In this episode 64 protocols
▶ 16:40 Morning Bright Sunlight Exposure Behaviors “One way that you can ensure that that cortisol peak occurs early in the day, right about the time that you wake up is to view bright light, ideally from sunlight, within the first 30 to 60 minutes after waking. That's right, view bright sunlight within the first 30 to 60 minutes after waking.” ▷ 21:20 Use Bright Artificial Lights Before Sunrise, Then Get Outside After Sunrise Behaviors “If you wake up before the sun is out, you can and probably should flip on artificial lights in your internal home environment... Once the sun is out, however, once the sun has risen, then you still want to get outside and view sunlight.” ▷ 25:07 Use a Daylight Simulator if Natural Light Is Unavailable Tools “Well then you're going to need a replacement for that sunlight. And there are sunlight simulators or daylight simulators that you can purchase.” ▷ 25:18 Ring Light Tools “And therefore I suggest cheaper options that work just as well because they get just as bright. Things like ring lights that are sold in order for people to take selfies and this kind of thing.” ▷ 25:31 Drawing LED Tablet Tools “A drawing LED tablet will work pretty well. I actually have one of those and I put it on my desk all morning.” ▷ 27:43 Light Meter App Tools “You can download a free app, something like Light Meter, and that will allow your phone to act as a bit of a light meter.” ▷ 28:04 Measure Indoor and Outdoor Lux With a Light Meter App Behaviors “Wake up in the morning, take Light Meter, point it at the brightest light in your home and take a measurement... Now go outside and if there's some sunlight out and there's cloud cover, point it at the sky and press that button.” ▷ 31:36 Deliberate Cold Exposure in the Morning Behaviors “The first way is to get into cold water of some sort. This could be a cold shower of anywhere from one to three minutes.” ▷ 31:43 Cold Tub Tools “This could be an ice bath. If that's your thing, it could be a cold tub, or if you own a cold tub, that's specifically designed for deliberate cold exposure.” ▷ 33:17 Exercise Early in the Day Behaviors “One of the best ways to increase your core body temperature early in the day is to do exercise.” ▷ 34:44 Exercise Five to Seven Days per Week Behaviors “Everybody really should exercise at least I believe five or six or maybe even seven days a week.” ▷ 35:53 Use Non-Smoked Yerba Mate Diet “I like it in the form of coffee or espresso or yerba mate tea in particular, non-smoked varieties of yerba mate teas, non-smoked because the smoked varieties seem to carry some carcinogenic, some cancer causing risk.” ▷ 36:26 Delay Caffeine 90–120 Minutes After Waking Diet “I highly recommend that everybody delay their caffeine intake for 90 to 120 minutes after waking... if you delay your caffeine intake until 90 to 120 minutes after waking is you will avoid this so-called afternoon crash.” ▷ 37:41 Limit or Avoid Caffeine Late in the Day Diet “Really try and avoid any caffeine, certainly avoid drinking more than 100 milligrams of caffeine if you drink caffeine after 4 p.m. and probably even better to limit your last caffeine intake to 3 p.m. or even 2 p.m.” ▷ 40:14 Eat Early in the Day to Support Alertness Diet “You eat early in the day, you support a biological clock mechanism that will make you more alert early in the day.” ▷ 42:02 Avoid Very Large Meals if You Want Alertness Diet “If your gut is full of food, there's just a large volume of food in your gut, it's going to divert a lot of blood and other critical resources away from other organs of your body, in particular, your brain, and you're going to be sleepy after eating a big meal.” ▷ 45:12 Shift to Local Meal Timing for Jet Lag Behaviors “If you're mindful and you're jet lagged, one of the quickest ways to shift your circadian clock and get onto the local schedule is to eat on the local schedule.” ▷ 47:16 NSDR in the Afternoon Behaviors “Nowadays, I do NSDR or a reverie sleep hypnosis almost every day. And I tend to do that... in the early afternoon hours if I'm feeling kind of sleepy.” ▷ 48:00 Afternoon Naps Behaviors “It is fine to nap in the afternoon, but don't nap so late in the day or for so long that it disrupts your ability to fall and stay asleep at night for your major sleep bout.” ▷ 49:06 Reverie App Tools “I encourage you to try the Reverie app... I love using the Reverie app, in particular the portion of the Reverie app that gets you better at sleeping.” ▷ 49:06 Yoga Nidra in the Afternoon Behaviors “I encourage you to try the Reverie app, try an NSDR script, try Yoga Nidra, try something of that sort for anywhere from 10 to 20 to 30 minutes.” ▷ 50:05 Be Cautious With Intense Afternoon or Evening Exercise Behaviors “And for those of you that exercise in the afternoon, understand that if you exercise very often, exercise very intensely, so this might be weight training or running or some other very intense exercise, typically that's going to further increase your body temperature.” ▷ 53:57 Get Late Afternoon or Evening Sunlight Behaviors “Get that morning sunlight in your eyes, but also get some sunlight in your eyes in the late afternoon and evening hours when the sun is at so-called low solar angle, when it starts to descend in the sky.” ▷ 57:11 Minimize Artificial Light at Night Behaviors “First of all, you're going to want to avoid bright artificial lights of any color. Yes, of any color.” ▷ 59:25 Use Moonlight at Night Behaviors “Even better, I should say, ideally you would use candlelight and or moonlight.” ▷ 1:05:10 Evening Heat Exposure for Sleep Behaviors “If you do hot tub or a hot bath or a sauna in the evening, and you don't stay in for more than 20 or 30 minutes, and you get out... then what happens is there's a compensatory cooling off of your core body temperature... and it will make it much easier to get into sleep.” ▷ 1:05:10 Hot Tub Tools “If you do hot tub or a hot bath or a sauna in the evening, and you don't stay in for more than 20 or 30 minutes... your body temperature will drop by one to three degrees, and it will make it much easier to get into sleep.” ▷ 1:05:10 Sauna Tools “If you do hot tub or a hot bath or a sauna in the evening, and you don't stay in for more than 20 or 30 minutes... your body temperature will drop by one to three degrees, and it will make it much easier to get into sleep.” ▷ 1:05:39 Keep the Sleeping Environment Cool Behaviors “Similarly, you should try and make your sleeping environment pretty cool, if not cold. Now, that doesn't mean you need to be cold while you're asleep. You can get under as many blankets as you need.” ▷ 1:06:05 Fan Tools “Other people would simply do this by putting a fan in the room or opening a window.” ▷ 1:10:16 Avoid Alcohol as a Sleep Aid Diet “The sleep that one gets after drinking alcohol is greatly disrupted sleep... While THC and alcohol do help some people fall asleep and maybe even stay asleep, the architecture of that sleep is suboptimal.” ▷ 1:10:29 Avoid THC as a Sleep Aid Diet “While THC and alcohol do help some people fall asleep and maybe even stay asleep, the architecture of that sleep is suboptimal compared to the sleep they would get without alcohol or THC in their system.” ▷ 1:13:55 Magnesium Threonate Supplements “For many people, however, taking 145 milligrams of magnesium threonate can be very beneficial... the ideal time to take those is 30 to 60 minutes before bed.” ▷ 1:14:34 Apigenin Supplements “145 milligrams of magnesium threonate, 50, five zero milligrams of apigenin... the ideal time to take those is 30 to 60 minutes before bed.” ▷ 1:14:42 L-Theanine Supplements “And 100 to 400 milligrams of theanine taken, again, alone or in combination with the other supplements mentioned in this stack... the ideal time to take those is 30 to 60 minutes before bed.” ▷ 1:16:16 Avoid Eating for About 3 Hours Before Bed Behaviors “The ideal time to take those is 30 to 60 minutes before bed. Especially if you haven't had anything to eat for the three hours or so before bedtime.” ▷ 1:16:39 Avoid Melatonin for Regular Sleep Support Supplements “That sleep stack can be very beneficial. And I do think that it's preferable to melatonin... the dosages of melatonin that are contained in most commercial products is far, far, far greater than what we would make endogenously.” ▷ 1:17:59 Glycine Supplements “Every third or fourth night, I will take two grams of glycine and 100 milligrams of GABA in addition to the standard sleep stack... which I find greatly enhances my ability to get into sleep.” ▷ 1:17:59 GABA Supplements “Every third or fourth night, I will take two grams of glycine and 100 milligrams of GABA in addition to the standard sleep stack... which I find greatly enhances my ability to get into sleep.” ▷ 1:18:35 Myo-Inositol Supplements “Every other night, I'll take 900 milligrams of myo-inositol in addition to Mag3 and A, apigenin and theanine... What I find is not only does it greatly enhance my ability to fall asleep quickly, but if I wake up in the middle of the night... I find it very, very easy to fall back asleep.” ▷ 1:22:03 Use NSDR for Falling Back Asleep Behaviors “The zero cost tool for getting asleep, staying asleep, and falling back asleep is going to be NSDR.” ▷ 1:23:03 Eye Mask Tools “Do eye masks improve your ability to stay asleep? And indeed, they do, provided they are not too tight and provided that the room is cool enough.” ▷ 1:23:25 Use an Eye Mask Only if the Room Is Cool Enough Behaviors “So if you're going to use an eye mask to keep light out, definitely make sure the room and your sleeping environment and your bed are cool enough in order for you to stay asleep.” ▷ 1:23:38 Earplugs Tools “Some people find that earplugs are very beneficial because, of course, they prevent the entrance of sound into the ear that could wake us up... So it's really up to you.” ▷ 1:24:17 Pillow Under the Feet Tools “Elevating your feet, either with a pillow or by elevating the end of your bed by about three to five degrees can be really beneficial.” ▷ 1:24:17 Elevate the Feet During Sleep Behaviors “Elevating your feet, either with a pillow or by elevating the end of your bed by about three to five degrees can be really beneficial for increasing the depth of sleep because of the so-called glymphatic washout.” ▷ 1:24:40 Elevate the Head of the Bed if You Have Acid Reflux Behaviors “For people that suffer from asthma, for people that suffer from acid reflux... You want to actually elevate the head side of your bed by about three to five degrees.” ▷ 1:25:28 PAP Device Tools “A lot of people will have to use the PAP, which is a device. It looks like a sort of a snorkel mask or dive mask.” ▷ 1:26:13 Nose Breathing During Sleep Behaviors “It's a superb idea to be a nose breather in sleep. And one way to really get good at that is to take a little bit of medical tape and to tape your mouth shut before going to sleep.” ▷ 1:26:17 Medical Tape Over the Mouth During Sleep Tools “Take a little bit of medical tape and to tape your mouth shut before going to sleep. You heard me right. Put some medical tape over your mouth and force yourself to nose breathe during sleep.” ▷ 1:26:40 Practice Nasal Breathing During Low-Intensity Cardio Behaviors “You can try doing your cardiovascular exercise, at least the lower intensity cardiovascular exercise through purely nasal breathing.” ▷ 1:26:54 Mouthpiece for Nasal-Breathing Cardio Practice Tools “Or to use a mouthpiece or just deliberately keep your mouth closed and insist on breathing through your nose.” ▷ 1:28:14 Keep the Sleeping Environment as Dark as Possible Behaviors “We talked about, of course, keeping the sleeping environment both cool and as dark as possible.” ▷ 1:28:39 Keep Sleep and Wake Times Consistent Behaviors “The data show that keeping relatively consistent sleep and wake times is really going to enhance the quality and depth of your sleep.” ▷ 1:30:58 Use NSDR After Poor Sleep Behaviors “In that case, I highly recommend you just use NSDR or the Reverie app or some other form of deep relaxation to try and compensate for the lack of sleep.” ▷ 1:32:36 Use Caffeine Strategically to Shift Circadian Timing Diet “If you view bright light, exercise, or drink caffeine, or all of the above in the two to four hours before your temperature minimum, that will delay your clock.” ▷ 1:32:36 Exercise Before Temperature Minimum to Delay the Clock Behaviors “If you view bright light, exercise, or drink caffeine, or all of the above in the two to four hours before your temperature minimum, that will delay your clock.” ▷ 1:33:38 Use Bright Light After Temperature Minimum to Advance the Clock Behaviors “Now the opposite is true if you view bright light... in the hours immediately after your temperature minimum... It will tend to phase advance your clock.” ▷ 1:33:38 Exercise and Activity After Temperature Minimum to Advance the Clock Behaviors “Now the opposite is true if you view bright light, drink caffeine or exercise... in the hours immediately after your temperature minimum... It will tend to phase advance your clock.” ▷ 1:33:38 Use Bright Light Before Temperature Minimum to Delay the Clock Behaviors “If you view bright light... in the two to four hours before your temperature minimum, that will delay your clock.” ▷ 1:34:38 Eat Early in the Morning to Phase-Advance the Clock Diet “In the day or two before you leave, you can force yourself to exercise, drink caffeine, maybe even to eat a meal early in the morning... to phase advance your clock.” ▷ 1:34:38 Force Early-Morning Exercise Before Travel to Advance the Clock Behaviors “What it means is in the day or two before you leave, you can force yourself to exercise, drink caffeine, maybe even to eat a meal early in the morning... but you force yourself to do the activities that are going to phase advance your clock.” ▷ 1:35:27 Stay on the Same Shift for Two Weeks at a Time Behaviors “If you are going to do shift work, try to stay on the same shift for two weeks at a time.” ▷ 1:35:54 Red Light Bulb Tools “If you need to be awake in the middle of your sleep cycle... if possible, use red light, okay?... using red light has been shown to allow people to be awake enough and obviously see what they need to see... but it does not seem to disrupt the cortisol rhythm.”