October 15, 2024 • 36 mins
Unlock the secret to achieving peak health and performance as we embark on a journey through the transformative power of sleep. I'm thrilled to bring you insights from renowned sleep experts like Dr. Matthew Walker and Shawn Stevenson, revealing how sleep forms the bedrock of physical recovery, mental sharpness, and long-term wellness. By sharing compelling stories from my time working with athletes, we explore just how pivotal a good night's sleep is for muscle recovery, cognitive function, and maintaining hormonal balance and immune resilience.
Ever wondered how a simple bedtime routine could revolutionize your sleep quality? We explore the art of winding down with activities that prepare your body and mind for rest, such as reading and meditation. Discover why becoming slightly bored before bed can be a game-changer. We'll also tackle the less obvious culprits of poor sleep, like alcohol's interference with REM cycles, and discuss how strategic exercise timing can enhance sleep without hindering your ability to drift into slumber.
Finally, we highlight sleep's profound impact on athletic performance and overall health. Learn how sufficient rest can improve reaction times, boost cognitive function, and enhance physical metrics like jump height and sprint speed. Sleep isn't just a performance enhancer; it's a crucial factor in injury recovery and long-term health outcomes, from reducing inflammation to preventing chronic diseases. Join us in recognizing the power of consistent sleep habits and self-care, empowering you to share these insights in your quest for optimum well-being.
Book a discovery call today with Hercules Performance and Physical Therapy in Vero Beach, FL
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr Alec (00:01):
Welcome back to the Hercules podcast.
I'm your host, dr Alec, andtoday we're diving into a topic
that is absolutely essential forathletes, fitness enthusiasts
and anyone looking to optimizetheir health performance
wellness.
We're talking about sleep.
We'll be exploring why sleepisn't just about rest.
It's truly the cornerstone forphysical recovery, mental
(00:25):
alertness and long-term health,and we definitely want to
highlight that long-term health.
We're going to unpack some topstrategies that I recommend to
all my patients for improvingtheir sleep and take a deep dive
into some of the science behindwhy quality sleep could be a
secret weapon.
So let's jump in.
So why does sleep matter?
(00:47):
Sleep is often underrated,especially in the fitness world,
where grind culture sometimesglorifies pushing through
fatigue, but the truth is sleepis the foundation of recovery,
performance and longevity.
Studies by experts like DrMatthew Walker which, if you've
never checked him out, youreally should I will link to
(01:08):
some of his resources below.
He's the author of why we Sleepand insights from Sleep Smarter
by Shawn Stevenson reveal thatsleep impacts everything from
muscle recovery, cognition tohormonal function and immune
system and, in the context ofphysical therapy, it's where we
make our quote-unquote gains.
(01:30):
This is where we actuallyrecover from the stimulus we
give it inside our sessions.
So some key studies to look atand to be familiar with here are
Dr Matthew Walker's researchthat takes sleep deprived
individuals and have shown up to60% reduction in overall
recovery rate compared to thosewho sleep only seven to nine
(01:54):
hours a night.
For all my people that come inand say I do well on four hours
of sleep, that's just not true.
In fact, I've worked with a fewfirefighters and police
officers over the years and whatI have found is those weeks
that they might have off orthey're on a different shift
(02:15):
schedule maybe they moved to thedaytime shift instead of
nighttime magically all theirpain starts to go away and they
heal a little better, and that'sby no surprise.
It's not like we're doinganything different in the clinic
or they're doing reallyanything different at home, but
they're actually starting tosleep again in the manner that
humans may have been meant tosleep in.
We're not nocturnal animals bydesign.
(02:38):
Another study to look at wasactually published by the
Journal of Sports ScienceAthletes who slept less than six
hours had a significantlyhigher risk of injury compared
to those who get the recommendedeight hours.
And this is huge when we lookat youth athletes, because we're
talking with some of my13-year-old, 12-year-old
(02:58):
patients, when what they did thenight before they spent the
night playing video games andthen got four or five hours of
sleep, went to school, sat inschool all day, then they get on
the football field, maybe aftereating a Pop-Tart and sleeping
four hours, and then their ACLtears.
Is it a direct correlation?
Absolutely not.
But when these things add upover time, this is when we start
(03:20):
to get more of that chronicsleep deprivation that can
impact what we do in the clinicand how people recover.
There's no amount of physicaltherapy, rehab, doctor medicine,
fitness that can be done if youdon't actually recover from
those stimulus.
In fact, if you're not sleepingduring the week, don't even
(03:41):
bother doing some of thoseprograms.
You're better off sleepingeight hours.
There's so much.
I'm going to use the word magicand sleeping because it truly
does show some magical recoveryproperties, from just how you
feel to what you perform on thefield.
As a personal antidote here, Iremember working with an athlete
(04:03):
who was constantly battlingminor injuries.
No matter how we modified histraining, something would always
flare up.
It became super frustrating,not only for the patient but for
me, the clinician as well whowas giving him all the textbook
right things.
It wasn't until we really honedin on his sleep habits making
sure he wasn't getting enough,making sure he was getting
(04:23):
enough high quality sleep thatwe started to see major
improvements in both recoveryand, more importantly,
performance on the field.
Think of sleep like the base ofa pyramid.
Without it, everything else,such as training, nutrition and
even your mindset, willbasically crumble underneath it
(04:45):
mindset will basically crumbleunderneath it.
When you sleep, your body is ina state of repair and growth
Muscles, brain and even yourimmune system, which is why,
during COVID, sleep was veryimportant.
Use this time to recover andprepare for the next day's
stressors.
Whether that's hitting a new PRin the gym or recovering from
an injury, it doesn't matter.
Sleep basically makes anythingthat's physical, mental or
(05:05):
basically anything that involvesbeing human better.
So let's get a little bitnitty-gritty on the science
behind it.
You can see that there'sobviously something to not
sleeping enough.
But why might that be the case?
So let's break down whathappens when you sleep.
(05:27):
Sleep occurs in cycles,primarily alternating between
something called REM sleep,which is rapid eye movement, and
non-REM sleep.
Each stage has its unique rolein recovering performance Deep,
non-rem sleep.
This is the stage where most ofyour muscle repair occurs.
This is super important forrecovering after an injury.
(05:47):
Think about ACL or shoulderrotator cuff surgery or a total
knee replacement.
These involve muscle, theyinvolve tissue, they involve
ligaments.
They need repair.
Growth hormone is releasedduring this time and your body
is in a full repair mode.
If you're not getting enough ofthis deep sleep, you're missing
(06:09):
out on this critical recoverywindow.
You're missing out onquote-unquote gains.
Your muscles aren't going toget bigger.
They're not going to getstronger.
Your movement patterns aren'tgoing to get better if you don't
sleep Now REM sleep.
This stage is crucial forcognitive function and memory
consolidation.
This is everything that has todo with the brain.
It's also when your brainprocesses and stores the skills
(06:32):
you practice throughout the day,like I mentioned earlier with
motor control.
So if you've been working onnew movement patterns, say, your
knee caves in at the bottom ofa squat, or when you land off a
box, you land in some awkwardposition.
This is the time at night wherewhat you did during the day to
practice that actually becomessomething that you can use again
(06:54):
the next day, or more permanentor stronger, where you jump off
this box and you actually dobetter the following time.
Rem sleep helps to solidifythese motor skills huge.
I'm going to star this one Hugepoint in why sleep's important.
Another study highlight here isa study conducted at Stanford
(07:14):
University found that collegiatebasketball players who increase
their sleep to at least 10hours per night which is a lot.
Most people don't have.
That especially if you're abusy adult with kids and you
work out and you do 10 otherthings Found that increasing the
sleep at least 10 hours pernight improved their free throw
(07:34):
and three-point shootingaccuracy by 9%.
That's huge, amazing.
This shows how directly sleepcan influence things like motor
learning, physical performance,or in other words, how you shoot
a basketball, how you hit abaseball, how you land off a box
, how you Olympic weight liftAll these things have a motor
(07:56):
skill component.
You don't sleep.
Good luck recovering from thesethings.
Things, oh, that's great andall so.
All the science, I'll give youall of that.
But why does this matter?
How can we make this better?
So here are my top 10 tips forbetter sleep.
How can we actionably improveon our sleep each night?
(08:17):
Because it's not easy.
We live in a very hectic world.
There's a lot of things now insociety that don't set us up
well for sleep anymore.
The simple fact that we walkaround with a phone in our
pocket could be one of them.
So let's go through my top 10tips the Hercules top 10 tips
for sleeping that we recommendto our clients as well.
Number one and I'm going to saythis with pretty much anything
(08:41):
we do in here consistency is key.
Going to bed and waking up thesame time every day and night
helps regulate our internalclocks.
This consistency reinforces oursleep-wake cycle, making it
easier to fall asleep and wakeup feeling refreshed.
So if we're more consistentwith how we sleep and when we go
to sleep, it's going to beeasier to in fact sleep sleep
(09:07):
it's going to be easier to infact sleep.
Create a sleep sanctuary.
I love this one.
This is personally one that Itry to do, and I'm not going to
lie to you.
It's not always perfect.
Your bedroom should be a havenfor rest.
A cool bedroom is ideal.
I've seen everywhere between 60to 69 degrees.
A lot of people don't sleepthis cold.
This is what research shows and, from a personal antidote, I've
(09:28):
found that the first few nightsof doing this is really
uncomfortable because it's cold.
Then you get used to it and infact, a lot of my athletes say
that they actually sleep a lotbetter once they get used to it.
Their bodies are really warm.
They carry a lot of muscle massand this is where you need to
cool it down.
At night it helps to fall intosome of those deeper sleep
patterns.
A room that's dark and quiet, nolight showing please Block out
(09:54):
all those little lights that popoff, or alarm clocks or phones
might come off.
The little fire alarm Coverthese.
Something with a little pieceof tape does the trick a lot of
times.
I would also suggest investingin blackout curtains.
You can go as far as whitenoise machines as well.
(10:16):
To be honest, you don't need toget super techie with this.
I'd rather leave the tech outof the room.
Some blackout curtains peopleget really creative with this.
If you don't want to buy fancyones online, you more than
happily can.
As far as the white noisemachines, like I said, if your
room is quiet, leave it alone.
If you live near train tracksand the train's always coming
(10:37):
through, this might be a helpfulway to start blocking that out.
Again, I suggest just total nonoise, quiet, quiet.
This can really make a bigdifference.
This is a really hot topic.
Number three here limit bluelight exposure.
Blue light from screens inhibitssomething called melatonin
production.
This is the hormone thatpromotes sleep.
(10:58):
This is often what you see instores like target or walmart or
publix, where they're yoursleep aids the ones that you
don't need to go to the docs for.
In fact, they work really well.
The problem is your body getsused to this extraneous outside
of our body production of it andwill shut its production down
by itself.
I don't recommend this unlesssleep's been a big issue for you
(11:22):
.
You're going through a toughtime in life, maybe you just a
newborn.
I would suggest just improvingyour sleep patterns and actually
using your melatonin, butthere's a whole host of medical
reasons why this might not bethe case.
So please consult with yourdoctor.
But let's assume all yourhormones are going well or doing
well.
Please aim to shut off yourscreen at least an hour before
(11:46):
bed.
This is going to help with thatmelatonin release and
production.
Our body works on these lightcycles and if we're blasting our
eyes with light, that it wasn'tmeant to be because when we
were wild animals back hundredsand thousands of years ago we
didn't have electricity and wedidn't have this constant light
in our eyes.
Our body learned to go to sleepas soon as the sun went down,
(12:09):
which, yes, I understand.
Sometimes the sun goes down at630 in Florida, wherever you
live.
So it's not going to make itsuper easy.
But there's some tricks.
And, to be honest, I get alittle weird with this.
Kate, our super admin, and mywife here at Hercules.
She laughs at me every time Iput on these blue light-blocking
glasses.
(12:30):
They're big, orange, funky, itlooks like construction glasses,
but they help to block out someof that blue light.
This is not perfect.
Honestly, I'd rather have allthe lights off.
That's going to help with sleepthe best.
But if you are a human livingin modern society, it's really
tough to do that, especiallywhen you're not going to bed at
6.30 at night, which I don't doand I don't play not doing it.
(12:52):
So I'll use these glasses attimes, especially when my
sleeping is bad.
I should use them all the time.
So I stress that Sleep is likenumber one consistency.
If you're not consistent withit, it doesn't really work.
One night of blue lightblocking glasses it's not going
(13:13):
to solve your problems.
I've seen clients experienceimmediate improvements in their
sleep quality from justadjusting some of this blue
light entry into their eyes, andI think it has less to do with
the blue light at times and morewith the fact that they're not
constantly overstimulatingthemselves for something like a
TV.
And I'd say that's probably oneof the biggest culprits,
because a lot of Americans,right before bed, they'll pop
the TV on, watch their favoriteshow, which I'm guilty of.
(13:34):
My hand is being raised.
I love popping in for abaseball game late at night.
That's why I use the blue lightglasses.
It allows me to have a littlefun after a long day and, the
same token, help my sleep aswell.
Oh gosh, number four.
This would probably be numberone on my own personal list.
Avoid stimulants.
(13:54):
I love coffee.
Who doesn't?
I love espresso.
I love all things.
Caffeine Probably too much so.
Caffeine and nicotine, which alot of my clients don't dabble
with these days, but it can alsobe a stimulant as well.
These both can disrupt sleep.
Limit caffeine intake after 2pm is what's recommended.
(14:15):
Coffee has an extremely longhalf-life, so my recommendation
is in fact to stop closer to 12if you want to really optimize
sleep.
I would have maybe one cup andstop closer to 12.
If you want to really optimizesleep, I would have maybe one
cup and stop by 8am something,12 hours before you go to bed.
(14:36):
So if you're starting to winddown for bed around eight
o'clock, I would stop yourcaffeine intake at 8am in the
morning.
And that's really tough forpeople like myself who like to
walk around with a cup of coffee.
I would say how would yousubstitute that?
Because I have found in mypersonal experience something
about actually holding the hotcup is enough to give me that
(14:57):
sense of coffee and just thatroutine in the morning.
So I will often wake up, I'llhave my coffee first thing in
the morning.
I do this better at times in mylife Right now is not one of
them and basically after thatfirst cup we'll move into
something like an herbal teathat's non-caffeinated, or maybe
(15:18):
a sparkling water, somethingthat gives you that hint of
holding a beverage during theday and working that's not
necessarily water, which somepeople can say is more boring
through the day, and working,that's not necessarily water,
which some people can say ismore boring through the day.
Again, these are all tips thatwork for me.
You might find what works foryou in substituting out some of
these stimulants.
But my hercules recommendationfor you really want to optimize
(15:38):
sleep, I would cut off yourcaffeine consumption 12 hours
before you want to go to bed.
If you go to bed at 7 o'clockat night, that last cup of
coffee should be last sip shouldbe done by 7 am in the morning,
and this all depends on howmuch coffee you drink as well.
You're drinking three cups ofcoffee.
Yeah, even stopping by 7, thatcoffee is going to hang around
(15:59):
in your system.
So one cup 12 hours before yougo to bed should be enough to
really give you that caffeinehit that you want.
And in fact, caffeine has somehealth benefits as well.
We'll touch on at a later time.
But this will then allow thecoffee to get out of your system
enough to where it's notdisrupting some of that
melatonin production and some ofyour sleep cycles.
(16:23):
Number five on our list Powerdown with a routine.
I love this one.
This is where I put on my bluelight glasses about an hour
before bed and I start doingthings consistently before bed.
That triggers my body.
Hey, we're getting ready forbed here.
This can include everythingfrom foam rolling and light,
(16:45):
stretching, to reading, tomeditation.
I've used some variation of allthese in the past.
I find reading works reallywell for me.
I find it a little boring toread a paper book unless it's a
very interesting topic for me,something nerdy.
So I will pick a book that'snot nerdy and interesting to me
because I want it to startmaking me a little bored, a
(17:05):
little bit tired.
I think something about oursociety nowadays tells us we
have to be excited and turned onall the time, and I think
there's some power in beingbored, not only from just a
recovery standpoint but from agetting ready for bed standpoint
as well.
You fall asleep when you'rebored.
Think about school back in theday and falling asleep on a desk
(17:26):
.
You were bored in class, somake yourself bored in those
last hours.
The other thing I tell myclients is stretch and mobilize.
Stretching and mobilizingpromotes relaxation, which is
often why we don't recommendcertain types of stretching
prior to really fast activitiessuch as sprinting.
This is another topic in itself.
(17:47):
That's why static stretchinghas been shown not to be the
most effective route to mobilizeor get warm prior to something
very ballistic in nature.
Again, sprinting, cutting maybe, playing baseball, playing
football hard.
Metcon Again, shoot me somequestions on that.
We'll do another podcast onthat at another time.
(18:07):
But to get back to poweringdown with our routine, I often
recommend for my patients thatare looking to stretch and maybe
get into mobilization as atwo-for-one at that time as well
, something called a progressivemuscle relaxation technique.
For my clients it's simple andit's an effective way to reduce
tension throughout your body,which will again promote that
(18:31):
relaxation response that we'relooking for.
Limit alcohol.
This could be a whole topic initself.
There's really not much benefitfrom alcohol.
I know people are going to comeat me with the resveratrol
thing in wine.
Look, just because a browniehas a gram of protein and
(18:51):
protein's good for you doesn'tmake a brownie good for you.
A little bit of resveratrol inthe wine is not enough to
justify a health benefit and thelack of sleep from it.
You're impacting your recoverymore than you're helping
anything else, and the amount ofwine you have to drink to
receive a dose of resveratrol,that's enough to give you
(19:13):
whatever health benefit it will.
It's just it's not worth theamount.
So limit alcohol and I would say, cut out alcohol entirely.
But yes, I'm going to get a lotof shade.
I love a whiskey from time totime.
Just be careful with the amountand just know when you're
drinking it.
It's something you are doing inthe social setting that you
(19:34):
enjoy and you limit yourself,but there's no health benefit to
it.
Just know that.
Hey, this is like going to atheme park.
I'm going to have fun for theday and I might eat too much
cotton candy that day and notfeel well the following morning.
So that's up to you.
You decide on how you want tohandle that.
But limit alcohol.
It makes you drowsy but it doesdisrupt sleep cycles,
(19:54):
especially REM.
Think about the stuff with yourbrain and the motor skills.
So let's say you learned a newskill that day.
Let's call it double unders.
Or you changed your swingpattern in a baseball swing and
then you go have a couple beersthat night and go to bed.
Disrupts your REM sleep.
You don't get as much carryoverfrom that session.
You just did a lot of hard workthat day and you maybe didn't
(20:17):
get all the benefit you couldfrom it.
Be really careful with alcohol.
The results in a lighter, lessrestorative sleep.
Limiting or avoiding alcohol canlead to significant
improvements in sleep quality.
I would say this could be a bigone that, if you, and a really
big, easy one that, if you crossoff the list, can make you
(20:38):
sleep a lot better.
However, I will say if you aregoing to drink alcohol that day,
the further away from sleep,the better.
Most people like to end theirnight with a glass of wine.
I would say move the other wayFrom my boat, have a beer on the
boat.
Drinkers, that actually is alittle better because you're
(20:58):
starting to flush some of thatstuff out of your system a
little longer before sleep.
Again, recommendation fromoptimizing health, wellness and
performance.
Just cut it out entirely.
Number seven exercise Exerciseis huge.
We promote this.
This is part of what physicaltherapy is fitness in general.
(21:19):
You got to exercise.
Exercise can help with sleep,but when it's not too late in
the day.
So this goes for my 9 pm.
Go to the gym and hit a seshpeople.
Yes, it's great.
Sometimes it's the only timeyou can go.
So, pros and cons, right, youcan't work out that day.
Maybe you have to work out at 9pm because you need to get that
(21:41):
stimulus in.
Just know you're not going tooptimize your recovery that way
and this is where that all ornothing approach can be
dangerous.
We need to understand that wecan't have perfect life setups.
That's why athletes benefit andget super gains from what they
do, because their lives are setup for physical activity
(22:01):
optimizing performance.
For more of my weekend warriorsit's really tough to fit in
taking kids to school, working afull 40, and exercising.
So just know that exercisingcloser to bed can disrupt sleep.
So I would suggest find a sleepspot, a sweet spot for your
(22:21):
sleep and exercise.
Exercising early in the dayusually works best.
Now there are certain times inthe day where more ballistic,
higher intensity work might bebetter from a performance
standpoint.
Again, this is getting reallynitty gritty into exercise, but
in general, exercising rightbefore bed is going to disrupt
sleep.
(22:42):
All your hormones are up.
Your cortisol is up a littlebit from the workout you just
performed.
That's going to impact how weactually go to sleep.
Your body temperature is up aswell.
You have to cool that off.
So, like I said, if you canexercise a little earlier in the
day, that's best.
If not, again, it may not be100%.
You might get a 70%, 80%benefit.
(23:04):
I'm making those numbers upjust to show it's not all or
nothing.
It's not like you get noimprovement from your sleep that
night.
It just means it might be alittle bit less than if you
exercise earlier in the day.
Number eight mind your nutrition.
I love this one.
Nutrition is huge.
You don't track your nutrition.
If you don't even think aboutyour nutrition, you should.
This goes up there with sleepin terms of the importance
(23:28):
beyond what you get fromexercising.
Avoid heavy meals or spicy foodsclose to bed.
I love Sumo House in Vero Beach.
Shout out to Sumo House.
Number five spicy.
Really shouldn't do it close tobed.
Not only does it upset yourstomach that affects how you
sleep, but that increased bodytemperature and just fullness
makes it hard to sleep.
(23:49):
If you're hungry before bed, optfor a lighter snack.
There's a lot ofrecommendations you can give for
that.
I would say opt for a lightersnack and leave it there.
You can look for foods thathave would say opt for a lighter
snack and leave it there.
You can look for foods thathave magnesium and tryptophan in
it that help to promote sleep.
Think something like turkey atThanksgiving.
We've all heard that.
And now the reason why you eatturkey and you get sleepy, I
(24:11):
think some of it's that wecrammed a ton of food into our
body and our body is like nope,we're done going to bed.
But there is a chemical inthere, a substance I should say
that can help to promote sleep.
Magnesium is another one aswell.
You find that in your leafygreens usually.
Again, if you can avoid eatingtwo to three hours before bed,
(24:33):
which is tough with busyschedules that's optimal Number
nine get sunlight exposure.
Love this one.
Get up, go outside immediately15, 30 minutes longer if you can
Get some sun on your skin.
If you need to wear sunblock,you can Highly recommended in
(24:54):
Florida but just know that ourskin is where we make some of
that vitamin D when the sun hitsit, and that helps to regulate
sleep as well, amongst a wholebunch of other hormones, and
vitamin D can be a whole topicon itself.
But I'd say get out, get somesunlight exposure early in the
day.
That helps to regulate some ofthose sleep-wake cycles and it
(25:14):
triggers to our body now we'regoing to be awake, and that
allows for this natural buildupof sleep pressure when it starts
to get dark.
Our body now we're going to beawake, and that allows for this
natural buildup of sleeppressure when it starts to get
dark, our body knows it's timeto go to bed.
We're creating this consistencyand it all feeds into that
number one tip, which wasconsistency with sleep.
Number 10, this is where mostpeople go to first when they
(25:36):
talk about sleep, and theyignore the nine other things
that have a 99% benefit on howto improve your sleep, and that
is sleep supplements.
Yes, they're fun to talk about.
Things like melatonin andmagnesium can be super helpful.
There's a bunch of other stuffon the market.
Consult with a doctor first, ofcourse, especially if you have
certain blood markers that areoff or you're on other
medications, and I'm going tohighlight, especially if you're
(25:57):
on other medications, it'simportant to identify some of
these underlying factors thatare off or you're on other
medications, and I'm going tohighlight, especially if you're
on other medications.
It's important to identify someof these underlying factors
that are contributing to sleepif you haven't gotten your blood
work checked.
But as far as supplements, theycan be helpful if you're
optimizing everything else oryou have a huge gap in one of
your blood markers or you'regoing through something in life.
(26:17):
There you're on a medication.
I'm not going to go super intothis because, like I said.
I believe this is like the 1%improvement in sleep.
That's what you're looking for.
Things like magnesium can behugely impactful on that, but
again, if you're not doing theother nine things, the 99% that
1% is not going to make up forit.
Awesome, you have our 10 tipson improving sleep.
(26:42):
So why improve sleep?
We talked about how sleep worksa little bit.
We talked about how to actuallyimprove the sleep.
So why should we improve sleep?
Why is this important forperformance and recovery?
So let's get into the specificson.
Let's start with athleticperformance here.
So let's get into the specificson.
Let's start with athleticperformance here.
(27:03):
Adequate sleep improves thingslike reaction time, cognitive
function, physical performancemetrics like a jump height or
sprint speed or how much you canlift on a barbell, for example.
Research shows that sleepdeprivation can reduce glycogen
stores and negatively affect thebody's ability to repair
muscles.
When you're training hard andyou're not sleeping enough, you
(27:24):
might notice that your strengthplateaus or you experience
delayed recovery.
It's not just a coincidence.
Your body isn't getting theresources it needs to rebuild
some of that breakdown in muscletissue, or even your brain's
ability to reproduce some of thesignals it needs to send to
your muscles to do what theyneed to do for your performance.
Sleep deprivation is a hugeimpactor on sleep performance or
(27:49):
on performance, excuse me.
Another highlight from a studyis one published in the Sleep
Medicine Reviews thatdemonstrated that even one night
one night of sleep deprivationcan lead to 20% reduction in
maximal strength For athletes inthe gym or active individuals.
That's a huge impact.
Let's just ballpark numbershere.
(28:12):
If you have a 300-pound backsquat and you didn't sleep well,
you got four hours of sleep thenight before.
That could be something closeto 60 pounds off that top end
number there.
So you might be able to squat240.
If you're competing inpowerlifting, think about how
big of an impact that can makeon your total.
Think about how that can impacta CrossFit workout in a
(28:35):
competition.
This is personal story time, butI've been to a couple CrossFit
events where the night beforesome of these athletes went out
and had a couple drinks hung outwith their friends.
The event didn't start till 11.
And then they were so stressedthe next day about why they
didn't perform well and I don'tknow if it's just a ignoring the
(28:59):
problem thing or it's trulylack of education there.
But you didn't set yourself upfor success by impacting your
sleep before.
I think, because sleep issomething that you don't see the
benefits or necessarily feelthe benefits in the moment, and
it's a consistency over timething, much like exercise and
(29:20):
nutrition.
It's something that often goesout the window.
And I think sleep it's evenmore the case because at least
with working out you feel somesort of sweat and burn.
You think something's happeningin the moment.
Sleep you know what.
You lay your head down, you goto sleep.
You wake up the next day.
We've been doing it since wewere bored.
(29:41):
It's something that doesn'tseem sexy in nature, I should
say, and probably the thing thatimpacts our performance the
most at times, especially whenyou're not sleeping well.
So just take all this and takea step back and realize the
small things are important.
Sleep is also critical forinjury recovery.
(30:03):
This is where the physicaltherapy side will come into this
.
When you sleep, your bodyreleases things called cytokines
.
These are proteins that helpreduce inflammation and aid in
tissue repair.
Without enough sleep, cytokineproduction decreases, slowing
down recovery times.
Sleep, people, that's howyou're going to recover.
Another personal antidote hereI've had a couple ACL patients
(30:25):
I've worked with.
They tend to be more on theadult side.
They have some athletic returnto sport goals, but it's not
their full-time job.
They have families.
These are the people that go oh, I stopped thinking about my
nutrition.
Oh, I sleep a little less.
I don't need to.
I'm not working out as much.
It's the wrong way to thinkabout it.
You need your tissue, you needyour muscle to repair at night,
(30:47):
to actually get througheverything that you need to, not
only in the gym.
In fact, I've told this tocertain people that have come in
If you're not sleeping, there'sno point in doing some of your
exercises.
Have come in.
If you're not sleeping, there'sno point in doing some of your
exercises.
You might be doing more harmthan good at that point.
So that's for athleticperformance.
What about for just generalhealth, wellness and longevity?
(31:07):
I think that's where a lot ofpeople's heads are going these
days, especially as you move outof maybe more hard fitness
programs like CrossFit into moreof longevity programs.
Sleep can impact things such asheart disease, type 2 diabetes,
(31:28):
cognitive decline, thinkdementia and Alzheimer's.
All these things are impactedby sleep.
Going back to Dr Matthew Walker, who I mentioned earlier, he
emphasizes that consistentlygetting less than six hours of
sleep is associated with ashorter lifespan.
So if you're looking atlongevity and you're taking all
these random supplements thatturn your mouth blue or you wear
(31:54):
all these fancy doodads on yourhead and feet and blah, just
start with sleep.
If you're not sleeping, youknow those eight to nine hours
or even more than that at times,depending on your activity
level you're actually impactinglifespan by not recovering
enough.
In terms of body composition andweight management, this could
(32:15):
also fall under athleticperformance.
Sleep is also crucial.
This could also fall underathletic performance.
Sleep is also crucial.
When we're sleep deprived, ourbodies produce something called
grenolin, the hunger hormone,and leptin.
This is the satiety or thefullness hormone.
This combination not onlyincreases appetite, but also
cravings for high calorie foods.
(32:36):
Your body thinks it's in astate of stress when it doesn't
sleep enough.
It views the fact that you wokeup and you're running around as
the lion's chasing you and it'strying to get fuel to support
that, when you really don't needthat fuel.
From just an energy perspective.
For athletes with health,wellness and longevity, this
(32:56):
means that sleep isn't justabout building muscle, enhancing
recovery.
It's also a key factor inmaintaining some of that
leanness and body composition,which is super important for
longevity and health.
Being overweight, even being anathlete, you might be a stud,
but the same token, you'reimpacting longevity and there's
a lot of things in sports thatare already take away from
(33:17):
longevity.
Just FYI, it's hard to bereally healthy and long-term
focused when your sport mightrequire hitting max intensities
every day.
So mitigate that by sleepingbetter.
So what are some practicalapplications and takeaways here?
I gave you a lot of information10 tips on how to improve sleep
(33:41):
, why sleep's important, some ofthe science behind it.
Let's just talk about somepractical things with putting
this into practice.
Remember, small steps lead tobig results.
You don't need to overhaul anentire routine.
You don't need to go buy athousand supplements and
honestly I don't even recommendthat.
I would say start with onechange.
(34:03):
This is called habit changingand if you've never read the
book Atomic Habit, I reallythink you should.
It's an amazing book.
It could be super impactful inhow you improve not only your
sleep but just general habitsthroughout the day.
So if you're struggling withcertain addictions or difficulty
(34:28):
changing your patterns, I wouldgive that book a read.
It's really powerful.
So, getting back to sleep, startwith one change, like limiting
blue light or setting aconsistent bedtime.
Hint hint.
Start with a consistent bedtime.
Track your sleep with awearable device or start with a
sleep journal.
Track what you're doing.
Things that are tested andmeasured are things that get
improved.
I say that all the time in theclinic.
(34:48):
That's why I'm so OCD at timeswith tracking things, because if
we don't track it, we don'tknow if it's actually improving,
and that's why so many peoplefall off the wagon.
I know they're boring at timesand don't really move the needle
in the moment, but they're thethings that allow us to keep
moving the needle appropriately.
So again, be consistent.
(35:09):
Take one step at a time.
Don't do all 10 tips at once.
If you can do all five, morepower.
You can do five at a time, morepower to you.
Let's start with one a week andbuild off that.
Just make things slow andconsistent.
We don't always need the sprintto the finish line.
(35:31):
I'm someone that does that allthe time.
Take it from me.
It doesn't usually pan out.
One step at a time, just beconsistent with it.
That's huge.
So I just want to say thanks,guys, for tuning in or back into
the Hercules podcast.
I hope you got some actionableitems and you learned something
about sleep today and why it'sso important for recovery,
sports performance, longevityand injury recovery, injury
rehab as well.
(35:51):
If you enjoyed this episode,share it like it, give it to a
friend.
Just share the health knowledge.
I think this world needs it,especially as things become more
hectic and there's so muchgoing on these days that it's
important to take a moment tojust relax and focus on yourself
again, something I don't do alltoo well at times, but take it
(36:13):
from me, it's super important.
Till next time, guys, keephustling, keep pushing, and
we'll be back next week with anew topic.
Have a great rest of your day.
Welcome back to the Hercules podcast.
I'm your host, dr Alec, andtoday we're diving into a topic
that is absolutely essential forathletes, fitness enthusiasts
and anyone looking to optimizetheir health performance
wellness.
We're talking about sleep.
We'll be exploring why sleepisn't just about rest.
It's truly the cornerstone forphysical recovery, mental
(00:25):
alertness and long-term health,and we definitely want to
highlight that long-term health.
We're going to unpack some topstrategies that I recommend to
all my patients for improvingtheir sleep and take a deep dive
into some of the science behindwhy quality sleep could be a
secret weapon.
So let's jump in.
So why does sleep matter?
(00:47):
Sleep is often underrated,especially in the fitness world,
where grind culture sometimesglorifies pushing through
fatigue, but the truth is sleepis the foundation of recovery,
performance and longevity.
Studies by experts like DrMatthew Walker which, if you've
never checked him out, youreally should I will link to
(01:08):
some of his resources below.
He's the author of why we Sleepand insights from Sleep Smarter
by Shawn Stevenson reveal thatsleep impacts everything from
muscle recovery, cognition tohormonal function and immune
system and, in the context ofphysical therapy, it's where we
make our quote-unquote gains.
(01:30):
This is where we actuallyrecover from the stimulus we
give it inside our sessions.
So some key studies to look atand to be familiar with here are
Dr Matthew Walker's researchthat takes sleep deprived
individuals and have shown up to60% reduction in overall
recovery rate compared to thosewho sleep only seven to nine
(01:54):
hours a night.
For all my people that come inand say I do well on four hours
of sleep, that's just not true.
In fact, I've worked with a fewfirefighters and police
officers over the years and whatI have found is those weeks
that they might have off orthey're on a different shift
(02:15):
schedule maybe they moved to thedaytime shift instead of
nighttime magically all theirpain starts to go away and they
heal a little better, and that'sby no surprise.
It's not like we're doinganything different in the clinic
or they're doing reallyanything different at home, but
they're actually starting tosleep again in the manner that
humans may have been meant tosleep in.
We're not nocturnal animals bydesign.
(02:38):
Another study to look at wasactually published by the
Journal of Sports ScienceAthletes who slept less than six
hours had a significantlyhigher risk of injury compared
to those who get the recommendedeight hours.
And this is huge when we lookat youth athletes, because we're
talking with some of my13-year-old, 12-year-old
(02:58):
patients, when what they did thenight before they spent the
night playing video games andthen got four or five hours of
sleep, went to school, sat inschool all day, then they get on
the football field, maybe aftereating a Pop-Tart and sleeping
four hours, and then their ACLtears.
Is it a direct correlation?
Absolutely not.
But when these things add upover time, this is when we start
(03:20):
to get more of that chronicsleep deprivation that can
impact what we do in the clinicand how people recover.
There's no amount of physicaltherapy, rehab, doctor medicine,
fitness that can be done if youdon't actually recover from
those stimulus.
In fact, if you're not sleepingduring the week, don't even
(03:41):
bother doing some of thoseprograms.
You're better off sleepingeight hours.
There's so much.
I'm going to use the word magicand sleeping because it truly
does show some magical recoveryproperties, from just how you
feel to what you perform on thefield.
As a personal antidote here, Iremember working with an athlete
(04:03):
who was constantly battlingminor injuries.
No matter how we modified histraining, something would always
flare up.
It became super frustrating,not only for the patient but for
me, the clinician as well whowas giving him all the textbook
right things.
It wasn't until we really honedin on his sleep habits making
sure he wasn't getting enough,making sure he was getting
(04:23):
enough high quality sleep thatwe started to see major
improvements in both recoveryand, more importantly,
performance on the field.
Think of sleep like the base ofa pyramid.
Without it, everything else,such as training, nutrition and
even your mindset, willbasically crumble underneath it
(04:45):
mindset will basically crumbleunderneath it.
When you sleep, your body is ina state of repair and growth
Muscles, brain and even yourimmune system, which is why,
during COVID, sleep was veryimportant.
Use this time to recover andprepare for the next day's
stressors.
Whether that's hitting a new PRin the gym or recovering from
an injury, it doesn't matter.
Sleep basically makes anythingthat's physical, mental or
(05:05):
basically anything that involvesbeing human better.
So let's get a little bitnitty-gritty on the science
behind it.
You can see that there'sobviously something to not
sleeping enough.
But why might that be the case?
So let's break down whathappens when you sleep.
(05:27):
Sleep occurs in cycles,primarily alternating between
something called REM sleep,which is rapid eye movement, and
non-REM sleep.
Each stage has its unique rolein recovering performance Deep,
non-rem sleep.
This is the stage where most ofyour muscle repair occurs.
This is super important forrecovering after an injury.
(05:47):
Think about ACL or shoulderrotator cuff surgery or a total
knee replacement.
These involve muscle, theyinvolve tissue, they involve
ligaments.
They need repair.
Growth hormone is releasedduring this time and your body
is in a full repair mode.
If you're not getting enough ofthis deep sleep, you're missing
(06:09):
out on this critical recoverywindow.
You're missing out onquote-unquote gains.
Your muscles aren't going toget bigger.
They're not going to getstronger.
Your movement patterns aren'tgoing to get better if you don't
sleep Now REM sleep.
This stage is crucial forcognitive function and memory
consolidation.
This is everything that has todo with the brain.
It's also when your brainprocesses and stores the skills
(06:32):
you practice throughout the day,like I mentioned earlier with
motor control.
So if you've been working onnew movement patterns, say, your
knee caves in at the bottom ofa squat, or when you land off a
box, you land in some awkwardposition.
This is the time at night wherewhat you did during the day to
practice that actually becomessomething that you can use again
(06:54):
the next day, or more permanentor stronger, where you jump off
this box and you actually dobetter the following time.
Rem sleep helps to solidifythese motor skills huge.
I'm going to star this one Hugepoint in why sleep's important.
Another study highlight here isa study conducted at Stanford
(07:14):
University found that collegiatebasketball players who increase
their sleep to at least 10hours per night which is a lot.
Most people don't have.
That especially if you're abusy adult with kids and you
work out and you do 10 otherthings Found that increasing the
sleep at least 10 hours pernight improved their free throw
(07:34):
and three-point shootingaccuracy by 9%.
That's huge, amazing.
This shows how directly sleepcan influence things like motor
learning, physical performance,or in other words, how you shoot
a basketball, how you hit abaseball, how you land off a box
, how you Olympic weight liftAll these things have a motor
(07:56):
skill component.
You don't sleep.
Good luck recovering from thesethings.
Things, oh, that's great andall so.
All the science, I'll give youall of that.
But why does this matter?
How can we make this better?
So here are my top 10 tips forbetter sleep.
How can we actionably improveon our sleep each night?
(08:17):
Because it's not easy.
We live in a very hectic world.
There's a lot of things now insociety that don't set us up
well for sleep anymore.
The simple fact that we walkaround with a phone in our
pocket could be one of them.
So let's go through my top 10tips the Hercules top 10 tips
for sleeping that we recommendto our clients as well.
Number one and I'm going to saythis with pretty much anything
(08:41):
we do in here consistency is key.
Going to bed and waking up thesame time every day and night
helps regulate our internalclocks.
This consistency reinforces oursleep-wake cycle, making it
easier to fall asleep and wakeup feeling refreshed.
So if we're more consistentwith how we sleep and when we go
to sleep, it's going to beeasier to in fact sleep sleep
(09:07):
it's going to be easier to infact sleep.
Create a sleep sanctuary.
I love this one.
This is personally one that Itry to do, and I'm not going to
lie to you.
It's not always perfect.
Your bedroom should be a havenfor rest.
A cool bedroom is ideal.
I've seen everywhere between 60to 69 degrees.
A lot of people don't sleepthis cold.
This is what research shows and, from a personal antidote, I've
(09:28):
found that the first few nightsof doing this is really
uncomfortable because it's cold.
Then you get used to it and infact, a lot of my athletes say
that they actually sleep a lotbetter once they get used to it.
Their bodies are really warm.
They carry a lot of muscle massand this is where you need to
cool it down.
At night it helps to fall intosome of those deeper sleep
patterns.
A room that's dark and quiet, nolight showing please Block out
(09:54):
all those little lights that popoff, or alarm clocks or phones
might come off.
The little fire alarm Coverthese.
Something with a little pieceof tape does the trick a lot of
times.
I would also suggest investingin blackout curtains.
You can go as far as whitenoise machines as well.
(10:16):
To be honest, you don't need toget super techie with this.
I'd rather leave the tech outof the room.
Some blackout curtains peopleget really creative with this.
If you don't want to buy fancyones online, you more than
happily can.
As far as the white noisemachines, like I said, if your
room is quiet, leave it alone.
If you live near train tracksand the train's always coming
(10:37):
through, this might be a helpfulway to start blocking that out.
Again, I suggest just total nonoise, quiet, quiet.
This can really make a bigdifference.
This is a really hot topic.
Number three here limit bluelight exposure.
Blue light from screens inhibitssomething called melatonin
production.
This is the hormone thatpromotes sleep.
(10:58):
This is often what you see instores like target or walmart or
publix, where they're yoursleep aids the ones that you
don't need to go to the docs for.
In fact, they work really well.
The problem is your body getsused to this extraneous outside
of our body production of it andwill shut its production down
by itself.
I don't recommend this unlesssleep's been a big issue for you
(11:22):
.
You're going through a toughtime in life, maybe you just a
newborn.
I would suggest just improvingyour sleep patterns and actually
using your melatonin, butthere's a whole host of medical
reasons why this might not bethe case.
So please consult with yourdoctor.
But let's assume all yourhormones are going well or doing
well.
Please aim to shut off yourscreen at least an hour before
(11:46):
bed.
This is going to help with thatmelatonin release and
production.
Our body works on these lightcycles and if we're blasting our
eyes with light, that it wasn'tmeant to be because when we
were wild animals back hundredsand thousands of years ago we
didn't have electricity and wedidn't have this constant light
in our eyes.
Our body learned to go to sleepas soon as the sun went down,
(12:09):
which, yes, I understand.
Sometimes the sun goes down at630 in Florida, wherever you
live.
So it's not going to make itsuper easy.
But there's some tricks.
And, to be honest, I get alittle weird with this.
Kate, our super admin, and mywife here at Hercules.
She laughs at me every time Iput on these blue light-blocking
glasses.
(12:30):
They're big, orange, funky, itlooks like construction glasses,
but they help to block out someof that blue light.
This is not perfect.
Honestly, I'd rather have allthe lights off.
That's going to help with sleepthe best.
But if you are a human livingin modern society, it's really
tough to do that, especiallywhen you're not going to bed at
6.30 at night, which I don't doand I don't play not doing it.
(12:52):
So I'll use these glasses attimes, especially when my
sleeping is bad.
I should use them all the time.
So I stress that Sleep is likenumber one consistency.
If you're not consistent withit, it doesn't really work.
One night of blue lightblocking glasses it's not going
(13:13):
to solve your problems.
I've seen clients experienceimmediate improvements in their
sleep quality from justadjusting some of this blue
light entry into their eyes, andI think it has less to do with
the blue light at times and morewith the fact that they're not
constantly overstimulatingthemselves for something like a
TV.
And I'd say that's probably oneof the biggest culprits,
because a lot of Americans,right before bed, they'll pop
the TV on, watch their favoriteshow, which I'm guilty of.
(13:34):
My hand is being raised.
I love popping in for abaseball game late at night.
That's why I use the blue lightglasses.
It allows me to have a littlefun after a long day and, the
same token, help my sleep aswell.
Oh gosh, number four.
This would probably be numberone on my own personal list.
Avoid stimulants.
(13:54):
I love coffee.
Who doesn't?
I love espresso.
I love all things.
Caffeine Probably too much so.
Caffeine and nicotine, which alot of my clients don't dabble
with these days, but it can alsobe a stimulant as well.
These both can disrupt sleep.
Limit caffeine intake after 2pm is what's recommended.
(14:15):
Coffee has an extremely longhalf-life, so my recommendation
is in fact to stop closer to 12if you want to really optimize
sleep.
I would have maybe one cup andstop closer to 12.
If you want to really optimizesleep, I would have maybe one
cup and stop by 8am something,12 hours before you go to bed.
(14:36):
So if you're starting to winddown for bed around eight
o'clock, I would stop yourcaffeine intake at 8am in the
morning.
And that's really tough forpeople like myself who like to
walk around with a cup of coffee.
I would say how would yousubstitute that?
Because I have found in mypersonal experience something
about actually holding the hotcup is enough to give me that
(14:57):
sense of coffee and just thatroutine in the morning.
So I will often wake up, I'llhave my coffee first thing in
the morning.
I do this better at times in mylife Right now is not one of
them and basically after thatfirst cup we'll move into
something like an herbal teathat's non-caffeinated, or maybe
(15:18):
a sparkling water, somethingthat gives you that hint of
holding a beverage during theday and working that's not
necessarily water, which somepeople can say is more boring
through the day, and working,that's not necessarily water,
which some people can say ismore boring through the day.
Again, these are all tips thatwork for me.
You might find what works foryou in substituting out some of
these stimulants.
But my hercules recommendationfor you really want to optimize
(15:38):
sleep, I would cut off yourcaffeine consumption 12 hours
before you want to go to bed.
If you go to bed at 7 o'clockat night, that last cup of
coffee should be last sip shouldbe done by 7 am in the morning,
and this all depends on howmuch coffee you drink as well.
You're drinking three cups ofcoffee.
Yeah, even stopping by 7, thatcoffee is going to hang around
(15:59):
in your system.
So one cup 12 hours before yougo to bed should be enough to
really give you that caffeinehit that you want.
And in fact, caffeine has somehealth benefits as well.
We'll touch on at a later time.
But this will then allow thecoffee to get out of your system
enough to where it's notdisrupting some of that
melatonin production and some ofyour sleep cycles.
(16:23):
Number five on our list Powerdown with a routine.
I love this one.
This is where I put on my bluelight glasses about an hour
before bed and I start doingthings consistently before bed.
That triggers my body.
Hey, we're getting ready forbed here.
This can include everythingfrom foam rolling and light,
(16:45):
stretching, to reading, tomeditation.
I've used some variation of allthese in the past.
I find reading works reallywell for me.
I find it a little boring toread a paper book unless it's a
very interesting topic for me,something nerdy.
So I will pick a book that'snot nerdy and interesting to me
because I want it to startmaking me a little bored, a
(17:05):
little bit tired.
I think something about oursociety nowadays tells us we
have to be excited and turned onall the time, and I think
there's some power in beingbored, not only from just a
recovery standpoint but from agetting ready for bed standpoint
as well.
You fall asleep when you'rebored.
Think about school back in theday and falling asleep on a desk
(17:26):
.
You were bored in class, somake yourself bored in those
last hours.
The other thing I tell myclients is stretch and mobilize.
Stretching and mobilizingpromotes relaxation, which is
often why we don't recommendcertain types of stretching
prior to really fast activitiessuch as sprinting.
This is another topic in itself.
(17:47):
That's why static stretchinghas been shown not to be the
most effective route to mobilizeor get warm prior to something
very ballistic in nature.
Again, sprinting, cutting maybe, playing baseball, playing
football hard.
Metcon Again, shoot me somequestions on that.
We'll do another podcast onthat at another time.
(18:07):
But to get back to poweringdown with our routine, I often
recommend for my patients thatare looking to stretch and maybe
get into mobilization as atwo-for-one at that time as well
, something called a progressivemuscle relaxation technique.
For my clients it's simple andit's an effective way to reduce
tension throughout your body,which will again promote that
(18:31):
relaxation response that we'relooking for.
Limit alcohol.
This could be a whole topic initself.
There's really not much benefitfrom alcohol.
I know people are going to comeat me with the resveratrol
thing in wine.
Look, just because a browniehas a gram of protein and
(18:51):
protein's good for you doesn'tmake a brownie good for you.
A little bit of resveratrol inthe wine is not enough to
justify a health benefit and thelack of sleep from it.
You're impacting your recoverymore than you're helping
anything else, and the amount ofwine you have to drink to
receive a dose of resveratrol,that's enough to give you
(19:13):
whatever health benefit it will.
It's just it's not worth theamount.
So limit alcohol and I would say, cut out alcohol entirely.
But yes, I'm going to get a lotof shade.
I love a whiskey from time totime.
Just be careful with the amountand just know when you're
drinking it.
It's something you are doing inthe social setting that you
(19:34):
enjoy and you limit yourself,but there's no health benefit to
it.
Just know that.
Hey, this is like going to atheme park.
I'm going to have fun for theday and I might eat too much
cotton candy that day and notfeel well the following morning.
So that's up to you.
You decide on how you want tohandle that.
But limit alcohol.
It makes you drowsy but it doesdisrupt sleep cycles,
(19:54):
especially REM.
Think about the stuff with yourbrain and the motor skills.
So let's say you learned a newskill that day.
Let's call it double unders.
Or you changed your swingpattern in a baseball swing and
then you go have a couple beersthat night and go to bed.
Disrupts your REM sleep.
You don't get as much carryoverfrom that session.
You just did a lot of hard workthat day and you maybe didn't
(20:17):
get all the benefit you couldfrom it.
Be really careful with alcohol.
The results in a lighter, lessrestorative sleep.
Limiting or avoiding alcohol canlead to significant
improvements in sleep quality.
I would say this could be a bigone that, if you, and a really
big, easy one that, if you crossoff the list, can make you
(20:38):
sleep a lot better.
However, I will say if you aregoing to drink alcohol that day,
the further away from sleep,the better.
Most people like to end theirnight with a glass of wine.
I would say move the other wayFrom my boat, have a beer on the
boat.
Drinkers, that actually is alittle better because you're
(20:58):
starting to flush some of thatstuff out of your system a
little longer before sleep.
Again, recommendation fromoptimizing health, wellness and
performance.
Just cut it out entirely.
Number seven exercise Exerciseis huge.
We promote this.
This is part of what physicaltherapy is fitness in general.
(21:19):
You got to exercise.
Exercise can help with sleep,but when it's not too late in
the day.
So this goes for my 9 pm.
Go to the gym and hit a seshpeople.
Yes, it's great.
Sometimes it's the only timeyou can go.
So, pros and cons, right, youcan't work out that day.
Maybe you have to work out at 9pm because you need to get that
(21:41):
stimulus in.
Just know you're not going tooptimize your recovery that way
and this is where that all ornothing approach can be
dangerous.
We need to understand that wecan't have perfect life setups.
That's why athletes benefit andget super gains from what they
do, because their lives are setup for physical activity
(22:01):
optimizing performance.
For more of my weekend warriorsit's really tough to fit in
taking kids to school, working afull 40, and exercising.
So just know that exercisingcloser to bed can disrupt sleep.
So I would suggest find a sleepspot, a sweet spot for your
(22:21):
sleep and exercise.
Exercising early in the dayusually works best.
Now there are certain times inthe day where more ballistic,
higher intensity work might bebetter from a performance
standpoint.
Again, this is getting reallynitty gritty into exercise, but
in general, exercising rightbefore bed is going to disrupt
sleep.
(22:42):
All your hormones are up.
Your cortisol is up a littlebit from the workout you just
performed.
That's going to impact how weactually go to sleep.
Your body temperature is up aswell.
You have to cool that off.
So, like I said, if you canexercise a little earlier in the
day, that's best.
If not, again, it may not be100%.
You might get a 70%, 80%benefit.
(23:04):
I'm making those numbers upjust to show it's not all or
nothing.
It's not like you get noimprovement from your sleep that
night.
It just means it might be alittle bit less than if you
exercise earlier in the day.
Number eight mind your nutrition.
I love this one.
Nutrition is huge.
You don't track your nutrition.
If you don't even think aboutyour nutrition, you should.
This goes up there with sleepin terms of the importance
(23:28):
beyond what you get fromexercising.
Avoid heavy meals or spicy foodsclose to bed.
I love Sumo House in Vero Beach.
Shout out to Sumo House.
Number five spicy.
Really shouldn't do it close tobed.
Not only does it upset yourstomach that affects how you
sleep, but that increased bodytemperature and just fullness
makes it hard to sleep.
(23:49):
If you're hungry before bed, optfor a lighter snack.
There's a lot ofrecommendations you can give for
that.
I would say opt for a lightersnack and leave it there.
You can look for foods thathave would say opt for a lighter
snack and leave it there.
You can look for foods thathave magnesium and tryptophan in
it that help to promote sleep.
Think something like turkey atThanksgiving.
We've all heard that.
And now the reason why you eatturkey and you get sleepy, I
(24:11):
think some of it's that wecrammed a ton of food into our
body and our body is like nope,we're done going to bed.
But there is a chemical inthere, a substance I should say
that can help to promote sleep.
Magnesium is another one aswell.
You find that in your leafygreens usually.
Again, if you can avoid eatingtwo to three hours before bed,
(24:33):
which is tough with busyschedules that's optimal Number
nine get sunlight exposure.
Love this one.
Get up, go outside immediately15, 30 minutes longer if you can
Get some sun on your skin.
If you need to wear sunblock,you can Highly recommended in
(24:54):
Florida but just know that ourskin is where we make some of
that vitamin D when the sun hitsit, and that helps to regulate
sleep as well, amongst a wholebunch of other hormones, and
vitamin D can be a whole topicon itself.
But I'd say get out, get somesunlight exposure early in the
day.
That helps to regulate some ofthose sleep-wake cycles and it
(25:14):
triggers to our body now we'regoing to be awake, and that
allows for this natural buildupof sleep pressure when it starts
to get dark.
Our body now we're going to beawake, and that allows for this
natural buildup of sleeppressure when it starts to get
dark, our body knows it's timeto go to bed.
We're creating this consistencyand it all feeds into that
number one tip, which wasconsistency with sleep.
Number 10, this is where mostpeople go to first when they
(25:36):
talk about sleep, and theyignore the nine other things
that have a 99% benefit on howto improve your sleep, and that
is sleep supplements.
Yes, they're fun to talk about.
Things like melatonin andmagnesium can be super helpful.
There's a bunch of other stuffon the market.
Consult with a doctor first, ofcourse, especially if you have
certain blood markers that areoff or you're on other
medications, and I'm going tohighlight, especially if you're
(25:57):
on other medications, it'simportant to identify some of
these underlying factors thatare off or you're on other
medications, and I'm going tohighlight, especially if you're
on other medications.
It's important to identify someof these underlying factors
that are contributing to sleepif you haven't gotten your blood
work checked.
But as far as supplements, theycan be helpful if you're
optimizing everything else oryou have a huge gap in one of
your blood markers or you'regoing through something in life.
(26:17):
There you're on a medication.
I'm not going to go super intothis because, like I said.
I believe this is like the 1%improvement in sleep.
That's what you're looking for.
Things like magnesium can behugely impactful on that, but
again, if you're not doing theother nine things, the 99% that
1% is not going to make up forit.
Awesome, you have our 10 tipson improving sleep.
(26:42):
So why improve sleep?
We talked about how sleep worksa little bit.
We talked about how to actuallyimprove the sleep.
So why should we improve sleep?
Why is this important forperformance and recovery?
So let's get into the specificson.
Let's start with athleticperformance here.
So let's get into the specificson.
Let's start with athleticperformance here.
(27:03):
Adequate sleep improves thingslike reaction time, cognitive
function, physical performancemetrics like a jump height or
sprint speed or how much you canlift on a barbell, for example.
Research shows that sleepdeprivation can reduce glycogen
stores and negatively affect thebody's ability to repair
muscles.
When you're training hard andyou're not sleeping enough, you
(27:24):
might notice that your strengthplateaus or you experience
delayed recovery.
It's not just a coincidence.
Your body isn't getting theresources it needs to rebuild
some of that breakdown in muscletissue, or even your brain's
ability to reproduce some of thesignals it needs to send to
your muscles to do what theyneed to do for your performance.
Sleep deprivation is a hugeimpactor on sleep performance or
(27:49):
on performance, excuse me.
Another highlight from a studyis one published in the Sleep
Medicine Reviews thatdemonstrated that even one night
one night of sleep deprivationcan lead to 20% reduction in
maximal strength For athletes inthe gym or active individuals.
That's a huge impact.
Let's just ballpark numbershere.
(28:12):
If you have a 300-pound backsquat and you didn't sleep well,
you got four hours of sleep thenight before.
That could be something closeto 60 pounds off that top end
number there.
So you might be able to squat240.
If you're competing inpowerlifting, think about how
big of an impact that can makeon your total.
Think about how that can impacta CrossFit workout in a
(28:35):
competition.
This is personal story time, butI've been to a couple CrossFit
events where the night beforesome of these athletes went out
and had a couple drinks hung outwith their friends.
The event didn't start till 11.
And then they were so stressedthe next day about why they
didn't perform well and I don'tknow if it's just a ignoring the
(28:59):
problem thing or it's trulylack of education there.
But you didn't set yourself upfor success by impacting your
sleep before.
I think, because sleep issomething that you don't see the
benefits or necessarily feelthe benefits in the moment, and
it's a consistency over timething, much like exercise and
(29:20):
nutrition.
It's something that often goesout the window.
And I think sleep it's evenmore the case because at least
with working out you feel somesort of sweat and burn.
You think something's happeningin the moment.
Sleep you know what.
You lay your head down, you goto sleep.
You wake up the next day.
We've been doing it since wewere bored.
(29:41):
It's something that doesn'tseem sexy in nature, I should
say, and probably the thing thatimpacts our performance the
most at times, especially whenyou're not sleeping well.
So just take all this and takea step back and realize the
small things are important.
Sleep is also critical forinjury recovery.
(30:03):
This is where the physicaltherapy side will come into this
.
When you sleep, your bodyreleases things called cytokines
.
These are proteins that helpreduce inflammation and aid in
tissue repair.
Without enough sleep, cytokineproduction decreases, slowing
down recovery times.
Sleep, people, that's howyou're going to recover.
Another personal antidote hereI've had a couple ACL patients
(30:25):
I've worked with.
They tend to be more on theadult side.
They have some athletic returnto sport goals, but it's not
their full-time job.
They have families.
These are the people that go oh, I stopped thinking about my
nutrition.
Oh, I sleep a little less.
I don't need to.
I'm not working out as much.
It's the wrong way to thinkabout it.
You need your tissue, you needyour muscle to repair at night,
(30:47):
to actually get througheverything that you need to, not
only in the gym.
In fact, I've told this tocertain people that have come in
If you're not sleeping, there'sno point in doing some of your
exercises.
Have come in.
If you're not sleeping, there'sno point in doing some of your
exercises.
You might be doing more harmthan good at that point.
So that's for athleticperformance.
What about for just generalhealth, wellness and longevity?
(31:07):
I think that's where a lot ofpeople's heads are going these
days, especially as you move outof maybe more hard fitness
programs like CrossFit into moreof longevity programs.
Sleep can impact things such asheart disease, type 2 diabetes,
(31:28):
cognitive decline, thinkdementia and Alzheimer's.
All these things are impactedby sleep.
Going back to Dr Matthew Walker, who I mentioned earlier, he
emphasizes that consistentlygetting less than six hours of
sleep is associated with ashorter lifespan.
So if you're looking atlongevity and you're taking all
these random supplements thatturn your mouth blue or you wear
(31:54):
all these fancy doodads on yourhead and feet and blah, just
start with sleep.
If you're not sleeping, youknow those eight to nine hours
or even more than that at times,depending on your activity
level you're actually impactinglifespan by not recovering
enough.
In terms of body composition andweight management, this could
(32:15):
also fall under athleticperformance.
Sleep is also crucial.
This could also fall underathletic performance.
Sleep is also crucial.
When we're sleep deprived, ourbodies produce something called
grenolin, the hunger hormone,and leptin.
This is the satiety or thefullness hormone.
This combination not onlyincreases appetite, but also
cravings for high calorie foods.
(32:36):
Your body thinks it's in astate of stress when it doesn't
sleep enough.
It views the fact that you wokeup and you're running around as
the lion's chasing you and it'strying to get fuel to support
that, when you really don't needthat fuel.
From just an energy perspective.
For athletes with health,wellness and longevity, this
(32:56):
means that sleep isn't justabout building muscle, enhancing
recovery.
It's also a key factor inmaintaining some of that
leanness and body composition,which is super important for
longevity and health.
Being overweight, even being anathlete, you might be a stud,
but the same token, you'reimpacting longevity and there's
a lot of things in sports thatare already take away from
(33:17):
longevity.
Just FYI, it's hard to bereally healthy and long-term
focused when your sport mightrequire hitting max intensities
every day.
So mitigate that by sleepingbetter.
So what are some practicalapplications and takeaways here?
I gave you a lot of information10 tips on how to improve sleep
(33:41):
, why sleep's important, some ofthe science behind it.
Let's just talk about somepractical things with putting
this into practice.
Remember, small steps lead tobig results.
You don't need to overhaul anentire routine.
You don't need to go buy athousand supplements and
honestly I don't even recommendthat.
I would say start with onechange.
(34:03):
This is called habit changingand if you've never read the
book Atomic Habit, I reallythink you should.
It's an amazing book.
It could be super impactful inhow you improve not only your
sleep but just general habitsthroughout the day.
So if you're struggling withcertain addictions or difficulty
(34:28):
changing your patterns, I wouldgive that book a read.
It's really powerful.
So, getting back to sleep, startwith one change, like limiting
blue light or setting aconsistent bedtime.
Hint hint.
Start with a consistent bedtime.
Track your sleep with awearable device or start with a
sleep journal.
Track what you're doing.
Things that are tested andmeasured are things that get
improved.
I say that all the time in theclinic.
(34:48):
That's why I'm so OCD at timeswith tracking things, because if
we don't track it, we don'tknow if it's actually improving,
and that's why so many peoplefall off the wagon.
I know they're boring at timesand don't really move the needle
in the moment, but they're thethings that allow us to keep
moving the needle appropriately.
So again, be consistent.
(35:09):
Take one step at a time.
Don't do all 10 tips at once.
If you can do all five, morepower.
You can do five at a time, morepower to you.
Let's start with one a week andbuild off that.
Just make things slow andconsistent.
We don't always need the sprintto the finish line.
(35:31):
I'm someone that does that allthe time.
Take it from me.
It doesn't usually pan out.
One step at a time, just beconsistent with it.
That's huge.
So I just want to say thanks,guys, for tuning in or back into
the Hercules podcast.
I hope you got some actionableitems and you learned something
about sleep today and why it'sso important for recovery,
sports performance, longevityand injury recovery, injury
rehab as well.
(35:51):
If you enjoyed this episode,share it like it, give it to a
friend.
Just share the health knowledge.
I think this world needs it,especially as things become more
hectic and there's so muchgoing on these days that it's
important to take a moment tojust relax and focus on yourself
again, something I don't do alltoo well at times, but take it
(36:13):
from me, it's super important.
Till next time, guys, keephustling, keep pushing, and
we'll be back next week with anew topic.
Have a great rest of your day.
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