Tag Archives: sleep

de-EMF-ication

One Take from the Week #5: de-EMF-ication

Earlier this week, I discussed my sleep issues and the failures that led up to it. That was on a Monday night. Tuesday night’s sleep was so-so. When Wednesday morning came around, I was determined not to repeat those same issues. I woke up at 3:45 in the morning and knocked out 10,000 meters on my rowing machine before going into work. After work, I ate a quick dinner around 5 p.m. and then spent another hour in the gym coaching my son’s parkour class. I had nothing else to eat that evening and minimal fluid intake. I did a little stretching and read for a few minutes (on my iPad but in super-dark mode). By 9 o’clock, the lights went out. I was primed for a good night’s sleep. At 10:30, I was still awake. Ugh!

The next morning, I read an article from the American Sleep Association, Deep Sleep: How to Get More of It. Did you know that the brain operates at less than 1hz while in deep sleep? I didn’t, and at the time of reading it didn’t pay much attention to it. Until…

I listened to a Living 4D podcast with Paul Chek and Nick Pineault (Episode #29: Overcoming EMF Pollution). It was by chance that I chose that episode. What I learned may have changed my life. Here are the highlights from the episode:

  • Water is extremely sensitive to frequency. Our bodies consist of about 60% water with the brain and heart being composed of about 73%.
  • The earth’s natural frequency is 7.83 Hz.
  • 4G cell frequency operates 700-2500 MHz, 1 MHz is a thousand Hz.
  • WI-FI operates at 2.4 or 5 GHz. 1 GHz is a million Hz.
  • 5G cell frequency ranges from 28-39 GHz.
  • Paul Chek has chronic neck pain. This pain was reduced when he turned the wireless off in his house before bed.
  • Another example was given of a client who woke up 3-4 times a night to urinate. When he turned off the WI-FI, he was able to sleep through the night. Remember we are composed of about 70% water.
  • But everybody says that WI-FI and 5G is safe. At least, that is what the research has shown. But according to Nick Pineault, a detailed look at the research shows that it was primarily funded by the big tech companies that had the most to gain from a “safe” test result.

My current sleep issues are:

  • Chronic neck and back pain from a misspent childhood that keeps me awake and uncomfortable.
  • Frequent trips to the bathroom to urinate.
  • Mental restlessness causing an inability to fall asleep or stay asleep.

My wife’s issues are:

  • Back pain.
  • Restless Leg.
  • Frequently wakes up.

When I got home that afternoon, I told my wife we are going to try an experiment. I told her we were going to put all our devices on airplane mode and cutoff the WI-FI before bed. Thankfully, she agreed to go along with it. By 8:30 that evening, everything was dark.

The Results:

  • I woke up once around 11 p.m. when I heard a noise outside. It didn’t take long to go back to sleep.
  • When my alarm went off at 3:45 a.m., I felt refreshed. No back or neck pain. No grogginess. No desire to hit the snooze button.
  • Later, I asked my wife how she slept. She said it was good. The only time she woke up was not long after I woke up. She had a hard time going back to sleep. Keep in mind, this was after seven hours of sleep. Other than that, she had no problems.
  • In addition, I noticed a difference in our dogs, especially our eleven-year-old Yorkie. She usually is restless at night and likes to wonder up and down the hall. The clicking of her nails on the floor is usually enough to wake me up. I didn’t notice her get up once. As far as I can tell, she slept through the night. As humans, we tend to ignore outside vibrations and frequencies. I wonder how cell and WI-FI signals affect our pets.

Conclusion

One successful night does not prove to be the best sample size. Were the results skewed based on my optimism? That is hard to tell, but optimism does have an impact. Is this a placebo effect? How will this experiment perform on a stressful night with a full moon? I am not sure, but I can’t wait to find out. Until next time, sweet dreams!

Feature photo by Praveen kumar Mathivanan on Unsplash

One Take from the Week #1

Monday morning. I sat down at my desk. The night before was miserable after a lot of tossing and turning and much broken sleep. Opening my email, I saw a group of messages about equipment failures. Monday. Tired. Problems with the equipment. What a way to start the day!

One of the emails came from someone who seems to be always reporting on the issues. Why are the tools always breaking on his shift? This time, he took the time to create a PowerPoint presentation on one possible way we can prevent future issues. It seemed a little irrelevant, also a little over-the-top. I wondered about his motivation. And then I thought…

Why care about his motives? For all I knew, he was doing what he believed was right. His approach was different than mine. Was that really an issue? Was my aggravation with him or was it something else? The more I thought about it, the more I realized the problems are not from him but from me.

  • A poor night of sleep
  • A disrupted morning routine
  • Not setting my intention at the beginning of the day (one super important component to my morning routine)

The equipment malfunction and the email did not come at a good time. And of course, there never is a good time for them, but I was not prepared to deal with it when it did come. And unfortunately, that is on me.

How can I prevent another morning like this? I need to take a moment and think about the root cause for the bad sleep. What did I do the day before? In this case, I stayed up a little later than usual. This was a conscious decision that resulted in negative consequences. Add one more drink to that evening, and I had a recipe for a sub-optimal next day.

Man is not affected by events, but the view he takes on them.

Epictetus

The easy course of action was to blame the messenger. But the messenger was only doing his job in the best way he saw fit. I allowed it to affect me in a negative way, because I was not in the right place to view it objectively. Reflecting on this one moment made me wonder how much weight I give to events based on a misplaced perception. I need to get better at controlling the things in my control and not give too much of my energy on the things outside of it.

Feature photo by CDC on Unsplash

7 Keys to a Goodnight’s Sleep

Prudence 9/30/2019

Ever since I started wearing a Fitbit a couple of years ago, I have really been interested in the quality and duration of my sleep. The first thing I do every morning is assess the previous night’s sleep. How do I feel? Do I think the quality was good? After this quick check-in with my body, I open the Fitbit app on my phone and compare how I feel to what my watch tells me.

Most of the time, my assessment and what my watch tells me are similar. Sometimes, however, they don’t match. When they are out of sync, I have to monitor the psychological games going on in my head and not let it have a negative influence on my day. Why do I feel good, I am showing very little deep sleep? I feel okay, but oh no, I’m showing I didn’t sleep much at all.

My Fitbit is a good tool. By taking a good look at my sleep quality, I can try to determine the causes for a bad night of sleep. So what exactly do I need to do to sleep better? To go to sleep and truly get the rest I need and desire, I must do the following:

  • Get up early. If I sleep too long, there is a greater chance I will not be ready to go to sleep the next night.
  • Exercise. I have to wear myself out physically during the day. I’ve noticed this with my little boy too. If he goes through the day with little exercise (i.e. a long day of travelling), then he will be super-hyper in the evening and not want to go to bed.
  • Cut off food intake a couple of hours before turning in. I am not sure if there is any science to this, but I know how my body reacts. The nights I eat dinner late usually results in poor sleep scores the next morning.
  • Limit fluid intake. This is for obvious reasons. If I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I often struggle to get back to sleep.
  • Have a clean conscience. Ever go to bed with something bothering you from the day before? It is hell trying to get it off your mind and get to sleep. This could be an argument, a task I failed to complete, or anything that is just bothering me. If I can’t tie it off, it will stay open in my mind all night.
  • Stretch it out. If I don’t I going to wake up in the middle of the night aching. I’m going to be stiffer than usual in the morning. The cure is preventative maintenance the night before. I don’t always spend a lot of time on this, but I do make sure I get my hamstrings and psoas.
  • Fatigue my eyes by reading before turning out the light for the night. Reading (not social media) is the key, but nothing that is so interesting that I keep reading all night. I’ve recently turned to biographies for this nightly ritual.
  • Throughout the day, I write down all the things I need to get done. This is especially important before bed (journaling) to ensure my mind is empty and has nothing to think about while lying in bed.

If I follow the above protocol, the chances are good I will wake up refreshed the next morning and be ready to attack the new day. These are my best practices, but I am always looking for new ways to enhance my sleep. What are your best practices?

In the end, winning is sleeping better. –Jodie Foster

You Snooze, You Lose

This morning I had a thought. It occurred as soon as my alarm sounded. I hit the snooze button on my phone (Why is snooze the big yellow button in the middle of my iPhone screen, instead of OFF?). My thought was to continue laying there. Maybe today I don’t get up. The desire to stay comfortable a little longer was very strong. If the rest of the world is sleeping, why shouldn’t I?

How many days have I lost? All those times I did not get up when my alarm went off, if I even set an alarm. I can’t begin to count the days and hours lost due to sleeping in.  I have squandered so much time. I will never get that time back again. It is that thought that caused me to change my sleeping habits. It is that thought that caused me to set that alarm for so early in the morning. It may be okay for the rest of the world to sleep in. That is their choice. I don’t want to be like the rest of the world.

How long, O sluggard, will you lie there? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest –then poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like a brigand. Proverbs 6:9-11

There are those that despise their alarm clock. It goes off way to soon and signals the start of another day of going through the motions. I have been there. I have woken up and the first thing on my mind is “survive the day.” But until I saw the above tweet, I have never looked at my alarm as an opportunity clock. Here is the signal to start again working toward a better life. Here is the opportunity to get better physically, mentally, and spiritually. Here is the opportunity to get ahead of the rest of the world. For while they are sleeping, I have the chance to improve. Ultimately, it is progress that I am looking for. I may never separate myself from the rest of the world, but I can improve upon the person I was in the past.

Getting up that early used to be really hard. When I was younger, I heard the really successful people in life did it. I tried it. I failed. About 9 months ago, I started attempting the early wake up again. I didn’t like working out after work, so I decided to make the move to the mornings before work. I probably averaged 2 days a week of actually getting up and going. Around November of last year, I heard The Jocko Podcast for the first time. I was intrigued. Here was a guy (former Navy Seal Commander, Jocko Willink) who said if you want to get up at 4:30 in the morning, then get up. There was no slow acclimation. There was no beating around the bush. Just do it. So I started doing it, not 2 out of 7 days, but every day including the weekends. During that time I read his book, Discipline Equals Freedom. The content was more of the same: You can achieve your goals with hard work and discipline. It is that mentality that gets me up in the morning. How can I achieve the things I want in life if I am always sleeping in? I can’t. If you want to achieve a different result, then you have to do things differently. I had to wake up.

Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink, “Begin”

If this post inspires you to change, then do it. Along the way, you may find accountability helps. If you can find a group of like-minded individuals, you will be amazed how much more consistent your progress will be. There are several twitter groups (#0445Club and #SamaraiGang) that I associate with. They are both very positive groups that inspire me to achieve greater heights. Since last November, I have lost about 35 pounds, have read about 26 books, and written more than I have in the previous three years. I am far from where I want to be, but I have a lot more discipline. In turn, I have so much more freedom.