Optimising Your Sleep with Dr. Michael Breus

Are you having your best sleep possible? It’s the era of busyness and our generation have viewed sleep as a sign of laziness or a waste of time. Little did we know, sleep is a key factor in reaching ultimate human peak performance. With Vishen Lakhiani in this episode is Dr. Michael Breus, The Sleep Doctor, who passed the American Board of Sleep Medicine at the young age of 31. Dr. Breus has written 3 best-selling books and is one of only 168 psychologists in the world with his list of credentials. Here, Dr. Breus shares incredible step by step ways to optimize your sleep starting tonight.   “Everybody’s sleep need is different. 8 hours is a myth, let’s just start right there. Not everybody needs 8 hours.” — Dr. Michael Breus   Highlights of the episode:

• How do we know if we’re sleeping enough? The Sleep Doctor busts myths and shares an incredible concept called Bedtime Calculator to help you nail your best times to sleep and wake up 
• Why do our sleep durations fluctuate from time to time? Vishen shares a sleep experiment he did on himself while Dr. Breus explains the science behind our body’s sleep cycles along with its effects
• What happens when you’re feeling low and sickly? Dr. Breus shares data on the correlations of sleep with your physical and mental health
• How do you start sleeping better? Introducing the 5-step plan by Dr. Breus
• How do you know when to have your last cup of coffee for the day? Listen for the explanation of caffeine's half-life and the Sleep Doctor’s general rule for consuming coffee
• Why drinking alcohol to aid your sleep is a terrible idea and how to know when to have the last glass before you sleep
• How exercising can help you sleep better and the rule of thumb of when to stop working out before lights out
• What to do in the first 15 minutes of waking up to help you reset your circadian function
• Dr. Breus explains the effects of blue light, how it can help you be more energetic and also how it adversely affects your sleep habits
• The one thing to help your sleep optimization plan is napping. Dr. Breus shares the two kinds of nap to try out to get the most out of your day
• • How to take a power nap and when to take on during the day
  • The Nap-a-Latte — guaranteed to have you up and ready after taking one

  Resources mentioned in the episode:

• Eat Move Sleep by Tom Rath
• Blue light by lighting.science
• Blue blocker glasses
• F.lux
• The Sleep Doctor

  People mentioned in the episode:

• Jim Kwik
• Dave Asprey
• Ben Greenfield

  Do this on your first try of the Nap-a-Latte:

• Follow @thesleepdoctor and @vishen on Instagram and remember to tag them with your learnings from the episode. 

  And finally, we leave you here with this powerful quote by Dr. Breus, "Sleep has a direct effect on anxiety, depression, moodiness. literally everything you do, you do better with a good night’s sleep.” — Dr. Michael Breus   Here at Mindvalley, we’re committed to more than just personal growth. We're determined to push humanity forward by empowering our audience, like yourself, to unleash your fullest potential, to be extraordinary, by using the most powerful tool of all — education.  

Bonus:                                                                         

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