Shawn Stevenson is a fitness & nutrition expert, a best selling author, host of a #1 rated Health and Fitness podcast (The Model Health Show), and a world renowned speaker.

He literally “wrote the book on sleep!” And in this episode, Shawn takes us on a deep dive into the topic of sleep and how it just may be the secret that you need to take your life and your game to the highest level.

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Shawn’s Background

* Diagnosed with degenerative disc disease at age 20, told he had the spine of an 80 y.o.

* Was an athlete, but was sidelined with this pain

* Started studying physiology/anatomy and nutrition

* Started living a healthier lifestyle regarding exercise and eating

* Lost 30lbs in 6 weeks and his pain was eliminated

* Shawn wrote the book “Sleep Smarter” in 2014, which has been a best selling book since it’s release

Highlights from this episode:

* The “Nacebo Effect”: When you believe something negative is going to happen, it is more likely to come true (the opposite of the Placebo Effect)

* Your body requires the raw materials to heal itself

* Shawn has discovered 2 main causes of weight gain with his clients

* Stress

* Lack of sleep, or better yet, lack of quality of sleep

* Shawn saw the correlation between how he was sleeping and how he was healing

* Your body is healing itself when sleeping

* It’s breaking itself down when you are working out and going about your daily lives

Why does a golfer care about Sleep Quality?

* Brain health and memory (muscle memory)

* Stages of Sleep

* Stages 1 and 2 are REM Sleep

* Stages 3 and 4 are non REM

* Any technique or short term memory is converted into long term during REM sleep (stages 1 & 2)

* Stages 3 & 4 are the anabolic state when the body produces HGH, which is the youth hormone

* 3 & 4 is where the major recovery and rebuilding occur!

Strategies for better sleep

1. Do some form of exercise in the morning when waking

* increases the amount of time in Stages 3 and 4 sleep

* This also helps to set their cortisol and melatonin rhythms

2. Understanding the Light and Dark cycle

* Black out your room at night

3. Get the electronics out of your room

* Especially the TV (couples that have a TV in their room have 50% less sex!)

Alcohol

* Helps you fall asleep, but reduces the amount of time spent in stages 3 and 4 sleep

* Have an alcohol curfew (ie happy hour, vs a late night bender)

Hormones/Nutrition

* Sleep is the anabolic state which produces HGH

* Another important hormone is Insulin, which is very important for energy

* If insulin is “turned on” it’s job is to store fat/energy

* If there is a high amount of carbs present, it will end up storing a lot of that energy

* If your goal is to lose fat, the best way to do that is reduce your carb intake which will turn off the “faucet” of insulin

* You have to find the right ratio of carbs for yourself, your genetics and your goal

*Just one night of sleep deprivation is enough to temporarily make you as insulin resistant as a Type II diabetic.*

When a healthy individual eats a meal, there is a 5% spike in cortisol.