t even get to see the Eiffel Tower.
Dr. Ojile gave us so much great intel, including:
AND, you know what's crazy? Most of us are doing the exact OPPOSITE of what we need to be doing and, in effect, we are training our brain to continue to keep waking us up in the middle of the night.
While 2020 has been a challenging year, many people have used it to really dig down into better sleep habits, exploring what works best for them. Don’t expect bad sleep habits to be fixed overnight. Just like with exercise and diet, it takes consistency and stability.
We’ve jam-packed all this intel and more into this podcast for you!
The Clayton Sleep Institute is a leader in diagnosing and treating a full range of sleep disorders, providing both in-clinic and home sleep tests. Talk to your doctor about seeing them because – at the end of the day - sleep is the most basic form of self-care.
Learn more about them at claytonsleep.com.
Again, so appreciate you taking the time to listen to our podcasts and share your thoughts, ideas, and comments. And, if you have any topics you would like us to discuss in future podcasts, please email me and let me know. The best ideas always come from you.
Much love, xoxo
Smiles,
Lors