Because sleep is an output, not a switch:

Let’s count to 10

The core premise here is that sleep is an output, not a switch, and this every daytime decision sets up whether or not our system can effectively “power down” at night.

So, with that in mind, consider building these 10 habits into your days, if they’re not already there:

1. Morning movement: begin the day with gentle, natural movement to wake your nervous system gradually instead of spiking it with screens, caffeine, and noise.
2. Breathwork: use slow breathing with long exhales and pauses to signal safety to your nervous system and reduce nighttime hyperarousal.
3. Exercise cut-off: avoid heavy training in the evening, as it raises cortisol, body temperature, and sympathetic nervous system activation, all of which interfere with sleep.
4. Movement breaks: take short, frequent movement breaks during the day to prevent/undo tension accumulation that otherwise carries into the night.
5. True downregulation: replace numbing distractions with physical cues like floorwork, slow mobility drills, long exhales, dim light, and quiet to clearly signal that the day is over.
6. Decompression: counter daily stresses by creating space in your body through hanging, thoracic opening, rib expansion, and hip opening; this will reduce bracing and waking up during the night.
7. Hot and cold therapy: combining sauna with cold immersion (not simultaneously, but in the same routine) for a lowered core temperature later and strongly deepened sleep, especially when done several hours before bed.
8. Evening gear shift: build a clear transition from stimulation to rest using low light, gentle movement, breathing into your ribs, and stopping food intake well before bed. Yes, this is more or less the same as number 5, but we didn’t make the list.
9. Morning light: get real daylight soon after waking to anchor your circadian rhythm and align cortisol, melatonin, and sleep–wake timing.
10. Daytime sleep practice: no, not “practise sleeping during the day”, but rather, treat sleep as something you prepare for all day through movement, breath, tension management, and consistent safety signals.

If ever it seems you’re fighting a losing battle when it comes to getting good sleep, remember that your ability to sleep is (for most people) not broken; it’s just overwhelmed by incorrect inputs. As such, things start to go better as soon as rhythm, movement, and nervous-system regulation improve—which they almost always will, when implementing the above habits.

For more on all of this, enjoy:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

You might also like:

10 Tips for Better Sleep: Starting In The Morning

Take care!

If you’re struggling, these are the likely stumbling blocks and how to get past them:

Drop it like it’s squat

The deep squat (also called resting squat, sitting squat, Slav squat, Asian squat, and more) is a natural resting position that most Western adults lose due to lack of regular use, leading to reduced mobility in associated areas too. And because of how the body works in terms of musculoskeletal system and fascia, “associated areas” ends up being pretty much the whole body.

So, with that in mind, here are the 5 things, and what to do about them:

• Ankle mobility: this becomes a problem when limited ankle dorsiflexion stops your shin from moving forward, causing your heel to lift and your weight to shift forwards
  • ankle test: stand about 10cm from a wall, and move your knee forwards while keeping your heel flat; if your knee can touch the wall without your heel lifting, your ankle dorsiflexion is sufficient; if not, then work is needed on it
  • ankle fix: do elevated heel raises, by lowering your body from a step and rising onto your toes (and repeat), to build strength and mobility through full range
• Knee flexion: insufficient knee bend beyond 120° stops depth early, usually due to tight quads, joint stiffness, or prior injury
  • knee fix: do the “couch stretch” by elevating your back foot, putting your back knee down, squeezing your glutes, and driving your hip forwards, to restore knee and hip mobility
• Hip mobility, general: limited hip flexion or tight adductors prevent your pelvis from dropping between your thighs, often causing lower back rounding or hip compression
  • hip fix (CARs): do controlled articular rotations (CARs) by lifting your knee, rotating it out, and moving it through a full circular range, to train active control
  • hip fix (sumo squat): hold a weight, take a wide stance with toes turned out, sink deep, and push your knees outwards to build strength and mobility at the end of your range of motion
• Hip external rotation: weak or tight external rotators cause your knees to collapse inwards, and your squat to feel unstable
  • stance adjustment: turn your toes outwards until your knees track naturally over your feet, to match your individual hip structure
  • external rotation fix: do side-lying banded clamshells, by opening your top knee while keeping your feet together, to strengthen your glutes
• Thoracic mobility: a stiff upper back causes your chest to collapse forwards, even if your lower body mobility is sufficient
  • thoracic fix (foam roller): extend your upper back over a foam roller, segment by segment, to improve extension
  • thoracic fix (counterbalance squat): hold a light weight in front of your chest while squatting, to keep your center of mass forwards and maintain an upright torso

For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

You might also like:

The Most Anti Aging Exercise

Take care!

Arterial plaque is a big deal, and statistically it’s more of a risk as we get older, often coming to a head around age 72 for women and 65 for men—these are the median ages at which people who are going to get heart attacks, get them. Or get it, because sometimes one is all it takes.

The Ankle-Brachial Index Test

Dr. Brewer recommends a home test for detecting arterial plaque called the Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI), which uses a blood pressure monitor. The test involves measuring blood pressure in both the arms and ankles, then calculating the ratio of these measurements:

• A healthy ABI score is between 1.0 and 1.4; anything outside this range may indicate arterial problems.
• Low ABI scores (below 0.8) suggest plaque is likely obstructing blood flow
• High ABI scores (above 1.4) may indicate artery hardening

Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), associated with poor ABI results (be they high or low), can cause a whole lot of problems that are definitely better tackled sooner rather than later—remember that atherosclerosis is a self-worsening thing once it gets going, because narrower walls means it’s even easier for more stuff to get stuck in there (and thus, the new stuff that got stuck also becomes part of the walls, and the problem gets worse).

If you need a blood pressure monitor, by the way, here’s an example product on Amazon.

Do note also that yes, if you have plaque obstructing blood flow and hardened arteries, your scores may cancel out and give you a “healthy” score, despite your arteries being very much not healthy. For this reason, this test can be used to raise the alarm, but not to give the “all clear”.

For more on all of the above, plus a demonstration and more in-depth explanation of the test, enjoy:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

You might also like to read:

• Dietary Changes for Artery Health
• What Matters Most For Your Heart?

Take care!