Good morning superpower seekers! I come to you from my office in the clouds where I maximize my productivity and excellence in all things sleep!
We have had a wild summer here in the Lake Norman area. Events are back in action! Specifically, I had the opportunity to set up shop at both the Lincoln County Country Music Festival and Fireworks on Saturday, June 26th as well as the Mooresville YMCA Fireworks July 3rd event!
The Dream Team, Sweet Dreams Mattress & Furniture, are proud sponsors of these events every single year and have been for a long time. We love these community get-togethers, now more than ever.
Today’s new normal felt a lot like the old normal. As sponsors, we got to set up tents! We handed out light sticks, candy, gatorade, and raffled off Serenity bed bundles to the kind folks who came out to celebrate!
I had a ton of fun chillaxing in my superhero sleepsuit! I honestly didn’t break a sweat even though it was hot, and I spoke to a lot of folks and had a blast!
When I go to events, I stand next to a sign that says “I’m a Sleep Superhero. Ask Me Anything. Text 704-706-2436”. While this sounds dangerous, I honestly have some great questions and I wanted to share them with you guys! At these events, when these people approached, I asked them to give me a question about waking up and one about going to sleep.
Let’s get started.
The first set of questions comes from Max: “What’s the best time to wake up in the morning?”
Excellent start! Well Max, the best time to wake up is 7.5 to 9 hours after you went to bed. You want to try and wake up after your fifth or sixth sleep cycle is over. If you time it right—and this takes some practice—you won’t need alarm clocks. I know because I haven’t used one in a year or more.
Max’s sleep question is, “Are screens okay before bed?”
Hard no good buddy! You want to turn off screens at least 30 minutes before going to sleep every night. Make this a habit now and months down the line and you will see an improvement in how quickly you fall asleep and how deeply you remain asleep. Don’t be looking at your screens when you wake up in the middle of the night to use the potty. Your crypto can wait until the morning!
Next up is Kennedy. Kennedy asks “Do you drink Dunkin in the morning?”
LOL. Why, yes, occasionally I do. But only before my caffeine curfew. Lately in the mid summer months, my bedtime is 10 p.m.. I’ve shifted it from my original 9:30 p.m. because it is light much later. As a result, my caffeine curfew is 10 a.m, so as long as I slam a Dunks prior to 10 a.m., I’m all good!
Kennedy’s bedtime question is, “What kind of blanket do you use?”
I love this question! I use bamboo sheets and a bamboo quilt. The quilt only covers my feet in the summer months but the rest of the year we are cozied up in bamboo fabrics. They sleep wonderfully cool in the summer and are great in the wintertime too.
My next set of questions come from Kina. Kina asks, “Do I use an alarm?”
If you need to, you should definitely use one. However, set it for the time you actually want to wake up. Don’t set an alarm for 6 a.m. and snooze it 18 times. Set it for 6:40 a.m. and when it goes off, you get up! Setting early alarms and snoozing is costing you more than it’s reminding you.
Her bedtime question is, “Do you drink tea or water before bed?”
BOTH! I don’t try to drink a lot of water or tea before bed because I’ll have to wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. But I love some cold water or warm tea depending on my body and my mood.
Man. I really love these questions. I have a few more! Let’s go!
Gloria asks, “What do you do when you first wake up?”
Dude! This really fires me up! I do what is called a daily morning victory task. I rotate a small chore that is less than five minutes long. One week I’ll dust off my musical equipment. Another week I’ll clean my office. Another week I will clean my computer equipment.
It doesn’t take long and I do this task before I check my phone. I wake up and start the day with an activity. This sets me on a path of achievement!
Gloria’s bedtime question is, “What do you eat before going to bed?”
Nothing actually! I try to not eat for two hours before bedtime. The last thing I sometimes eat is a homemade ice cream sandwich. Text me for my super easy recipe. They are amazing and easy! But if I’m sticking to my plan, I don’t eat before bed so my body can get better rest.
Matt asks, “How do you wake up strong?”
If you’re going for the “waking up strong” routine, shoot for a nine-hour sleep schedule. Nine hours will give you more sleep cycles and better body-building results. And don’t forget it’s important to get a good night’s rest before your big workout even more so than after!
Matt follows up with, “If you eat sugar before bed, will you be awake all night?”
Well, not necessarily, but it does have an effect on your body. It ramps up your metabolism and will raise your core body temperature. You might sleep hot or wake up earlier than you planned. Great questions!
Okay, the last set of questions comes from Fumi: “What kind of breakfast do you eat?”
I have some newer habits with my health. I used to skip breakfast. However, now I have two options. One is to eat some probiotic food. Something to feed my healthy gut bacteria. Yogurt, fruit, and protein! If I wanted to jumpstart my metabolism, I would eat only protein. I eat my breakfast within 10-25 minutes of waking up.
And Fumi asks, “What books do I read before bed?”
Fiction! Something that is positive as well! I like to stoke the fires of creativity in my brain while I sleep, and my good buddy from the FAM, Mark Kinsley, mentioned he learned this trick. I adopted this practice and it’s been an enjoyable habit to help me fall asleep quickly!
Wow. Great questions! Now here’s the bombshell people: Can you guess who was really asking me these questions?
I’m a middle-aged dude hanging out wearing a mattress suit in 90-degree weather on a Saturday night at a festival in North Carolina. Take a second. Here it comes. These questions came from people ages eight through twelve.
Let that sink in for a minute. These are real questions from kids! The questions I get from adults are not much different. I gave these kids a similar answer to you! The guts of what I say applies to all ages. It was amazing going back and reading what they asked me.
It made me realize how poor of a job we as a society do to teach sleep habits. Adults think there’s nothing they can do. They sleep how they sleep.
Wrong! You have to start by measuring your sleep and from that foundation, you can make changes. You can maximize your sleep and in a matter of months begin to feel changes.
I teach and preach the Game Plan for Better Sleep in order to set you on a path to unlock superpowers. I believe you have them even if you don’t.
