Most people realize sleep is important, but not how important it is.
No matter how good your diet is, without sleeping well you will not be healthy.
8 hours of sleep is a non negotiable for me.
Here's why and some of my best tips.
Humans are like mushy electrical batteries and sleep is the charger.
Sleep does so much more than help you feel rested.
It's critical for the function of every single physiological system in your body.
Sleeping poorly is linked to higher rates of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, alzheimers and being a big, annoying loser.
During deep sleep, cerebro-spinal-fluid washes through your brain and flushes out toxins that are linked to neurodegeneration.
This is part of the reason that you feel so heavy and so much brain fog when you don't sleep well.
Like a phone with 1% battery, nothing functions well when you're low on sleep.
One of the first things that goes is cognitive function and your mood.
Your brain doesn't have enough energy to be kind & happy.
So for everyone's sake, get some sleep...
BEST SLEEP TIPS
#1. No blue light before bed.
Blue light signals to your pineal gland that it is daytime, shutting off melatonin production.
Use only candle light or red lights before bed. We adapted sleeping next to fires and red light doesn't block melatonin production.
#2. Stop eating foods that irritate your gut
Gut irritants are one of the most common reasons people can't sleep.
Gut irritation increases adrenaline and will keep you up at night + cause you to wake up in the middle of the night.
Don't eat a big meal within 2 hours of bedtime
#3. Salty fruit before bed
With that being said, some salty fruit before bed can lower stress and help a lot.
If you're waking up at 2am constantly it's usually because your liver runs out of glycogen and adrenaline spikes.
Carbs before bed can help with this.
#4. Sunlight in the AM & sungazing at night
Most people are waking up groggy and going to bed wired. This is because their circadian rythyms are off.
Seeing sunlight first thing in the AM and sungazing at sunset can help restore proper sleep / wake cycles.
#5. Go to bed earlier
There's not too much science to back this up, but anecdotally every hour I sleep before 11pm feels like 5x more powerful than every hour after 11pm.
#6. Improve thyroid function
This is a longer term solution, but improving thyroid is key to storing more liver glycogen and lowering cortisol.
The better your thyroid, the better you will sleep.
#7. Exercising and bright light in the afternoon
Exercising raises your body temperature which helps to lower stress around night time.
Bright light in the daytime and then dimming them at bedtime prepares your nervous system for sleep.
#8. Sleep cocktail
Magnesium glycinate & chamomile tea are a powerful sleep combo.
Magnesium helps activate GABA for relaxation, glycine acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter and chamomile has apigenin which helps with sleep & relaxation.
#9. Listen to a joe biden speech
Do something that really bores you before bed, like listen to a joe biden speech.
Let me know if you have any questions or other favorite tips.
Stay rested kings & queens.
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Using some good ol fashion science trickery, we've been conned into thinking fish oils are essential and healthy.
However, consuming them in excess will increase your risk of diabetes, cancer, & neurodegeneration.
Let's discuss
Many health conscious people today think fish oils are superdrugs that can boost cognitive function, lower inflammation and improve heart health. Doctors even recommend that nursing & pregnant mothers supplement it for their babies.
This has birthed a $10bn+ industry.
The truth, however, is that DHA & EPA may have short term benefits (i'll describe below), but this is at a MASSIVE long term health expense
DHA and EPA are PUFAs just like linoleic acid in canola oil...except they have 6 double bonds instead of 3, making them even MORE unstable
It would be so much easier for my business to just pander to all your beliefs, but I choose to do this bc I believe you are all hurting yourselves in ignorance…I know I was.
Given how wrong everyone been about strong convicntions in thd past, I suggest re-examining this too
I've told a lot of you to sun your genitals. In this thread I explain why
It's not just a massive FU to modern society...
It also is incredibly important for energy levels & rejuvenating your health
LET THE SUN SHINE WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE
#1 Sunlight improves genital function
The sunlight is more than UV rays, it has red / NIR, full color spectrum
Mitochondria present in every cell need Red / NIR for optimal function.
The more you hide a body part from the sun the weaker it will be.
Red light is necessary for ATP production via cytochrome c oxidase
New research around structured water suggests that the water in your cell can capture energy from infrared light, become more gel like, helping to increase ATP production.
The most important work of Ray Peat is around serotonin: serotonin isn't the happiness hormone.
It is a hormone of stress, hibernation & the primary break on all higher function -- everything that makes us human.
It down-regulates energy production, metabolism and higher cognitive function + creativity to help the organism survive.
If you inject it into docile creatures, they turn into angry zombies focused on their own gain above all else.
It tends to be elevated in serial killers
In the 1960s studies showed that people that had low serotonin and high dopamine, didn't follow orders, questioned norms and were highly self sufficient -- this is what LSD did to "hippies"...
Whereas serotonin does the opposite, making people highly servile and "normal"