The Secret To Better Sleep: Tips To Optimize Your Routine w/ Todd Anderson

This episode features an in-depth discussion on optimizing sleep for better health, with expert insights from NFL conditioning coach and sleep optimization expert, Todd Anderson.

1. Quality vs. Quantity of Sleep: Emphasizes the importance of both sleep quality and quantity for optimal health.
2. Impact of Lifestyle Choices: Discusses how alcohol, meal timing, and screen time before bed can significantly affect sleep quality.
3. Physiological Benefits: Explores how sleep influences hormone levels, including testosterone and growth hormone, which are crucial for overall health.
4. Sleep Environment Optimization: Provides tips on creating an ideal sleep environment through proper temperature control and minimizing electronic disturbances.
5. Practical Sleep Tips: Offers actionable advice such as using mouth tape for better breathing and the benefits of a consistent sleep routine.

1: Introduction to Sleep Optimization

Mari introduces Todd Anderson, who shares his expertise on the vast benefits of sleep. They discuss how improving sleep can impact various aspects of health. Todd Anderson: "If you really want to make someone feel better and impact the quality of their life, sleep is the most impactful thing you can do."

2: Deep Dive into Sleep Science

Todd explains the science behind sleep stages and their importance in recovery and health. Todd Anderson: "Sleep stages are crucial for our physiological recovery and mental health."

3: Lifestyle and Sleep Quality

Discussion on how lifestyle choices like hydration, meal timing, and alcohol consumption impact sleep. Mari Llewellyn: "It's fascinating how even small changes in our evening routine can drastically improve our sleep quality."

4: Enhancing Sleep Environment

Tips on optimizing the sleep environment to enhance sleep quality, including temperature control and minimizing noise and light. Todd Anderson: "Creating the right environment is crucial for deep sleep."

5: Conclusion and Practical Tips

Summarizes the discussion with practical tips for the audience to implement in their daily routines to improve sleep. Mari Llewellyn: "Implementing just a few of these tips can make a big difference in your sleep quality and, by extension, your health."

1. Hydrate Early: Front-load your hydration earlier in the day to minimize disruptions during sleep.
2. Optimal Meal Timing: Finish eating at least three hours before bedtime to allow for proper digestion.
3. Limit Alcohol and Caffeine: Avoid alcohol and caffeine close to bedtime as they can significantly impair sleep quality.
4. Prepare Your Sleep Environment: Ensure your bedroom is cool, dark, and quiet. Consider blackout curtains and white noise machines.
5. Establish a Routine: Consistency in your sleep schedule helps regulate your body's internal clock, enhancing sleep quality.
6. Use Mouth Tape: Mouth taping can improve breathing patterns and increase sleep quality.
7. Monitor Sleep Stages: Use a sleep tracker to understand and improve your sleep stages and cycles.
8. Mindful Relaxation: Engage in relaxation techniques such as reading or meditating before bed instead of screen time.
9. Optimize Bedding: Invest in comfortable, breathable bedding to maintain a cool sleep environment.
10. Consult Professionals: If sleep issues persist, consider consulting a sleep specialist for tailored advice.

Ep. #96 On today’s episode of Pursuit of Wellness, I am joined by Todd Anderson, a former NFL conditioning coach and sleep optimization expert, as he shares his insights on how proper sleep can enhance hormone balance and overall health. We discuss his career evolution and fitness journey, as well as the founding of Dream Recovery, which explores the vital relationship between sleep stages and daily vitality. We’ll delve into the psychological aspects of weight loss and learn about lesser-known sleep practices that can transform your night, like sauna sessions and mouth taping. Sleep is such an important part of our health, so let’s jump in and learn how to optimize our sleep!

People

Mari Llewellyn, Todd Anderson

Guest Name(s):

Todd Anderson

Content Warnings:

None

Todd Anderson
If you really want to make someone feel better and impact the quality of their life, sleep is the most impactful thing you can do. This is the pursuit of wellness podcast, and I'm your host, Mari Llewellyn.

Mari Llewellyn
Hello, guys. Welcome back to the pursuit of wellness podcast. I am so excited. Today we have our first deep dive episode with a sleep expert, Todd Anderson. Todd is an NFL conditioning coach and sleep optimization expert.

He gave us so much advice on proper sleep routines and how it can really enhance hormone balance and overall health. It really is so important, and I think people are just starting to realize that. And I was really excited to pick Todd's brain today. We talked about so many different things. Quality versus quantity of sleep, how hydration can affect sleep and optimal meal times, alcohol's effect on sleep quality, heart rate variability, what it means and how you can improve it.

The benefits of the sauna and cold plunge on sleep, optimal bedroom temperature. Mouth taping and mouth breathing. Eye masks, nose strips, tv and phones before bed. Sleep apnea, melatonin, is it good or bad? CBD and weed before sleep.

The differences in men and women's sleep needs. Wi fi and Bluetooth, and tips for shift workers. This was the first time that we've ever had a sleep expert on the show, and it was so, so interesting. I cannot wait to honestly keep talking about it more because I really think sleep quality is one of the biggest and most important parts of a health routine when it comes to weight loss, clearing skin, balancing hormones, energy levels, anything that you may be struggling with will be improved by an optimal sleep routine. So highly recommend.

Getting a pen and paper for this one was so interesting. And on top of it, Todd also had a weight loss journey. So we discussed weight loss and what that's like. Without further ado, let's hop into this episode with Todd. Todd, welcome to the show.

Todd Anderson
Excited to be here. Very excited to have you. I actually have not done a dedicated sleep episode, and when I posted you on my story, everyone freaked out. Everyone has questions. I love that.

Mari Llewellyn
We have a lot to discuss. So let's get started by hearing about how you personally became interested in sleep and optimizing performance. Yeah, I mean, really, my interest sparked in college, like, so I walked down to Michigan State, meaning I wasn't good enough to be recruited. And I always had this kind of chip on my shoulder mentality of I had to wring out every ounce of ability to even compete with the guys I was around. So I started digging into research, and I was kinesiology exercise science major at the end of my career.

Todd Anderson
And at the time, this was like 2010. You know, sleep kept popping up with relation to hormone levels and testosterone. And, you know, I would kind of make sure I prioritize sleep a little bit as much as you can in college because, you know, I was still a normal college kid, but, you know, I would make sure before big workouts or competitions, we wouldn't be going out and doing dumb stuff. And I started to realize the importance, because I'm thinking in my head, okay, if, you know, getting 5 hours of sleep affects my testosterone levels that much, it's probably systemically affecting a lot of other things. Fast forward.

You know, I played in the NFL for a little bit, but after that ended, I started training people in the strength conditioning world, and more and more information started coming out in sleep. And at the same time, I got to spend a lot of time and learn from doctor Jennifer Martin out at UCLA, and she's a top sleep psychologist, which I love, because psychology of sleep is far more important than the physiology of sleep as far as changing your behavior and actually improving your sleep. And so what I realized is more and more data came out. It's like, if you really want to make someone feel better and impact the quality of their life, sleep is the most impactful thing you can do, and it's also something that people enjoy. It's easy to implement different behaviors.

It's really this silver bowl of health and wellness that at the time, this was like 2015. Everyone was overlooking. Nobody's talking about sleep back then. And so I went all in and took courses and learned as much as I could. And I started speaking on sleep about seven, six years ago, mostly in New York, to different corporations, law firms, the New York Bar association, which was.

That was a wild talking. So those guys aren't sleeping none. Just drinks and no sleep. Wall street vibes. Yeah.

And just hearing the feedback of how much when people change their sleep, it changed their life in a positive way. It was so motivating. So I just kind of dug my heels in, and, you know, I started dream recovery because I would go and speak and kind of spread the word about sleep, and I get asked questions about what products to implement and use, and I never had a great answer. So about a year ago, I was like, well, there's clearly a need. I don't feel great about recommending anything, and let's do it ourselves.

Mari Llewellyn
Were you guys one of the first brands to do the mouth tape? We were, yeah, definitely. We were in the first, you know, quarter, but that came from just none of the brands I've tried, all of them, none of them were great. It was like, you know, there was. Maybe they were using a sketchy adhesive, which is not something people often think about.

Todd Anderson
You know, it's on your face for 8 hours a night. So people are so aware of what's in their lotions and their oils and their treatments, but yet think about if you're gonna use mouth tape is on your face longer, it doesn't even evaporate. So adhesives, materials, the production. So we just thought we could do it better. And it was really self serving.

You know, it's like, I don't have anything that I enjoy or works well for me, so let's make the best of the best. That's how the best businesses start. I feel like, yeah, it's almost refinement, as opposed to coming up with something completely new. So I want to talk about that in a bit about the benefits of mouth tape. But let's start kind of broad for people listening.

Mari Llewellyn
What is the difference between quality sleep and quantity? Like, which is more important on the clinical level or just in general? There's a lot more data on quantity, and that's really the best place to start because I would assume most people listening to this are probably relatively healthy. They don't have any crazy clinical sleep issues going on. You should have seen the DM's, I guess.

Todd Anderson
Yeah, well, I would say that we'll go with the majority, but if you're getting the optimal quantity of sleep and you feel good, chances are the quality of your sleep is pretty high. Like, you'll just say that is 8 hours. Yeah, for most people, it's right on 8 hours, anywhere from seven to 9 hours. And oftentimes it's. It's probably more than people think.

So, on average, uh, based on the data, about 90 minutes. People are about 90 minutes underslept, on average. So whatever you're sleeping now, you're, you're. Based on statistics, you need about 90, 90 minutes more of sleep across the United States. And why is quality sleep so important?

Mari Llewellyn
Like, what is it impacting? Yeah. So you have to think about sleep is. I think often we think about sleep is just like being awake or being asleep, but, you know, we have the different, different sleep stages, and they all play different roles in our physiology, and it's important. It's not about one type of sleep being better than the other.

Todd Anderson
Right. You have your slow wave sleep, your deep sleep you'll see on your trackers and your REM sleep and your stage one and two. And it's not like, oh, how can I get the most REM sleep? It's more about the proportions. I always compare it to, like, a band.

It's like, it's not about having the most guitar. It's about how does the guitar blend in with the bass and the vocals? And you can't make up for less bass with more guitar. That's not how it works. Same with REM sleep and deep sleep.

Like, you need these proportions of the different sleep cycles in order to optimize your function, especially your brain. So the only way to do that is give yourself optimal time and allow yourself to flow through these stages of sleep. But if things are disrupted and things are breaking your sleep up, you kind of start back at one. Like, you have to progress through these stages as the night goes on, and it chops those up. So a lot of times, because our deep sleep takes long, takes longer to get into.

That's what is affected the most. Right. You kind of go stage one, two, three, which is like your deep sleep, and then your rem cycle, and then you start over again. So if you're waking up in your stage two of sleep, you just keep starting over and over, and you don't get into those deeper parts of sleep. So getting up to pee, you start back from the beginning?

Yeah. And that's honestly one of the main things people mess up is hydration. And being intentional. I use the word intentional to sleep a lot because, you know, the first thing people talk about with hydration is how much water you're drinking. But really, they should be thinking about how much water are you drinking and when are you drinking it.

Because front loading your hydration in the first half of the day is extremely impactful to eliminating how many times you get up in the middle of the night. Yeah, I still run into that issue all the time, and I'm pretty intentional with my sleep. But the hydration is hard. It's hard. It's hard to get enough water in general, I would say, especially if you're busy.

But it's totally normal to get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom if you're out there, and that's normal one or two times. But if you're waking up four times to go to the bathroom, I think you need to be more strategic with your hydration. And a lot of times that has to do with your timing of your meals, because people tend to have more fluid around a meal, and that's also a good tool is just moving that last meal up a little bit. Yeah. When would you say is the optimal time to have dinner?

Yeah. So rule of thumb is 3 hours. If you can give yourself a three hour gap, that's a pretty good window. A lot of people feel significantly better just from a digestion perspective in the morning, which I'm one of those people. Um, if you pair that up with, like, a light walk post dinner, you can feel really good.

But, um, a couple reasons. When you give yourself that gap, that first sleep cycle of the night is oftentimes when you have the biggest spike in growth hormone, which can be great for longevity, um, and keeping you feeling healthy and performing at a high level. So that's your biggest spike. When you have a meal really close to bed, your, your body doesn't go into that growth hormone spike. It doesn't produce it the same way it would, and you just kind of miss out on it.

It doesn't produce that spike. The following sleep cycle, you just kind of miss out on it that night and you move on. So, you know, allowing your body to digest and then also giving enough time to have your blood sugar stabilize and basically let your body calm down. 3 hours is a pretty good rule of thumb, and that's also a good thing to do. Like, when you're traveling, having a consistent gap, there is another way to trigger your body, basically to say, hey, we're getting ready to go to bed.

And if you're traveling time zones, you can use that as a tool to reset yourself. When you, when you move time zones, I'm sure you deal with that all. Love that. Big fan of the 05:00 p.m. Dinner reservation.

Mari Llewellyn
I'm not sure why people don't do that. So I lived in Miami for three years, and people are like, let's go to dinner at 09:00 p.m. And not to mention everyone in Miami is 30 minutes late to everything. So it's like, it's wild. So, yeah, miami is not for me.

Todd Anderson
No. If you value sleep, that is not the place to be. Like, the nightclubs open at midnight, so. I think of, like, Spain. They have dinner at like ten.

I can't do that. I can't do that either. But they're so healthy, it confuses me. I mean, Europe in general, some of that stuff is very contradicting. It's wild.

But I think their stress levels are low. I know, and I think that the lifestyle in the United States is fast and furious, for better or for worse. But chronic stress, that'll tear you apart over time, no matter what. And we talk about these things that take away from our health and longevity. Alcohol, which Spain tends to utilize a lot in their life, but in general, you know, things like that, stress will out, the chronic stress will outweigh all the substances, and most of the time, it wreaks havoc on our body.

And I don't think we realize, I think because our baseline is a little bit skewed here, we don't realize what our baseline of stress levels are.

Mari Llewellyn
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To cut out single use plastic in your laundry room and claim 40% off your subscription. Earthbreeze.com powder quality sleep. Other than impacting our energy levels, which is like, obviously the obvious benefit, what else is it impacting? Like hormones? Fat loss.

Muscle. Yeah, top to bottom, I think. I think with fat loss specifically, people overlook sleep. And it really should be the first thing you think about. So if anyone comes to me and they have a weight loss goal, the first thing I would look at is their sleep schedule, which is a little bit counterintuitive because I think people think about calorie burn energy, or, I mean, sorry, energy expenditure, you know, energy balance.

Todd Anderson
And it does come down to energy balance. But when we sleep, that's when we optimize our hunger hormones. And on average, if someone is only sleeping 5 hours compared to like 8 hours, you consume about 300 to 400 more calories when you're underslept. And it's not because you're awake longer. They've done plenty of studies to figure out why that's happening.

And that's happening because you crave, you know, high fat, high sodium foods that are more calorically dense, and you crave food more. Like your hunger hormones are all thrown off. So it's about like, you know, when you have a weight loss goal. We already know the stats on weight loss outcomes. It's not very good.

A lot of people don't follow through. So I think it's about how do I, how do I set myself up for the highest chances of success? Not how do I attack this with the most aggressive plan? How do I make it happen the fastest? It's like, let's get these behaviors in place.

That's going to increase my chances the highest, as opposed to what's the most effective plan? Because that's going to be a much better long term outcome. So just by sleeping the optimal amount, you're going to reduce your caloric intake by about 300 to 400 calories, because you're not going to crave food as much. So you have a weight loss story. I do.

Mari Llewellyn
Kind of like me. What was your situation? Yeah, I mean, I always slept well. That's the one thing I did, always prioritize. So I can't say that that contributed to it as much.

Todd Anderson
But, yeah, when I got done playing football, you know, I was a big guy. I had a ton of muscle on me from football. It's just what you had to do. But about five years after, I found myself just not having great purpose in what I was doing and trying to find myself in the business world. Took a couple chances and was around people that just, like, I just didn't feel inspired, didn't work out, started drinking a lot, and I gained about 50 pounds in five months.

And I felt so bad. And the thing that I think people don't realize, and I think. I think the reason I'm so drawn to setting your plan up to have the highest chances of success is because until you've been in that situation where you're not feeling great about yourself, maybe you're depressed. Maybe you're probably going through other things beyond just your physical appearance and how you feel. It feels like you're moving a mountain to start that journey.

And that's why I always come back to, how do we increase these chances? Because it's hard to get that ball rolling. And I think it's also hard for people to even put themselves in those shoes. Like, people don't realize how incredibly difficult it is to even get to the gym when you feel like that about yourself, not only just from your self conscious, but also energy and mood, and it's nearly impossible. So anything you can do to optimize your mental health and your motivation, I think, is a great start.

But it was a battle. And I remember distinctly, I. I was in Chicago, I went on a boat. Picture got taken, got posted to Facebook the same day I had a physical. And I got on the scale.

I was like, 296 pounds, which is four pounds away from 300. And I texted my wife and I was like, this is rock bottom. Like, I. I don't know how I let it get to this point. Like, this doesn't even reflect what I value as a person.

Like, I love health, wellness, longevity. I was in the space, like, how did this happen? But it happens fast. And if you're not around people that are inspiring you, if you don't feel like you're doing something with purpose, it can happen. And you don't even realize you're losing that perspective.

Luckily, a lot of times, weight loss goals happen gradually and you have a long term plan. But that was almost that moment that just sparked a fire, and I went on a nine month tear and really got things back in order. And I've had a pretty good balance ever since. I was probably a little too aggressive, but I could not stand, like, what that picture represented. And it wasn't even just the physical.

It was just about, like, what I saw when I saw the picture. It was about, like, what, what reflected back at me and knowing my mindset that I had at one time, even my relationship with food, probably, like, how I treated people around me, I wasn't the same. I didn't have the same energy. I wasn't as uplifting and optimistic, and I just knew that wasn't me. So I was.

I was willing to do anything to get back to where I was at one point. I relate in so many ways that even the nine month span, like, mine was a full nine. Yeah, yours is incredible, too. I was sniffing. Yeah.

Mari Llewellyn
But I was probably a little too aggressive, and I sometimes get nervous to say that because girls are like, how did you do it? And I wish I could say, you know, I think I was lucky because I had my husband, who's a bodybuilder, and I came from the approach of wanting muscle. And it wasn't many women go into it being like, I want to be smaller and smaller and smaller, but I always wanted muscle and I prioritize protein, but I was pretty aggressive about the way I went about it. And similar to you, it was not so much about the way I looked, but more so, like, who am I? Yeah, I was lacking discipline, purpose, didn't have anyone around me who was, like, inspiring me to be better.

And it really was a full life change. So I completely relate. Yeah. Well, make no mistake, I also. I think it's what it was about how I look, too.

Todd Anderson
You know, it's like, I think you're lying to yourself. Everybody wants to feel good about how they look, and it's okay to say that. I think it's okay to have aesthetic goals as long as they're in line and healthy, but, yeah. I also think, though, even the psychology behind nutrition and change, like, obviously, the longer it takes you to lose weight, the better long term outcomes. But I also think there's something to be said, like, when you have, like, a burning motivation and you have this desire to make change, if you can ride that wave and implement changes, but at the same time, educate yourself and, you know, set up this lifestyle for sustainability, I think that can be really useful.

Like, my mentality. I'm an all in or all out kind of guy. And so I think that was the only thing that would have worked for me. And like you said, it's like, I think if you on the other side, you set things up to make sure it's sustainable. I think it could be okay.

But I think the biggest thing with weight loss, it's like you have to think of yourself as a different person, because oftentimes, and I've done this on a smaller scale, it's like, you think I'm gonna get to this goal, and then I can relax, and it's like. And then I'm good, and then that's when it all comes back. But it's like you literally have to think of yourself as a different human being and where you're gonna live a different life, and there's never gonna be a point where you necessarily can relax. You just have to change the way that you exist. And at first, that's really terrifying and hard to wrap your brain around it, but then that's exactly what happens, and it becomes sustainable because you don't ever feel like you want to get back to that point where you were.

You just look at things differently. You have a different outlook on how. You approach things, and if anything, you kind of figure out who you really are. Like, that's how I've always thought about it. It really showed me what my true potential is.

Yeah. Have you heard that quote where it's like, if you start running, tell yourself you are a runner, not that you are running? That makes sense now. I haven't heard that quote, but I love that. But I kind of did that.

I need to start doing that because I've been running a lot, and I still am. Like, I'm running. I'm not a runner. I'm not a runner like you are. And even when I started working out, even when I was still heavier and not fully there yet, I considered myself a weightlifter.

Mari Llewellyn
And even when I was, like, in my daily life, I wore my weightlifting clothes 24/7 cause I was like, this is who I am. This is my life. I love that. And now I'm a bit more fluid with the way I identify myself. But, like, it is such a big part of my life and has become more and more comfortable for me.

I mean, my life now, I can't imagine not working out or not eating the way I eat. Right. And that becomes part of you, and. It'S difficult to imagine that at the beginning. I think it's.

Todd Anderson
In the beginning it's slightly terrifying. Yeah, because you do. Well, I think it's also like, you realize how good you could feel and everything that surrounds that and you value that more than those things that you used to. Like, I used to value bingeing on pizza and having beers and going out to the bar. Well, then I feel how it feels to be healthy and fit and have a sustainable life.

And I'm like, I would not trade that for this. Yeah. And it becomes a relatively easy decision. But until you feel that, you never think you'll give up those things. Hundred percent.

But it's. Man, it was a journey, emotional roller coaster, for sure, but kind of a. Blessing, I always say, to experience rock bottom because a lot of people don't have that. Yeah, no, I agree. And I also.

I get frustrated sometimes in this space because just how you feel at that rock bottom, when I see people who haven't been there giving advice about how, you know, just start moving and, you know, changing your diet and all this stuff, like, so much easier said than done. If you could just feel what it feels like, you wouldn't be saying it with the tone that you're saying. And I promise you that. Yeah. And you gotta meet people where they are.

And I think everyone has a different thing that gets them going and you kind of have to find that. And it's very individualized, but there's not a lot of empathy there. So if anyone's out there on that journey and, you know, just getting to the gym is incredible, especially with everything going on in people's life. Moms and, I mean, it's pretty incredible. I talked about before, like, it's way harder for a mom to get to the gym for the first time of the year.

That doesn't feel good about going. Then a pro athlete going to an offseason workout could be the hardest workout ever. But overcoming those, like, emotional barriers and just being self conscious, like, there's nothing worse, like, going back to that is I can't even get myself there. And, you know, knowing how much better it feels now, it's like. I know, but you just have to know it's gonna be worth it.

Mari Llewellyn
I know. Shout out to the people listening who are just showing up because that's all you can do. Just show up every day. That's it. Even if it's not a good workout.

You got there, checked the box, back to sleep. Yeah, we went on a whole tangent. Yeah, whole tangent. We had to, though. We had to.

You said you were tracking your sleep back when you were less healthy, and you still track now, seven years later. What have you seen improve over time? Funny enough, my sleep was pretty good. But, like, when I was drinking, it's insane how much alcohol affects your sleep. I mean, it's unbelievable.

What is that? Why? There's a lot of reasons, you know, alcohol and actually, like, some of the reasons are actually a little up in the air still. It's a lot has to do with, like, just the chemicals that are produced from the breakdown of the alcohol. But alcohol is sedating, which is not the same as sleeping.

Todd Anderson
So it does make you fall asleep faster. And what happens is it really segments your sleep. You wake up much more often, and because of that, you don't get into your REM cycles. It really suppresses your REM sleep. And your REM sleep is what really helps with your emotional regulation and your mood stability.

So when you think about alcohol and what drives people to alcohol, it kind of creates this cycle, this negative cycle, because that type of sleep is exactly what you need, probably, to set you on the right course. So, alcohol, you know, you bounce around these lighter stages of sleep, but what happens is you're waking up a lot, but you don't remember you're waking up a lot. It's very brief and it's segmented. So when you wake up, you feel like you slept really well, because what happens is your brain, you don't get any of this REM sleep the entire night because of the alcohol. You metabolize the alcohol, it gets out of your system.

And then the last couple hours of the night, your brain is deprived of this REM sleep. So it's like, I need to make up for it. You go into these deep REM cycles, and when you wake up, you're like, I was sleeping like a rock. You know, you don't. You don't realize you're waking up a million times throughout the night.

And then also, it feels like you're coming out of this super deep sleep because your brain was deprived of this REM sleep the entire night. And so you have the illusion that you fell asleep because you wake up from a deep sleep. And also, you fell asleep faster because of the sedating effects of the alcohol. So people get in the habit, you know, I'll have a glass of wine and two glasses of wine a night to help me sleep. But.

But in reality, like, you're saying, you might be getting the quantity, but you're definitely not getting the quality of sleep, which at that point when the quality of sleep is that poor, the quantity doesn't really matter as much.

Mari Llewellyn
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I was telling you prior to our conversation, my HRV is usually close to 200, if not over 200, which is incredible, which I don't understand, and we need to talk about it. And my followers are like, how? And I don't know, but when I have one alcoholic beverage, it's generally like 100 or less. Yeah. Like half of what it normally is.

Todd Anderson
Yeah. People don't realize how much just one drink can affect your sleep. There's been studies even, you know, two drinks in the early afternoon, they can see in, you know, some of these brain activity readings that is affecting your sleep. So it's just how much. It's just a balance.

And I do have drinks. I'm. I was about to ask you, do you drink? People don't think I do. I do drink.

I'll have drinks. I enjoy, you know, wine. I enjoy a couple glasses of wine. But I think it's about being intentional. And it's like if you're going to go out to dinner at the end of the day, the number one longevity tool is the depth of your social connections when you have real, meaningful relationships.

And it's predictable. It's not just, this is not just a theory. There are studies that back this up. If you have great, meaningful relationships, you will live longer and healthier. So I think it's about, you know, and it's a fact that in our society, alcohol is deeply intertwined in the social world.

So if you're going to go out and it's worth it, and you're around people that you love and you're going to have a great time and you're strategic about what time you're going to have the drinks and what you have the next day, it can be fine. It can be a useful tool. And I don't necessarily tell people they shouldn't drink, but it's just when it becomes habitual, you know, when you're having drinks every single night or you having four, five, six drinks, like that can be pretty detrimental. But there, you know, there's things you can do to combat that, but just be intentional. And I said, make sure it's worth it.

Make sure you're not just having drinks to have drinks. So what is HRV? Yeah. So HRV just stands for heart rate variability. And it's.

It's a little counterintuitive to what you'd think. So basically, the more relaxed your nervous system is. It's a nervous system reading. The more relaxed your nervous system is. Right.

So the more you're in your parasympathetic state nervous system, the bigger variance between your heartbeats. Okay. So the slower your heartbeat. So it's almost like irregular. So, like.

So that measurement is just how big of variance there are. Like, so how big of differences there are between your heartbeats. Okay. But you would think it'd be the opposite. You think it'd be like super regular, like on pattern.

Mari Llewellyn
Yeah. But you actually want there to be more variants. And the more variants we're finding, the more prepared your body is for, one, to take on stress like activity levels, and then two, you know, what type of stress state your body is in, like as a, from a recovery perspective. So if you go do a crazy workout or you have alcohol, your heartbeat gets more and more regular. So it's just basically that measurement and average throughout the night, for example, in a sleep tracker.

So is it considered healthier to have a higher hrV? Yes. Yeah. So you want, you want a higher hrV, similar to, like, you want a lower resting heart rate. The one thing with HRV is it's more individualized than a heart rate.

Todd Anderson
You know, across the population, it's more predictable, like what a good resting heart rate is, where HIV, it's, it's more dependent on your baseline. So HRV is also affected by a lot of things, medications, all sorts of different medications. So. So it's more about looking at your baseline and trying to improve that as opposed to like looking at your crazy HRV of 200 and some and trying to get there. It's not, it's not a metric that you should compare to other people as opposed to see where you're at and then try to improve upon it.

Like when all these trackers, like a WHOOP, for example, ora ring, they take your HRV and they normalize what your norm is. And then they based your recovery score based on, you know, what percentile you're in based on your average, not like the population's average. Okay. Because whenever I post it, people get really upset. Yeah.

It's not something that, like, it's not something to compare yourself to. Everyone's different. Some people just have a unique ability, um, to have really high hrV. Now there is a higher. If someone's like in ridiculously good cardiovascular condition, uh, endurance athletes oftentimes have really high hrV's.

Mari Llewellyn
I don't think that's me. Maybe it is. Maybe, I don't know. Maybe you, you gotta tell yourself, you are runner, you're not running, you're hrver. What is this?

I'm happy it's high, but I also don't know. I said to you before when I saw in a cold plunge the night before, the day before I sleep, it's way higher. But I don't know why mine is so astronomically high. I'm not sure, but people get really upset. Also, from what I've seen, women tend to have a higher hrv.

Oh, interesting. Yeah. Mine's higher than my husband's and it's like my flex. That's pretty common. Yeah.

Todd Anderson
Is your resting heart rate lower? That's pretty common too. Yeah. Why does sauna cold plunge help so much? Yeah.

So, I mean, it is. Well, it depends. It depends on what the mechanism is. So do you do it at night or do you do? Yes.

Mari Llewellyn
Usually at night. Yeah. So sauna is great for. I'm just curious what your protocol is. Okay, well, it's not as good as yours, I promise you.

Todd Anderson
You don't even know what mine is. Yeah. You go in and out, right? Well, it depends if you get a spray tan. Oh, yeah.

Mari Llewellyn
Well, spray. Thank you for recognizing the spray tan. Yes. Important. Looks great.

Thank you. But I do it. I do it quite frequently leading up to the spray tan, because it gets it off. But I will basically sit in the sauna until I'm dying. So 15 to 20 minutes.

Todd Anderson
How hot do you know Greg gets? He hacks the thermometer, and it gets up to, like, 230, I think. Wow. Is that crazy? That's pretty hot.

Mari Llewellyn
Yeah, we do the water on the coals. So I basically go till I'm dying, and I want to get in the cold plunge. Get in the cold plunge quick, get back in the sauna. Probably another ten end on cold. How long do you do cold?

Not long. Like, maybe a minute or two. Yeah. So I would guess the reason it affects your hiv so much is just your sleep, and you're probably more relaxed. So heat before bed is great.

Todd Anderson
Any heat. It could be a shower. It can be a hot tub. It can be a sauna. Sauna is amazing for health and longevity in general, for a few reasons, but I'm just gonna talk about sleep.

But, um. So what happens is, when you heat yourself up, it basically exp. You know, expands your blood vessels and your veins and everything. It's a vasodilator. So in your extremities, especially, everything expands, and the blood rushes from, like, your trunk, your torso, to your extremities.

And in order to sleep well, the reason why a cold bedroom is really important is it allows you to cool your core body temperature down. And you need to drop your core body temperature about a degree or two in order to. To get into that first sleep cycle, and especially deep sleep cycles. So, one, you have a cool bedroom, which really useful. But two, when you heat yourself up before bed, your blood is rushed to your extremities because, you know, dilates all your blood vessels, and then it cools your torso down, like, your core body temperature much faster.

So I think what's probably happening is the sauna is doing that. You're applying the heat before bed. You go into a cool bedroom, probably, and then you're able to fall asleep really quickly, and it really relaxes your nervous system, and you're able to basically be in the most relaxed state, which increases your variability of your heart rate. That's basically just saying, how relaxed is my body? How relaxed is my nervous system?

The higher that number gets, the more relaxed you are. What is your sauna protocol? Mine is similar. It depends. So I've been playing around with this because I like to experiment.

Mari Llewellyn
And you're in that every night? Yeah. We also have a lot of people over, so if people come over, it's a little different experience, because people kind of want to push the limits. But if it's just me and I'm trying to, like, maximize my biometrics. Um, there is actually some data that too hot is a stressor, and it can actually have some detrimental effects as far as, like, dementia, Alzheimer's, like, all the positive effects of sauna, like, eliminating those long term diseases.

Todd Anderson
If it's too hot and it's really stressful, it can have a negative effect. Um, so I've been actually going a little lower with the temperature, like, 180. I have a c, Susan, and they're awesome because it's just on an app, and I can set the temperature, like. Oh, that's nice. From inside.

I can be on the way home from dinner and start the sauna. Yeah, we don't have that. Yeah, it's amazing. That's nice. So yours is traditional, not red?

Traditional. Yeah, because all the data on saunas is on traditional saunas. I agree with you. Why is everyone getting red? Well, the infrareds are conceptually.

I understand why it's trendy, because it penetrates. It's just a different heating mechanism. So it penetrates the skin deeper. And essentially, they'll tell you it heats from the inside out, but it heats through, vibrating the molecules inside of our body, as opposed to just the air outside of it. But you have 40 year studies coming out of Europe that are amazing studies, all using traditional saunas.

And all these unbelievable outcomes. As soon as you change one variable of what type of sauna it is, you have to kind of throw that study out of the window. So why not use the exact same heating mechanism that all these great studies are using? That's my opinion. Yeah.

I also think it's a better experience. The other thing with infrared, it's a cheaper option, and you can usually plug it into a regular lead, as opposed to, like, a hard wire. So it's just easier for most people. That's honest. Wild.

Mari Llewellyn
Installing it, like, we actually. Oh, yeah. Do you have an inside or outside? Inside. Yeah, we used to have one outside.

Todd Anderson
Yeah. That's hard. It's not easy, but. But worth it. Sorry.

Mari Llewellyn
Tell me your protocol. Oh, so I've been going actually, like, 180 degrees for, like, 25 minutes. Okay. I'll go dip in the cold, like, 10 seconds, because I don't want to get too cold, and I want to keep dilated. All my blood vessels keep dilated, and then I go back in for about ten dip, and then I'll actually end with the hot tub.

Todd Anderson
Ooh, yeah. Okay. The hot tub. You know, water, similar to the cold plunge, water transfers heat so well that it tends to be really relaxing, and, you know, it just makes me sleepy. And that's why a cold plunge is so much more effective than cryotherapy.

Mari Llewellyn
Yeah. Is because it transfers heat so well. Are we all done with cryotherapy now? I think I'm ready to. I'm ready to get rid of it.

I mean, I was getting ready to get rid of it before. I think it's b's. No? Yeah, it's. Well, so it's just.

Todd Anderson
It's really one that the price is wild a lot of times, but, yeah, so, like, air. So if you measure your skin temperature, it takes, like, the full three minutes to get your skin temperature to, like, 37 degrees. Whereas in a cold plunge, you instantly get that down to 37, and you get three minutes at that really low temperature. So, like, the air temperature is very misleading as far as its effectiveness. Yep.

Because you gotta look at the skin temperature. Yeah. And so you're really getting, you know, the entire time you're in the cryotherapy, it's just cooling itself down. It's not actually. You're not actually getting the outcomes that you would instantly in a cold plunge.

Mari Llewellyn
What is the optimal temperature to have the bedroom? 68. That's on the higher side. Surprisingly, like, 65 to 68 is pretty standard, but it's okay to be warm. And the other thing that actually is a useful tool is having warm feet.

Todd Anderson
So there's studies showing, like, if you wear socks, it helps you fall asleep faster, or if you just have, like, aaa. Good tip is to have, like, a double blanket on your feet, because, again, you want to. You want the blood to flow to your extremities, so the colder your feet are, the less it's gonna want to go. So you want to increase the blood flow to your feet, and that'll allow you to cool your core body temperature down faster, and you'll fall asleep faster. Okay.

Mari Llewellyn
And then obviously, there's tools you can add, like the eight sleep pad. Eight sleep, yeah, I love the eight sleep pad. Yeah, I work with them. And it's pretty incredible. So my dad has this.

Todd Anderson
He was born with it. I'm not exactly sure the name of it. He sweats when it's cold and he has really hard time regulating his temperature. And my mom is going through menopause and she's so hot and so they can control their temperature separate on the sides of bed. So that's going to be their Christmas present.

They don't know. I don't know if they're going to listen to this, but just be surprised if you. They listen to. I'm only a child, so they listen. Oh, you're doing carrots.

Yeah, yeah, they listen to quite a few things. My parents have never once listened to my show. Really? Not once. Well, man, well, thank God my parents will.

They can. Yeah. Thanks for listening. Todd's are doing great. Yeah, yeah, my parents are all in.

Mari Llewellyn
Does Katie, your wife, like the eight sleep two? Does she use her side? Yes, but my wife can sleep through a hurricane. Like, she is out. Really?

Todd Anderson
She's a big mouth taper. She was hard. No, in the beginning. Wow. We were like to the point, like we were selling it.

The company was launched and I'm like, can you just please try this? I mean, just for me. And she tried it one night, ten minutes, took it off. She was a little freaked out about it, which is totally normal, but now she cannot go back. And she was a mouth breather.

Mari Llewellyn
Was she? Yeah. She probably killed me if she still knew I had the pictures. But I take pictures of her with her mouth on. Be like, see that?

Todd Anderson
I'm telling you, you need this. And. Okay, wait, let's dive into mouth tape because I think I'm still a little bit unsure of it. Tell us the benefits of mouth tape. So it's a weird concept for sure.

No doubt. And I get why people are kind of freaked out. My husband does it and it's also pretty handy because he wants to stop talking to me. So he'll just, well, first off, it's great for if you're in an argument, boom, argument's over. And honestly, you know, it's crazy.

I joke about this all the time, but like, if you're ever really mad and then you just sleep and you wake up, you feel like. True. It kind of puts everything in perspective. True. You're like, what were we even talking about?

Yeah. You're like, ah, what are we doing? Cause I think naturally the human brain builds anxiety through the day. Yeah. So it resets.

And your REM sleep helps reduce anxiety, so it makes sense but the mouth, yeah. So really what you're doing is harnessing the power of nasal breathing. And over the last five or so years, we've really started to understand how powerful breathing through your nose is. And basically, our nose is meant to bring, our mouth is meant to eat and talk, and you're really only supposed to breathe out of your mouth. Really high levels of exertion, you know, and we didn't evolve breathing out of our mouth at night.

But now about 60% of the population breathes out of their mouth when they're sleeping. A lot of different reasons. Like, you know, our stress levels have definitely changed. Orthodontics have changed, like, the way that they can, you know, create the structure in the teeth and the airway. A lot of different things.

But in general, like, so many positive things come from breathing through your nose and your nose. Think of your nose as the steering wheel of your nervous system. So when you change your breath from mouth breathing to nasal breathing, you instantly down regulate and relax your nervous system. So when you're breathing out of your mouth throughout the entire night, it's kind of like chronic, chronic low level of stress the entire night. And that's why you'll see your HRV go up when you breathe through your nose the entire night, which could be.

Mari Llewellyn
Why you have, I just had an epiphany. Could be I'm a nose breather. That could be it. And it will. I mean, when you.

Todd Anderson
When, if you wear an HRV monitor, like when you're awake and you start doing nasal breathing, you'll see your HRV jump up instantly. So just imagine the entire night. So that happened. The other thing that happens is in your nose, you produce nitric oxide, which is a vasodilator. So it allows, uh, you breathe it down into your lungs and expands your airways.

It allows you to bring, uh, breathe in more oxygen. And again, it just reduces the amount of stress. The amount of, basically, think about it is like reducing the amount of effort your body has to use to maintain its homeostasis and just exist. The other thing it does is it makes you more tolerant to carbon dioxide, which seems like a bad thing. When you're breathing out of your mouth, you can actually overbreath and you're expelling all this carbon dioxide.

But it's more the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen that allows your body to utilize the oxygen at the cellular level. When you have more carbon dioxide, you actually are able to use more of the oxygen that's in your blood. Which makes sense. Like, if you're, if you're having a hard time to breathe your body, like think of it as releasing this oxygen into your system. So it's this balance and it enables you to get used to that.

And then I guess the two other benefits would be one like oral hygiene. And dentists are starting to love mouth tape, because when your mouth is open, it becomes very acidic. And so like, you know, on a ph level, water is around seven. That's like neutral. Your mouth, once your ph drops below five and a half, your teeth start breaking down pretty fast and a lot higher chances of cavities and things like that.

When your mouth is open, it usually gets to about three and a half. So your mouth becomes very acidic, you have bad breath and your teeth break down. And a lot of reasons why people have cavities isnt necessarily because they dont have good oral hygiene, its because their mouth is open the entire night, and then jaw structure. So we see this especially in kids, your jaw will take the shape of whatever position its in. You know, our body is very adaptable, so if your mouth is open the entire night, it starts to take that shape and adjust and likewise defined.

Yeah. So if your mouth is closed the entire time, it takes the shape of the position it's in, which looks more defined. So over time, your body adapts either way. Wow. Especially in kids.

Like kids. It's also pretty incredible, some of the studies coming out with kids and learning disabilities and mouth breathing, because, you know, mouth breathing is also depriving your brain of oxygen in short births, short bursts. So when you think about that, like over time in the development of the brain, it can be pretty impactful. Some wild stuff coming out. I also think about animals, like when you look at dogs that are mouth breathers, like pugs or french bulldogs, they always have health problems.

And you think about sleeping, you never see an animal sleeping with their mouth open. Right. It's so interesting how it just changes the facial structure and then you're also a fan of eye masks. Love eye masks. How come?

It's more about the psychology? Because it's incredible how smart our brain is on the subconscious level of attaching different behaviors and environments with sleep and awake, awakefulness and restfulness. And so an imassing example of something that if you have totally blackout shades, it's not necessarily about the blackout for me, it's about the trigger of, I'm putting this eye mask on, it's time to go to sleep. And my brain, my body knows, boom, it's bedtime, and I fall asleep almost instantly. Where before I kind of roll around, there wasn't that trigger.

And the other thing people need to be aware of is, like, just how much your body associates either restfulness or. Or being awake with your bed in your bedroom. Like, if you're. If you wake up and you're rolling around trying to fall asleep and you're in your bed for 40 minutes, your brain is going to start to associate your bed with being awake and being stressed about not being able to sleep. So people should not just be in their bed, not being able to sleep.

If you can't sleep for, like, 15 minutes, like, get up, take your mind off it, go read a book, change your environment, get out of the space that's meant for sleeping, and go somewhere else, because that subconscious interaction is very powerful. And I think the sleep mask is a way to kind of bring that to a smaller scale. And also, you're able to take it with you anywhere you go. So for athletes especially, like, when you're traveling, you never know the situation of the hotel room, but now you can control the light and still have that psychological trigger to actually go to sleep. My husband is the king of eye masks.

Mari Llewellyn
I mean, the second he puts it on his face, he's out. I'm excited for him to try ours. Ours is like, I'm a big fan of ours. I'm gonna try it, too. So it's the highest quality silk.

Todd Anderson
Same with our pillowcases. And especially for females with skincare and their hair, silk is, like, on a zero to 30, it's a mamey scale. So it's like 24 karat gold is pure gold. 30 maume silk is pure silk. So ours are all 30.

Mari Llewellyn
Wow. Intentionally, because that allows you to keep all the moisture and oils on your skin and hair, which makes you feel much cooler throughout the night. So that's, like, the most important thing. I didn't know that. Yeah.

Todd Anderson
So, like I said, temperature regulation is one of the main reasons people can't sleep in a pillowcase. And using a silk pillowcase and silk sleep mask is a way to really keep things cool. If anything says it's a cooling pillowcase, if it's. If it's not silk, chances are it's not gonna work. Yeah, it's not gonna work that well.

Mari Llewellyn
Okay. And nose strips, can I talk about it? Yeah. Yeah. So you're releasing nose strips?

Todd Anderson
We are. It'll be a little bit, but we're super excited about it. What's the deal with nose strips? So that's just making the nasal breathing even easier. People had, you know, different septum issues and just trying to expand the volume of the nose and allow you to bring in more air and not have to resort to mouth breathing, um, even in exercise or in sleep.

So it's literally just expanding it. But, um, just with the physics of some nasal strips, we tweak some things, and ours are very different than a lot of ones out there, and they're able to get a lot more dilation, and you can feel the difference. So I think it. It's like, think about, like, if your threshold to breathe out of your mouth, like, you started breathing out of your mouth when you were exercising at 60%. We're just trying to push that to 75% and just keep your body, like, a lower stress the entire time.

And then again, it allows you to, you know, get used to having a little bit higher levels of carbon dioxide, which is actually a really good thing. Do you know Alex Hormozi? Yes. You know how he always wears the nose strip? Yes.

Mari Llewellyn
My husband does too, and it's become, like, the entrepreneur uniform. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'll probably have him on it every day, all day. And ours are also setting out to make them look much cooler than the ones out there. I mean, the bar is pretty low.

Todd Anderson
They're not the best looking things out there. It's tough to make them look cute. Yeah, they're not great, and they're big. But if you just wear it with confidence, it kind of is a vibe. Well, I think it's like, you know, it's.

It's. Now it's, like, cool to take care of yourself. So it's almost like a badge. It's like, hey, I'm into this, so I biohack. Right.

Mari Llewellyn
Just so everyone knows, I'm trying to. Think of something else. Like, there's other. It's like the Stanley cup of biohacking, you know? Yes.

Especially for men. I see men wearing it a lot. Yeah, it's like, you know, Stanley doesn't have quite the same vibe. People thought that Greg got a nose job because he was wearing it all day, every day. So what color does he wear nude?

Todd Anderson
Oh, that kind of looks like a bandaid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a full band aid. Yeah, yeah. He doesn't care.

Mari Llewellyn
He has a glass jar next to his bed full of them. I can't wait to get him ours. I know. He's gonna love it. I know.

I'm so excited. Yeah. Also question that he wanted me to ask you. So tv, phones before bed yeah. So light is obviously energizing to our brain.

Todd Anderson
We've heard that. So blue light blocking glasses can be great. They're useful, they're relaxing. Do they need to be orange? They don't necessarily have to be, but those definitely work better.

Mari Llewellyn
Those are better, right. But they just are so extreme. Like, are the see through ones fine too? Yeah, they don't work as well, though. Okay.

Todd Anderson
We're developing some. So I've been testing a lot of them. You can feel a substantial difference. I don't have any data on, like, the difference necessarily. I really don't know, like, study wise, but I feel a substantial difference from the orange.

Mari Llewellyn
I do too. I've done both. I've actually worn the orange at the airport before. Which. Do you have, like, normal looking ones or do you have like the big.

Old, like, Ben Greenfield wears them? Yeah, I do that. Okay. Sometimes. Yeah.

Todd Anderson
No, it works, you know, but I've, I've actually liked the last month I've really looked into this, and it seems to me, I would bet that I think people are really into the light and protect, you know, how light impacts their sleep. I actually think the content and what you're consuming is more impactful. So if something's in the background and you're not really into it, and let's say, like, you're relaxed by having the background and the lights there, I would venture to say that's less impactful than if you had a smaller amount of light. But you were super engaged. Yeah.

So I think that there's more to learn there. And in general, I think it's about being conscious of how engaged you are with something, what type of mood it puts you in, you know, what type of feelings you have surrounding it. And just be aware of, like, you know, protect your sleep. Be aware of your sleep. And you want to go to bed at a low stress state, so be aware of the type of stuff you're consuming surrounding sleep.

I think that people, I think that's actually going to be a shift over the next couple years or so. There's a lot of high stress content out there. Like, I always think of that. Show the bear. Mm hmm.

Mari Llewellyn
This is the chef one. Did you ever see that? I've seen now I haven't seen. I watched it, but it moves. I'm in suits right now.

Todd Anderson
Did you watch? Oh, no, I never did. I didn't. But then, you know, kind of made like a resurgence. You should watch it.

Mari Llewellyn
Okay. It's great. We just finished. Gentlemen, the gentleman. Okay.

I haven't seen, but the bear is so high stress, and all the scenes, like, overlap and everyone's talking over each other. And I was like, I don't. That was like Ozark. Yeah. Like, I was like, you know, can't do that.

Todd Anderson
Just stress the whole time. No, that's probably. His heads are getting chopped off. Right. And I feel like.

I feel like I'm Marty, so it's like, I couldn't do this. Yeah. Yeah. And so then you hear a noise outside and you're all freaked out. Yeah.

Mari Llewellyn
So I'm high strung like that anyway, so. Okay. Do you mind if we do a little rapid fire from the listeners? They had some questions. Is sleep apnea reversible?

Todd Anderson
Yes, for sure. Oftentimes, weight loss is a really great tool, but there's so many interventions, like the nasal strips, even dietary stuff, sleeping positions. There's a lot of things you can do. Always work with your doctor if you're going with a doctor, but always there's a lot of things you can do. And the one thing I'll say is sleep apnea is absolutely not something to be ignored.

The long term health outcomes from sleep apnea are not good. So if there's any suspicion, which is snoring is a pretty good sign, do a sleep study. Feelings on melatonin mixed. You know, I only utilize it when I'm traveling. I'm trying to get in different time zone.

It's a hormone. It. Most people, if you control the light, it's produced from an absence of light. So if you control your light, which is really where most people run into issues, you can produce a lot of melatonin, and it should gradually be produced throughout the evening. So start dimming your lights when the sun goes down, and you'll gradually get sleepier and sleepier that melatonin is produced.

The problem is when you take it, a lot of times it's, you know, taken and your levels go to a super physiological amount. And when they actually measure people's melatonin levels in the morning, they're way higher than most people's, even at night still. So there's a. People feel groggy, like, you know, it's not that natural flow of hormones, and there's so many behavior holistic interventions you can do before something like that. Is it okay to take CBD every night or smoke weed every night?

Well, those are very different. So CBD mixed, more information needed. Definitely not. Doesn't seem bad, but I don't know if it's necessarily a huge plus. THC on the other hand, though, THC is a similar effect of alcohol, totally different substances, but it also minimizes the amount of REM sleep you get.

So a lot of times you'll hear people say they don't dream when they use THC, and when they stop, they have crazy, vivid dreams. That's because it's doing the same thing. It's suppressing your rem sleep, which is super impactful for, you know, your emotional stability, your mood regulation, really, really important things. It's a very important stage of sleep, you know? You know, REm and your deep sleep, those two are the ones that get all the attention, so you're not getting nearly as much.

And it stays in your system for a long time. So the only thing it does is help you fall asleep faster. It's sedating, but long term outcomes from chronic usage is not good. Would you say men or women need more sleep or even amount. Women actually need slightly more sleep, and women actually get slightly more rem sleep.

They are naturally just prone to a little bit more anxiety. And what's funny is, when we have more anxiety, our brain will actually put us into more rem sleep to combat that, because, like I said, it helps with your emotional stability. So, you know, our brain is very adaptive, and you'll see that happen, which could be a reason why women get slightly more. But it's not a ton. We're talking 15 minutes on average.

Mari Llewellyn
Okay. Our bodies are good, but it's a good excuse. Like, if you're ever like, I need to sleep in. It's like, it's not me, it's you. I do sleep a little bit later than Greg.

I mean, he's up at 05:00 a.m. So does Wi Fi or Bluetooth in the room interfere with sleep? That's interesting. I would say TBD, more information needed. There's also just so many.

Todd Anderson
Well, a lot of times, too. It's like when. When you're doing sleep studies, there's a lot of. There's a lot of electromagnetic waves and energy. So I actually.

I don't have a definitive answer on that, but I would get. I think all that stuff probably has more of. More of an impact than we realize. And so I would recommend, like, if you can take your wifi routers out of your bedroom, get your phone away. Even some of the blocking sleeves can be useful for some of the electromagnetic radiation.

Mari Llewellyn
And do you have any tips for shift workers? Shift workers? Well, just. Just know, like, you're. It's a.

Todd Anderson
It's an uphill battle. And you have to be very intentional because it can be really, really tough on your health. And so I think with that is consistency is the most important thing. The worst thing you can do as a shift worker is do two days at night and let's say you have a weekend day where you don't have to work. And then you try to go back into like normal society schedule and then jump back into like, your shift schedule that can be super hard on the body and the brain and your sleep schedule.

So consistency is key. And then the best thing you can do besides being consistent is really try to control the light and your timing. Um, but I feel for those people, it's hard. It's very hard. And you have to have a really good plan.

I think. I think people don't realize, like, over the course of maybe ten years, they're like, I'm just going to do this for a little while. Just how much of an impact it can have later in your life, not sleeping that much. So it's. It's worth investing in, like, things like a sleep mask, a blackout, shades.

And as much as I know people probably want on their day off to be up during the day, if you can keep it regular, it's not worth the long term outcomes to like, go back and forth. It's brutal on your body. Todd, thank you so much. I have a million questions for you. We'll have to do a part two at some point.

Definitely. I mean, I'll have to come on your potential. Yeah, that'd be great. I don't know if we'll be able to ask many questions. You might be too sweaty.

Mari Llewellyn
It'll be in the sauna, guys. Where can everyone find you online? Where can they find dream recovery? Yeah, I mean, so dreamrecovery IO and then we're just dream recovery on Instagram. And I do most of my stuff on Instagram.

Todd Anderson
And honestly, with sleep questions, I love helping people. So if you shoot me a DM, I try to get back to as many people as possible because, you know, that motivates me. That's why I'm here. Awesome. Thank you so much.

Mari Llewellyn
Thanks for joining us on the pursuit of Wellness podcast. To support this show, please rate and review and share with your loved ones. If you want to be reminded of new episodes, click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast or video player. You can sign up for my newsletter to receive my favourites at mari llewellyn.com. It will be linked in the show notes.

This is a wellness out loud production produced by Drake Peterson, Fiona Attucks, and Kelly Kyle. This show is edited by Mike Fry and our video is recorded by Luis Vargas. You can also watch the full video of each episode on our YouTube channel, Ari Fitness. Love you power girls and Power boys. See you next time.

The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and does not constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor or health team.