Last week we started off our Dad Bod Health Playbook Series by taking a deep dive into Mindset.
Obviously Mindset is King when it comes to having success in any area of life.
Without the proper mindset it is tough to make progress with your health, your business or career, your relationships, etc.
Now that we’ve established Mindset as the MOST important factor lets dive into some tactical strategies that you can do right now to improve your health.
For any of you who have followed me for any time, you know that I talk often about the 4 Core Pillars of Health.
These are Sleep, Stress Management, Nutrition and Fitness.
The reason I list them in that order is because of the massive impact that sleep and stress management can have on your body as whole and specifically your nutrition and fitness efforts.
So in today’s post we will talking about the 1st Core Pillar of Health which is Sleep.
Now before I go any further, the last time I checked there are 24 hours in a day.
The human body is supposed to sleep somewhere between 7 and 9 hours per night and most men don’t get nearly enough.
That’s approximately 1/3 of our lives that we are supposed to spend sleeping.
When you think about it like that it’s pretty powerful stuff and clearly defines the value of sleep.
Now for the strategies.
The first step to getting better sleep on a more consistent basis is sticking to a strict sleep schedule.
Our bodies are very much like a machine and will learn your habits and patterns quickly.
If you are going to bed at random times every night it becomes very difficult for your body to get used to your schedule.
This leads to you fighting with the snooze button for an extra 5 or 10 minutes that ultimately won’t help you much.
That means it’s time for you to make sleep a higher priority and start going to bed at the same time every night while giving yourself plenty of time to get your 7 hours in.
The second step to getting better sleep is avoiding caffeine late in the day and shutting down social media a little while prior to the time you go to bed.
In order to cut out the caffeine you will need REAL ENERGY which is where nutrition comes in but we will get to that in Part 4 of this 5 part series.
But cutting out caffeine late in the day and shutting down social media a little while before bed allows your brain to start preparing for sleep much quicker.
This will help you get to sleep faster so you can spend more time in REM sleep (deep sleep) which is where the magic of sleep happens.
Sleep has 2 components and both are equally important.
You have quality and you have quantity.
If you aren’t getting enough of both you’ll be at a much higher risk of having elevated cortisol levels which will make it much more difficult for you to lose body fat or maintain a healthy weight.
If you are currently overweight and you have been told you snore or you are experiencing exhaustion during the day and are having a hard time staying awake, there’s a chance you might have sleep apnea.
And if that sounds like you I would highly encourage you to talk to your doctor about having a sleep study done because when severe sleep apnea is left untreated it can lead to many health issues including having a heart attack.
Sleep is one of the most underrated aspects of health and I can promise you this.
Make sleep a bigger priority and it’ll pay off greatly in many areas of your life.
Sleep is one of the components that we cover as part of our Optimal Performance Program.
If you’re ready to get your sleep dialed in along with all of your health habits for long term sustainable success click the link below and fill out an application and either myself of someone from my team will be in touch to see if we can help you further.