September 17, 2025 • 19 mins
Try my favorite sheets from Cozy Earth and get 20% off with code WITSANDWEIGHTS. Cozy Earth sheets are made with viscose from bamboo that wicks away heat and sweat to keep you cooler for deeper sleep and better recovery. Go to witsandweights.com/cozyearth
--
Sleep isn't just about feeling rested. It's a foundation that amplifies everything else you're doing for your physique goals, from optimizing fat loss and recovery to enhancing cognitive performance.
Learn 3 system-level sleep fixes that address root causes instead of just symptoms for deeper, more restful sleep and recovery.
Episode Resources:
- Get Cozy Earth temperature-regulating sheets (20% with code WITSANDWEIGHTS) at witsandweights.com/cozyearth
- Download the Better Sleep, Better Body Guide
Timestamps:
0:00 - Why is sleep so important for fat loss, muscle gain, and recovery?
3:37 - Sleep fix #1 (training schedule)
7:48 - Sleep fix #2 (body temperature)
12:04 - Sleep fix #3 (weekends)
14:56 - 2 bonus sleep hacks
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Philip Pape (00:01):
If you're someone who prioritizes your training,
your nutrition and recovery, butsleep still feels a little bit
elusive, like this frustratingpuzzle you can't solve and
you've tried a lot of the hacksthe standard advice about blue
light blockers and magnesium andcold room temperature, but
you're still waking up tired.
I'm going to share three systemlevel fixes that you might not
(00:22):
have thought about that canaddress the root causes and not
just the symptoms.
One involves rethinking whenyou train, another challenges
the materials you sleep with,and the third is going to
question sleeping in on theweekend.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a
(00:50):
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday we're going to tackle a
problem that affects all aspectsof your physique goals, and
that is sleep.
You know that feeling whenyou've dialed in all the things.
You're training consistently.
Your nutrition is on point,you're even managing your stress
, but something feels off.
You know that feeling whenyou've dialed in all the things
you're training consistently.
Your nutrition is on point,you're even managing your stress
, but something feels off.
You know you're hitting yourprotein, you're getting your
(01:11):
steps, you're following theprogram, but the recovery might
not be there, or your energy isinconsistent or your fat loss
has stalled, and maybe part ofthat is due to, you know,
cravings, even sometimes thefeeling of uncontrollable
cravings, even despite doingeverything right, maybe even
belly fat.
You're trying to get rid of thebelly fat.
It's not quite working Well,nine times out of 10,.
(01:31):
The missing piece is sleep.
We have to understand this.
Not getting enough qualitysleep.
We're not talking just quantityof sleep, although that's
important.
It's this overall system thatallows you to have that
consistent sleep quality.
Most people treat sleepproblems like isolated incidents
.
We try to have these individualhacks when reality it's the
(01:52):
bigger picture.
That's important, but today Ido want to drill down a level
and talk about three fixes thatcan get, that can address some
of the root causes of sleepquality, of restfulness, the
things that you can measure with, say, your Oura Ring or your
Fitbit about deep sleep and REMsleep, and I think if you can
address these and then see whatthe data tells you, you can find
(02:13):
something that works better foryou.
We are going to cover today howtraining timing affects your
sleep architecture.
Let's call it how the choice ofwhat you sleep in, the
materials could affect yourrecovery and your body
temperature, and then a weekendhabit that many of us are guilty
of that could be throwing offyour metabolism a little bit
that you didn't even realize.
(02:33):
So by the end of this episode,you're going to understand why
better sleep isn't just aboutfeeling rested, even though
that's important.
It's also optimizing your fatloss, your recovery, so you
build that muscle and even yourcognitive performance and your
mental alertness and your energythroughout the day.
And then I'm going to share abonus protocol at the end that
(02:53):
can reset your energy in undertwo minutes.
So stick around for that.
All right, let's start buildinga better sleep system.
Let's talk about first the kindof system level here.
When it comes to sleep, youdon't want to just replace one
broken piece.
You want to look at the wholesystem and understand why it
failed in the first place.
And poor sleep isn't usuallyabout one thing going wrong.
(03:16):
It's multiple thingsinteracting and they cascade
right, kind of like when I sayhormones are tied up with
everything.
They're tied up with yourmuscle and your training and
everything else.
Similar thing is sleep can becausing a lot of the other
issues you're experiencing, oneof those, the big ones being
cravings and stalled fat loss,where your metabolism starts to
compensate.
So today we're going to look atthree of those.
(03:37):
Let's start with fix number one,and this one a lot of people
don't think about, but it has todo with your training schedule.
Your training schedule isn'tjust about being consistent in
the gym, although that's anextremely important piece of it.
It is actually part of yoursleep schedule as well.
Most people don't think aboutthat how workout timing affects
your circadian rhythm and yoursleep drive in all different
(04:02):
ways, both in the morning, inthe afternoon and in the
afternoon.
Slash evening Exercise of anykind impacts your autonomic
nervous system for a while afteryou're done, about six to 12
hours.
So if you're training late inthe day this is the first one
I'm going to start with Ifyou're training late in the day
and you're struggling to fallasleep, you're basically
fighting an elevated core bodytemperature and a high activated
(04:25):
sympathetic nervous system.
It's kind of the reason why Isuggest people don't, you know,
watch TV or read or watchanything stimulating, like on
social media, you know, or news,for example, today, before they
go to sleep.
So the solution to that istrying to train earlier in the
day and seeing how that affectsyour sleep quality and your
stress.
Because if you can move yourtraining to the morning I'm a
(04:47):
huge fan of this one it willlower your evening cortisol,
right.
It will actually help you getinto a better stress curve for
the day and support andstrengthen your circadian rhythm
by creating that clear wakesignal by training in the
morning.
Now, if you have to train laterwhich my number one criteria is
usually adherence you need to beable to get to the gym
(05:10):
consistently.
So if you can't do that in themorning and you don't go to the
gym, well what's the point right?
So if you must train laterbecause of schedule or
preference or whatever, you wantto make sure that those are
strength training sessions andyou're not doing cardio.
That's my next.
Resistance training can stillbe helpful and increase your
(05:30):
sleep drive, even if it's laterin the day, without the
stimulatory effects of highintensity cardio.
So if you're going to trainlater in the day, at least don't
do any form of cardio otherthan walking.
Of course walking is actuallygreat, but more intense cardio
that you're going to fit in, putthat somewhere else, earlier in
the day or on your non-trainingday, but earlier during the day
the next piece of this when itcomes to your training schedule
(05:52):
is to consolidate your trainingdays and instead of doing, say,
four, five or six days a week,try three or four or even two if
you have to, although I thinktwo is going to result in too
little volume for the week.
But in some cases, when I'vegone into a fat loss phase, for
example, I don't have a lot ofrecovery capacity, I will do
three days a week, knowing thatthat gives me more rest days and
(06:16):
more potential time to get alittle bit extra sleep.
So, as much as I am a fan ofconsistent sleep times, a little
bit of difference let's say ahalf an hour can be helpful when
you need that extra half houron the days where you're not
training.
So if you normally train in themorning, now you sleep in an
extra half hour.
I wouldn't sleep an extra houror more.
That's actually gonna tie tosomething we're gonna talk about
(06:37):
later today but just to havethat little extra time and it's
not only the sleep, it's therest, the rest where your
nervous system can fully recoverand that's gonna lead to deeper
sleep on your non-training day.
See, this is the thing withsleep, it's not just about the
time in bed.
It's all the other things youdo during the day that can
affect the time in bed and howdeep and restful that sleep is.
The data shows that exerciseimproves sleep quality.
(07:00):
Just period doing any sorts ofmovement increase.
So being active right, evenwalking increases your sleep
quality by up to 65%.
But the timing here is whatdetermines whether you get that
benefit or you're fightingagainst it.
So think about your trainingschedule for this one.
Okay, this is really more thana hack.
This is very fundamental toboth the consistency of your
(07:23):
training, but also how itaffects your restfulness, your
stress throughout the day, yoursleep and your recovery.
All right.
So again, the the the hacks aretrained in the morning is is my
preference for most people.
And if you can't train earlierin the afternoon, don't train
too late and don't put cardio atthe end of the day, right, and
then you know, think about thedays per week and how that
affects your ability to rest,especially when you're during
(07:45):
fat loss.
All right.
So system fix.
Number two for sleep.
I really love this one, andthis is about regulating your
body temperature, the onset ofsleep, right when you go into
bed and then between the timeyou set your head down on the
pillow and you actually fallasleep requires a drop, a fairly
precise drop, in your core bodytemperature.
(08:06):
I don't know if you're aware ofthis, but you need about a two
to three degree Fahrenheit dropin your temperature to go to
sleep, and a lot of us are,besides our room temperature
right, which you've heard thisbefore.
I think you should justnaturally have your temperature
set to a comfortable, cooltemperature for bed, no matter
what it tends to save energy.
Obviously it depends on thetime of year, whether you have a
(08:26):
fan, whether you have windows,whether you have air conditioner
, all of that.
But the you know.
But assuming that's all set.
The bedding is your next realopportunity here and the problem
I've seen.
I used to think it was themattress, right, and I have a
really good trust me, expensivemattress and I know there's
Tempur-Pedics and there's SleepNumber and there's all these
fancy mattresses and that'sgreat.
(08:46):
That's going to really helpwith the comfort and the
firmness.
But think about what you'reactually sleeping on and in it's
sheets.
It's the sheets and most sheetsare like the typical polyester
and cotton blend.
They actually trap heat andmoisture.
So if you're the type like methat gets a little bit warm,
you'll start to sweat.
That's going to prevent yougetting rid of that body heat
(09:08):
and regulating your body andthen getting into deep sleep.
I know for a fact when I'mhotter, for whatever reason
including I had alcohol at nightand that makes me hotter,
whatever reason when your bodytemperature is higher and then
the next day you wake up, yourdeep sleep is far less than it
should have been, and that iswhy.
So, if you think about highthread count fabrics, which are
considered higher quality, butthe problem is they are thicker
(09:30):
and they create this microenvironment that actually fights
against natural temperaturecycling.
So what is the fix here?
You have to look carefully atthe materials for your sheets,
materials that actively wickmoisture away, that promote
airflow.
It's just like when you trainand you think about what you're
wearing your clothes, your shirt, your pants right, you want
them to be comfortable.
You don't want to get allsticky and sweaty, because then
(09:51):
that'll kind of heat you up andslow you down.
So I really love sheets thatare derived from a material that
can help you keep cooler.
One such in particular, whichis what I use, is made from
viscose that comes from bamboo.
Now here's here's a funnylittle story.
My TMI the underwear that Iwear, are briefs made with a
bamboo derived material, and Inoticed they kept me a lot
(10:14):
cooler and they were great forworkouts and everything else.
And then I'm like well, isthere something similar for
sheets?
And there is, and the ones Iuse are by Cozy Earth You're
probably going to hear an ad forthat in a moment, but those are
the ones I use because theycool you down.
They create a two to threedegree cooler sleep surface
compared to these othermaterials like cotton.
(10:36):
Hey, this is Philip, and youknow that one spot in your home
you were thinking about all day,the place where you can finally
unwind and relax.
For me, that's my bed.
I have a really good mattress,but I was still having trouble
with getting too hot at nightand not feeling fully rested.
You know that feeling where youhave your seven or eight hours
but you still feel tired in themorning.
Well, it turns out that themissing piece was my sheets.
So I tried some differentbrands and I finally settled on
(10:58):
a really comfortable sheet setfrom Cozy Earth, made from
viscose, from bamboo.
They're temperature regulating,so they naturally wick away
heat and moisture, which hasmade my sleep way more restful.
So if you run hot at night,like I do, or your partner's
always stealing the coversbecause they're cold, this could
be a game changer for yoursleep quality and recovery.
(11:18):
Cozy Earth also gives you a100-night sleep trial and a
10-year warranty, so you canliterally try them for three
months with your routine andstill return them if you don't
love them.
Now think about this you spend2,500 hours a year in bed and
you're already investing intraining and nutrition, so why
not optimize your sleep as well?
Head over to witsandweightscomslash Cozy Earth and use my code
(11:42):
WITSANDWEIGHTS for 20% off totry these for yourself, because
sometimes it's the smallupgrades that make the biggest
difference.
Again, go to witsandweightscomslash Co.
So definitely take a look atthe material that your sheets
are made from and whether thatis helping out with your body
temperature, knowing that thatcan make a massive difference in
(12:02):
your deep sleep and recovery.
All right, now fix number threeis really about the consistency
of your circadian rhythm and thesleep and wake times.
Now I'm not going to just giveyou the simple, tried and true
recommendation of consistent bedand wake times.
Give you the simple, tried andtrue recommendation of
consistent bed and wake times.
I'm going to actually talkabout the impact that happens
(12:22):
when you sleep in too much,which often happens on the
weekend.
So raise your hand or do itvirtually If you like to sleep
in on a Saturday or Sunday.
You know, you've had kind of atough week.
Maybe you've had seven hours anight, maybe six and a half, you
know, and it's it's kind ofright on that hairy edge of
really what you need, and thenyou try to make up for it on the
weekend, and when you do thatby at least 45 minutes to an
(12:43):
hour longer than you slept onthe weekdays, it creates
something called social jet lag.
Your body experiences the samedisruption as if you flew across
multiple time zones.
Just one night of sleeping infor two hours or more actually
shifts your circadian rhythm,not permanently, but it
basically tells your body okay,now we've just moved things.
(13:04):
And so not only do you feelgroggy and you might not feel
groggy when you wake up but itkind of has a cascading effect
of grogginess.
It also affects your glucosemetabolism, your hunger hormones
, your recovery capacity forseveral days potentially.
So sleeping in on the weekendcould actually be backfiring.
Studies show that people withinconsistent sleep schedules
(13:26):
have 27% higher risk ofmetabolic dysfunction, even when
their sleep time is sufficient.
So really the advice here isstay within an hour of your
normal sleep and wake times,especially the wake time.
Most of us go to bed around thesame time, even on the weekends
, let's say.
I mean sometimes it's later,but especially in the weekends.
Don't try to sleep in by someextreme amount of time that goes
(13:50):
beyond what you normally sleepon the weekdays.
I know that's tough to hear,because you wanna get that sleep
.
If anything, I would maybe adda nap at a different point or
really focus on the week being alittle bit longer, if that's
what you need on those days.
And it's kind of like thepressure in your system where
small deviations are manageablebut large ones can cause a
(14:13):
change in the threshold, let'ssay where your body is like okay
, something has changed.
We are now going to go into adifferent mode where you
actually need more sleep andthen come Monday you don't get
that sleep and all of a suddenyou're not well rested and it
just goes haywire.
So I would say try to extendthe amount of time you sleep
during the week and or don'tsleep in excessively on the
weekend, and that's really goingto help there.
(14:34):
All right, I actually have abonus hack for you here, and
it's what I call the two minutereset, and I know I've heard
this a couple times on somedifferent podcasts.
And then I looked into theresearch and it's very
fascinating, because I didn'tbelieve this to be the case.
But now I'm taking advantage ofthis myself because it's a
really great hack for people whoare super busy, okay, who are
(14:54):
just slammed all day.
Deep sleep does require longperiods of rest, so your brain's
gonna benefit from that, butyour brain can also benefit from
ultra short periods ofdisengagement.
There is research on briefmental rest that shows even two
to 10 minute periods of reducedstimulation.
(15:15):
Notice, I'm not talking aboutgoing to a deep sleep, a nap,
but just kind of a cat nap, ifyou want to call it, or just
closing your eyes.
It can restore your cognitivecapacity and all you have to do
is close your eyes, eliminateany sensory input going on
around you.
Maybe that requires a sleepmask, maybe it requires earbuds.
(15:37):
I have AirPods.
You can turn on the noisecancellation and it just totally
shuts everything off and thenjust exist without thinking.
This is not meditation, ifyou're like I don't like to
meditate, I don't want to dobreath work.
No, it's none of that.
It is not napping, it is justneural downtime.
That's it, just neural downtime.
(15:57):
Now I have one more hack for you, yet another bonus.
It's called the coffee nap, andthis is to consume caffeine and
then immediately rest for 15 to20 minutes.
Why?
Because the caffeine takes awhile to kick in.
It takes about 20 minutes tokick in right as you emerge, and
then it creates this enhancedalertness without the grogginess
(16:17):
.
That's another thing.
So if you're going to have kindof a small nap, do it right,
literally right after you takecoffee.
Now, that doesn't work for alot of us who drink coffee kind
of early in the morning, whenwe're already well rested.
But it's just another hack thatI wanted to share with you.
So none of these things work inisolation.
I think the most effectiveapproach combines all of them,
where you look at your trainingschedule and you optimize it for
(16:38):
your circadian rhythm.
You make sure your sleepenvironment is helpful for your
body temperature, especially bylooking at your sheets.
Go check out those cozy earthsheets.
I love them.
I mean they're supercomfortable.
When my daughters and I willlike watch TV in bed together,
we'll just like throw on thesheets, because they're so comfy
, just to watch TV, becausethey're just that.
Cooling and relaxing.
(16:58):
Maintaining your circadianrhythm by not sleeping in beyond
60 minutes versus your normalsleep schedule All of these can
be super helpful.
So I want you to start with thething that addresses your
biggest current failure point,your most immediate constraint.
You know, if you're reallywired at night all the time,
maybe you're training too late.
If you're hot all the time,look at your sheets.
If the weekends, if you'resleeping in too much and that's
(17:24):
causing grogginess down the line, try shortening that window and
seeing what happens and thentrack these changes
systematically.
Right, look at your, yourlatency, the wake frequency,
your morning energy andbiofeedback, anything you can
track on a wearable if that'shelpful to you, like your sleep
stages, and give it.
Give any change, like seven to10, 10 days at least, to show
measurable effects.
Like anything we do here.
When you're going to experimentwith yourself, change one thing
and give it a little bit oftime to work itself through.
(17:46):
Most of the sleep advice that Ihear and see on podcasts are
like are one-off hacks or it's alist of 20 things, and I do
agree there are lots of thingsthat can be helpful, but I like
to look at what is the lowesthanging fruit, what's a big
thing that's easy to do, thekind of highest ROI, highest
return on investment.
So the things I shared today, Ireally thought through
(18:07):
everything that I do.
I thought through what theexperts are telling us, what the
research is telling us, and Ithought these would be important
ones to share.
But there is one moreinteraction when it comes to
sleep that most people aremissing, and that is that your
sleep quality directly affectsyour training recovery, which
then affects your next day'ssleep drive, which then affects
your circadian rhythm, and soit's a feedback loop, right?
(18:27):
So that's why I think that'swhy I wanted to make this kind
of an engineering episode, ifyou will, when it comes to
feedback.
Better sleep upgrades the wholesystem of recovery that we care
about, which then lets you adaptbetter to your strength
training, improve your musclebuilding, improve your body
composition, increase yourmetabolism, reduce fat, enhance
your cognitive performance shallI go on?
(18:49):
So sleep isn't just rest, it isactually a foundation that
amplifies everything else you'redoing, kind of like the concept
of upward spiraling right, andI think people get overwhelmed
when it comes to fixing sleepsometimes because they think
everything has to be fixed.
But just fix one thing at atime, like we talked about today
, and then the solution for youis gonna become clear.
Try one of those this week.
Pick the one that addressesyour current limitation, track
(19:10):
them and then add in the othersas you need.
All right, if you wanna godeeper on sleep optimization, I
do have a free guide calledBetter Sleep, better Body.
It's just a simple list ofideas, kind of like the hacks
that I mentioned, that Icriticize all the time, but it
is a list of sort oftroubleshooting frameworks and
ideas to improve your sleepbeyond what we talked about
(19:32):
today.
Go to witsandweightscom, slashfree or click the link in the
show notes for the Better Sleep,better Body guide.
All right, until next time,keep using your wits lifting
those weights and remember sleepisn't just rest.
It is the foundation thatamplifies everything else you're
doing.
I'll talk to you next time hereon the Wits and Weights Podcast
.
If you're someone who prioritizes your training,
your nutrition and recovery, butsleep still feels a little bit
elusive, like this frustratingpuzzle you can't solve and
you've tried a lot of the hacksthe standard advice about blue
light blockers and magnesium andcold room temperature, but
you're still waking up tired.
I'm going to share three systemlevel fixes that you might not
(00:22):
have thought about that canaddress the root causes and not
just the symptoms.
One involves rethinking whenyou train, another challenges
the materials you sleep with,and the third is going to
question sleeping in on theweekend.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a
(00:50):
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday we're going to tackle a
problem that affects all aspectsof your physique goals, and
that is sleep.
You know that feeling whenyou've dialed in all the things.
You're training consistently.
Your nutrition is on point,you're even managing your stress
, but something feels off.
You know that feeling whenyou've dialed in all the things
you're training consistently.
Your nutrition is on point,you're even managing your stress
, but something feels off.
You know you're hitting yourprotein, you're getting your
(01:11):
steps, you're following theprogram, but the recovery might
not be there, or your energy isinconsistent or your fat loss
has stalled, and maybe part ofthat is due to, you know,
cravings, even sometimes thefeeling of uncontrollable
cravings, even despite doingeverything right, maybe even
belly fat.
You're trying to get rid of thebelly fat.
It's not quite working Well,nine times out of 10,.
(01:31):
The missing piece is sleep.
We have to understand this.
Not getting enough qualitysleep.
We're not talking just quantityof sleep, although that's
important.
It's this overall system thatallows you to have that
consistent sleep quality.
Most people treat sleepproblems like isolated incidents
.
We try to have these individualhacks when reality it's the
(01:52):
bigger picture.
That's important, but today Ido want to drill down a level
and talk about three fixes thatcan get, that can address some
of the root causes of sleepquality, of restfulness, the
things that you can measure with, say, your Oura Ring or your
Fitbit about deep sleep and REMsleep, and I think if you can
address these and then see whatthe data tells you, you can find
(02:13):
something that works better foryou.
We are going to cover today howtraining timing affects your
sleep architecture.
Let's call it how the choice ofwhat you sleep in, the
materials could affect yourrecovery and your body
temperature, and then a weekendhabit that many of us are guilty
of that could be throwing offyour metabolism a little bit
that you didn't even realize.
(02:33):
So by the end of this episode,you're going to understand why
better sleep isn't just aboutfeeling rested, even though
that's important.
It's also optimizing your fatloss, your recovery, so you
build that muscle and even yourcognitive performance and your
mental alertness and your energythroughout the day.
And then I'm going to share abonus protocol at the end that
(02:53):
can reset your energy in undertwo minutes.
So stick around for that.
All right, let's start buildinga better sleep system.
Let's talk about first the kindof system level here.
When it comes to sleep, youdon't want to just replace one
broken piece.
You want to look at the wholesystem and understand why it
failed in the first place.
And poor sleep isn't usuallyabout one thing going wrong.
(03:16):
It's multiple thingsinteracting and they cascade
right, kind of like when I sayhormones are tied up with
everything.
They're tied up with yourmuscle and your training and
everything else.
Similar thing is sleep can becausing a lot of the other
issues you're experiencing, oneof those, the big ones being
cravings and stalled fat loss,where your metabolism starts to
compensate.
So today we're going to look atthree of those.
(03:37):
Let's start with fix number one,and this one a lot of people
don't think about, but it has todo with your training schedule.
Your training schedule isn'tjust about being consistent in
the gym, although that's anextremely important piece of it.
It is actually part of yoursleep schedule as well.
Most people don't think aboutthat how workout timing affects
your circadian rhythm and yoursleep drive in all different
(04:02):
ways, both in the morning, inthe afternoon and in the
afternoon.
Slash evening Exercise of anykind impacts your autonomic
nervous system for a while afteryou're done, about six to 12
hours.
So if you're training late inthe day this is the first one
I'm going to start with Ifyou're training late in the day
and you're struggling to fallasleep, you're basically
fighting an elevated core bodytemperature and a high activated
(04:25):
sympathetic nervous system.
It's kind of the reason why Isuggest people don't, you know,
watch TV or read or watchanything stimulating, like on
social media, you know, or news,for example, today, before they
go to sleep.
So the solution to that istrying to train earlier in the
day and seeing how that affectsyour sleep quality and your
stress.
Because if you can move yourtraining to the morning I'm a
(04:47):
huge fan of this one it willlower your evening cortisol,
right.
It will actually help you getinto a better stress curve for
the day and support andstrengthen your circadian rhythm
by creating that clear wakesignal by training in the
morning.
Now, if you have to train laterwhich my number one criteria is
usually adherence you need to beable to get to the gym
(05:10):
consistently.
So if you can't do that in themorning and you don't go to the
gym, well what's the point right?
So if you must train laterbecause of schedule or
preference or whatever, you wantto make sure that those are
strength training sessions andyou're not doing cardio.
That's my next.
Resistance training can stillbe helpful and increase your
(05:30):
sleep drive, even if it's laterin the day, without the
stimulatory effects of highintensity cardio.
So if you're going to trainlater in the day, at least don't
do any form of cardio otherthan walking.
Of course walking is actuallygreat, but more intense cardio
that you're going to fit in, putthat somewhere else, earlier in
the day or on your non-trainingday, but earlier during the day
the next piece of this when itcomes to your training schedule
(05:52):
is to consolidate your trainingdays and instead of doing, say,
four, five or six days a week,try three or four or even two if
you have to, although I thinktwo is going to result in too
little volume for the week.
But in some cases, when I'vegone into a fat loss phase, for
example, I don't have a lot ofrecovery capacity, I will do
three days a week, knowing thatthat gives me more rest days and
(06:16):
more potential time to get alittle bit extra sleep.
So, as much as I am a fan ofconsistent sleep times, a little
bit of difference let's say ahalf an hour can be helpful when
you need that extra half houron the days where you're not
training.
So if you normally train in themorning, now you sleep in an
extra half hour.
I wouldn't sleep an extra houror more.
That's actually gonna tie tosomething we're gonna talk about
(06:37):
later today but just to havethat little extra time and it's
not only the sleep, it's therest, the rest where your
nervous system can fully recoverand that's gonna lead to deeper
sleep on your non-training day.
See, this is the thing withsleep, it's not just about the
time in bed.
It's all the other things youdo during the day that can
affect the time in bed and howdeep and restful that sleep is.
The data shows that exerciseimproves sleep quality.
(07:00):
Just period doing any sorts ofmovement increase.
So being active right, evenwalking increases your sleep
quality by up to 65%.
But the timing here is whatdetermines whether you get that
benefit or you're fightingagainst it.
So think about your trainingschedule for this one.
Okay, this is really more thana hack.
This is very fundamental toboth the consistency of your
(07:23):
training, but also how itaffects your restfulness, your
stress throughout the day, yoursleep and your recovery.
All right.
So again, the the the hacks aretrained in the morning is is my
preference for most people.
And if you can't train earlierin the afternoon, don't train
too late and don't put cardio atthe end of the day, right, and
then you know, think about thedays per week and how that
affects your ability to rest,especially when you're during
(07:45):
fat loss.
All right.
So system fix.
Number two for sleep.
I really love this one, andthis is about regulating your
body temperature, the onset ofsleep, right when you go into
bed and then between the timeyou set your head down on the
pillow and you actually fallasleep requires a drop, a fairly
precise drop, in your core bodytemperature.
(08:06):
I don't know if you're aware ofthis, but you need about a two
to three degree Fahrenheit dropin your temperature to go to
sleep, and a lot of us are,besides our room temperature
right, which you've heard thisbefore.
I think you should justnaturally have your temperature
set to a comfortable, cooltemperature for bed, no matter
what it tends to save energy.
Obviously it depends on thetime of year, whether you have a
(08:26):
fan, whether you have windows,whether you have air conditioner
, all of that.
But the you know.
But assuming that's all set.
The bedding is your next realopportunity here and the problem
I've seen.
I used to think it was themattress, right, and I have a
really good trust me, expensivemattress and I know there's
Tempur-Pedics and there's SleepNumber and there's all these
fancy mattresses and that'sgreat.
(08:46):
That's going to really helpwith the comfort and the
firmness.
But think about what you'reactually sleeping on and in it's
sheets.
It's the sheets and most sheetsare like the typical polyester
and cotton blend.
They actually trap heat andmoisture.
So if you're the type like methat gets a little bit warm,
you'll start to sweat.
That's going to prevent yougetting rid of that body heat
(09:08):
and regulating your body andthen getting into deep sleep.
I know for a fact when I'mhotter, for whatever reason
including I had alcohol at nightand that makes me hotter,
whatever reason when your bodytemperature is higher and then
the next day you wake up, yourdeep sleep is far less than it
should have been, and that iswhy.
So, if you think about highthread count fabrics, which are
considered higher quality, butthe problem is they are thicker
(09:30):
and they create this microenvironment that actually fights
against natural temperaturecycling.
So what is the fix here?
You have to look carefully atthe materials for your sheets,
materials that actively wickmoisture away, that promote
airflow.
It's just like when you trainand you think about what you're
wearing your clothes, your shirt, your pants right, you want
them to be comfortable.
You don't want to get allsticky and sweaty, because then
(09:51):
that'll kind of heat you up andslow you down.
So I really love sheets thatare derived from a material that
can help you keep cooler.
One such in particular, whichis what I use, is made from
viscose that comes from bamboo.
Now here's here's a funnylittle story.
My TMI the underwear that Iwear, are briefs made with a
bamboo derived material, and Inoticed they kept me a lot
(10:14):
cooler and they were great forworkouts and everything else.
And then I'm like well, isthere something similar for
sheets?
And there is, and the ones Iuse are by Cozy Earth You're
probably going to hear an ad forthat in a moment, but those are
the ones I use because theycool you down.
They create a two to threedegree cooler sleep surface
compared to these othermaterials like cotton.
(10:36):
Hey, this is Philip, and youknow that one spot in your home
you were thinking about all day,the place where you can finally
unwind and relax.
For me, that's my bed.
I have a really good mattress,but I was still having trouble
with getting too hot at nightand not feeling fully rested.
You know that feeling where youhave your seven or eight hours
but you still feel tired in themorning.
Well, it turns out that themissing piece was my sheets.
So I tried some differentbrands and I finally settled on
(10:58):
a really comfortable sheet setfrom Cozy Earth, made from
viscose, from bamboo.
They're temperature regulating,so they naturally wick away
heat and moisture, which hasmade my sleep way more restful.
So if you run hot at night,like I do, or your partner's
always stealing the coversbecause they're cold, this could
be a game changer for yoursleep quality and recovery.
(11:18):
Cozy Earth also gives you a100-night sleep trial and a
10-year warranty, so you canliterally try them for three
months with your routine andstill return them if you don't
love them.
Now think about this you spend2,500 hours a year in bed and
you're already investing intraining and nutrition, so why
not optimize your sleep as well?
Head over to witsandweightscomslash Cozy Earth and use my code
(11:42):
WITSANDWEIGHTS for 20% off totry these for yourself, because
sometimes it's the smallupgrades that make the biggest
difference.
Again, go to witsandweightscomslash Co.
So definitely take a look atthe material that your sheets
are made from and whether thatis helping out with your body
temperature, knowing that thatcan make a massive difference in
(12:02):
your deep sleep and recovery.
All right, now fix number threeis really about the consistency
of your circadian rhythm and thesleep and wake times.
Now I'm not going to just giveyou the simple, tried and true
recommendation of consistent bedand wake times.
Give you the simple, tried andtrue recommendation of
consistent bed and wake times.
I'm going to actually talkabout the impact that happens
(12:22):
when you sleep in too much,which often happens on the
weekend.
So raise your hand or do itvirtually If you like to sleep
in on a Saturday or Sunday.
You know, you've had kind of atough week.
Maybe you've had seven hours anight, maybe six and a half, you
know, and it's it's kind ofright on that hairy edge of
really what you need, and thenyou try to make up for it on the
weekend, and when you do thatby at least 45 minutes to an
(12:43):
hour longer than you slept onthe weekdays, it creates
something called social jet lag.
Your body experiences the samedisruption as if you flew across
multiple time zones.
Just one night of sleeping infor two hours or more actually
shifts your circadian rhythm,not permanently, but it
basically tells your body okay,now we've just moved things.
(13:04):
And so not only do you feelgroggy and you might not feel
groggy when you wake up but itkind of has a cascading effect
of grogginess.
It also affects your glucosemetabolism, your hunger hormones
, your recovery capacity forseveral days potentially.
So sleeping in on the weekendcould actually be backfiring.
Studies show that people withinconsistent sleep schedules
(13:26):
have 27% higher risk ofmetabolic dysfunction, even when
their sleep time is sufficient.
So really the advice here isstay within an hour of your
normal sleep and wake times,especially the wake time.
Most of us go to bed around thesame time, even on the weekends
, let's say.
I mean sometimes it's later,but especially in the weekends.
Don't try to sleep in by someextreme amount of time that goes
(13:50):
beyond what you normally sleepon the weekdays.
I know that's tough to hear,because you wanna get that sleep
.
If anything, I would maybe adda nap at a different point or
really focus on the week being alittle bit longer, if that's
what you need on those days.
And it's kind of like thepressure in your system where
small deviations are manageablebut large ones can cause a
(14:13):
change in the threshold, let'ssay where your body is like okay
, something has changed.
We are now going to go into adifferent mode where you
actually need more sleep andthen come Monday you don't get
that sleep and all of a suddenyou're not well rested and it
just goes haywire.
So I would say try to extendthe amount of time you sleep
during the week and or don'tsleep in excessively on the
weekend, and that's really goingto help there.
(14:34):
All right, I actually have abonus hack for you here, and
it's what I call the two minutereset, and I know I've heard
this a couple times on somedifferent podcasts.
And then I looked into theresearch and it's very
fascinating, because I didn'tbelieve this to be the case.
But now I'm taking advantage ofthis myself because it's a
really great hack for people whoare super busy, okay, who are
(14:54):
just slammed all day.
Deep sleep does require longperiods of rest, so your brain's
gonna benefit from that, butyour brain can also benefit from
ultra short periods ofdisengagement.
There is research on briefmental rest that shows even two
to 10 minute periods of reducedstimulation.
(15:15):
Notice, I'm not talking aboutgoing to a deep sleep, a nap,
but just kind of a cat nap, ifyou want to call it, or just
closing your eyes.
It can restore your cognitivecapacity and all you have to do
is close your eyes, eliminateany sensory input going on
around you.
Maybe that requires a sleepmask, maybe it requires earbuds.
(15:37):
I have AirPods.
You can turn on the noisecancellation and it just totally
shuts everything off and thenjust exist without thinking.
This is not meditation, ifyou're like I don't like to
meditate, I don't want to dobreath work.
No, it's none of that.
It is not napping, it is justneural downtime.
That's it, just neural downtime.
(15:57):
Now I have one more hack for you, yet another bonus.
It's called the coffee nap, andthis is to consume caffeine and
then immediately rest for 15 to20 minutes.
Why?
Because the caffeine takes awhile to kick in.
It takes about 20 minutes tokick in right as you emerge, and
then it creates this enhancedalertness without the grogginess
(16:17):
.
That's another thing.
So if you're going to have kindof a small nap, do it right,
literally right after you takecoffee.
Now, that doesn't work for alot of us who drink coffee kind
of early in the morning, whenwe're already well rested.
But it's just another hack thatI wanted to share with you.
So none of these things work inisolation.
I think the most effectiveapproach combines all of them,
where you look at your trainingschedule and you optimize it for
(16:38):
your circadian rhythm.
You make sure your sleepenvironment is helpful for your
body temperature, especially bylooking at your sheets.
Go check out those cozy earthsheets.
I love them.
I mean they're supercomfortable.
When my daughters and I willlike watch TV in bed together,
we'll just like throw on thesheets, because they're so comfy
, just to watch TV, becausethey're just that.
Cooling and relaxing.
(16:58):
Maintaining your circadianrhythm by not sleeping in beyond
60 minutes versus your normalsleep schedule All of these can
be super helpful.
So I want you to start with thething that addresses your
biggest current failure point,your most immediate constraint.
You know, if you're reallywired at night all the time,
maybe you're training too late.
If you're hot all the time,look at your sheets.
If the weekends, if you'resleeping in too much and that's
(17:24):
causing grogginess down the line, try shortening that window and
seeing what happens and thentrack these changes
systematically.
Right, look at your, yourlatency, the wake frequency,
your morning energy andbiofeedback, anything you can
track on a wearable if that'shelpful to you, like your sleep
stages, and give it.
Give any change, like seven to10, 10 days at least, to show
measurable effects.
Like anything we do here.
When you're going to experimentwith yourself, change one thing
and give it a little bit oftime to work itself through.
(17:46):
Most of the sleep advice that Ihear and see on podcasts are
like are one-off hacks or it's alist of 20 things, and I do
agree there are lots of thingsthat can be helpful, but I like
to look at what is the lowesthanging fruit, what's a big
thing that's easy to do, thekind of highest ROI, highest
return on investment.
So the things I shared today, Ireally thought through
(18:07):
everything that I do.
I thought through what theexperts are telling us, what the
research is telling us, and Ithought these would be important
ones to share.
But there is one moreinteraction when it comes to
sleep that most people aremissing, and that is that your
sleep quality directly affectsyour training recovery, which
then affects your next day'ssleep drive, which then affects
your circadian rhythm, and soit's a feedback loop, right?
(18:27):
So that's why I think that'swhy I wanted to make this kind
of an engineering episode, ifyou will, when it comes to
feedback.
Better sleep upgrades the wholesystem of recovery that we care
about, which then lets you adaptbetter to your strength
training, improve your musclebuilding, improve your body
composition, increase yourmetabolism, reduce fat, enhance
your cognitive performance shallI go on?
(18:49):
So sleep isn't just rest, it isactually a foundation that
amplifies everything else you'redoing, kind of like the concept
of upward spiraling right, andI think people get overwhelmed
when it comes to fixing sleepsometimes because they think
everything has to be fixed.
But just fix one thing at atime, like we talked about today
, and then the solution for youis gonna become clear.
Try one of those this week.
Pick the one that addressesyour current limitation, track
(19:10):
them and then add in the othersas you need.
All right, if you wanna godeeper on sleep optimization, I
do have a free guide calledBetter Sleep, better Body.
It's just a simple list ofideas, kind of like the hacks
that I mentioned, that Icriticize all the time, but it
is a list of sort oftroubleshooting frameworks and
ideas to improve your sleepbeyond what we talked about
(19:32):
today.
Go to witsandweightscom, slashfree or click the link in the
show notes for the Better Sleep,better Body guide.
All right, until next time,keep using your wits lifting
those weights and remember sleepisn't just rest.
It is the foundation thatamplifies everything else you're
doing.
I'll talk to you next time hereon the Wits and Weights Podcast
.
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