“If I could do one thing that would change the health in the United States, it would be to improve sleep. There is nothing that creates a bigger impact on health, mental focus, and physical regeneration than sleeping well. If we could get this right, it would change everything.” – David Lawrence
The fastest way to improve your health and athletic performance is to improve your sleep. According to the CDC in 2021, 70 million Americans have a sleeping disorder and 2 out of 3 adults fail to sleep well. This is a tremendous detriment to our health as a society, as currently 72% of Americans are categorized as overweight or obese. When clients come to us at MECA, our first objective is to help them improve their sleep. In this article, I want to share with you 1) what is sleeping well 2) how to sleep well, The Three S Formula (3SF) and 3) the benefits of sleeping on health and how it affects weight loss, muscle gain, and athletic performance.
Sleep is one of the five pillars at MECA. Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule? The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. Sleep is one of the few things that will have an outsized positive impact on health, muscle building, and weight loss. Sleeping well is described as falling asleep easily, within 15 minutes. Staying asleep for at least 7-8 hours, and not waking up throughout the night. Sadly, many Americans’ struggle to sleep well. In our very busy society today, sleep is not prioritized. Mental and emotional health, athletic performance, and weight loss are all affected by sleep quality and quantity. In this email I would like to share the benefits of sleep as well as what you can do to improve your sleep for your health and performance goals.
The three S formula (3SF) stands for Supplement, warm Shower, and Stretching. This night-time routine takes about 20 minutes and will set you up for potentially the best sleep you have ever had in your life.
The one supplement I believe that most everyone should take is magnesium. About 50% of Americans are said to be deficient in magnesium. If you are under stress at work, if you exercise and sweat, there is a higher chance you are deficient in magnesium. Personally, magnesium is the one supplement that makes the difference for me in improving my stress and anxiety levels. It’s not a miracle drug or a quick fix, but I find after 5-7 days of taking between 200-400 mg of magnesium daily I feel much more peaceful and focused. My anxiety levels seem to be diminished as well. Second, is taking a 5–10-minute warm shower. Warm showers have the potential to sooth the muscles, increase blood flow, and improve relaxation. This is exactly what we want before we get ready to stretch. The final component of the 3SF is stretching. There are a lot of different exercises and stretches you can do before you go to bed. I prefer long static holds of 1 minute per stretch. I usually do 3-5 different stretches holding for around 1 minute. I will repeat each stretch a total of 2 to 3 times. The stretch should be moderate and gently gaining greater range of motion. This should be relaxing, not painful. Stretching in this manner has a calming effect on the brain and the body. When you improve flexibility; honestly you just feel better. The two things we lose when we age are strength and flexibility. These are two of the most important physical qualities to keeping our body strong and active as we age. Using this nighttime routine is a game changer for a lot of people.
My personal nighttime routine starts at 9:30. I take magnesium supplements, right after I take a warm shower for 5 minutes and spend 10-15 minutes stretching before I hop into bed. That’s the 3SF. A couple notes on improving sleep for myself. My bedroom is minimalist. There is a bed and lamp stand. That’s it. The room is cool, set around 65-66*. There is no TV, and we have black shades that don’t allow light in the room. I also recently started sleeping with a grounding sheet that costs about 100 bucks. Ground Well While I was skeptical at first, this grounding sheet has decreased the time it takes me to fall asleep, my sleep is deeper, and I have only woken up 1-2x in the middle of the night in the last 6 weeks. Stacked together, these little habits have made a big difference for me. Each day I feel like I can show up as my best self for the people I love, serve, and work with.
Next, let’s talk about the benefits of sleep. First is mental and emotional health. In life you need “drive” or dopamine – the neurotransmitter of motivation, to pursue the day with your very best. You also need to maintain good energy levels to carry out your functions in life at a high level. One of the first signs of poor sleep that most people don’t even realize is that they will have a hard time concentrating and staying focused on one task for extended periods of time. The manifestation of this in 2024 is increased in social media scrolling, multi-tasking without a purpose, and frequently checking in and out during the day. You can think of your brain as the battery on your cell phone that gets recharged at night. A good night’s sleep can put you at full power or close to full power. But unlike a cell phone that can operate all the functions and processes when its battery life is low, your brain and body cannot. When your energy levels are low, so is the ability to perform high complex tasks such as communicating well, exercising your body, and learning/retaining new information.
When sleep is optimized, health and athletic performance are improved. According to sleepfoundation.org the benefits are increased speed, accuracy, timing, and skill acquisition, lowered risk of injury, and increased physical, mental, and emotional wellness. However, with lack of sleep, athletic performance was hindered. There was decreased accuracy. And this led athletes quicker to exhaustion and even increased the risk of injury. One thing I see all the time is teenagers with a lot of social pressures failing to get adequate sleep and therefore increasing the risk of injury. The one thing I would recommend for athletes or parents with athletes, is to prioritize sleep not only for athletic performance, but also for academic learning and most importantly mental and emotional wellness.
Sleeping well can improve weight loss by optimizing metabolism and regulating hormonal function. Metabolism is the chemical process by which the body converts the nutrients that we consume into energy. All activities from exercising to sleep are a function of metabolism. Poor sleep is linked to insulin resistance, oxidative stress, and metabolic syndrome. This has the potential to lead to weight gain. Hormones are chemical messengers that are secreted into the blood, which carries them to organs and tissues in different parts of the body to aid in various functions. When we fail to get adequate sleep, many hormones can be disrupted both acutely and chronically. Something that has become very popular in the last decade is hormone replacement therapy (HRT). HRT can be helpful for some people. However, many times the root cause of hormonal issues isn’t being properly addressed in our lifestyle. Which is most likely due to chronic stress, poor sleep, lack of resistance training, and food intolerances. Much of this is due to our culture as American’s where we are over scheduled, overly distracted, and find it difficult to reflect and make time for what is truly important. The most important thing we will ever “own” is our body. We get one and only one, and we owe it to ourselves and those we love to make it a priority and take care of it. Improving your sleep schedule and sleep routine will do more for your health than anything else I can think of.
With gratitude and love,
David Lawrence, MECA
- If you have any further questions on sleep or tips to improve sleep, I am doing a webinar this month. You can ask any questions you have for me, and I will be happy to answer them on the webinar. We will post on our site as well as send via email to you.
- If you found this article helpful, please feel free to share it with a family member or a friend.
- If you or someone you know is interested in improving your health or athletic performance, go to https://www.mecastrong.com/ and fill out a contact form and we will set you up for an assessment. We would be honored to be a part of your journey. We have personal training gyms located in Novi Michigan, Royal Oak Michigan, and Cascade, Michigan in the Grand Rapids area.
