The Seamus Fox Podcast.
This podcast has been created to share real life experiences from inspiring people in all walks of life, those who have engineered change in their own lives through a shift in thinking and beliefs. I want to share my own journey and have others share theirs so that it can help inspire others to crete the internal changes thats needed to create long lasting life changes.
The Seamus Fox Podcast.
Transform Your Life with High-Performance Sleep: Practical Steps for Better Health and Productivity
By prioritizing quality sleep, you can significantly improve cognitive functions, reduce stress, and aid muscle recovery. Learn about a seven-step approach to better sleep that fortifies your immune system, aids in weight management, and increases decision-making focus. If you're striving for peak performance in your career, a solid sleep routine is non-negotiable. Implement these strategies for just a week or two, and reach out to us on Instagram to share your experiences. You won't believe how much better you'll feel and perform!
I want to share something today that's going to make a massive difference in your mental well-being, your physical well-being, your emotional well-being. It will make a massive difference in your energy and how you show up. It will make a massive difference to your mindset, your productivity, if you apply it and if you're consistent with it. And what is it? And that is a sleep protocol. So over the last I'd say specifically over the last five years I've really really dialed in my sleep and then probably even more over the last couple of years, dialed that and even more, and I've developed a high performance sleep protocol that I have been testing for myself, tracking it. I'm pretty anal with my sleep. I track it through WIP, I track all the data, I look at differences, I look at what I've done differently, I look at what has worked for me and I've developed a sleep protocol that I also give and coach my one-to-one clients through. They help them dial that in as well. And here's the thing once they have really taken it on board, being consistent with it, tracked it and dialed it in, it's one of the biggest things that makes a massive difference in how they think, how they feel, how they show up and their level of productivity. Here's the thing sleep is probably one of the most underrated, underused, underutilized free tools that we all have that make a massive difference in who you are and how you show up. That once they think better, feel better and show up better. Then look at sleep, because if you really address this, dial it in, really take it seriously and really improve on it, you're going to see a massive difference, a massive difference. Okay, so what I'm going to do is I've got a few steps, and these are simple steps that I have applied myself, that I have applied myself. Now I notice that when I don't do certain things, or when I kind of go off what I normally do when it comes to my sleep protocol, I see the difference, I feel the difference, and I track all of my sleep data through WHIP, and WHIP also shows me that there's a difference. So again, this is I'm sharing this with you, so you can take it, you can use it, you can apply it. You can listen to me and do nothing about it. That's up to you. But I'm going to show you what has worked for me. I'm going to show you what I have used with my clients and that they've also applied and has worked for them. They can help you really improve your sleep.
Speaker 1:Okay, so number one is no fluid, no food or fluids three hours before bed. So you would be surprised at how many people I speak to and they say I just have broken sleep. That's just the way it's always been. I say, okay, right, well, run me through your broken sleep. How long has that been happening? It's just been for years. All right, okay, broken sleep. What are you that been happening? It's just been for years. All right, okay, broken sleep. What are you doing? Are you waking up to go to the toilet? Is it a bathroom break? Aye, okay, right. So when's the last time that you are having fluid, when's the last time you're having drinks, teas, coffees, et cetera. And when we start to deep dive into it, they're having fluids, they're having water, they're having teas, having coffees, etc. Right, the whole way up to just before bed. So number one no food or fluid three hours before bed. So this prevents disruption from digestion and the need, obviously, for bathroom trips. So you want to be lying down and you want to be resting, not digesting. So if you're eating a big feed just before you go to bed, then your body is digesting that food instead of going through all the other processes that it needs to do in order to relax and get into deep, restorative sleep. So about three hours before you have your sleep time that you're going to go to sleep, let's for me I've dialed it into. I'm usually in my bed and in my sleep routine around 9 pm, so I know that around six o'clock, half six at the latest, I'm eating my last meal and I generally get deeper, better, more restorative sleep when I have my meal around 6 pm, 6 30. So no food or fluid three hours before bed. Again, it prevents disruption digestion, it prevents the need for bathroom trips. So if you're drinking a lot of water or fluids in the evening or late afternoon, pull that back and make sure that you're not having any fluids, any food, about three hours before bed.
Speaker 1:Number two is caffeine. So I love my coffee but I'll have my coffee intake which is max three cups, but the majority of times it's just two cups. I'll have those early morning. So I don't drink any caffeine after 12 o'clock. On a very, very rare occasion I might. So 12 o'clock in the day I'm cutting caffeine out. So if I'm having a coffee after that then it's going to be a decaf. So no caffeine after 12. Again, caffeine will keep you awake, obviously for longer, it's going to disrupt your sleep etc. So pulling your caffeine back to before 12 o'clock, before lunchtime in the day, and try that out and see.
Speaker 1:Number three is something that people laugh at me when I'm jumping on calls or if I'm doing a team call with a group I'm working with and they see what I look like and I'm wearing my blue light blockers. So number three is wearing blue light blockers and I do that at least three hours before bed again. So blue light blockers basically minimizes exposure to blue light which can suppress melatonin. So melatonin is a hormone that's released through the pineal gland, the brain, that actually gets triggered when it's dark and it helps the body relax and get into sleep mode, let's say. But we are constantly on our devices, we're constantly on our phones, we're constantly on our ipads, we're constantly stimulating and being stimulated by white light which suppresses melatonin release. So by wearing blue light blockers, maybe three hours or so before bed, you trigger the brain, you trigger the body to kind of relax and especially if you're working and you're on your phone etc, wearing those then will really, really help because, again, it's going to suppress the, it's going to make sure that you're not getting the white light from your phone, your iPad, your computer, etc. When you're working. So, again, maybe three to four hours before bed, put these on, especially if you're working in the evenings. Now, on that as well, what I want to say is your bedroom should be pitch black, your bedroom environment. If you have a TV in your room, preferably take it out. Definitely don't keep it on when you're trying to go to sleep. Making sure that your bedroom is pitch black, having it like a cave, having it all so cool, will be a better environment for you to get to sleep. Okay, so blue light blockers and making sure your bedroom is pitch black.
Speaker 1:Number four this is something again that a lot of people laugh at with me and they're like what you go to sleep like that, and that is mouth tape. It's too long to try and go into all the benefits of and the reasons why mouth taping, but I'm going to give you a couple here to kind of keep it short. So I tape my mouth at night. When I tape my mouth at night, I know that I'm obviously not lying with my mouth wide open, catching flies, which is detrimental to not only your sleep but your overall health.
Speaker 1:We are supposed to breathe through our nose and we eat with our mouth. We talk with our mouth, but we are predominant mouth breathers in our society. So when you breathe through the nose, you are obviously filtering the air. You have um, it's like a first line of defense. You have more antimicrobial properties in your nose. You actually release more nitric oxide when you breathe through the nose, which helps also release and open up the bloodways to get more oxygen around the body and into the brain, etc. So I tape my mouth up so it ensures that I breathe through my nose.
Speaker 1:Now, for most people they're like what, no way Panic. So if that's how you feel, here's what I ask clients to do About an hour before bed put a bit of tape across your mouth, sit, read a book, do what you do, relax, see how it feels. If it feels okay, try it for sleep. If it doesn't work the first time, try it again. But whether you do it for sleep or through the day, be conscious of how you breathe. You should be breathing through the nose, not through the mouth. So by breathing through your nose in the evenings you are triggering more of a parasympathetic tone, which is the rest and digest, relax state of your nervous system, which helps you get into a deeper, more restorative sleep. Okay, so again you can try that out. Again, it can be a bit scary for people, but it will be really, really beneficial if you can get yourself into that habit.
Speaker 1:Number five no phone or devices 60 minutes before bed. This is kind of self-explanatory. If you're watching something on your phone, if you're being stimulated, if you're watching the news, if you're watching stuff on social media, if you're watching stuff that is kind of getting your nervous system fired up, if you're maybe getting triggered by somebody on social media, it's obviously not really good to get you in the asleep mode. So, put the phone away, grab a book, do something different, have a shower, have a bath, relax, spend time with your family, talk to the kids, talk to the wife, do something different other than being on your phone for at least 60 minutes before bed. Again, this ties back into why you should wear blue light blockers, because if you're not on your phone then you're not getting the white light that's been emitted and stimulating the brain.
Speaker 1:Okay, number six maintain a consistent sleep schedule. So most people think about morning routines and most people have a morning routine that they use and they think about a morning routine to get them going, but they don't have a sleep routine. It's just whatever time I go to bed, I go to bed. So one of the most powerful things that I did was create a sleep routine. I created a time that I know I'm going to be winding down. I created a time that I know that I need to be in bed and asleep for and I've been consistent with it. So wake up and go to bed at the same time daily, because this helps really kind of set your circadian rhythm, which is your 24-hour cycle, and a bedtime routine. And a consistent bedtime routine is really, really important. It's just as important for or as a morning routine, so you want to keep this as consistent as possible. Obviously, if you're working, if you're traveling, etc. You're going to have to give a wee bit of wiggle room, but even at that, you can still dial that in as best as you can. When you're traveling or with kids, etc. Obviously things come into play, but if you can maintain a consistent sleep schedule waking up at the same time, going to bed at the same time. This will have a really profound impact on your sleep cycle and help you get into deeper, more restorative sleep.
Speaker 1:Next one, then, is getting early light exposure. So when you wake up in the morning, what I ask all of my clients to do is get outside for even five minutes, get natural light into the eyes first thing. Before you reach for your phone, before you do anything else, stand outside, stand outside, take a couple of deep breaths. Even better, have a wee bit of gratitude practice there and say thank you for the day ahead, thank you for another day, thank you for the air that I'm breathing, thank you for the light in my eyes, thank you. If you practice a bit of gratitude with that again, it's a wee state change for yourself as well. But getting natural sunlight first thing in the morning will again help regulate your wake and sleep cycles, help reset that 24 circadian rhythm and help you stay in sync with your sleep cycles. Now again, in the winter, it might not be possible, so what I get my clients to do is to use a light box. So you can buy a light box off Amazon or any site that will mimic the sunlight in the winter mornings so you can get that bright light again before you use your phone.
Speaker 1:And again, it's consistency with this that really really makes a difference. So those are seven things that, if you apply, if you apply there's the key. If you apply and if you build the habit, if you build the muscle, the discipline around your sleep and if you're consistent with it. And again, obviously life occurs, we have family, we have kids, we might travel, etc. But if you really really paid attention to this one thing and you set out to really improve your sleep, your sleep, I can guarantee that would probably be one of the most important and most profound things. That would make a massive difference in your mental health, your physical health, your emotional health, your productivity, your energy and how you think and feel on a daily basis, which is going to have a massive impact in terms of how you actually show up. It's going to have a massive impact in terms of how you interact with people, how you show up in your business, how you show up in your work, in your career.
Speaker 1:Just by addressing your sleep, by addressing one thing and by taking it that wee bit more serious. So the benefits are profound enhanced cognitive function, better memory, problem solving skills, creativity. You have reduced stress and anxiety and just reduced levels of depression. You've more better physical health, boost immune system, lowers risks of chronic diseases, aids and muscle recovery, increased focus and efficiency and decision making, better weight management. I could go on and on and on about the benefits of improving your sleep. So if you want to improve your performance, if you want to be a high performer in your company, in your business, in your work, in your career, look at your sleep, dial it in, follow those seven steps as best as you can, create that routine, and here's what I love you to do.
Speaker 1:If you follow this and you start to dial it in, give me a message. Send me a message on Instagram if you're interested even in improving your sleep and you'd like to talk a bit further on it. Or, even better, send me a message I can send you on the pdf so that you can follow it better. But if you start to put this into practice, let me know how you feel. Let's say you try to put this into practice. Let me know how you feel. Let's say you try it for a week or two weeks. Let me know how you feel. Drop me a message. Share this on your Instagram, share it on your social media platform, whatever it might be, but give it a try, see how you feel, and I can guarantee that if you stick with it, you're going to find a massive, massive difference.