15: [MINI DOSE] Why Am I So Tired? Ep.1
[00:00:00] Our body is miraculous. It’s a trillion dollar machine that we’ve never been taught how to use. We’ve actually been designed to sleeping cycles that are about one and a half to two hours long. So we actually wake up every one and a half to two hours because we had to pop up from the jungle floor to check the danger, to check for someone that was about to kill us.
Hi there. Welcome to the field better now, podcast. I’m your host, Jackie Balca. And if you’ve arrived here, no, there is something in here to spark yourself to create a bit of future in your health, in your. In your relationships, both yourself. And for those around you, just one small action step at a time with so much love and gratitude to be your guide.
Let’s get started.[00:01:00]
Jackie back. I’m waking up in the middle of the night is bill Clinton who famously boasted about getting five hours sleep a night, said every important mistake I’ve made in my life. It’s because I was. Tired. And it’s not just bill. There are 100,000 searches a month on the phrase. Why am I so tired? This is such a critical topic.
And so multifaceted, we are bringing you as series that, talk about the factors that contribute to your energy. We have a fabulous quiz. It’s two minute 10 question. How’s your energy quiz. We’ve surveyed over 11. Thousand people. 99.7% of people told us they were tired, exhausted, just surviving compared to the 0.3% that are always thriving.
I mean, this is an astounding [00:02:00] statistic. We are living in a state of exhaustion and part of that is due to a lack of sleep. All about today’s mini episode, this wonder drug code slate. Today, we’re going to talk about how we sleep and five simple strategies to improve your slumber. When we survey now 11,000 people and astounding, 78% of people reported sleep imbalances.
So they’re either sleeping less than eight hours sleep at night, or they’re waking up in the night, not being able to get back to sleep. 78%. That’s eight out of 10 people. In fact, one extra hour of sleep to a slate between private person was worth more to their daily happiness than a $60,000 pay rise.
Did you know that the definition of being sleep deprived is being awake for more than 17 hours? That is the equivalent of a blood alcohol level. 5%, which is the legal limit. So imagine waking up in the morning, having a [00:03:00] drink and going to work, would that be considered acceptable? I don’t think so. Then.
How many times have you gone to work operating on very little sleep? Maybe things were keeping you awake in the night. Maybe the kids were waking you up. We’ve all had that happen. I certainly have. So somehow this is acceptable yet. The impact on performance to having a drink before you go to work. 5% alcohol limit is very similar.
The economic impact of sleep loss is absolutely massive. And American study estimated the annual cost of businesses for insomnia at $63 billion. And now we’re seeing slate being such a powerful performance enhancer in elite sports people and elite executives. They actually have naps during the day.
Sleep is linked to every biological process. You’re more attentive, more focus, better recall, better memory, better mood, confidence, leadership. The list goes on. So we know that sleep is important, but did you know that poor sleep is associated with Alzheimer’s type two [00:04:00] diabetes, heart disease and increased stress less.
And in today’s world, the link to mental health is so strong. It really is the foundation. So it’s a really important topic to discuss. And what I am passionate about is looking at the science behind how we were designed to. And I find this knowledge really powerful. So imagine you only being 40,000 years ago, you’re living on the floor of the jungle in Africa after eight hours of a solid sleep, you probably won’t be around to wake up a body is miraculous.
It’s a trillion dollar machine that we’ve never been taught. How to. We’ve actually been designed to sleeping cycles that are about one and a half to two hours long. So we actually wake up every one and a half to two hours because we had to pop up from the jungle floor to check for danger, to check for someone that was about to kill us.
So this means. That you do wake up in a cycle in the night, you might change [00:05:00] position, have a moan and groan, and then slip into the next cycle. That is totally normal. However, what’s happening now is that our thinking kicks in, in these breaks. And so you start to worry about the next day, what you’ve got on important, meaning something might be going on with the kids.
You’ve got a test at school. And so that space that’s filling up your mind basically opens up that cycle and makes it wider, keeping you away. So thinking about sleep is anything else other than an active phase is actually doing us a disservice to our miraculous physiology. So if you break that down and think about, I get up in the night and I go to the toilet and you might think that that’s not normal, that’s normal, but it’s what you do after that.
That is the critical piece. So do you get up in the night, go to. Bathroom go back to sleep or do you get up in the night, go to the bathroom and then you’re stuck awake for hours. So this is common, but not normal. And as we age for [00:06:00] various reasons, our melatonin production decreases, they cycles the gap between them is harder to stitch together.
So what you need to know is that we have these moments of wakefulness that are completely normal. And it’s critical what you do in that time. And then of course, there’s a biological reason for why he applied maybe caffeine or alcohol can wear off. And that causes a huge blood sugar crash in the middle of the night, which wakes you up.
So sleep actually also makes us smarter. I love learning this they’ve dissected brains and we see increase gray matter in a brain for people that sleep more. So poor sleep has been shown to make people feel seven times more. Five times more alone. And that makes so much sense because during sleep what’s actually happening is it’s the brain’s chance to detoxify.
So the brain clears out all of these harmful proteins and waste that builds up between the cells. Super interesting. And I could nerd out on this all day, so let’s get [00:07:00] practical now that you know, there is no drug on this planet that can mirror the benefits of. Wonderfully simple strategy called slave.
Let’s talk about the five tips and there are so many, but these are just my top five for now. Strategies like to one your language. So many of my clients come to me, self-diagnosing themselves as a poor sleeper. So they may even strengthen it by saying they’ve always been a bad sleeper. The words you choose, make a difference.
Your words represent your reality. If. And talk as a poor sleeper. That is the vibrational energy that you’re sitting in. You are creating that state for yourself. Your words are so powerful. So be careful what you wish for. Think of yourself as your own genie. Your wish is your command. So what are you commanding?
What are you asking for? What are you focusing on? So let’s get into this a bit. So get into the feeling of how good it feels. Remember. A time when you [00:08:00] had a great slate. When you woke up refresh you’re in a great mood, you had awesome energy you’re running around. How would you describe what you really, really want and use all of your senses for that?
We’ve lost the art of using our senses to create a vision of what we want. And the mind doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality. So what do you see? Smell. Taste feel so use all of your senses and imagine, and if you can’t remember it, if you can’t remember a time when you slept well, imagine it imagine using all of those senses, what it feels like to wake up, refresh with awesome energy sleep strategy, tip number two, prepare yourself for sleep.
So imagine setting an alarm to go to. And I love giving these homework to my clients. It’s such a great exercise. The alarm goes off. You go to bed, lights out and the lighting. This is a whole nother podcast, but the lighting itself [00:09:00] is super important. Lights out. It’s that simple. You can do a lights out telling them.
Your self and your friends, if you guys aren’t all sleeping well, did you know that sleep can do more to take weight off than exercise? So when I share that with my clients, somehow it seems to get more impact. It seems to be more motivating to go to bed earlier, set the alarm when the alarm goes. Go to bed, lights out, go to bed, sleep strategy, number three, sleeping on your right side.
So I learnt this from an incredible breathwork facilitator. Who’s coming on the podcast in a few weeks, Sachin Patel. He is amazing. So don’t miss that episode, sleeping on your right side and breathing through your left nostril is connected to our parasympathetic nervous system, which is our relaxed state.
So sleeping on your left side and breathing through your right nostril is connected to. Sympathetic nervous system or our fight or flight. So sleep on your right side and not on your left. Most importantly, breathe [00:10:00] through your nose and not through your mouth. And to start this, you may need to take your lips to be sure what you might also need.
If you do take your lips, or if you focus on breathing through your nose, that you stop snoring. And when you stop snoring, that’s connected to a much more restorative sleep, which will then give you all those benefits of all day energy and focus and mood sleep sodium before. An oldie, but a goodie remember counting sheep.
So if you can’t get back to sleep, if you’ve been up in the night and your mind is racing and it’s been designed to race, by the way, we think we’re thinking about 50 to 60,000 thoughts. So we’ve been designed to worry because. We have been designed to survive, but it’s what you do with that. So imagine I sent you a challenge where you’re counting backwards from 300 and threes and see how far you can get.
When I try this, I really don’t get very far at all. The key strategy of that is surrendering, really letting [00:11:00] go, deciding that you don’t give a S H I T. And usually once you’ve surrendered and once you’ve just given. Have you ever noticed that you just fall asleep straight away? That often happens if you count you watching the clock and it might be 3:00 AM, 4:00 AM and at five 30, you’re just like whatever you’re asleep, straight away, sleep strategy.
Number five, hack your way to sleep with magnesium and quality matches here, the type of magnesium in your formula. So you can’t just buy a magnesium, look at the ingredients, look at the type of magnesium and make sure. A really, really good practitioner or therapeutic grade quality. Most of us are operating from a place of magnesium deficiency, especially important in women to use in a lot of chemical process.
Thousands of chemical processes in the body has soils are so deficient these days. And so this one, the mineral, we’re just not getting enough through our food. And what it does is it relaxes all of the muscles in our body, including our bowels, actually. That’s why it’s great for really good stools as well.
But when that happens, it results in a much [00:12:00] more restorative sleep. Woo. So there the five sleep strategies, I would love to know how you go with these tips. There are so many accessible sleep strategies you can try. They don’t need to cost a lot of money. They don’t need to take a lot of time, but you need a plan if you’re not sleeping wonderfully, because it really is this wonder drug.
No medication on the planet that can mirror the effects of sleep and it’s free. So sample size of one, which is beautiful. You, what are you going to do to put a plan in place? The world needs you to be a good sleeper to share that very special gift that only you have see you next week. If you made it to the end of this episode, celebrate yourself because it means you are truly dedicated to feeling better in your health, in your career, in your relationships.
And I am so proud of you. And if you want [00:13:00] more. Feel better now. So tuning every Monday for new episodes and join our community on Instagram at Jackie Barker for all the behind the scenes action and more. Hey, why don’t you sign up for a chance to have your question answered@fieldfitbitinstitute.com slash signup.
That’s feel better. institute.com/signup, but most. Please keep reaching to feel better because the world needs you to feel good. So you can share that very special gift that only you have. So with that said you soon here’s to feeling better now buh-bye Jackie.