The Why Behind Your Z's with Paul Bright, certified sleep science coach

Season 2 of "The Why Behind Your Z's" will feature interviews with other experts in the field, and I thought it best to start with a medical doctor.

Do you find yourself too busy in the holiday season to enjoy the simple things? It's no secret that daily stressors have a negative impact on sleep, and even the "simple things" that are normally relaxing become stressful!

On this final episode of Season 2, I provide a mindfulness meditation that helps you engage in your senses as you do something most people do in the cold months- sit down and have a warm drink.

Play this episode the next time you plan to sit at a table or comfortable spot with your warm drink- be it coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. It only takes 10 minutes, and I'll guide you along the way to do what you normally do, but with better, relaxing benefits.

Sleep disturbances and disorders can be comorbid with another diagnosis. On my journey to becoming a certified sleep science coach, I expected this to happen with disorders like chronic pain or bipolar disorder.

What I didn't expect was to find sleep disorders to be comorbid with eating disorders.

Many doctors and sleep professionals find melatonin supplements generally safe. It's often a go-to when you find that you can't seem to get sleepy at night.

Melatonin supplements do work.

But what happens when they don't? Or when they used to work, but have stopped working?

I explain why that happens in this episode and offer solutions within the domains I use to coach my clients.

Clean eating, especially a vegan diet, can really improve your sleep. And Touissant Stewart is here to explain it all.

Touissant is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to living a clean and relaxing lifestyle, but he didn't get there easy. Despite being raised in a food-conscious household, Touissant's early adult years were of the typical American diet. When he saw how it was draining his energy and fitness, he gradually made the switch to eating cleaner foods and has been living this life nearly 30 years.

When I learned of his story, I felt he could be the ideal person to help insomniacs and troubled sleepers turn to a less-expensive, longer lasting and faster acting nutritional regimen that can lead to better sleep than any pill or ordinary supplement.

In this interview, you will learn about how your digestive system phases impact sleep; gut health improvement, and how I didn't go vegan but my dietary changes out of medical necessity improved my own sleep.

WARNING: DO NOT PLAY THIS EPISODE WHILE DRIVING.

You just might pass out at the wheel!

Save this episode for just before bedtime!

Mindspace is a life domain where our sleep is impacted. Sometimes going to bed with a busy mind makes it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep.

A guided meditation can help by slowing down your neurons, which generate heat and energy in the brain and impede relaxation.

It's not practical for the brain to go from 100 miles per hour and into a sudden stop and expect restorative sleep.

Instead, we need to slow down the neuron speeds by inducing first Alpha waves (which keep the brain occupied but idle) and then Theta waves, which indicate pre-sleep.

I made this beach-themed meditation to help clients take their brain speeds down while also relaxing the body through progressive muscle relaxation, an exercise where you tense up muscles for a few seconds and then release them.

By the way, the wave sounds you hear were recorded by me at Muir Beach in California!

You'll hear an introduction of this meditation, and then a small break to where you can get yourself in position just before bed.

Stress is a huge factor in preventing restorative sleep. While there are many ways to de-stress, sometimes you need something that can happen in as little a 5 minutes with lasting effects.

As I searched for such a technique, I remembered learning a little about "tapping" in my previous job, and performing it on myself. I was surprised at how quickly I felt relief, but I couldn't remember the "why" or "how it worked!

I wanted to bring on an expert to talk about it because sometimes you don't have 30 minutes in the day to relieve stress, or your bedtime comes sooner than you expected and you need a quick but effective fix.

This season will feature "Knowledge Naps". These are shorter episodes that directly answer your questions about sleep. In this episode, I explain why you get sicker when you've got insomnia or your sleep has been broken for a while. It has to do with production and strengthening of your white blood cells. Without deep sleep, it doesn't happen!

I'll also talk about how you can improve your white blood cell count and sleep via the four domains I highlight in my book, "Sleep 101: How Sleep Is Supposed To Work".

Can you die from insomnia?

Yes.

But what are the odds?

In this episode, I explain the science behind why we sleep best in the dark. Your eyes do have photosensitive neurotransmitters that are involved in this. The amount of light exposure- natural or artificial- also factors into your sleepiness after sunset.

But what if you want to sleep in the dark, but can't because of your surroundings? I provide two tips that absolutely will make your room darker than your school's permanent record. One tip I learned while deployed to European countries; another I shunned until three years ago, yet now use twice a week!

My Air Force days taught me about how important good circulation is for the body. Jet engines, just like car engines, need good, clean oil to keep the parts in shape and free from damage. Our body needs good blood circulation for the same reasons. You'll know when your circulation is bad while you're awake, especially if you've ever had a leg go numb from sitting on it too long! But what about bad circulation in your sleep? Even if you're getting 8 hours, bad circulation can reduce the quality of sleep. You might not even realize it until you try to get out of bed in the morning! Learn more about what you can do to improve circulation in your sleep and how it benefits your body.

What do the experts mean when they say Vitamin D is good for your sleep? I explain the "why" behind Vitamin D for sleep there are 2 types of Vitamin D!), how much you need, and the best sources, no matter your dietary style. In fact, there are free resources in abundance! It just takes a few minutes of your day to get the Vitamin D you need for sleep.

At first, trying to figure out what fixes your sleep is like trying to clean up after a destructive toddler- so many places to start and seemingly the clean up never ends! My sleep science coaching method involves looking at 4 areas in your life (and a 5th one that ties them together) where you will find the solution to your sleep problems. I'll go through each area in detail, offering a potential solution in each one, and tell you how every following episode will cover these areas.

This episode discusses two often overlooked fundamentals that, if you don't keep them in mind while you try to correct bad sleep, will have you tossing and turning through quick fixes that never work. When does sleep actually start? What triggers the sleep mechanisms inside my body? Where do I start to make the fix? Grasp the basics about sleep and you'll begin to figure out where things went wrong and how this podcast will help you get your sleep right.

This is “Episode Zero” of The Why Behind Your Z’s because I want you to know what to expect from my podcast. And the best way to do it is to explain how I came up with the name and tagline- “the show that helps you maximize your sleep, one night at a time”. It’s all important and foundational to how you’ll get help from me and other experts.