0 (1s): Hello, and welcome to the get lean and eat clean podcast. My name is Brian grin. I'm a certified health coach, trainer and author. And this podcast is for middle aged men and women looking to optimize their health and get their bodies back to what it once was 10 to 15 years ago. I will give you simple, actionable items to get long-term sustainable results. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show. All right, welcome to the get lean eat clean podcast. My name is Brian grin LP had a great week and weekend took a week off of podcasting, but now I'm back. 0 (42s): Hope you maybe caught up on some ones that you missed. And today we're going to discuss a very important topic. I know I say that a lot, but having a sound sleep and bedtime routine is so important. It's, it's definitely the number one pillar of health sleep. And if you can really keep honing it as good as you think you sleep, your sleep is keep trying to strive to make it better. And I'm realizing that for myself, because I find that I get good sleep in general, and, but you can always make it better. And so I'm going to walk through my sleep routine, what I've come through, you know, as far as what I do an hour or two before bed, and maybe you can take all of that or some of it and implement it into your life. 0 (1m 26s): Hopefully you have a sleep routine. If you don't, let's, let's build one. Let's create one because interviewing all these health experts and people from around the world regarding health and wellness and living an optimal life, really, if you, if you optimize your sleep, you are way ahead of the game and I want to help you do that. So let me give you, my I'm gonna give you a five tips and then a bonus one, because this is, I I've realized this over the last few weeks that I need to switch this up in my life. And I'll tell you that in a minute or a few minutes, but let me tell you a number one, which I'm sure you've heard a ton and it never hurts to be repeated. 0 (2m 6s): And that is to switch off all devices or at least put them on silent mode and, or put on some blue blockers, but that's the block-out blue light and that's turn off electric devices. I wouldn't sleep near your phone. I would put it if you want to leave in the room, that's fine. Just put it, you know, as far away as you can from you. And you know, you don't want to be on your phone late at night. That's the bottom line. You want to stay away from blue light. And if you have to be on your computer phone and do work, you can get some blue blocking glasses. And a, I have a few myself not right here with the show, you, but I have a couple, one more for the evening. 0 (2m 47s): That's a look that it, it really cuts off a lot. And then one that I can wear during the day. But I actually noticed when I wear the one at night, like if let's just say, I want to put out a game real quick, or, you know, maybe I have to send someone a message or, you know, whatever it is. I find that it actually helps me settle down and go to sleep. So if you do have to be out of device, definitely grab a pair. You don't have to get an expensive pair of there's plenty of them that you can get on Amazon and things like that. But a, a blue-blocking device will help. If not, if you don't have that, I would definitely stay away at least an hour before bed on any electronic devices. So number two is meditation, and this is something my wife and I have gotten into where we will meditate either in bed or right before bed, you know, and just maybe sit, sit on the couch and do a 10, 20 minute guided meditation. 0 (3m 44s): There's tons of apps. We've been using simple habit, but I mean, if you just search meditation apps, you can find plenty of them. So just find one, you can just do a trial. You don't even have to pay for it, do a free period and see if you like it. And you find someone you like, and really it just, the one thing I like about it, it sort of separates the day, right? Because you can part co part of mentalize your, your daytime activities. And then once you get the night and you're going to sleep, it's sort of a way to sort of signal the body to, you know, this is all right, this is rest time. This is not, not time to be on any devices. So if you do it right before bed, that's great. I like to do that and then get right into bed and go to sleep. 0 (4m 24s): So, you know, you're just going to focus on breath, take your mind away from whatever went on through throughout the day and just gets you ready for a great nighttime rest. So check that out, check out some apps, or you could just sit in silence, whatever works better for you. But I would say at least 10 minutes would be, would be a great place to start. Next is I'm reading. Now. I actually been switching off, back and forth. Sometimes I'll read at night. Sometimes I actually read in the morning, but you know, reading at night definitely will help you settle down and take you away from the TV and just to get you into the mode of, okay. I, you know, I'm, I'm not going to be on any devices I'm going to read and I'm going to go to sleep and reading puts me to sleep. 0 (5m 8s): I don't know about you. I might get through a book very quickly, but at least it'll just help me settle down, you know, sort of signal by body that alright, time to go to bed. So tip number three would be reading for is make sure that you have a great sleep sanctuary, meaning you're lit it's dark. If you got to wear shades over your eyes, but make sure you got a dark cold or cool area to sleep in. It's cool with, with our room. It actually, I have it set so that, so the temperature of the room gets 65 during the middle of the night, about midnight. It turns on and it's just been great. 0 (5m 50s): So if you don't have an might want to even find a bed, that's a cooling bed. I know they have a lot of cooling beds. We don't have one. We have a mattress that that's pretty, that doesn't get so warm, but you know, you want to keep an eye on your you're either having a cooler mattress or, and I would say both or make sure your room is nice and cool. I would say between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit would be ideal. So yeah, I would turn the air down. If you, if you want get a cooling mattress and you know, this'll just help start with mellow help you start, start with melatonin production and get you off to a good night's sleep. 0 (6m 33s): Also, another one would be a lukewarm shower before bed. People ask me that I sometimes shower before bed. I wouldn't go crazy cold. I wouldn't go crazy warm. I would just go lukewarm. And actually the steam, this is sort of a bonus, but the steam can act as a natural decongestant and sort of help you breathe easier at night. So that might help, especially if you have asthma and allergies. So lukewarm shower, keep the air down in your room. And if you could have some type of cooling mattress, that would be great as well. Number five is don't eat or drink too close to bedtime. For one, if you're eating too close to bedtime, it's going to mess with your digestive system. 0 (7m 13s): Cause it takes, you know, takes at least a few hours for you to digest most of your food. And, and if not, your body will have a tough time settling down, you might get some GERD or, or some decongestant, excuse me. Decongestant might get some GERD or essentially a spike in the blood sugar as well. If you're eating too close to bed and that could cause some energy. That's why you don't want to give your kids too much sugar right before they go to bed. Right? So I would say that stop eating two to three times two to three times two to three hours before you go to bed. And you know, I usually stop eating by 6 37 and I'm usually in bed by 10. 0 (7m 54s): So it gives me plenty of time for my body to digest and go to sleep also water. This is another one that I'm finding out as I've gotten a little bit older is I don't want to get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom. And if you're drinking water or whatever it is before, right before bed, this could cause an issue. So try to cut water and food off a few hours before bed. I would say both at the same time, let's say seven o'clock and then you're in bed by 10. That's perfect. So you want to stop eating or drinking two to three hours, at least before bedtime. Now my bonus tip, which I'm finding out myself and I think my wife is realizing as well is we have two dogs, one sleeps on his bed. 0 (8m 35s): The other one sleeps out his bed for some of the night, but then we'll come up on our bed. And I will say as much as it's sometimes nice to have your dog in your bed, I would try to avoid that as much as possible because we didn't have the dog last night. And I realized I slept a lot better because what'll happen is even if he wakes you up once or twice in the middle of the night, then I realized that then I might have to go to the bathroom. Then I go up anyways. So the moral of the story is keep the animals off the bed for the night. And if they have their own bed, great, put them in their own bed and just help train that, train your dog to do that. 0 (9m 16s): It might not be easy. We're going to try to retrain our dog to go back into his bed. So he doesn't come up and jump up on our bed. Cause that just wakes us up. And I realized last night I had, and this morning I had a great night's sleep and we didn't have the debt, the dog on the bed. So yes, those are my tips. Switch off electric devices, two to three hours, I would say at least an hour before bed go for some meditation. Really. This is a great one that I've been doing with my wife. And it's a nice time to sort of finish off the day, perhaps read instead of watching TV, turn your air down, make sure you have a, you know, a cool sleep sanctuary. That's nice and dark and also stop eating and drinking at least two to three hours before bed. 0 (9m 60s): Give those tips to try. They're not too difficult to do. And I think you'll realize you're going to sleep a lot better. So hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions and if you want to have any suggestions for some of these micro podcasts, feel free to write it in the comments below, or send me a note@brianatbriangrin.com. Let me know if you have any questions and I hope you have a great rest of the day and I will talk to you later. Hey, get lean equally nation. Are you a man between the ages of 40 and 60 years old looking to lose inches around your waist have significantly more energy throughout the day and gain muscle all while minimizing the risk of injuries? 0 (10m 40s): Well, I'm looking for three to five people to work one-on-one with in my fat burner blueprint signature program, which I've developed by utilizing my 15 years experience in the health and fitness space. This program is designed specifically for those committed, to making serious progress towards our health goals. Over the next six months, we will focus on sleep stress, nutrition, meal, timing, and building lean muscle. If this sounds like a fit for you, email me@brianatbriangrin.com with the subject line blueprint. That's brian@briangrin.com with the subject line blueprint. 0 (11m 23s): Thanks for listening to the get lean eat clean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine. And I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode, feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member who is looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.
