Hi,

Teresa.

Welcome to True Hope Cast.

Really appreciate your time today.

How are you?

Good,

good.

Good morning or good afternoon where you are.

Thanks so much for having me.

Yeah,

it's just wonderful that we're able to have these

conversations across the pond using technologies like

Zoom and the other things that are out there to

be able to connect with people.

You're in New York.

I am in London.

It's quite miraculous.

It is.

It is.

Especially now that everybody's so used to video

calls and Zoom,

it feels like very normal.

Yeah,

absolutely.

No,

it's really cool.

I want to get into specifically,

let's start off with who you are,

what you do,

and how did you become a sleep educator?

If you could just give us a background on that,

I'm very interested to hear about it.

Sure.

Thank you.

As you mentioned,

I'm Teresa.

I'm the founder of Sleep Better NYC.

As we also just mentioned,

I really speak virtually to anyone,

anywhere.

It's not just New York City.

Sleep Better NYC is a company for virtual sleep

coaching and care coordination.

We are trained healthcare and wellness providers.

We use clinically proven methods to provide

information to our clients.

If they happen to need medical testing or sleep

testing or some kind of treatment,

then we also help to get them connected to the

right people.

I am a healthcare provider,

but I'm not a physician.

I can't diagnose people.

I can't treat people,

but I do feel it's a responsibility of a coach to

get them to that person who can.

That's what I do and what my small but growing

team does.

I personally don't have a sleep disorder that I

know of.

I do find that some other sleep coaches do,

and it helps them to be empathetic to their

clients,

which I think is really great.

I came from the clinical world and the consulting

world and for about 14 years.

The last five were in sleep and the sleep field,

if you will.

I was working for a manufacturer of oral appliances

for sleep apnea.

I saw firsthand how absolutely life-changing this

very simple treatment could be.

I also realized that there was just so little

accurate and reliable information out there for

patients,

and even for providers,

honestly.

and nurses like it seemed like nobody was talking

to each other and so I would hear one patient

say,

'you know they had been snoring for 10 years and

they never got a sleep test until they had a

second heart attack.' But meanwhile,

it's like all my family and friends had these

super what I thought were easy questions about

sleep.

And there's this huge gap in education and

awareness.

And that's where I think a sleep coach can really

fill that in,

amazing,

very cool.

So,

what is like,

what's a typical client like?

It comes to see you,

we get all different kinds of people,

which shouldn't be shocking because everybody sleeps.

But um,

I am you know impressed by the large range and

variety.

But you know,

some are generally healthy; they just want to

improve their well-being,

you know maybe they have fitness goals or they

just you know want more energy around their family.

But actually,

a big portion of our clients,

and definitely more than half of them,

have been previously diagnosed with a sleep disorder

or they have a mental health concern or some other

medical condition that affects their sleep,

you know.

Maybe it's even just their prescription medication

that affects their sleep,

and so they already have a doctor.

But a lot of times,

and you know it might be different in other parts

of the world,

but a lot of times their doctors,

they might really overestimate what the patients

understand or what they've been told.

So they get this diagnosis and they don't really

know what it is,

they don't really know what it means,

what the options are.

They want more support,

you know.

They don't want to wait four months to see

a doctor again so that's where they come to sleep

coaching,

they just really want more support and more of

like that hand-holding or concierge service,

if you will,

you know.

The top three things how to sleep better online,

you know those tips just like,

really aren't cutting it for them,

what are those typical three tips?

Um,

they're not bad tips but you know,

if you Google any like sleep tips it will probably

say something about your atmosphere,

you know,

make it a dark bedroom,

block out light,

make it cool the ideal sleeping temperature is

around 67 degrees or at least lower than 70 if

you have the opportunity to control your

temperature.

You know they'll tell you no phones or no screens

before bed,

which I think everybody knows is a really good

tip,

but it's also one of the most difficult ones.

And so if you have a sleeping problem and you

have a sleeping disorder for example,

you know let's say you have sleep apnea if you're

doing all these things but you're still completely

exhausted then it's not that they're bad tips,

it's just that they're not good tips for you.

Yeah,

I feel like those three top tips on anything

health-related with that sleep movement nutrition

whatever it is,

it could help one in 10 people or two in 10

people or three in 10 people,

but it's never Going to be individualized to

actually be able to help everybody,

and that's when a sleep expert or a nutrition

expert or a PT or something like that is going to

be able to customize to your own personal goals,

your own personal experience level,

and what have you.

What else have you got going on on in your life?

You know,

like some people have to be on their screens to

maybe like 11 or 12 o'clock at night,

so it's like that's not something they have the

ability to to cut out.

So working with a professional really really

individualizes the experience,

and I think that is what's missing from like let's

say very broad government guidelines.

Around sleep,

nutrition,

etc.

right?

Yeah,

exactly.

And people get really frustrated by that again,

like you just mentioned someone specific maybe for

whatever reason they have to work until 11 p.m.,

you know,

maybe they have clients on the other side of the

world so by telling them that light is really bad

for their sleep and it's going to mess them up,

that's just going to give them more anxiety.

Like,

it's true,

but there are other things that they can do,

and so you don't want them just reading generic

tips and then getting frustrated and like sort of

giving up,

sure adding anxiety to an already anxiety-ridden

experience,

right having.

a lack of sleep right um i've got a question for

you this is probably it's probably a massively

broad answer to this but just whatever comes into

your mind first animals don't have sleep experts

we're animals as well like what what's going on

what are the main reasons why we need as human

beings sleep experts and then you know the deer

outside they're they're fine i mean i think humans

make everything more complicated you know if we you

know a lot of times when we're we're doing

questionnaires or we're trying to figure out you

know what the root cause of your sleep problem is

we'll go through your lifestyle you know your

Day-to-day things that seem very regular to you,

but maybe you know to a sleep expert,

it would have a red flag.

So in nature animals they wake up when the sun

comes up or when they feel like they need to be

awake and they go to bed when they're tired and

so they do this consistently over and over again.

And they you know they pretty much have this same

routines every day.

They eat the same things every day,

and so their circadian rhythms are pretty much

always in balance.

Um,

a lot of what we do of course in this industrial

world we sort of you know when it's dark we don't

necessarily go to bed right away and when it's

light sometimes we're Working or we're always

inside,

we're not outside,

so a lot of it has to do with our circadian

rhythms.

There's also a lot of information out there about

the foods that we eat and not just how it affects

us,

but how it affects us,

and how it affects us,

and how it affects us internally,

but also how it affects the growth of our facial

structure for example,

you know if we have different teeth and different

jaws we have different breathing problems and so

you know a deer doesn't have a breathing problem

they're eating what they were meant to eat all day

every day not these processed foods that we are.

It's a lot of things,

it's light exposure.

It's messing with our timing,

it's putting who knows what into our bodies

nowadays with all this processed foods and alcohols

and sugar,

and those things just don't really exist in nature,

yeah I think all massively important points totally.

It makes me think of the fact that like our

nervous system and how we how we're meant to shift

quite organically and naturally through our lives

through a parasympathetic and a sympathetic nervous

system response,

and like an animal for example let's say a deer

will have a very organic natural escalation and

de-escalation of those systems,

you know,

like they are sleeping comfortably.

At 3 a.m.

in the forest,

they hear a crackle; they're like,

'Oh my god,

I'm so tired,

I'm so tired,

I'm so...' They're gonna wake up and like,

'You know what's going on,' but they've got the

ability to be able to just down-regulate,

recognize the threat isn't a threat,

and then just switch back into that like

rest-and-digest mode for humans.

We have a very,

very big problem with that pathway,

which is absolutely innate in us,

but we obviously have so many external things going

or going on inside of our mind outside of our

bodies that contribute to this fluctuation,

and then we've obviously got chemicals that we that

we might consume as well through That's so I think

it's a really important and other means that

absolutely disrupt those systems as well,

so yeah it's always trying to think how can I be

more like a deer in the forest,

I really love that example,

that that's such a good example,

especially in talking about the nervous system,

I guess we all have it again just like animals do

but you're right when a deer realizes that there's

no one out to get them they just go back to

sleep,

they're not also thinking like what time do I have

to wake up in the morning what did I turn off

the stove did I do this and that and the other

things so we sort of you know we get into this

cycle of anxiety And bad sleep,

and then you're anxious because you didn't get good

sleep.

You're anxious that you're not going to sleep

again,

and so that's why it's really important to find

out what that is and break that cycle before it

becomes a real issue for sure.

Um,

I find it interesting when I speak to doctors

about nutrition and how they always refer to the

fact that there's a massive lack of education

around nutrition in medical school all around the

world like it's dogmatic.

What about like the education around sleep?

Because I assume that most people have not had

sleep issues myself yet I've got two young kids as

well,

so that's quite Remarkable,

um,

but something to look forward to,

I suppose.

Um,

somebody has sleep issues; I have to assume.

Step one would be a doctor for somebody who is

like quite pragmatic and using the kind of the

conventional model or maybe going online and seeking

some advice or asking somebody perhaps.

But I assume when it gets so bad for somebody,

whether they've got insomnia or whatever,

they're going to go to their doctor because that's

the usually the first first line of protocol to go

and speak to a you know medical expert to get an

opinion.

And I just wonder: have you got experience in

regards to what doctors are taught in medical

School is about sleep,

and what they can what what they can do to offer

their patients relief on that because there's

obviously a massive line of drugs for it right

yeah i mean that's a whole other issue right it's

everybody wants a quick fix on the drugs but it's

i mean it's a really good question again it could

vary of course where you go to school and maybe

in different parts of the world but here i i know

because i've worked with hundreds of doctors and

physicians and dentists it's unless you're

specialized in it it's it's very very minimum so a

dentist for example somebody you don't really expect

maybe to learn about Sleep,

but they can treat sleep apnea for example.

I think the average is about two hours of training

throughout their entire career.

Physicians are not far off; I'd say it's about

four hours,

but again,

please don't quote me on that - I could be wrong.

But it's very minimum,

and then of course if you decide to specialize in

it,

of course,

that's many,

many more hours and years of specialization in

sleep medicine.

But generally speaking,

they don't get a lot of it,

and it's a little bit ironic considering every

single one of every doctor's patient sleeps,

and so you know it's kind of...

it's part of our culture where we just

Sort of think like it's normal to be exhausted as

an adult and it's normal to snore and insomnia

just kind of happens and there's no cure for it,

but all those things are not true at all.

What makes you say they're not true?

I mean,

because they're not um it's of course you know if

we have if you're going through something if you're

a new parent if you have young young children if

you're a new parent if you have a young children

yeah of course you're going to be exhausted,

but for someone who's generally healthy who's taking

care of themselves who's who has an adequate time

to sleep even if they're if they're sleeping seven

hours A night,

and they're still exhausted.

That's not normal; it's not healthy,

you know.

All these memes online are funny because they're

relatable.

I like these sleep memes all the time,

but it's really not normal to feel completely

exhausted and fatigued all the time,

and it's it's rarely normal to snore all the time

either,

even though that seems like everyone's doing it.

No,

for sure.

I totally understand and I can only assume somebody

goes into to see a doctor about sleep issues;

they're probably not i mean they've only got like

what seven to ten minutes to even discuss the

issues right,

so I'm sure they're not.

Getting into,

you know how's work,

how's life right now,

how your kids what your stress level is like,

are you drinking enough water,

are you you're nutritionally deficient,

like obviously there are resources that a doctor

would have,

like they can't go through all of those things and

that's why it's so amazing that we've got the

secondary option of going to see someone very

specific whether it's a sleep specialist or a

nutritionist for some of these things and it sounds

like from your clinic,

clinic,

from from the website anyway,

that I've seen you've got so many amazing

practitioners connected with you,

so I'm I assume that you Are taking all those

things into consideration,

stress levels,

and you know,

you mentioned that you do um,

you do testing with some individuals.

I'd be interested to know what type of an

individual will come in and you recommend to do

testing before like you know,

you,

you go to the hospital and you go to the hospital

on with a protocol.

Have you got an example of that for me?

Yeah,

definitely so there are some some red flags that

we would look for.

You know when we have a consult with everybody

we're going to go through you know your medical

history,

anything you want to share again they're really not

obligated to share anything.

We're not prescribing anything,

but any medical history they want to share,

their lifestyle,

anything they've previously been diagnosed with,

their tests they've had now.

If they tell me I don't know that they have not

been sleeping for several years,

they're you know their their anxieties through the

roof and then they also tell me that they've never

seen a doctor for it or a psychologist.

They're they're not on any medication.

I'm still going to talk to them,

I'm going to give them some general tips but

immediately after that first call we're going to

recommend that they see a clinical psychologist and

what we can do is also.

give them resources to either find it for

themselves or if we want to make that initial call

for them we can do that too because again like

you know there's just so much information online if

i just tell someone hey you know i'm going to go

to the hospital i'm going to go to it looks like

you need a little bit more support good luck

they're going to google it and who knows what's

going to show up or if they you know we have

patients who excuse me clients who come to us

sometimes and they they have been diagnosed with

sleep apnea maybe it was you know five years ago

and since then they've gained or lost a lot of

weight you know other

Things have changed,

we wouldn't really recommend that they just keep

doing what they're doing because their treatment

might not be effective anymore.

So at that point,

we'd recommend them to get a sleep test and a lot

of times now sleep tests can be at home.

Sometimes we'll also recommend a sleep test even if

the person doesn't show signs of sleep apnea,

just so that we can rule that out and make sure

that it's not that before we start looking at

other conditions that it might be.

Amazing that sounds like an incredibly responsible

way to practice,

so I'm glad that you guys are out there doing it.

Thank you,

I appreciate that.

What's uh,

what's a sleep test that I do at home?

How does that work?

Sleep tests are something that I do at home,

something I talk about all the time even though I

don't actually like selling them or giving them.

It's just super important,

um,

I think that a lot of people might think about

sleep testing you know what you see on TV or

cartoons or you're in this lab and you're plugged

into like 5,000 things and someone's looking at you

through like a glass wall,

ideal sleep conditions,

yeah,

ideal sleep conditions.

And then they're like,

'Okay,

go ahead and sleep normally.' Um,

I mean it does exist,

a lab setting like that,

and it's really not that comfortable.

But if you have to do that for some reason,

if your doctor's recommending that,

they are sort of like you know they're private

rooms,

it's sort of like a hotel.

It's not the most comfortable thing because you're

all plugged in,

but it is usually just for one night.

But nowadays,

a lot of people qualify for a home sleep test

where either you pick up a small device from your

doctor or sometimes companies actually just ship it

directly to you.

You know there are a lot of different brands,

but you know it might be something you put on

your finger or on your wrist or something like

that and you um maybe you put it around your

head,

but they're They're pretty easy to use,

usually one or two nights at home in your own bed

and that will then send the information to your

doctor to be able to diagnose you so you don't

have to be plugged into a million things or leave

your home and a lot of people qualified for this

and they just again they don't know how would they

ever know to look that up to see if yeah they

can do that unless somebody told them to do that

well that sounds like a much more organic procedure

rather than going into a home sleep test where

you're like oh my god I'm going to an overnight

clinic,

where you know it's not really a real-life setting

to get real-life results.

Right,

like,

but if you're able to be at home in your normal

environment,

it might take a few nights to get like a an

average because you might have the anxiety or

thoughts or worries about having the machine in and

you want to get the right results because you

don't want to have this condition,

obviously very important to take that into

consideration.

I think about like when people go and get their

blood pressure taken at the doctor and it's always

high and then they do it when they get home and

they're fine.

Right,

kind of think about it like that.

But what are the kind of key measurements that um

a sleep test like that would be looking?

For you say you've got like a,

you know something on your on your on your finger

or in your or on a different part of your body?

What are the measurements that a practitioner would

be looking at um that's a good question and also

just thinking about what you were saying about you

know the night to night there is something that we

talk about a lot in sleep and it's night to night

variability so a lot more sleep tests and at home

sleep tests are actually coming out with multi-night

testing,

so it's not just that first night like you said,

you know maybe you're nervous,

you want to make sure you're doing it right,

you're uncomfortable.

So,

they'll give it to you for maybe two days or

three days or some of them can be cleaned and

reworn so that's that's a very,

very real concern.

Oh my cat is saying hello.

Um,

so when you're getting a sleep test again if

you're in a lab,

they're there going to be looking at a lot more

information you know maybe that's somebody who has

a lot of sleep and they're going to be looking at

a lot more going on or maybe they have other

medical conditions but if you get it at home it's

going to do you know just the basics.

We're looking at your brain waves to see,

to have a really,

really good guess on which sleep cycles you're in

how deep your sleep.

Is how disrupted your sleep?

It's going to test the your blood rate,

your heart rate,

um,

your breathing,

and your oxygen levels.

And so I think what's probably the easiest for

people to understand is like your oxygen levels.

So if your oxygen levels overnight are dropping or

they're dropping at a certain cadence,

if you will,

then we'll realize that it's because you have sleep

apnea because you're not breathing as much,

you're not getting as much oxygen in um,

and then the brain waves again it's really more

about your sleep cycles and how deep your sleep is

so we're looking at all that to see why when you

wake up in the morning are.

You're so tired,

like,

what's going on when you're actually sleeping?

Yeah,

there's obviously so much going on in that like

seven nine hour window,

um,

yeah.

And it's amazing that we can actually even have

the technology,

especially at home,

to do that.

I think that's remarkable.

What are your opinions on like,

I remember this is probably 10 years ago,

but there was like an app you could get on like

your phone and you could put it on your bed,

face down,

and it would like track how much you moved on

your mattress,

like,

this is way before I got into science and

medicine.

Um,

I thought it was just a cool gimmick,

but i'm thinking about now I'm like Super skeptical

or something like that,

but like now we have like these rings,

we also have like apps on your Fitbit,

we've got I am sure there's one for your Apple

Watch as well.

What's your opinion on the um the use of those

and the data,

and the you know,

is that something that you could really if you

actually if you were looking to rectify and try

and not necessarily diagnose but you've got you've

got an issue you've got a sleep problem?

Would you,

you know,

would you recommend using a Fitbit app or like or

is it better to like you know do one of these

tests with a sleep professional?

Um,

a little bit of both and they're actually I mean

I Could talk for like days on wearables,

I swear!

I'm actually going to a conference and the entire

topic is these wearable devices and nearables

they're called now too.

Um,

if yes no so,

for I mean,

there's obviously no replacement for a medical test,

even if they're looking for the same things.

Let's just say Fitbit,

for example,

you know maybe it's looking at your heart rate.

I think the Apple Watch now can check your oxygen

levels or and even your ECG or EKG,

but it might be doing the same thing,

but it's not using the same exact materials; it's

not having the specificity and accuracy.

So it's not to say that they're totally

Wrong,

but they are there if you're comparing it to a

medical device,

yeah,

the easiest way to say it's that they're

inaccurate.

So,

a lot of people are using these.

I mean,

I have like five different wearable devices - I

have like rings and bracelets and headbands,

um,

and I do like rule them out and everything's kind

of crazy in between.

But also,

a lot of people when they understand that,

and if you're wearing those things,

if you're wearing a Fitbit,

you'll see over time that it is does get a little

bit; I would say it gets used to you,

and you can look at the trends.

And if you're having a lot of really good sleep

and then all of a sudden one day it tanks,

then that's something that is a red flag.

Or if you see that your heart rate is,

you know,

really crazy,

but only during night,

then yeah,

of course that's something that's a red flag.

If you see that your disturbance levels are up,

that's a red flag,

but none of these are going to really tell you

what's going on or why it's happening.

And as far as the sleep stages that all of these

things give you,

I really wouldn't put much stock into any of them.

I think with the wearables,

I do see this sort of obsession just for lack of

a better word with,

you know,

am I getting enough stage two?

Am I getting enough deep sleep?

Am I getting enough REM sleep?

And the truth is that none of these are really

accurate in measuring them.

They might be close.

Sure,

they're close,

but again,

it's really about the trends and the patterns.

And I would really say,

look at them weekly versus every night.

And if you see something that's off,

you still need to get a test with a medical

doctor,

a medical facility,

a medical device.

It's not a replacement.

Sure.

I don't think there's anything that could obviously

be clinically used,

but I actually,

you know,

I used a Fitbit for a couple of years and this

is kind of when they first had like the heart

rate that they would just monitor it all day.

I just kind of had an issue with it constantly

talking to my phone.

I had no idea what that was doing to my body.

So I kind of,

I kind of cut that out,

but I found it fascinating that and I,

and I,

I,

I chest,

I tested it out with actual heart rate monitors as

well.

And it was incredibly accurate for that type of

thing.

I'll question the oxygenation of the blood and,

and blood pressure and stuff like that.

I'm just not quite sure that's even possible,

but you know,

um,

but I found the heart rate thing really,

really interesting because I can see.

Yeah.

And the heart rate is one of the easier ones to

be accurate as well.

It's pretty much everything else besides heart rate.

Yeah.

It seems like simple tech because every treadmill

on the planet's got one of those,

you know,

and it's a simple,

you know,

and you go to,

you know,

you go to the hospital and it's,

it's very simple technology,

which,

and it's that's wonderful.

And I found it very interesting to be able to see

like when was my heart rate elevated during the

day?

And as I went,

that's when I could put my awareness onto,

okay,

maybe I should have some chamomile tea and take 10

minutes and relax for a little bit because you can

see the data on your phone and it's just,

that's just amazing.

I think that's really,

really valuable to,

to anyone.

Yeah.

And that,

that's definitely a certain kind of person that

we'll see too.

Sometimes,

usually those are those fitness people who are

tracking,

you know,

their fitness and they want good recovery.

So,

you know,

at least they realize that sleep and their heart

rate and their stress levels are important,

but like we were saying before,

we don't want it to become another source of

anxiety when you're,

when you're looking at all this data.

No,

for sure.

And obviously if you do have something significant

going on that you believe is really affecting your

health,

it's obviously go and see a health professional

before going to spend $300 on a Fitbit.

Right.

Right.

Excellent.

Let's clarify that.

Wonderful.

Let's talk about mental health and,

you know,

being a sleep expert,

kind of what you're seeing,

you know,

it's obviously a very complicated topic,

but like so many things when it comes to holistic

health,

when we start to take care of a,

a huge part of our wellbeing,

be that sleep,

diet,

water,

movement,

whatever,

we see all kinds of bodily systems re-engage and

work efficiently when we really put focus and

attention.

And,

and,

and,

and,

and,

and,

and,

and,

and,

and,

and,

and,

and,

and.

And you know,

I can't tell you how many people who have come to

me for nutritional support and they've tried

everything possible to,

to deal with their issues.

But at the end of the day,

for that,

it's just simple hydration.

They've been dehydrated for 10 years and they drink

water and they add it at suitable levels and they

get used to it.

And it's not an overnight thing,

but you know,

they've been dehydrated for so long and it's caused

them like psycho-neuro-endocrine-immunological issues,

like all over the place.

And then they start to hydrate their body and then

all these systems just like start working again and

then bang,

they're a new person,

but love to know what your experiences is with

clients who have like,

you know,

depression,

anxiety,

and the sleep problems are associated with that and

how your work has helped those individuals,

um,

relieve some of those symptoms through the

application of improving sleep.

Sure.

That's a really,

really good question.

Obviously really great points.

As far as evidence,

clinical evidence,

it is extremely clear that mental health and sleep

are intertwined.

They're not just sort of related; one directly

impacts the other and typically improving one will

improve the other.

Um,

it does seem that insomnia improvement helps

depression symptoms a little bit better than the

other way around,

but either way they're,

they're very,

very intertwined.

In fact,

there's,

there's a neuroscientist,

um,

professor Matthew Walker,

who has been quoted many times and many variations

of the quote in that in his 20 something years of

research,

he has never once found a psychiatric condition

that does not impact sleep.

So every single one or vice versa.

And when sleep improves,

it might improve that a little bit.

Now it's not to say that it's going to cure you,

but there's no doubt about it.

So,

you know,

when you're,

when you don't have just one good night of sleep,

maybe you're a little grumpy,

maybe you're on edge,

but when this happens electronically or,

you know,

more regularly,

you actually experience a hormone imbalance that

decreases your perceived satisfaction.

It decreases your happiness.

You have,

you have less control over your emotions,

particularly your negative emotions.

And so you might actually,

it might actually seem like you're having symptoms

of a diagnosable condition like anxiety and

depression,

but maybe you don't actually have those things.

You just,

it's really your brain and your hormones sort of

messing with you because you're not getting a lot

of sleep.

And I mean,

even there is something called cognitive behavioral

therapy specific for insomnia.

This really helps with both mental health and

sleep.

You know,

a lot of the causes of insomnia is anxiety,

although there are a lot of other causes of

insomnia as well,

but we can also use some of those principles in

coaching.

It's,

it's really like what you just said.

You know,

you talk to somebody who maybe has been hydrated

for 10 years.

And so when I ask somebody,

when they wake up in the morning,

are they getting any sunlight?

You know,

at first they sort of look at me like,

'I don't know,' maybe sort of like who cares,

but it's really,

really amazing.

These small details,

these regular habits that you create,

how incredible they make a difference in your life.

So,

you know,

we'll address these anxious thoughts and these

racing thoughts,

and restructuring your thoughts,

but also what's your environment like?

What's your,

what's your setting like?

What's your intake of food and nutrition and water?

Are there any therapies that you see work for like

most people,

like I'm talking about,

like like introducing exercise,

introducing outdoor time,

introducing yoga,

meditation,

you know,

like what acupuncture,

like there's so many,

so many out there that you could try that.

I assume most of them are chicken and eggs.

Do you think that there's any that kind of red

one,

of work would benefit you in some sort of way

because I feel like once we start giving energy

back towards you and doing kind of that self-care

whether that is sitting and meditating for 20

minutes,

you are literally just like recharging your energy

to just like switch it back onto you to restore,

to repair,

to renew,

and the same thing goes with like going for a

walk,

you know in nature,

you know these things are rather than you rather

than your energy going this way; you are beginning

to bring it back to you and I feel like our body

kind of works with that like synergistic,

symbiotic um energetic change to start making you

feel just better.

So have you have you seen something work for most

people?

Yeah,

definitely.

And I think it again is sort of these surprising

what I think are little or small habits; um,

I no matter what your condition is; um,

I don't know if you have insomnia or sleep apnea

or narcolepsy just general good sleep health

includes getting light exposure in the morning and

minimizing it at night there are hormones that are

affected directly by light serotonin which affects

your mood and helps you sleep later as well in

your digestion you want to get that right away

first thing in the morning and i think most people

also know that sunshine sunlight helps us create

our own vitamin d we want that in the morning we

want to signal to our brains and our natural

circadian rhythm that it's morning and it's time to

be alert and awake and at nighttime we want the

opposite a lot of people know what melatonin is or

they you know have an idea of what melatonin is

and melatonin is produced in darkness.

so if it's i don't know call it 11 o'clock at

night and all of your lights are on and you're

staring at your phone i'm not just telling you to

get off your phone because i want you to rest and

go to bed i'm telling you because this bright

light is actually slowing down or even preventing

melatonin release in your body so i think it's

important to your brain so it's going to affect

your sleep so i talk a lot about light exposure

and how important it is it's a really good hack

if you will for feeling energetic is to literally

just get outside and get natural sunlight into your

eyes and into your brain of course that comes with

movement

As well,

exercise has been proven,

obviously it has so many great benefits,

but just a little bit of exercise is proven to

increase sleep that same day.

So even if it's you know maybe you improve your

sleep 10 percent if you do that over time,

that is still an improvement.

So you know I have a client who who's an older

gentleman; he doesn't get out of the house much,

especially during Covid,

but I found that even just reminding him to you

know get up once an hour every three hours to

walk around the house has made a huge difference,

and it's just that you know unfortunately his

doctor didn't mention that to him or or nobody

thought to.

tell him that he didn't look it up on the

internet but a small change and to him that's

exercise walking around the house is exercise

because he's not doing it a lot and that has

really helped with his sleep yeah that's amazing to

hear yes just the the subtleness of so many things

that work when we're talking about like healing

holistically or naturally yeah just the subtleties

of these things and how quickly they can actually

impact you is quite remarkable because we're all

kind of programmed for this pill quick fix scenario

and when we are yeah not working with our biology

like blocking the production of melatonin

When we're going to sleep because we're looking at

screens,

we're confusing our brains so like what time of

the day it is,

you know yeah it's like we're totally like blocking

our biochemical function but just tiny little things

right yeah we're making it more difficult for

ourselves,

we love doing that that's like our thing as humans

I mean you need to absolutely even basic breath

work is is really underrated I think um you know

there are lots of different tools and tricks and I

love the the box breathing and there's the four

seven eight method frankly for me even as a sleep

coach I know all these things are helpful even

just Bringing attention to my breath,

sometimes I don't even there's no point in the

counting that I do; there's no like end goal,

but just really focusing that I'm inhaling through

my nose and slowly and exhaling slowly.

I mean it almost works for me,

and that is like the bare minimum of breath work

so I I always recommend some very simple breath

work techniques to again to basically all of my

clients,

yeah.

And you can just do that anywhere; you can do

that in traffic,

right?

Exactly,

yeah,

that's that's just wonderful that we do have these

options available to us,

it's just interesting that we we don't do them and

we uh go to go to doctors.

Kind of firsthand,

and we give our um applications to our doctors,

and we give our um applications to our doctors,

and we give our um applications to our doctors,

and we give our um.

Looking for an answer and someone telling us what

to take or what to do um,

when we do have these options available to us as

we've kind of changed as humans for our

environment.

But yeah,

there are certainly things that we can do that we

can take that we that we can get involved in.

So here at Trip Canada,

we're like super,

super,

super into the science in regards to the research

of our products,

especially.

But like,

what does the literature say when it comes To

sleep quality and the balance of sleep quality and

blood pressure,

and uh,

and the Receiver ivoc.

We've got an mental and balancing your your

well-being.

You mentioned that it's very very clear and evident

now that you know the scientific the scientific

community has established that you know your mental

well-being and your sleep patterns are absolutely

connected there's no doubt about that but it is

there anything in regards to like the like

clinically proven data that's like you've got to be

doing this like I know it's going to be different

for everybody whether you need to have six hours

or like

Seven,

eight,

or nine,

but and as you said before like even just a

slight change in that off your like normal normal

rhythm will have impacts during the day.

But like,

what is the you know,

what's the like real key science there that that

people would like you know,

look,

look at this paper read this um,

I mean,

in just what you're saying about quantity of sleep,

I think that that is something that it's it's sort

of not really up for debate even though we think

it is.

So I know,

I think we see a lot of eight hours,

is this magic number and everybody needs eight

hours and you're right,

everybody's different,

but biologically,

we're really not that Different,

so ideally a human adult would get seven to nine

hours,

that's what we need to optimally function and so a

lot of people,

you know,

usually when I say that in a in a webinar or

lecture,

I get a lot of eye rolls,

ah,

or whatever.

Who has time for eight hours,

nine hours of sleep?

And the thing is,

like,

I'm not saying that you can't function,

I know many people function without,

especially again these new parents,

it's okay,

you will survive,

everything's fine.

But optimally humans are just designed this way.

There is a there is a genetic condition,

it's in your DNA,

that allows you to be a short sleeper; they call

it where you can function.

Totally normally at five or six hours of sleep,

and so you know I saw this in a headline a few

months ago,

you know.

Is it in your DNA to be a short sleeper?

But frankly,

the answer is no.

There's a much bigger chance of you getting struck

by lightning or having lunch with the pope,

or I don't even know it's it's most likely not

you that you have it in your DNA to be a short

sleeper.

And so I don't want that to cause anxiety like,

oh my god,

I'm never going to get enough sleep,

I have to get seven or nine hours of sleep,

but it's really important to know that that's

that's the way we're made like you,

you have to.

And so when you don't get that sleep,

let's say That you just don't have the opportunity,

you have a lot going on,

you have an infant,

it's important to recognize that right away,

that it's not just you know,

it's not just all in your head,

you're not just grumpy,

it's actually your body is doing this,

you have these neurological imbalances that are just

because you're not getting enough sleep,

and so being open-minded to that and even

communicating with let's just say your partner or

your your spouse about why you're feeling that way

is is really important,

yeah absolutely and I think that's a really

important thing to know and I think that's a

really important thing to know I think that um

when it comes to the things that we get used to

as humans,

like a lot of people just get used to their

discomfort and their pain,

and they they end up feeling it to be normal

rather than contributing to contributing to oh my

god contributing it to the fact that they are they

haven't slept really well in the like five ten

year period for whatever reason that may be.

You know,

like people turn into adults and then they can

kind of do whatever they want,

and yeah,

we're up late watching the TV or something because

the show's on the shows on TV now are just you

know stimulation every three seconds,

and you just can't not watch.

It is so,

it's difficult,

really is and yeah as you say you might be able

to get away with six or seven hours or maybe even

less,

but like are you really,

like living and feeling awesome optimally,

you feeling great?

Are you like getting stronger every day or are you

just like,

you know,

just yeah.

I mean if you,

if you have a fitness goal,

you're just like,

you're just well,

just for example,

you're trying to lose weight or you're trying to i

don't know run a marathon or something,

five hours isn't gonna cut it,

there's no way around it.

Um,

I lost my train of thought,

yeah no worries,

like I,

I've got two young kids,

I've got Two and a half year old and a seven

month old right,

my wife,

my wife,

and I haven't slept in the same bed for like

nearly a year because I have to,

you know,

at least one of us is gonna like get eight hours

of sleep,

and it's usually me.

You're having some issues with my two-year-old now,

but you know,

whatever,

seven eight hours of sleep a day,

and then I can,

you know,

I can kind of pick up the slack that my wife

needs because she's with the she's with the young

one,

and she's up multiple times during the night.

But she does incredible she makes miracles happen

on five to six hours of broken sleep,

like yeah,

it's incredible.

Moms always do,

yeah,

it's.

Unbelievable,

and it's like,

it's obviously evolutionary and and that's it's

important and we obviously have to remind ourselves

that this isn't forever and um,

to kind of stay in the moment with our beautiful

young ones.

I just have a question in regards to breaking like

habits that have been formed for decades,

especially around sleep.

And my dad's gonna hate me for this example,

but my dad for as long as I can remember,

let's call it 20 years,

he has um gone to bed at like midnight one

o'clock and he has like a nap at like five um,

and I can't believe that he functions like on

that.

I mean,

you know,

he's you know,

he's not he's an older guy.

you know so he's retired and he's enjoying his

life and gets around and everything like that but

it's like if he i feel like if you wanted to if

he wanted to like go from okay to optimal to

start feeling even better i think sleep would be a

big part of that but like how would you a client

that came in who had a pattern like that like had

it for 20 years like trying to break something

like that is like that's the big question that's

actually a really interesting one and i think i

might say things that you're not going to expect

here but you know obviously i don't know what else

is going on in his life so i can't but if we're

going to be very

General about it,

there's an older gentleman.

He's going to bed really late.

I'm going to assume he's waking up relatively early

and then he takes a nap in the middle of the

day.

Now,

if he's been doing this for let's just say 20

years,

on one hand it's actually not a bad thing because

this routine is is incredibly helpful for your your

circadian rhythm and your natural body clock.

Now,

the problem is going to be that our society is

going to be a little bit his family obligations

and if you know he worked at some point,

it doesn't really always fit into that.

So,

if he has one day where he misses that nap,

he'll go from feeling totally normal To feeling

like garbage,

or if he you know for some reason falls asleep on

the couch at 9 p.m.,

then by the time he gets to bed at you know two

o'clock in the morning or three o'clock,

he'll probably have trouble falling asleep or

staying asleep.

And so a lot of times when people have these you

know sort of unusual sleeping habits,

or we'll see people with what's called you know

delayed phase um insomnia,

or delayed or advanced where they just have really

you know they go to bed too late or too early

compared to what's normal.

If if it's not really impacting your life and you

feel very healthy you feel happy then I typically

wouldn't.

Recommend doing anything about it,

the problem is that it's it's not always

sustainable and what we were just saying because if

you mess up that one nap you miss that one nap

or you go to bed too late or too early suddenly

everything's thrown off.

Now,

if he's right if he is having trouble during the

day if he does have other issues if it's if it's

weight or movement or whatever it is then yeah I

certainly would look at his sleep even just

adjusting it by like one hour can make a really

big difference maybe it will help him get into the

end of that one extra sleep cycle in the morning

to get a little bit more deep sleep or a little.

bit more REM sleep to make him feel restored so

yeah if you could go a little bit earlier that

that would be helpful i'll throw a curveball in

there too so i because he's he's 70 and um you

know he's of a generation of let's just say not

connecting all the dots in regards to the back

pain that he has and has had for a long time but

he'd never connect his back pain with his diet or

his sleep patterns so how would you i'm not trying

to get free consultation here i'm just trying to

just you know i'm interested because i think that

your your work in a beautiful way so i'm just

trying to get an example of that but like how

would you approach

That type of individual who is yet to connect the

dots that maybe he consumes too many too much of

I don't know,

it's just an example like wheat for example,

like consumes a lot of like you know white grains

and does have back pain and doesn't connect that

yet with you know,

doesn't connect his like sleep routine with the

experience he has like within his body yeah it is

it is definitely a generational thing in what we

find to be important or what we've been taught our

whole lives.

I definitely,

I definitely see that being a little bit different

in different generations and connecting dots or

seeing what's important,

I personally.

Think it has a lot to do with inflammation,

whether that's diet or sleep,

you know,

obviously they're totally completely different things,

but again,

they're intertwined,

and so when you have a diet that might be causing

inflammation,

or even when you don't get adequate sleep,

your inflammation levels go up.

And actually,

when you don't get adequate sleep,

or quality sleep,

you know,

who knows if this nap is doing him any good?

Then,

you actually,

your pain tolerance actually goes down.

So maybe he has a bad back,

maybe you know whatever's going on with it; he has

this chronic pain,

but he's going to perceive it to be actually worse

if he's Not getting enough sleep and his

inflammation might increase as well,

actually will cause more pain so that it's very

real and it's also perceived.

Even even when people are getting vaccines or a

tattoo,

you really have to make sure you sleep beforehand

because that actually will help it feel less

painful.

So if you have a chronic pain condition,

not only is that going to help with the

inflammation,

it's going to help with pain reduction,

it's going to help with healing as well during

sleep we go through this amazing healing process

and you know of course it happens during the day

too our body is always working but especially

During sleep,

we have restoration,

human growth hormones,

and you know natural pain reduction,

and natural anxiety reduction as well.

So yeah,

it's a good place to start if you know,

if he he's someone like that,

is it's hard for them to understand maybe the

nutrition connection especially because you're his

son,

I mean the last person he's going to listen to,

right?

Yeah,

but if you if you look at other things then you

know,

maybe it is sleep or maybe it's his hydration and

that's what we do a if you just are saying I'm

never going to get seven hours of sleep,

I have a million things to do X Y and Z okay

fine,

but then let's work on what you Can work on

letting's work on improving what I can control.

Let's work on something else,

yeah,

I like that.

I think that's really cool.

Um,

I've got a question for you.

So,

I remember when I studied nutrition,

we did speak about sleep in literally every class

because it's so obviously related to holistic

nutrition.

I'm so happy about that.

Um,

but in regards to like when we are asleep,

you know I was always taught that like the most

restorative time would be like pre-midnight,

like kind of like nine nine to midnight,

let's call it that three-hour period and you know

I did a lot of like TCM training as well and you

know we have you know different Organ sets with

different times of the clock.

Is it true that,

like in a say,

for example if I went to bed at nine to nine

till seven and got what's that like 10 hours of

sleep maybe that's a bit much?

Like nine to nine to six,

nine to six we'll call it my routine right now is

like nine to five a.m.

in the morning I feel and I feel pretty good with

that but like if I was to sleep from 1 a.m till

10 a.m like do you think it's better for my body

in regards to like what it's doing whilst I'm

asleep because we're obviously so connected with the

with the sun and the moon and you know and

everything like that and all those really big

things does it really?

Make a difference like when you get that those

eight hours,

sort of depends,

generally speaking,

yes.

Now I read something recently where they said,

'You know,

every hour before midnight counts or is worth more

than every hour after midnight.' I mean,

no,

that's not true at all.

Um,

but again it really comes down to your circadian

rhythm and your routine.

So if you're going to bed every night at 1 a.m

and waking up at 10 a.m,

I mean,

first of all,

your light exposure is already going to be off,

so that's going to be a little bit difficult.

But if you're doing that consistently over and over

again,

then eventually your your body sort of trains.

To feel that as normal,

and so when we're looking at our circadian rhythm

and different times of the day that it that is

pretty normal for people to have different hormone

release or reactions in their body you know

digestion all that stuff if we're looking at just

a you know a clock we're studying it in school

then yeah it's it's pretty general you know at 8

p.m this happens around 10 p.m your melatonin

spikes but if you are shifting your circadian

rhythm if you're doing this regularly then there's

really nothing wrong with that as as long as again

the regularity is there and and then of course the

the light is going to be An issue,

yeah,

but hours before midnight are not any better than

hours after midnight.

It really has to do with how how normal that is

now,

yeah.

There are things called chronotypes where people are

generally more active; they have you know different

circadian rhythms,

we'll call it.

So I personally,

personally,

am a night owl,

but a night owl doesn't mean you're going to bed

at three o'clock in the morning.

It means that maybe you stay up to like 12:00,

like personally,

I go to bed around 12:00 and i wake up at like

07:00 or 08:00,

but but that doesn't mean that I'm not getting

good quality sleep because my sleep starts at

12:00,

sure,

but it Also,

doesn't mean that I can go to bed at 3 a.m,

so,

so that's sort of the thing,

it's like again,

like I said,

we're all different,

but we're not that different; like,

we all should be going to bed somewhere between,

like,

9 to 12 to 1,

unless you have a sleeping condition or a medical

condition; there's,

there's almost no reason for a human to be going

to bed at,

like,

7 p.m or like 3 a.m; so it's really the extremes

that are the problem versus,

like,

you know,

are you going to bed at 10 p.m or 12 a.m,

yeah?

And obviously,

you take personal circumstance into that,

but I also find it just amazing how the body

adapts to what I might call an insane sleep

schedule.

Like 12 to 12 to 7 sounds mental,

I did that when I was 22 and I was still pretty

tired but yeah,

you know humans are resilient,

yeah absolutely.

And I just kind of think back to like what would

caveman Simon have done,

like you know 100,000 years ago,

like,

and it wouldn't have been you know there wouldn't

have been any of the conveniences that we have now

to even stay up that late because of the security

measures or whatever that might be.

But as you say,

like we're all different and obviously our biology

evolves as well as our culture,

so yeah I think I think that's very interesting.

That was a good answer,

thank you.

Um,

you've got so i've mentioned Before you've got a

wide range of health professionals on your advisory

panel,

like what have you seen when it comes to like

using nutritional health when it comes to sleep and

wellness,

and like I'm sure there's some sort of like

supplementation maybe even some herbal protocols that

go into your uh into your work,

yeah.

Actually,

I just just spoke with Amber who is a registered

dietitian; she has a ton of other credentials which

I always forget,

but she's on the advisory panel.

We were just talking a few days ago about gut

health and you know the gut-brain access there's

like an actual connection directly from your gut to

your

Brain,

which you know when we're sleeping there's a lot

that's going on in our in our brain so as far as

that I think it's super interesting and I'm still

learning about this,

which is why I was talking to Amber about it.

In that serotonin for example serotonin is it helps

to regulate the mood digestion it helps with sleep

it's a precursor to melatonin which again we know

helps us sleep and about 95% of it is produced in

your gut and so healthy nutrition and healthy

digestion is super important for a lot of reasons

but it's also important for sleep and that's that's

something I really never thought about even in

studying and knowing.

Yeah,

sure!

Serotonin is produced in the gut,

you know.

I write it down,

I take it on the test,

but when I was really thinking about it,

like what am I putting into my body?

Is my gut healthy?

You really have to think of these things.

There's other hormones that are also produced in

your gut that affect your sleep,

but also affect...

there's something called ghrelin that affects your

hunger and after just one poor night of sleep,

your ghrelin is off balance.

You suddenly think you're hungry even though you're

not,

or you eat a little bit more,

or you crave sugary foods,

and again it sort of gets you into this cycle of

then you're craving sugary foods but then you have

all the sugar and you don't sleep very well and

then that in turn messes with your gut and then

you're not producing the right hormones so it's

it's all very related and it's it it's just so

important you know we also see a lot of articles

or posts about like foods to eat to help you

sleep those are also sort of true you know a lot

of a lot of foods have natural melatonin or

tryptophan you know tryptophan is what we we hear

about in turkeys but you know you have to eat

like a ton of turkey to really like put yourself

to sleep honestly a lot of times it's just like

you're tired from like eating and sitting

Around all day,

but yeah,

um,

eggs,

nuts,

leafy greens - actually,

kiwi,

um,

tart cherries,

pumpkin seeds.

All of these things can can really help with

sleep,

but they're also part of like a healthy diet,

you know,

whole foods that are good for you.

So,

on one hand,

yeah,

they are helpful.

I would recommend them if you are if you're trying

to have a healthy diet in general.

Maybe I'm going to recommend that you get some

more leafy greens and then you can have a healthy

diet in general,

and then you,

um,

but it sort of goes along with anything healthy.

There was something recently about like lettuce tea;

I don't know if you saw that it was like a

drink.

lettuce tea for better sleep and i mean that's

just a big no as well you have to drink like

gallons and gallons of it so what was the molecule

what was the molecule in lettuce tea that was so

that's a great question i had it written down

somewhere i like i learned it i thought it was

crazy i probably posted it on instagram and then i

got over it yeah yeah just get rid of that i'm

sure yeah there is some molecule that helps to

trigger sleepiness or it might have been in deep

sleep but again the levels of it were so

astronomical that i mean lettuce tea just it it

doesn't work um supplementation i think can help

and it should be used just

as supplementation,

I just mentioned all these healthy foods which you

probably recommend,

you know,

as someone who's very nutritionally focused.

But if you want to also supplement,

I usually recommend magnesium,

actually,

so I recommend that a lot more than melatonin.

Um,

actually,

I think melatonin where where you are is it

prescribed,

I don't...

I'm not sure,

I don't know.

That's a good question.

I mean it's not yeah um but I know yeah yeah in

some countries it is and here it's not and it's

also not regulated at all so like you really never

know what you're getting,

yeah.

I would say that it doesn't work for some people,

but I really recommend it.

I do recommend magnesium,

a good amount of magnesium,

as it does so many things in our bodies; I think

it has like 800 functions in our body,

but specifically it really helps with sleep and

mood.

And so I usually recommend that if you're going

for supplements over something like melatonin.

Yeah,

I...

We have a product called Inositol,

and um,

I take that whenever i it's written.

It's it's it's it's...

It tastes sweet,

but it's not sugary whatsoever,

so it tastes awesome.

It's in this like beautiful white powder,

and you can make...

You know,

you can mix it with water and lemon,

whatever you want to do.

You can just

Take the powder,

it's really good,

but that if I'm feeling um like I need a bit of

help with sleep or if I'm feeling anxious,

that brings me down like immediately,

like it's a really wonderful product.

And yeah,

magnesium can do wonders for people as well,

obviously trying different things is important and

working with a health professional is very

important.

And I find things like melatonin...

interesting.

You mentioned that there's 100 in some countries it

is,

it's a prescription because it is,

it should be labeled as a pharmaceutical because it

it's very,

very powerful and I think it's a hormone,

yeah exactly.

It's.

a hormone,

it does way more than just you know promote sleep

or put you to sleep,

I don't know,

I know.

So many people use it when they go on long haul

flights and just feel like absolute garbage,

48 hours and I'm like yeah okay sure if you want

to do that,

yeah um even like the vitamin B that you just

mentioned sometimes you'll see vitamin B and other

sleep supplements and people always associate vitamin

B with energy but there are you as you probably

know there are different versions of it,

different chemical compounds.

So vitamin B6 I believe actually aids in the

production of serotonin,

melatonin,

um which help with sleep and also Depression,

so there's again,

there's just so much variety in your supplements

and what you're eating every day,

and you hear these one this one thing and we just

sort of associate it with another thing,

but yeah,

vitamin B is great for sleep,

yeah.

But when we hear that one thing,

it's just like our programming for one pill to fix

something right,

like rather than you know really take really taking

on a self-personal medical adventure and dabbling

and trying these different things and seeing what

works,

what doesn't,

and being okay to fail,

and like try these other things,

but like throwing something in,

like melatonin into a very Complex biochemical

castor oil,

and then you're like,

'Oh my god,

I don't know what to do with this!' And I'm like,

'Okay,

I'm gonna take this,

and I'm gonna take this,

and I'm gonna block your body being able to do

that process itself and make the situation even

worse in the long term,

like there's no doubt about that.

So I think it's very important to use these things

responsibly and work with a health professional

because we can get super excited about reading

about lettuce tea,

spending five hundred dollars on organic lettuce at

Whole Foods,

and then you know,

you're eating salads for three months and you're,

uh,

you haven't got insomnia because you're stressed out

about your shopping bill,

but,

uh,

yeah.

Side note: you can't say 'tea'

in the same sentence to a British person; that's

insane!

Amazing,

amazing!

I'm drinking tea actually now too; I do love tea.

I mean,

there's a lot of stuff in tea that helps you

sleep,

too besides the caffeine.

But you know,

a lot of herbal teas...

I drink herbal tea at night; there's no caffeine

in that.

Some antioxidants,

some aldeanine (I actually never know if I'm

pronouncing that correctly),

but that helps with relaxation.

Lots of natural things that can help and you know

what's amazing about making yourself a nice cup of

tea just

Before you go to bed,

is you're giving yourself something there.

You are bringing energy towards you when probably

all day you've just been like pumping your energy

out to your kids,

your work,

your partner,

social media all these things.

And then just to take a breath for five ten

minutes in the day,

take some breaths,

have a cup of tea,

give yourself some love.

And then you know you just totally change your

brain patterns into a you know into a situation

where you're able to hopefully rest down nicely to

sleep,

yes absolutely.

Making that five minutes for yourself makes a huge

difference.

I always recommend incorporating something.

like that into your nighttime routine whether it's

tea or just like setting out your clothes at the

same time you know take those you know it doesn't

have to be an hour-long routine people think the

self care has to be like a full day at the spa

but it could literally be five minutes every single

night drinking tea and like doing skincare right

okay well amazing information i really appreciate

your time today how can people connect with you

teresa um ideally you would find me on instagram

it's at sleep better nyc no dots or underscores or

spaces um we do have a presence on facebook or

linkedin if you're more in like the sleep

Industry,

but Instagram is definitely like our go-to.

Or,

if you want to check us out on the website,

it is www.sleepbetter.nyc - so it's not.com,

it's .nyc,

cool like that,

uh,

awesome.

Okay,

well I'll make sure that information is in our

show notes and I really appreciate...

I know the time difference can be tricky,

but thank you so much for joining.

I learned a lot and I'm this is going to be

really valuable to a lot of people because the

better we sleep,

the better the world's going to be - I agree.

Thanks so much for having me; I think we had a

really great conversation.

Thank you,

I appreciate it.

Thank you very much,

yeah,

again.

Uh,

for more information about what we've spoken about

in this episode please don't forget to check the

show notes.

Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't.

Thank you so much for listening to True Hope Cast,

the official podcast of True Hope Canada.

We'll see you next week.