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You’re here because you want to get better sleep.
Well my friend, you’ve come to the right place!
We believe proper sleep is so critical for health, we discuss it with each one of our coaching clients. Today, we’ll share our tips for sleeping like a log with you too.
Here’s what we’ll cover in our Ultimate Guide to Getting Better Sleep:
Let’s get right to it so you can go hit the hay.
Sleep is freaking important, and you should get more of it!
Article over, I’m going on break!
Kidding.
Before we cover why sleep is important, let’s talk about what happens when you don’t get enough.
For example: If you manage to only get four hours of sleep, a sleep-deprived body can actually act similarly to an intoxicated body. [1]
Getting less sleep than average regularly? This is correlated with increased body fat percentage, more issues with insulin sensitivity, and even a disproportionate decrease in lean muscle mass when eating a caloric deficit.[2]
We all know missing sleep can make us grouchy, miserable, unfocused, and unproductive.
I know I’m going to have a crappy day in the gym when I don’t get enough sleep the night before. I know not sleeping enough AFTER a workout day can further hinder the muscle-building process. So, what else happens when you don’t get enough sleep?
Here are some potential consequences of forgoing sleep:
Not good.
Conversely, let’s talk about the awesomeness that is sleep. Here are the benefits associated with getting enough shut-eye:
Moral of the story: Sleep is awesome.
This is going to lead to a natural question…
There’s some debate on exactly how much sleep a person needs.[11]
But there are some best practices.
7 to 9 hours is widely accepted as the ideal target for a good night’s rest. The National Sleep Foundation promotes this range, and researchers in the UK did a study that corroborated the recommendation.[12]
We’ll roll with 7 to 9 hours as an ideal target for a good night’s sleep.
I should note, that there is a small percentage of people who have a “rare” gene that allows them to get by on 6 hours of sleep or less.
“Steve, I’m sure I’m one of those mutants who only needs 6 hours of sleep. Sounds like I’m good to go, right?”
As much as we all want to be part of the X-Men…
I used the word rare there intentionally because only about 4 in 100,000 people have this specific mutation.[13]
Realistically, you probably don’t have the special gene that makes you need less sleep. Sorry.
This is why the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society both recommend “healthy adults” get at least 7 hours of sleep.[14]
Knowing you need to get 7 hours of sleep is one thing. But knowing is only half the battle…
So let’s get to the root of the problem for most:
“I know I need to sleep more, but my day is too busy and I just can’t get to bed sooner or wake up earlier.”
First and foremost, you’re not alone. According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly a third of all working Americans get six hours or fewer of sleep a night.[15]
Does any of this sound like you?
Let’s see if we can fix these issues.
Let’s imagine a perfect night:
You go to bed at a time that you’re happy with. You’re not stressed out because you didn’t just watch The Walking Dead, you’re reading a good fiction book in bed that’s putting you closer to sleep rather than checking your smartphone or screwing around on the internet (damn you Twitch.tv).
You sleep uninterrupted through the night. You have kickass dreams.
When you wake up, whether naturally or with an alarm…you immediately get out of bed, without a single snooze, and you feel damn good. You then crush your morning routine and dominate your day.
If you’re looking at your screen and laughing right now, you’re not alone. I’d guess this is a pipe dream for a huge majority of our society because they’re not sure how sleep actually works, and thus have NOT made sleep a priority.
It’s time to start looking at sleep as one of your most important tasks. Like I said, we value it so much here, that we bring up sleep duration and quality with every single member of our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program.
Like the Indiana Jones movies, sleep can vary in quality.
Some types of sleep can be great, while some sleep can be crappy (and potentially involve aliens).
Let’s take a quick look at the different stages of sleep first.
We have Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep, and Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep:[16]
Your body goes through these stages in order, but as you repeat sleep cycles (which are 90 minutes), the duration can shift dramatically.
Sleep Junkies provides a pretty good graph of different sleep cycles (in their article on sleep and alcohol), which we’ll borrow below:
In this example of “Cycle 5” the sleeper barely spends any time in “deep sleep,” but much more time in REM sleep.
Our bodies are cray like that.
What’s with the different stages of sleep?
What’s crazy is that your entire morning can be dictated by what stage of sleep you were in before waking up. If you’ve ever only slept a few hours and woke up feeling great, or conversely slept plenty of hours but woke up groggy, this could explain it!
Don’t worry, I’ll explain exactly how to stop this from happening with the Nerd Fitness Sleep Calculator.
We have a circadian rhythm (a daily biological clock) that ebbs and flows throughout the day.
Our body uses outside stimuli and our own activity to produce certain hormones at certain times to make our body more prepared for the required functions at that time (alertness vs restfulness).
Look at it from an evolutionary perspective – way back in the day (which was a Wednesday):
Unfortunately, these days, our bodies aren’t tied to the rise and fall of that giant ball of gas above us.
Instead, we can use electricity, alarm clocks, computer screens, smartphone screens, and all other sorts of outside stimuli to adjust our natural sleeping schedule.
This means that our bodies often have no effin’ clue what time it is!
Outside of our circadian rhythm, we have another biological system that tells us when to go to bed: the chemical adenosine.[19]
Think of it as “sleep pressure.” As soon as you wake up, your body starts to produce adenosine. When it hits a certain threshold, you get tired and start thinking about your pillow.
You really want your circadian rhythm and adenosine buildup in sync. When they’re not, it’s terrible.
You may have experienced it: jetlag comes about when you’re in a different part of the world than your home, so the change in daylight throws off your circadian rhythm.
For example, let’s say it was daylight when I left London and it’s daylight when I arrive in New York 10 hours later.
But your sleep pressure system doesn’t know this, so it’s trying to send you to bed, despite it being high noon.
Here’s when things can really go haywire: you finally get to bed in New York, but your circadian rhythm is still linked to London (which is now morning), so it starts making you more alert despite being nighttime in Manhattan.
And insomnia ensures…
This brings us to the single best advice on getting better sleep: do what you can to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.[20]
Even on weekends whenever possible.
This helps your circadian rhythm and adenosine buildup stay in line with each other. Things get awful when these two systems are out of whack.
This isn’t our only piece of advice on getting better sleep!
Here are 10 more tips on engineering a perfect night’s rest:
#1) Avoid screens as you get closer to bedtime. Why avoid screen time? A couple of things to consider:
#2) Consider purchasing red lightbulbs to use in your bedroom lamps, so your bedroom is a place of soft light rather than bright/harsh light.[24]
#3) Keep your bedroom cool (but not too cold). Outside of light, our bodies use temperature as a signal to go to bed.[25] It gets colder at night, so this shift in temperature tells our body it’s time to go to sleep. Personally, I’ve found that keeping my bedroom cool helps me fall asleep. It’s been a real game-changer. What’s the sweet spot? Experiment a little here, but shoot for somewhere between 60-67 degrees Fahrenheit (15-19 Celsius). Just don’t go too cold, which can also disrupt your rest.
#4) Consider getting black-out curtains for your bedroom windows, especially if you live in a city. Living in a city, there’s always something bright and shiny happening outside my window – it wasn’t until I purchased super dark curtains to cover up my windows that I noticed an improvement in my ‘fall-asleep time.’
#5) Earplugs or a white noise machine might be a good idea. Sounds and other forms of ear pollution can be a distraction when you’re trying to sleep. White noise machines might drown some of this out, and studies show they do help, but some good ole fashioned earplugs could do the trick too.[26]
#6) No TV in bed. This might be incredibly difficult for you if you’ve been falling asleep to TV for years. Instead of falling asleep with the blue glow of a TV at the foot of your bed, read a book – trust me, it will put you right to sleep.[27]
#7) Get in the habit of reading fiction. Reading puts me to sleep within a few minutes most night, though only if I’m reading fiction. When reading non-fiction, my mind starts to race with all of the new ideas and things I could be working on. Either read real books or read on a Kindle, no iPads!
#8) Buy the right TYPE of Mattress for you: I slept on a soft mattress with two mattress pads for a few months years ago and wondered why I woke up with lower back pain every day. Turns out, my back was jacked up, and the soft mattress made things even worse. Since switching to a firm mattress, I wake up without back pain. Lesson learned here: I’m not smart.
#9) A lot of this can depend on HOW you sleep! Are you a side sleeper? Back sleeper? Stomach sleeper? Turns out there are some evolutionary reasons why some styles work better than others! Personally, I use the “half-military crawl position” outlined by Tim Ferriss (scroll down to tip 11 for the position).
#10) Have allergies? Try a hypoallergenic pillowcase! Your allergies could be affecting you while you sleep, and having the proper pillowcase can make a world of a difference.
So we’ve covered how to get BETTER sleep, what if you also need to get more of it?
In order to start getting more sleep, sleep must become more of a priority. If you constantly stay up too late because things need to get done, evaluate how your time is spent after work. Seriously, think about it!
Yes, I understand we have parents who read Nerd Fitness and have to stay awake and function on minimal sleep (I commend you, and wish you luck!).
However, for many of us, less sleep is often a result of disorganized priorities and poor use of our time.
Here are the best practical tips for giving you the greatest chance at getting into bed earlier:
Is there any more annoying sound in the world than the “beep beep beep” of an alarm clock?
Well, maybe this.
But you get the point.
So here you are, dreaming about riding a dragon, doing improv with Liam Neeson, and playing poker with Iron Man and Spock…and that damn alarm clock wakes you up. You are now incredibly groggy and miserable.
Here’s what’s happening: Remember earlier how we talked about different sleep cycles? Depending on which cycle you were woken up during, your body can struggle to move from “asleep” to “wide awake.”
Because we’re often waking up at times when we’re not ready to wake up, timing can be everything when it comes to getting out of bed.
Have no fear! Let’s give you a timetable to base your sleep schedule on, so your alarm clock isn’t so jarring.
Here are some assumptions we’ll use:
THE NERD FITNESS SLEEP CALCULATOR
Wake up: 5am
Wake up: 6:30am
Wake up: 8am
You get the gist. Try to time your alarm clock to a natural break between sleep cycles.
Technology might help here too!
Feel free to sing the first line of “Circle of Life” at this point. I just did.
Also, DON’T SNOOZE!
Instead of snoozing, set your alarm for 30 minutes later and SKIP snoozing entirely. If this is an issue for you, put your alarm across the room so you need to physically get out of bed to turn it off!
Here are a couple more tips to help your alertness in the morning:
According to studies, about 1 in 10 people are true morning people (“larks”), while 2 in 10 are considered “night owls.” The rest fit somewhere in the middle as “hummingbirds.”
What this means: Some of us are more alert at certain times of the day and naturally want to rise earlier or stay up later. [28]
Now, the difference between the two extremes isn’t as DRASTIC as we’ve made it out to be. Humans can never be truly naturally nocturnal – we don’t have night vision (yet…).
We’re not programmed to operate during the middle of the night. But, we CAN use our natural tendencies to help us be more efficient and productive during certain parts of the day.
We can change and adapt. Just like those who successfully work a night shift job (tips on that here), many who consider themselves a night owl may find they can become a morning person if they set themselves up for success.
I used the excuse for years of being a “night owl” to screw around all day and work from midnight to 4 AM each night, when it really just required a shifting of my priorities and productivity hacks.
What this all means: Identify your biological clock and try to adjust around it if possible. However, if your job requires you to get up early or stay up later, most of us can make an adjustment. Don’t let your poor habits blame “being a night owl” like I used to.
Although generally not part of a day here in the States, we’re actually programmed to desire a quick nap in the early afternoon.[29]
In other countries, naps are more socially acceptable (Siesta? Si, por favor!). If you feel bad that you get tired in the early afternoon, it’s not because you’re lazy. It’s because you’re naturally wired for naptime. Now, you might still be lazy, but it’s not related to your nap schedule.
So, behold the power of the power nap:
Didn’t get enough sleep last night? Only have 20-30 minutes for a quick break? Try the caffeine-fueled power nap.
Fun fact: If you’ve slept less than normal, taking a 90-minute nap the following day could lead to an increased amount of REM sleep in that nap.[30]
Sleep apnea is a condition where someone periodically stops breathing while sleeping.
While there are a few different versions of sleep apnea, the most common is “Obstructive Sleep Apnea,” which occurs when throat muscles become overly relaxed.
A telltale sign of obstructive sleep apnea is loud snoring, although not everyone who snores has sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea can potentially be pretty serious, what with the whole not breathing thing going on. It depends on the severity of the condition.
How do you know if your sleep apnea is mild or severe?
Unfortunately, the only way to really be sure is to head to the doctor. If you go to your primary care physician, they will likely refer you to a sleep specialist to find out.
If you feel tired in the morning despite getting plenty of sleep, and a partner or loved one complains that you snore, it might be worth looking into a sleep apnea diagnosis.
I will mention that being overweight can contribute to obstructive sleep apnea, so weight loss could be a possible treatment.
If weight loss is your goal, then you’ve come to the right place. We specialize in helping people achieve sustainable weight loss.
I’ve got a couple of resources to help you start your journey:
In the meantime, try a different sleeping position (like the aforementioned half-military crawl position to keep your passages open).
Biphasic Sleep is sleeping in two distinct periods.
We’re gonna go back in the day again: during winter months, nighttime could last 12-14 hours.
With our bodies’ production of melatonin (the “sleepy time” hormone) kicking into high gear when that sun drops, people had nothing else to do (no TV, PS4, or iPads) and would fall asleep early. Then they would wake up for an hour or two in the middle of the night to read, pray, or think, and then fall back asleep for another 4-5 hours before waking up for the day.
If you’ve ever gone to bed at a normal hour, and then woke up in the middle of the night without being able to fall back asleep for an hour or so, you know what I’m talking about.
Here’s the thing: this is actually quite natural![33]
Rather than freaking the heck out and lying in bed wondering why you can’t fall asleep…consider it something that is more common than our current sleep schedule.[34] Don’t be afraid to turn on the light (red light!) and read a book or use the time for meditation until you can fall back asleep.
This one ‘mental shift’ alone can keep your stress levels down and let you get back to sleep faster and provide you with BETTER sleep.
#1) Macrodozing:
I stumbled across the BEST biohack for optimal human performance.
It’s tricky, but here’s what to do:
Lie in bed with your eyes closed, for like, 7-9 hours.
If you can actually pull this off, productivity for the next 16 hours will be INSANE.
I call it “Macrodozing.”
— Steve Kamb (@SteveKamb) January 31, 2020
😉
#2) Clear your mind, Neo.
I often spend my nights in bed thinking and worrying about all of the things I need to do the next day. Instead of stressing out about it, take a minute and write down the things you need to do the next day. Then set it aside.
A notebook, a post-it note, an Evernote file, whatever.
Do a brain-dump and clear your head so you can focus on reading A Game of Thrones without thinking about the next day’s tasks.
#3) Want to control your dreams? It’s called “Lucid Dreaming,” it’s possible, but requires work. I’ve only been able to do it once, but haven’t given up hope that it can become a more common occurrence! Ultimately, this allows you to live out a real-life version of Inception.
#4) Have way too much time on your hands and not constricted by societal norms? Try Polyphasic sleep and then tell me how it goes 🙂 It didn’t work for Kramer, but it might work for you!
Like, anything, that which gets measured gets improved.
Now, if you’re somebody that isn’t really detail-oriented, just start by picking ONE or two changes above, and focus on building that Hard Hat Habit. However, if you like to nerd out about certain details, why not nerd out about your sleep?
Starting tomorrow morning, when you wake up, recap the previous day with a journal entry:
A quick recap on what to do:
If you want to use technology: F.Lux for your computer, red bulbs in the bedroom, Sunrise alarm clock for waking up without disturbing deep sleep.
That should just about do it for today’s article.
If you’re looking for where to go from here, I’ve got some options for you. But I’m only gonna tell you, because you’ve been a good sport this whole article.
NEXT STEPS IF YOU WANT TO GO FARTHER!
#1) Our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program: a coaching program for busy people to help them lose weight, get strong, and level up their lives!
We take sleep so seriously, we discuss it with each and every client.
#2) If you want an exact blueprint for getting in shape, check out Nerd Fitness Journey! Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
If you follow our Sleep missions, you’ll learn to improve your night rituals while earning XP! Sah-weeeet.
Try your free trial right here:
#3) Join our amazing free community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion! Not only is it free to join, but we’ll provide you with loads of free goodies when you sign-up:
Now, I’d love to hear from you:
Let’s hear it!
-Steve
###
gif sources: Gremlins, Storm, GI Joe, Yogi, South Park, South Park II, What time is it, Armageddon, Morning Bugs, Night Vision, Bugs Insomnia, Buddy, Bill Murray, Snoring Homer, Patrick Sleeping.
photo sources: Sleep Cycle, Tired Lego, Sleeping Lego, Sleeping Puppy, Sleeping Baby, Sleeping Cat, Sleeping Koala, Sleeping Bunnies, Side Sleeping Lego, Sleeping Kitty, Owl, late alarm clock, Sleeping Tiger, Notepad, Laughing Buddha,
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Whether we acknowledge it or not, routines hold power over many aspects of our life. If you are not a fan of routines you may feel tempted to skip this episode, but I encourage you to listen. If you enjoy creating and optimizing your routines, then you’re probably already listening.
This episode is designed to help you take a closer look at your routines, both intentional and unintentional. By the end, you’ll understand why what you do each day matters. Your routines affect how you feel, your relationships, your health, and even how successful you are. Press play now to hear how routines can change your life.
If you are not a big routine person, you may think that you don’t have a routine. But you do! Whatever you do every day is already your routine, setting a routine is just making it intentional.
My routines help me build the habits I need to support the kind of life I want to lead and help make me the type of person I want to be. Without the intentionality that comes with my routines, I wouldn’t do either of these things on my own. Bad habits and routines that don’t serve me have a way of creeping in if I don’t rely on the positive routines that I have built in my life.
Many transitions that we experience come with preconceived ideas on what the outcome or transition may look like. Rather than going into a transition with these preconceived notions, try to set them aside to make room for what may actually happen.
If you are wading through a difficult transition, take some time to create space to question your thoughts. How are you thinking about this transition? Are your thoughts holding you back? Can you reframe your thinking?
Consider the ways that you could change your thought pattern to bring about a more positive result. Journaling is a great way to work through this process and give yourself a sense of agency and empowerment.
Our thoughts affect our feelings which affect our behaviors, so if we can change our thoughts we can end up changing our behaviors and create different outcomes.
I haven’t always had the same routines in my life: they have changed with the seasons of life. It is important to pause and reflect periodically to see if your routines continue to serve you. If not, it may be time for an adjustment. Consider the routines that you have now. Which ones best serve the type of life you want to live and help you become the person that you want to be?
Morning and evening are ideal times to implement routines. Remember, routines don’t have to be etched in stone. Just like your Pilates workouts, your routines can be flexible and they may change a bit from day to day. Having a plan but keeping it flexible is the key to success with routines.
Routines help me instill habits and keep me on track with what matters most. My morning and evening routines give me the space that I need to focus on myself.
My morning routine allows me to start my morning with intention which means that I go into the day on a proactive note instead of a reactive note. In addition to boosting my energy, improving my focus, and entering a proactive state of mind, my routines have improved my relationships with my husband and kids and allowed me time for exercise, education, and reflection.
Are you ready to start your own routine? Listen in to hear what I do for my morning and evening routines, you’ll also get some ideas from more of the Lindywell team. Start your routine by joining the Lindywell 14-Day Mind-Body Reset!
Subscribe to The Balanced Life
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All of us have plenty of stress in our lives.
In the modern world, it’s almost a given.
If you find yourself responding by “stress eating,” know that you are not alone.
One of the top issues faced by clients in our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program is emotional or stress eating. It actually seems to increase in occurrence year over year.
Today, we’re going to show you exactly how we address emotional eating with our clients, including when it’s – GASP – actually okay to stress eat.
Here’s what we’ll cover in today’s guide:
The above video from Coach Justin comes from the Nerd Fitness Prime “Mindset” video series.
Justin covers three important lessons I want to highlight, but before we do that, we should ask ourselves a question:
“What exactly is stress eating?”
Stress eating is consuming food in response to negative emotions like fear, anger, or sadness.
When we stress eat, food is being used to solve a problem. Now, unless we’re actually hungry, it’s likely a problem that food itself isn’t meant to solve.
That’s stress or emotional eating.
Here’s what compounds the whole problem: stress eating itself can make us feel guilty. We often feel terrible once our spoon hits the bottom of the pint of ice cream.
This can drive more negative emotions, which can trigger even MORE stress eating.
And the pattern continues.
We’ll talk about ways to break this cycle in a moment, but before we do, we need to create some tools to identify it in the first place.
You may have been surprised in our video above when Coach Justin gives permission to stress eat.
Counterintuitive and seemingly counterproductive, I know. But this is going to be important for two reasons.
Step #1: we need to curb the guilty feelings about stress or emotional eating.
I started this guide off by highlighting the frequency of stress eating amongst our Online Coaching clients.
You are not the only one struggling with this.
Most humans do.
And robots with human-like emotions and taste buds
We’ll come back to this idea again, because ending the shame of emotional eating will be critical for moving forward.
Step #2: allowing ourselves to stress eat will help us learn why we do it.
We’re going to be playing detective here, to see if we can piece apart your actions and routines.
At the end of the day, our lives are a cumulation of habits. Stress eating is one such habit.
So let’s learn about it!
To do so, we’re gonna record some Emotional Eating Notes.
During an episode of stress eating, it’s important to ask:
Also, gauging these at different times can be helpful too.
How is your stress looking:
The purpose of these Emotional Eating Notes?
Look for patterns!
Perhaps you’ll notice some of the following:
We’re looking for patterns to help us understand what drives our stress eating.
The most important thing about this process: withholding judgment.
We’re looking at our notes for clues into our psyche. Whatever we captured is okay.
If you order pizza every Thursday after talking with your overbearing mom (of course, she means well), step one is to recognize it.
Oftentimes, this awareness step alone can help shift behavior. “Oh, I’m reaching for a beer like I normally do after ending my workday. Typical Me.”
After creating some notes on what spurs our emotional eating, it’s time to think about some alternatives for coping with stress.
After documenting what sets off our stress eating, we need to formulate a plan on what to do when our anxiety rises.
That means it’s time to build…a Stress Response Menu!
Our Stress Response Menu will be a list of actions or activities you can do to de-stress outside of eating.
Ideally, you’ll do them before an eating episode, but they can be done during or after the fact too.
In other words, if you only realized you were stress eating when your hand reaches the bottom of the Doritos bag, no problem, you can do your stress response activity right then.
The purpose of the Stress Response Menu is to reward yourself with a small moment of self-love, whenever your anxiety levels are too much.
The more the activity from your Stress Response Menu can match your personal goals, the better.
In other words, if you’re trying to build muscle, some push-ups might be the perfect de-stressor.
Just make sure it’s something you won’t dread doing.
A combination of a “de-stressor” and a “reward.”
This is important, as Coach Justin mentions that many of his clients only reward themselves with food. The self-love they practice only takes place in the kitchen.
Our menu above will help us develop some more options, not solely based on food.
#1) Make the activities short and easy.
You should feel confident that you can do every item on your list. So avoid activities that will take longer than 10 minutes to complete.
Also, set yourself up for success by hacking your Batcave:
Don’t set yourself up for failure by picking overly complicated or burdensome activities.
#2) Place your Stress Response Menu somewhere visible.
Once you make your list, print it out and place it in your kitchen or pantry (or wherever you typically stress eat).
You could also write out a couple of your favorite activities and attach them to your refrigerator.
If it’s right in front of you, it’ll be harder to ignore (however, it’s okay to ignore it from time to time, as we aren’t striving for perfection).
Just please don’t write it and then stick the list in the junk drawer that opens to another dimension.
You never can find anything in that drawer.
#3)Track your usage of the Stress Response Menu.
This will help us in two ways:
For the first point, Coach Justin has his clients keep a “Jar of Awesome.”
Every time they have a small win in the day, like taking five deep breaths instead of chugging soda, they place a marble or small token in a jar. After a while, the jar will have a decent amount of marbles or “small wins” in it.
This will then stand as a visual reminder of all the progress being made, proof of their ongoing wins.
The American Psychological Association has found that about a third of Americans respond to stress with food.[1]
This research was done BEFORE the global pandemic.
If you find yourself binging in response to stress, know that you are not alone here.
Heck, both clients and NF Coaches turn to food and alcohol for comfort every now and again.
Personally, somewhat recently I mindlessly devoured an entire tub of Animal Crackers after a stressful week. It was only when the bag was gone did I understand what just happened.
So yep, many of us (even fitness “experts”) are prone to stress eating.
Now, don’t take this as a free pass to stress eat.
If the behavior goes against your goals, it’s something we want to work towards improving.
But there’s a reason they call it “comfort food.” Food can often be used to make us happier.
At the end of the day, we’re all emotional bags of meat on this floating hunk of space rock, and we’re doing the best we can.
Give yourself a bit of a break, my friend.
You’re here, you’re reading, and you’re trying. That’s great!
This will bring me to my last point with our handy guide:
There are times when food is the perfect response to stress.
It’s something Coach Justin mentions in his video.
“Stress eating” might be appropriate if:
The important thing here?
“We are making a choice.”
We are choosing to deal with stress or anxiety with food. By making it an intentional activity, we can remove the guilt around emotional eating.
Food can be fine as a reward, as long as it’s us controlling the behavior, and not the food itself.
In addition, if we can recognize the action (or plan for it), we can then adjust our calories before and after and not go off the rails.
(You can calculate your recommended total daily calorie intake here, by the way!)
If it seems like you aren’t quite there yet, start with your Emotional Eating Notes and your Stress Response Menu.
Even just the process of taking notes on specific episodes of stress eating may be enough to slow down the behavior.
Remember, no matter what happens:
You are not a bad person (unless you’re a Death Eater, but come on, you know what side you’re on).
If you need any help along the way, we are here for you.
We have three specific paths to continue with Nerd Fitness:
#1) Our Online Coaching program: a coaching program for busy people to help them make better food choices, stay accountable, and get healthier, permanently.
As I said before, “stress eating” is the number one issue faced by our coaching clients, so we know exactly how to help recognize and address the habit.
You can schedule a free call with our team so we can get to know you and see if our coaching program is right for you:
#2) If you want an exact blueprint for leveling up your nutrition, check out Nerd Fitness Journey! Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
If you follow our Mindset missions, you’ll learn to de-stress while earning XP! Sah-weeeet.
Try your free trial right here:
#3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our Rebel Starter Kit, which includes all of our “work out at home” guides, the Nerd Fitness Diet Cheat Sheet, and much more!
Alright, I want to hear from you:
Have you been stress eating more over the last year?
Do you have any tips or tricks to interrupt the pattern?
What’s your favorite way to de-stress?
Let me know in the comments!
-Steve
P.S. Make sure you check out A Nerd’s Introduction to Mental Health for more.
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Photo Source: Plant LEGO, beer5020 © 123RF.com, Programmer, On the couch, LEGO hot dog stand,
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Read this post A Little Life Update | Summer ’22 on keep it simpElle.
The first half, and then some, of 2022 seems to have gone by in a flash. I started off the year with maximum energy… or at least an attempt to have maximum energy, despite feeling like I was on the…
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The post Practical tools to help you successfully navigate transitions with Elisabeth Callahan, LCSW appeared first on Lindywell.
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Strengthening your wrists stabilizes your arms and shoulders which not only helps you to sustain postures longer during your workout, it also helps you in your day-to-day life, such as reducing injury associated with repetitive movements like typing and playing sports. At Lindywell, we’re dedicated to helping you feel your best with ways to target those areas while reducing stress, relieving tension, and building strength.
Watch this 2-minute quick clip of Robin Long, Pilates Instructor and founder of Lindywell, to get extra modifications and stretches to strengthen your wrists.
Click here to enjoy a 14-day free trial to access a full library of Pilates workouts, recipes, and resources!
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Read this post 5 Tips For Selling Your Fit Kit on Depop on keep it simpElle.
I’ve been using Depop for 4/5 years now and it’s still my number one place for selling the excess kit I’ve accumulated. But I had to get some tips for how to sell on Depop to be able to make…
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Using your breath can be a powerful wellness tool whose benefits have been backed by scientific research. This free, easily accessible tool can be used by anyone at any time to help regulate emotion and bring a sense of well-being to your life. Breath is at the core of Pilates and can be used for wellness both on the mat and off.
My guest today is breathwork coach, Kiesha Yokers of the Green and Well blog. Kiesha is passionate about breathwork and education and is striving to bring the gift of breathwork as a path to wellness to as many people as she can.
Check out this episode to hear all the ways you can benefit from using breathwork as a wellness tool. Make sure to listen until the end to hear a few breathing techniques that you (and your kids) can use right now to help you relax and enter rest and digest mode.
In episode 78, Robin shared her personal journey with breathwork, but in this episode she wanted to dive in and explore this vital topic in more depth with Kiesha Yokers – an entrepreneur, mom, and Navy wife who has a passion for nontoxic living. She has spent the past several years researching wellness and the effect of toxins on the body while developing her blog.
Even though Kiesha was a healthy living blogger, she didn’t know anything about breathwork. After the traumatic events of 2020 and especially the vision of George Floyd struggling to breathe his last breath, Kiesha began exploring the topic of breath as a way to heal from trauma.
This led her to take a few breathwork classes. Immediately, she understood the value of this simple tool. Since she is a natural teacher, she knew right away that she wanted to teach breathwork to others. Breathwork has helped her address her trauma, get rid of brain fog, and reduce stress.
We don’t often think about our breath unless something is wrong, but breathing is the first and last action of our lives. There are many ways that people can work on using their breath to reduce stress, reduce blood pressure, improve lung function, increase cognitive performance, and even improve sleep quality.
There are breathwork exercises that can stimulate you and get you ready to compete, and others that can calm you down from a heightened state. Circular breathing, the Wim Hof method, yogic breathing, and conscious connected breathing all have their own techniques and advantages. Listen in to hear Kiesha explain how different types of breathing could help you improve separate areas of your health.
As adults, we often have a hard time explaining and processing our own emotions, so imagine what it is like for kids!
Parents can model breathwork to help kids learn to work through their emotions. Talking through your emotions and describing the tools you are using to calm yourself can show your kids how breathing exercises help you. By watching you model these techniques, kids can start to take this tool into their own survival toolbox.
It is also a great idea to explicitly teach ways to use their breath to calm themselves when they are worked up, however, it is important to teach kids when they are in a calm state. No one can learn anything when they are in the midst of a meltdown. When you teach them something while they are calm they can use it as a tool to help them come back from the brink.
Listen in to learn a few breathing techniques that you can use right now to destress and return your body to a parasympathetic state.
Subscribe to The Balanced Life
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So you want to start working out, but you don’t want to leave the house?
No problem!
Our online coaches specialize in helping people get fit from home.
Let’s go over the 8 Best At-Home Workouts so you can start training today: no gym or equipment required!
Before we jump in…
You’re reading this guide at the perfect time because Nerd Fitness is currently hosting a special event, LET’S START TOGETHER: A 5-DAY WALKING CHALLENGE FOR HOBBITSNERDS!
Walking around your neighborhood is a great way to start training from home! It’s one of the ways I choose to stay active.
No matter which at-home workout you pick, I want you to start with one important thing:
Warm-up!
I cover why you should always warm up in an article found right here. It doesn’t have to be much though, give it about five minutes to get your muscles active and your heart rate up.
This will help you do exercises properly and help prevent injury. You can run in place, do air punches and kicks, or some jumping jacks.
Here is NF Senior Coach Staci (you might know her incredible story) showing you many beginner options you can use to warm up as well:
If you’re curious, here’s my personal (advanced) warm-up:
Advanced Warm-up Routine:
Our goal isn’t to tire you out, instead we want to warm you up.
That’s step one.
Completing your chosen at-home workout would be step two.
Below, you’ll find 8 sequences you can follow along with!
This at-home routine, as we lay out in our Beginner Bodyweight Workout article, is as follows:
We also turned it into a fun infographic with superheroes, because that’s how we roll:
The above is what we call “circuit training,” with the objective being to run through the workout sequence once, then again, then again.
Note: Not a milk drinker?
If you don’t have milk in the house for the rows, find something of roughly the same weight with a good handle.
Also, if you want to download this Beginner Bodyweight Workout as a worksheet, you can do so when you sign up in the box below:
It’ll help you track your progress as you begin your training.
If the beginner at-home workout above is too easy for you, move on to our Advanced Bodyweight Workout.
Not familiar with these moves? Check out the 21 Best Advanced Bodyweight Exercises for a full breakdown.
I warn you, the above sequence will hurt… in a good way. You should be proud if you can get through this three times.
Do you want to get as strong as possible so this workout ain’t no thang?
Sign up in the box below to grab our guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know. It’ll teach you all of these advanced bodyweight exercises!
Sometimes, you just plain find yourself stuck in a hotel room. Maybe you can find the hotel gym, but I bet it’s terrible! It probably has 2 machines, a broken treadmill, and no free weights.
Ugh.
Instead, how about a 20-min workout you can do in the room itself! Utilize the furniture to its full potential.
Set the alarm clock to 15 minutes from now and see how many circuits you can do!
Check out our full post on hotel circuits if you want Level 3!
We have a LOT of business travelers throughout the Rebellion! Learn how they stay fit on the road with the Nerd Fitness Starter Kit!
You don’t have to head to the gym to do High-Intensity Interval Training. You can do a complete routine right in your own home!
HIIT is just following a specific regimen where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run, swim, bike, or row.
Unless you have a giant backyard, running at home might be tough.
But you know what doesn’t require a lot of room?
Burpees!
To complete a burpee:
Check out our full guide on How to Start Interval Training for some more ideas on HIIT workouts.
You can also check out our post “The 20-Min HIIT Workout for Home” for another living-room-friendly interval routine!
The Angry Birds Workout is designed to be done when you have 5 or 10 minutes to kill.
Sort of like playing Angry Birds…
Here’s how The Angry Birds Workout Plan works: it’s deceptively simple – only four major movements.
If you don’t have time to run through the whole sequence, no problem!
Depending on how much time you have during the day, you can do your whole workout at once, or break up your training into four different sessions throughout the day (with each session being ONE of the exercises).
Here’s a sample day for your No-Equipment Workout:
You could even split it up over two days if needed, but the goal would be to do it the whole sequence at once.
The main Angry Birds Workout article describes in detail Levels 1-6, but here’s Level 3 for you:
Once you’ve done the complete routine, you have my permission to whip out your phone and play the actual game!
We love the Caped Crusader here at Nerd Fitness, so naturally we have The Batman Bodyweight Workout for you to try!
Bonus points if you somehow do this no-equipment workout in a cave, as that’s how Bruce Wayne would roll.[1]
This workout is separated into two days for you.
Here’s a video for the first day:
Batman No-Equipment Workout Day 1:
Here’s a video for the second day:
Batman No-Equipment Workout Day 2:
This is a relatively advanced workout already, but if you want to progress to the next level, check out the main Batman Bodyweight Workout for tips on how to do just that.
The PLP is a progressive program in which you complete one additional rep of three exercises – Pull-Ups, Lunges, and Push-Ups – every day, for two months.
NOTE: This is NOT a beginner program, and should not be attempted unless you have been training consistently and can do multiple repetitions of pull-ups and push-ups with great form.
Like this perfect push-up:
And this perfect pull-up:
Here’s how the PLP Progression works:
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
How long do you keep doing this?
As originally envisioned by Chad Waterbury, the PLP Workout lasts 60 days.[3]
Yeah…by the end of it you’ll be doing more than 50 pull-ups.
There are two versions:
Complete your required reps each day in as many sets as you need, whenever you need to. The goal is to do it in as few sets as possible, but enough so that you can complete each rep with proper form.
Want to learn more? Check out my results on the PLP Workout.
Do you have access to a hallway that you can commandeer for a bit?
Then you can do our Star Wars Workout!
It’s designed to be done in a very small space, like your home’s hallway…or an escape pod.
The “Padawan” Level of this workout is:
If you want to advance to the Jedi Knight or Master Levels, check out The Star Wars Workout, which will also offer you a full description of each move.
Do you have a nearby playground? Why not work out there! If you have kids, you can do it together. Or let them ignore you.
I’ll give you a Level One workout, and a Level Two. Check out The 20-Minute Playground Workout for some Level Three exercises.
After you’ve gone through a complete set three times, go down the slide!
Throughout our Online Coaching Program, we get two common questions for those wanting to train at home:
The answer to both of these: yep!
Let’s tackle them one by one.
#1) Can working out at home help me build muscle?
You can 100% build muscle mass at home.
Just ask out friend Jimmy here:
Read more on how Jimmy turned into Spider-Man from home!
The trick is to follow a progressive overload strategy, as Coach Jim outlines in this video:
With progressive overload, we want to make our workouts more and more challenging, thus putting additional strain on our muscles.
So to build muscle with home workouts, focus on:
That will help you build strength and muscle from your casa.
Next up:
#2) Can working out at home help me lose weight?
You can totally train at home for a successful weight loss strategy.
Again, we have a great example with one of our Online Coaching Clients, Sarah the Supermom:
The trick here is to couple your home workouts with adjustments to your nutrition.
We’re big believers that you can’t outrun your fork, so any successful weight loss plan will include a focus on building a healthy plate.
That will look something like this:
If you want some help on adjusting your nutrition, I’ve got two great resources for you:
We just went over 8 workouts you can do at home (plus a workout you can do in a park).
You don’t have to stick to these though!
I have two resources to help you design your own no-equipment workout:
That should get you going on building a workout you can do in the comfort of your own home.
Want more? Alright, eager beaver, I got you.
We built THREE options for people just like you:
1) If you want step-by-step guidance, a custom workout program that levels up as you get stronger, and a coach to keep you accountable, check out our killer 1-on-1 coaching program:
2) If you want a daily prompt for doing workouts at home, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Try your free trial right here:
3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know. It’ll help you start incorporating these bodyweight moves into your training.
Alright, your turn: I’d love to hear how your home training is going!
Which workout above did you try? Did you make one of your own?
Leave a comment below with your results or any questions you have on working out at home.
For the Rebellion!
-Steve
PS: If you were going to buy one piece of equipment to utilize in your home, a kettlebell would offer you a lot of versatility:
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Photo Sources: Home Sweet Home 2, good dog, The minifigures of this series are really beautiful, it’s a rap, my friend:), Ekaterina Minaeva © 123RF.com, Hotel Room, af8images © 123RF.com, Tithi Luadthong © 123RF.com, Vintage House Bicycle,
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