Sleep Hacking
We live in a world where it is common to hear quotes such as, “sleep is for those who are broke”. This get-rich-or-die-trying mentality is telling us to go all-in, to hustle harder.
But is hustling harder the solution? What about hustling smarter?
At BIOHAX, we work with some of the elite top performers in the world. We understand the need to hustle in order to achieve goals. Nonetheless, as professional biohackers, we know that there are better ways to achieve results than by sacrificing your sleep.
Top performers (in sports, business, or life) need to be completely energized during the day to be sharp and productive. But, they also need to be off at night, so they can recover mentally and physically. A regenerative night of sleep is what allows us to recover; so we can be at the top of our game the following day.
When we start sacrificing our sleep, we start sacrificing our performance.
Unfortunately, instead of realizing this, society reinforces this dysfunctional pattern. We are told this is normal. This is the way to go. Take another energy drink. Drink one more coffee!
If you’ve watched the Wolf of Wall Street, you know that many of those professionals were using cocaine and other stimulants to increase their performance back in the 70s and 80s. According to multiple reports, today’s reality may not be much different.[1] [2] The drugs may have been upgraded but the reasons behind their consumption are still the same. These top performers cannot sustain their energy levels to work the hours needed.
To make matters worse, because of the insane consumption of all these stimulants, folks cannot find the off switch at night. They may be exhausted because of their day, but their physiology is still being hacked by what they did during the day. And they simply cannot find a way to unplug. When this happens, they are left with having to take drugs to force the body into sleep mode.
Taking stimulants to stay awake, and sedatives to go to sleep, is not only unnatural but incredibly harmful to our physiology. This synthetic manipulation of our circadian rhythm and energy systems is only making matters worse; and creating a snowball effect.
Even if you are not intentionally riding this energy roller coaster, this is what most medical professionals are still trained to suggest. Let’s say you are experiencing some difficulty sleeping; and are feeling tired during the day. Most physicians would “solve” your issues by recommending some sort of sleeping drug.
The good news is that our medical experts realize the importance of sleep. They focus their approach on trying to increase your time in the sack. However, many are choosing the wrong vehicle to do this.
There are many “sleep drugs” but most of them are what pharmacology refers to as Benzodiazepines. These compounds are GABA agonists.[3] Meaning, they promote the action of the “relaxation neurotransmitter” GABA (that we spoke about here) inducing a hypnotic or sedative effect.[4]
Want to know another GABA agonist commonly used to help go to sleep? Alcohol.[5] That’s why some people need to drink a glass or two before bed. It helps them unwind.
The problem is that the use of these GABA agonists has consequences. Some of the most notorious side effects are morning drowsiness, amnesia, increase of daytime anxiety, and rebound insomnia.[6] Yes, they further aggravate the sleeping issues. Moreover, these GABA agonists significantly compromise the quality of the sleep stages needed for proper recovery.[7] In particular, benzodiazepines cause variations in Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. This then leads to deficits in concentration and working memory, and weight gain.[8]
A smarter approach is to understand why are GABA levels low; and what we can do to optimize them without the long-term negative consequences.
There are many things that can be causing low GABA. Not having optimal levels of hormones, such as testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, and even vitamin D, will impact the levels of GABA and other neurotransmitters.
Please note that we are choosing to write “optimal” levels and not “within range”. Besides the fact that these ranges are probably set lower than they should be (but that’s a story for another time), you don’t want to be on the lower side of this range. This is the same as finishing school with a D. You still passed, but you cannot compare your performance to the one of someone who got an A.
Some will say that sustaining optimal levels of these hormones and neurotransmitters is not natural. We are supposed to see their decline as we age. However, are we supposed to see such declines?
We cannot forget that we live in a much more toxic world than our ancestors. That, combined with the loss of nutrients in our food, is causing us not to age as gracefully as they could back then. They were not experiencing the same level of “hormonal aging” as we are. That is why we must try to supplement and compensate for these deficits so we can unlock our full potential.
The point is, nowadays we do not have to guess. We have the technology to assess our hormones, neurotransmitters, and see what’s going on. We are also able to evaluate our biochemistry; and to determine what the specific nutritional deficits are that we are currently experiencing.
By having this data, we can correct our biochemistry and consequently fix our physiology. That way, our body will be able to auto-regulate itself. This will allow us to have the energy we need during the day, and have the capacity to relax and recover at night.
That is high performance.
Besides addressing your nutritional insufficiencies, when working with a functional medicine provider like BIOHAX, you can get access to peptides and bioidentical hormones to speed up your results; and to optimize your biology in record time.
What do you say? Is it time to leave all the stimulants and unlock your natural energy?
[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wallstreet-drugs-idUSN1629133120070618
[2] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/adderall-cocaine-inside-lives-young-wolves-wall-street
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6147796/
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2865871/
[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18423561/
[6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2865871/
[7] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2865871/
[8] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34145997/
Contact us and talk to one of our team members. We are here to help you in this process.
If you want to learn more about sleep and energy optimization; as well as the best supplements, lifestyle changes, and biohacks you can use, you don’t want to miss this week’s video lecture. Click the button below to watch it.
Dr.De
Marcos de Andrade MD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer