Episode #4: Fit Sleep with Tanessa Shears

Guest: Tanessa Shears, a health consultant helping entrepreneurs eliminate brain fog & boost their productivity, energy & focus with easy bio-hacks. tanessashears.com/energy (12 Ways to Biohack Your Energy) tanessashears.com/podcast (Becoming Limitless Podcast) Instagram: instagram.com/tanessashears Blueprint: 1) Wake up 5-530, coffee, 20-30 minute workout 2) Evening routine 7:30pm electronics off, put kid to bed, wind down, read 20- 30 minutes and sleep.  Show Notes: How is our brain supposed to perform? Imagine you buy this supercomputer and all you do is browse the internet. The purpose of sleep is to reboot your brain, provide clarity and focus and restore your brain for the next day. Where do I begin with sleep? Get a basic sleep tracker as we don't have a natural way to track our sleep. First, educate on sleep opportunity versus actual sleep that you get. For the average person 1-1:15 minutes where people are awake either getting to sleep or going to the bathroom. The time spent prior to sleeping is a sleep opportunity.  By tracking your sleep you can review your patterns and review whether you are getting enough sleep - one way to increase the quantity of sleep is to start small by increasing sleep opportunity by 30 min at a time. The brain has different speeds Beta is when we are alert and focused, there are many times when people are trying to go to sleep when still in beta. Ultimately the brain needs to shift into Alpha then Theta and Delta,  Ways to get out of Beta to help slow down the brain are to remove screens, read a fiction book.  Troubles falling asleep:  1) Cortisol levels too high caused by stress, thinking, worrying, analyzing, planning, ruminating 2) Melatonin: Our old programming - the sun comes out cortisol rises, Sunsets and starts lowering signaling the brain to slow down. Our modern-day - we have lights and screens that are not allowing our bodies to naturally produce melatonin in time for when we want to go to bed. Tip in the evening shift from overhead lights to lower table lamps as your brain notices the difference. Set devices to filter blue light later in the evenings.  Red lenses -blocks blue, green, and purple lights- wear 1 hour before bed.  What happens if my brain won't turn off? The root cause is normally managing one's stress. This can be managed through journaling finding time to think and process and being aware your brain can be causing the stress by ruminating on things that are happening.  You want to allow your body to cool in the evening to help promote melatonin in the evening. What about staying asleep? If you wake up to go pee in the evening - try stop drinking water past 6:30 -7 in the evening. Creating a neutral sound state- get a sound machine and earplugs if you are a light sleeper. The key is to be consistent if its a sound, keep the same sound.  What about supplementing with melatonin? When traveling to different time zones, or for women during the menstrual cycle helping to supplement as the body is heating up melatonin will help with supplementing the reduced melatonin production.  🎸Music by: Behind Closed Doors - Song: Six String Loaded