Do I really need to sleep?

I know what it's like to feel invisible, to think it's too late to become what you've always wanted to be. You feel like it's too late to have more life.

I felt that way too.

But when I lost my brother to cancer, he made me realize I have way more life to live. And I discovered the choice was mine to live it or not. I know you want to become confident and empowered, and you deserve to step into that life you are yearning for. and I get it.

There is more greatness to come in your life. And I know you can feel it. I've made a choice to live my big life. Now it is your turn, to be empowered, and step into the life that has always been yours. It's time for you to step off the sidelines and into your own life, the one you were created to live, it's easier than you think. I believe in you.

In fact, I am your biggest fan. So let's get started. Does this sound like you, you feel like you were made for more than what you are currently doing. You are so tired of waking up and doing the same thing every single day, but feel like you haven't made any progress at all. like walking on a treadmill. You are taking steps but not actually going anywhere. You're tired all the time unhappy, unfulfilled, restless, your relationships are strained. You stare frantically at the ceiling at night full of anxiety and stress with your heart beating out of your chest, you have a great idea of what you want to do, but you don't know how to make it happen. You don't know where to start, you know you want to do more. But you don't know what your dream is. You just know it's there. You want to finally identify your dreams and feel confident and empowered enough to make them a reality. You want to identify the path and the steps to take on that path so that every day is lived with a purpose and a plan.

You want your relationships to be fulfilling and happy. You want peaceful days devoid of those horrible panic attacks. You want to feel gratitude and accomplishment each and every day you want to feel alive, awake and fulfilled. You want radical empowerment, you need radical empowerment, head to the link in the show notes. Click the link and get enrolled today. Your life awaits you. You were made for more and you are worth it.

Here we are module one of the radical empowerment method, increase your energy increase your energy. This is foundational. This is foundational Jim Rohn has been known to say that there is nothing more sad than someone who has all these amazing ideas and no energy to follow through. No energy to follow through. You cannot be the person you were created to be. You cannot become radically empowered, if you are too tired to do the things that it takes to become radically empowered. So we're going to talk about your energy which begins with sleep.

So we're going to talk about energy, but talk about sleep. How do those two even fit together they fit together like a hand in a glove. Catherine Pulsifer says our health is something we often take for granted but there are some things in life that should never be taken for granted.

Take care of yourself. Take care of yourself.

Literally every cell in your body is calling out to you. Please take care of me every single cell Please take care of me. You cannot be who you were created to be if you are sick or tired laying on a couch, unable to get up and move because you have so neglected your body with the way that you eat or the way you move or the way you sleep. So we're going to start first with sleep. That is the foundation of everything. I am convinced it is something that I struggle with. Not actually sleeping great once I get there. But turning off my brain actually putting myself to bed actually getting enough sleep. You see for years I wore it like this badge of honor that I could function on three or four hours of sleep a night sometimes less. I wore that like a it was my prize. Almost like I would have this on the wall behind me I'd have this big diploma saying sleep deprived and proud. I thought it was amazing that I could get through my days on so little sleep. I was trying to do so much at one time. Maybe Major personal events going on in my life, working 40 50 60 hours a week at a corporate job while earning my MBA online. Oh, I got married in that time as well. And my brother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, all of this stuff. And I was working on 234 hours of sleep at night, four hours a night was a good, good amount of time to sleep. That was years ago, years and years. And like 1516 years ago, I am still recovering from the effects of sleep deprivation. And I say I functioned. But I was barely functioning. If I sat down, I fell asleep. If someone was talking to me, I fell asleep. If I put my head on the pillow, I was asleep. If I went to the movies with my kids, I slept through the movie, I was not healthy, because I was totally neglecting my body by not allowing it to sleep. Your body, your body will tell you when you're hungry. And it will tell you when you're tired. Here's the big difference.

Your body can't force you to eat, your body can't do that. I went through a period of my life where I was anorexic. And my body would tell me all the time that I was literally starving, but it could not force me to eat, I could turn that off.

But sleep deprivation is very different your body when it tells you that you're tired, you can keep pushing through and keep pushing through. But eventually your body is going to put you to sleep. Maybe you're in a meeting, maybe you're behind the wheel of a car, maybe you're in a class at school, your body is going to put you to sleep, sleep is that important? It is it is crucial. So what does the science say about sleep, sleep accounts for one quarter to one third of your entire lifespan. And before the 1950s it was very commonly believed that when you were asleep, everything was dormant, your body was dormant, your brain was dormant, it was just a rest restorative time, sleep is restorative. But what researchers know now doctors at Johns Hopkins University have pointed out that while you are sleeping your brain is doing all kinds of important work it is it is ridding your brain of toxins, there are so many activities that are going on in your brain that are linked to the quality of your life, it is critical, it is absolutely critical. When you are sitting in a meeting, or you are driving a car, or you're watching a movie and you're nodding off, it is your body's way of saying hey, you need some sleep, you must sleep because we are going to put you to sleep, your brain is engaged in all kinds of activities while you are sleeping, that are going to help you the next day when you get adequate sleep, have a better mood, be able to focus better be able to function better, all of those things happen. When you're asleep, you go into a restorative mode, you have REM sleep, you have deep sleep, you have light sleep, all these different stages of sleep, that we're not going to go into great detail here, I just want you to believe me that it is ultra critical, ultra critical. I don't want you to move on to your next module until you've got this under your belt, that you understand how incredibly important sleep is. And you are actually taking control of sleep in your life of your fitness, your nutrition of your water, all of these things are so foundational to you becoming radically empowered, it's why it is first It's why we're talking about this first, how much sleep do you need?

Most adults need seven to nine hours and get this. If you have one night of sleep deprivation, you're going to need more than that the next night, because you've got to pay back that sleep debt. And if you've got years and years of sleep deprivation as I did, and and as I still this is still my biggest struggle. I can get up every day and workout. I can get in half my body weight in ounces of water every day. I can make healthy choices in food, no problem, no problem. I meditate. I got all this stuff going. But sleep. Ah so much I want to get done. And so I'll write down in my journal. I'm going to bed at nine o'clock and 11 o'clock I'm still finishing up the last touches. So this is a struggle for me too. I am not going to sit here and tell you I am perfect. I am telling you that I am in the thick of things, working with you working with you to get this sleep monster tamed because, listen, you deserve it. I deserve it. We deserve to take advantage of amazing sleep our bodies are created to need sleep. And every cell in our body is crying out for us to take care of them seven to nine hours a night if you're sleep deprived. You may need More, you've got to catch up on that. How do you know how do you know if you're sleep deprived, you're going to have, you're going to have episodes of micro sleep. Micro sleep is when you knocked off, and you don't really remember. So I can remember in college when I was in college in my undergrad, we're going back a long time now to the 1980s. mid to late 80s. I graduated college in 1988.

I typed term papers and all kinds of stuff for other people around campus. And many, many, many times towards end of semesters, I pulled all nighters, I would be typing papers for people all night long. And then I would go to class the next day. And I can remember taking notes, but being asleep, and when I would go back and try to read my notes, they'd be going up the page or down the page, not really legible. My eyes were open, and my hands were moving. But I was in a state of sleep, I was in a state of micro sleep.

It might might not have been good for my GPA, but nobody got hurt. What happens when that micro sleep hits you when you're behind the wheel of a car? Or what if it happens to the pilot, or the train operator. Sleep is crucial. When you hit those micro sleeps, it's your body saying I've had enough it puts you to sleep and it doesn't care where you are. It just cares that you are going to get some sleep because your body is protecting your brain, which so desperately needs that sleep. So if you are experiencing those sessions of micro sleep, you are sleep deprived. If you are forgetful, you can't focus. You are sleep deprived. If you fall asleep, every time you sit down, you sit down in a chair and you're out. That was me for the longest time. My kids used to ask me Mommy, are we going to actually watch the video to watch the movie together? Or are you going to sleep through it like you usually do. I couldn't sit down without falling asleep. And I thought man, I fall asleep great. It was my body sending out a mayday, mayday, mayday. If you can't sit on the couch and stay awake, you are sleep deprived. If you fall asleep just just within five minutes, you're out, you're out. People will say well, I'm out when my head hits the pillow.

There's a process of falling asleep, their stages to falling asleep. If you sit down and you're out you are sleep deprived. Don't wear that like a badge of honor. It is not a badge of honor. You are in neglecting and abusing your body. So really get real with yourself. Are you getting adequate sleep? And when you do sleep? Are you getting quality? sleep? Are you getting some quality sleep? Why does it matter? We've talked about this a little bit, your lack of focus, it affects your mood, it makes you grumpy. When you're not tired, it can lead to high blood pressure and seizures. There are serious consequences to not getting enough sleep. not getting enough sleep also slows your metabolism and leads to obesity. There's so much science around this and I'm just barely scratching the surface. But please believe me Please believe me when I say that sleep deprivation is so dangerous. It is so dangerous to you do some of your own research on this. If you don't believe me go and do some research. I will link a couple of podcast episodes that really got me thinking about the lack of sleep in my life. Under in the in the shownotes or in the notes of teachable I'll put some of those in there for you so that you can you can hear more detail more science. It is so important for you to sleep. And when we're talking about sleep I would be remiss if I did not talk to you about my blue light blockers. These are the best thing in the world. I love them you can kind of see my ring light in the in there and they turn blue. These glasses actually block the blue light from entering your your brain. It reduces eyestrain, it helps you sleep better. It has been known to reduce the risk of macular degeneration in your eyes. We spend so much time looking at a computer screen or our phone screen at the television all this blue light that is constantly attacking our brains and it affects our sleep. It affects our circadian rhythm it affects our ability to create melatonin. So do I think you need blue light blockers? Yes, I do. These happen to be prescription blue light blockers from classic network and I have linked that in your worksheet pages. You have a link to classy network with my affiliate code. They will make them prescription glasses for you. I've also linked a link to Amazon if you if you're an Amazon shopper and you would rather get them there or do your own research. I they probably sell them in most stores now but make sure you're getting a good quality pair of blue light blockers. I implore you to get them and wear them when you are looking at a computer screen. My daughter has a pair she wears them day in day out because her eyes are bothered by lights, even even shopping in a store, and they help her tremendously tremendously.

So get your blue light blockers, wherever you decide to get them, get them, they are going to help you sleep better. And when you sleep better, you focus better. When you focus better, you are far more productive. And when you are more productive, you are more radically empowered. It's why we started with Sleep, sleep is crucial. It is crucial. Research has shown that people who are sleep deprived all the time have brains, brain scans that look like like they have Alzheimer's, or look like they have had massive amounts of concussions in their life, it literally is killing your brain, you need your sleep, if you want to be radically empowered, you have got to focus on your sleep. So I, I absolutely absolutely recommend that you start with eight. If you wake up every day, after seven hours, maybe your body needs seven, but give yourself a full eight hours in bed. Maybe if you're only sleeping five now increase it by 15 minutes, and then 15 and then 15 work up to eight, if your body will tell you if you only need seven. But here's what I did for a long time. I was like seven to eight, okay, I only need seven that I read some research that said, some people only need six and I was like, I only need six, I decided for my body. Here's the truth. If I go to bed at nine, nine o'clock between nine and 930, at night, your best hours are before the hours of midnight. If I'm in bed lights out between nine and 930. And I allow my body to wake up when it wants to it wakes up between seven and a half and eight hours of sleep. That's how long it really wants. I tried to convince myself that because some research said some people only need six hours that I only needed six hours. But it was just me fooling myself because I want to get stuff done. Here's the thing. Here's the thing, this this subject Can you tell this fires me up, the more sleep you get the more adequate sleep sleep that you get for your body, the more productive you are going to be. So You Think You think you're just getting one more thing done, you're just gonna do one more thing. And so you, you deprive yourself of sleep so that you can get stuff done. It's this snowball effect. So the next day, you're less productive, and then less productive, and then less productive until finally you've got this massive headache and your body is saying if you don't sleep, I'm going to explode your brain.

You need your sleep, you are going to be way more productive. You're going to get way more done when you get your sleep. So please, please, please focus on your sleep. You need the sleep, you need to sleep for you. You need your sleep for productivity. You need your sleep to be radically empowered, your blue light blockers are going to help at least at the very least wear them for two hours before you turn your lights off. So if you're going to watch TV at night, just pop a pair of blue light blockers on I've got so many pairs now it's crazy. I've got them to match all my outfits. I only have a couple of the actual pairs with with with correction and them. But I love them. So if I'm watching TV, I don't need them for distance I just put a different pair on I've got them in different rooms of the house.

They are crucial for your sleep crucial for your sleep. Next we are going to talk about meditation and why that is important. And it is so I will see you in the next video. Hey, thanks for listening in. I want you to know I do not take it for granted that you give me this time to have coffee and tea together with me. But before you go, it would mean the world to me if you grab a quick coffee or tea refill and pop into the podcast reviews and leave me a review. It's how this podcast grows. It's how it reaches and empowers more women and it's how I know how to serve you best. I want this podcast to be what you need. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode and share it with your friends.