Last week I shared with you some of my history with functional medicine, perspectives on mindset and how we can change our lives, and we also talked a little more about sleep support and some fanciful ways to âhackâ our healthy sleep routine.
This week, Iâm going to share with you yet another way to adjust your sleep routine in pursuit of beautiful, restful, restorative sleep â you know that kind that âSleeping Beautyâ was known for?
This weekâs newsletter is sponsored by chilisleep, personalized temperature regulation sleep technologies designed to help you get the rest you deserve. Enjoy your rest at the temp that fits you best. Learn more at the end and grab your special 25% off access to mark off an early holiday gift before we have more supply chain woes! (jk about the woes)
In fact, have you ever wondered why the analogous understanding of âbeauty sleepâ was ever even a thing?! Maybe youâve never really thought about it for long, but letâs take just a moment now to travel into Disneyland and rediscover the roots as to why sleep is so important for our beauty⌠which is just one of many aspects of an external showcase of our inner health.
Ps. Explanation on âHackâ - (slang for finding shortcuts to outcomes we want to see â used by fitness enthusiasts and biohackers â i.e. hacking their biology for optimal health)
So, Beauty Sleep â is it really such a thing?
In fact, it is. You see, as Iâve said before sleep = healing. And if you think about beauty being a very hair, skin, nails, and moisture related equation, it makes a lot of sense, as deep sleep allows the body to participate in deep repair and regeneration of our cells and tissues. Sleep is our recovery from our active day. When we sleep, our body doesnât just âshut offâ like we maybe used to think as kids.
No, thereâs actually quite a lot going on behind those covers and closed eyelids when weâre asleep.
And this makes a lot of sense to us when we think about it, right? I mean who here JUST LOVES TO BE TOLD⌠âWow, you look really tired today, is everything okay?!â In other words, âya donât look very good today! Whatâs up! What happened!?â And while some of us may have a more vane or expensive approach to beauty, our sense of beauty is also related to our sleep. (Now hereâs a beautiful thing hereâŚ) When we feel at our absolute best, itâs often because weâve received lots of great rest. đ´
Sing it with me now..
âWhen I get lots of rest, I can feel at my best!â
Itâs true. You know I wouldnât lie to you. But, you know it even better than I do! Tell me, you can probably relate to this Iâm sure right? Ever try to go to work with very little sleep vs a full nightâs sleep ⌠very different experiences, right? A very different feeling of vitality, ambition, motivation, and BEAUTY that you probably felt about life and about yourself that day too. Sleep can do so much more than just help us regenerate cells, promote growth hormone, help us prevent injuries, retain and improve the health of our hair, skin, and nails⌠Sleep can also help us open up a whole new beautiful outlook on the world around us.
Last week I briefly mentioned how important sleep can be for our mental heath (if you read last weekâs newsletter then you would know). So, now letâs reflect this back to beauty-sleep. What if beauty was a perspective, a radiant outlook on life⌠I wonder how one would get there? Probably would help if they got a full nightâs rest donât you think?! I sure think so!
So perhaps Sleeping Beauty wasnât just solely beautiful on the outside, but perhaps she had this inner radiance of beauty breaking through after days and months asleep. I mean, I would sure be thankful and grateful to the moon and back too if I was suddenly awoken from an evil spell. I mean someone had just saved my life by waking me.. so no wonder I was happy and giddy and chipper as could be. You might even say someoneâs personality could be beautiful, eh?
Sucks to not get good sleep though, right? Really puts a damper on our day a few more grey clouds in the sky, a bit more pessimism in our step and emotional obstacles in our way.
So, what do we do about it?
Well, first of all⌠we can go back through the work of discussion weâve already prepared on this topic so far, and make sure weâre crossing off as many boxes as we appropriately can. Next, we take the next level into the optimization route or changing our environment for the better, to help the human inside of us, with genetics older than our great⌠great⌠greatâŚ. great⌠greatâŚ
You get the point. We were born to sleep, obviously. And tapping into understanding how we can sleep at our best can be a big help in getting us to our optimal health. Like we say, âif you canât sleep, you canât heal!â So, for some people dealing with some pretty major issues in their life such as chronic stress, inflammation, autoimmunity, allergies, cold and flu, hyperthyroidism and more⌠one of the best things you can do is help the body sleep in order to heal itself.
And for some of us, we are amazing sleepers and we always have been (I see you Andy, donât be boastful, not everyone can take a 2pm nap like you).. but for others (like myself) weâve struggled with sleep issues since we were little perhaps. Furthermore, some of us may battle with insomnia, live in busy cities with lots of light pollution, sounds all around, or disrupting EMF signals being sent out by neighbors in apartments next door.
Some of us may live in places where it stays pretty hot at night too, which can make it even more difficult (and frustrating in my opinion) to try to sleep at night. đ´
So, what did the biohacker community decide to do to try to help folks find their chance at promoting their best sleep yetâŚ? Well, theyâve done quite a bit actually. And researchers support this well, that the temperature of our sleep environment is very influential for the time it takes us to get to sleep, stay asleep, and the quality of our sleep.
So, a while back, I started looking into these sleep support technologies around temperature regulation, beyond just setting the thermostat. Thereâs actually this nifty device (and a whole host of options actually nowadays built to fit your needs) that allow you to personally adjust the temperature of your exact and specific sleeping position.
This device actually runs cool water through these really tiny tubes in this little blanket slip device you place under your fitted sheet on your bed and all of a sudden it feels like youâre floating and flowing on a cool cloud. So, for those of you who âsleep hot at nightâ and wake up sweaty and a bit overheated, this is one of those devices that you might want to look into.
Iâve heard lots of great testimonials from other users, and it was a highly acclaimed recommendation in some of my past career settings.
Personally, I think this would actually be really helpful for teenagers to try, because I know that sleep is super important for their health during that age, but they usually struggle to get enough. Plus, theyâre often going through a growth spurt, which suggests they need sleep even more, aaaand they are having all kinds of hormone adjustments, often sweating more than they were before, and sometimes experiencing excessive heat and sweating at night, further hindering their ability to receive good quality, healthful sleep.
The company is called chilisleep and they are a marketplace leader in this space. Their flagship products are the ChiliPad and the Ooler. Professional athletes, CEOs, leaders and entrepreneurs will often rave about this thing because of how it has helped regulate their temp during the night, improved their sleep by both the amount of time asleep and quality of sleep. They provide free shipping + 30-day money back guarantee.
And if you use any of the links above or this one here, you can save 25% off any of their products, including their signature sleep systems as well as sheets and blankets too.
Oh, and if youâre wondering how your bed partner is going to think about this⌠donât worry, because itâs completely customizable for your side of the bed. So, if you like it cooler or warmer then you have the power to change both the temperature of your sleep and the quality result of your sleep too.
So, feel free to check their products out, consider a gift for holidays or birthday for a friend or family member too if you think of someone who is always complaining about their poor sleep. (Poor person⌠everyone deserves a good nightâs rest!)
Summary
Now, as we conclude this weekâs newsletter, letâs review what we learned.
Beauty sleep isnât just a fairytale, itâs a real biochemical, physiological event that allows us to look and feel our most beautiful selves when we have the best possible sleep.
Sleep is critical for our health in more ways than one, from tissue repair, growth and recovery, cognitive health, improved insulin sensitivity, reduced food cravings, and yes, in fact, sleep can also help us have that halo-like glow on our face and also our spirit by âfeeling at our best with a good nightâs rest!â
Sing it with me nowâŚ
âWhen I get lots of rest, I can feel at my best!â
Stay Blessed Fam đ Iâll see you next week with another great tip and education to support your health and wellness.
Ps.s I wrote this from 2am-5am one night (morning) when I couldnât sleep. Donât be like me, get your rest! đ´đ´
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