Tapping into our parasympathetic nervous system is a great way to give ourselves a clean break from stress, even if for only a short while each day.

Stress Response

First, stress. We all undergo a multitude of stressors in our lives. Stress has many definitions. For the purposes of this article, stress is defined as a disruption of homeostasis (in other words, encountering something new or recurring, good or bad, which forces us to adjust/compensate/adapt). This disruption can be physical (exercise, an injury), biological (a pathogen, auto-immune condition), chemical (breathing in polluted air), emotional (getting married, job loss or change), psychological (anxiety), or even spiritual.

Our Nervous System

Our autonomic nervous system combats stress through the interplay between the sympathetic nervous system, better known as “fight or flight”, and it’s reciprocal the parasympathetic nervous system, which is sometimes referred to as the “rest and digest” system. When we undergo stress, our “fight or flight” mode kicks in. Cortisol and adrenaline surge, allowing us to combat our stressors.

Once the initial hit of the stress has passed, IDEALLY, we next shift ourselves into parasympathetic mode, which is restorative and regenerative. If our bodies and minds stay stressed for longer than necessary to combat the particular stress, this chronic stress can force our bodies to keep secreting cortisol and adrenaline, and we spend less time in parasympathetic mode. We may notice this as we lay awake in bed with our hearts thumping onward as our brains turn over the past and future, despite or need to sleep! Luckily, there are things that we can all do daily to tap into our parasympathetic and stimulate recovery.

How to Recover from Stress

To recover fully between bouts of stress (for fun, a few stressors from varied categories: exercise, viruses, marriage, anxiety and excitement about a future trip, smog, and a stubbed toe), we must tap into the parasympathetic nervous system. In order to keep training consistently in the gym and living a high-quality life for ourselves and our family and friends, we must recover well. That’s why each of us must find OUR OWN way to tap into our parasympathetic nervous system.

How to Create a Parasympathetic State

There are many ways to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system into short-term dominance. Below, I list a few small tasks or mindset shifts that we can utilize to help shift us towards a parasympathetic-dominant state. I suggest that YOU (yes, now, here, today) pick ONE or TWO that you currently do or think would be simply implemented into a life habit for you. Try them out and see how they work for you! This is about self-discovery – seeing what is ALREADY working for you and bolstering that habit, or adding a new happy habit to your bag of tricks to induce subtle but meaningful life improvement.

Parasympathetic Nervous System Stimulators

• Take an Epsom salt bath to relax and recharge
• Spending some time in the seclusion of nature can improve happiness and improve feelings of connectedness (1)
• Meditate for a few minutes each day. The benefits are numerous and well-researched. It’s not as difficult as you think, and improvement occurs rather quickly.
• Catch a Float! Sensory deprivation tanks can have a beneficial effect on stress reduction
  Find yourself some Stillness by systematically reducing stress in your life through meaningful habit changes. Check that link out to learn more.
• Similar to the Stillness Article, Reduce Stress has a five-step plan to help you reduce stress. In this article, the author suggests to “connect with your food” when you eat AND utilizing several 3-5 minute mini-breaks throughout the day to help you recharge and reconnect.
• Practicing Yoga can help you tap into the parasympathetic
• Napping can have a profoundly positive effect on allowing your body to shift back into parasympathetic mode if you’ve been “on” for too long. Check this article out for napping details!
• Of course, we can stimulate parasympathetic activity through A better night’s sleep!
• And my last suggestion (you can do this anywhere, and any time) – If you’re driving, biking, or walking and you’re not late or don’t have a time crunch or deadline, slow it down. Drop your car speed down 5 mph and let people pass you. Walk slowly and look around at your world. Take in your moment, for the past is a memory and the future is undetermined.

Resources
(1) Capaldi C, Dopko RL, Zelenski J. The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology. 2014. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00976. 

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The Impact of Sleep on Body Composition
Written by Connor Nellans

Anecdotally, we all know how much we are impacted by lack of sleep or poor quality sleep. When we do not get enough sleep, we don’t feel like ourselves. We feel sluggish – both physically and mentally – and our motivation to get into the gym and to make positive nutrition choices becomes diminished. We all know the importance of sleep because of how we feel when we do not get adequate amounts, but what is really going on in our body and how does sleep impact our body composition goals?

Sleep & Body Composition

As it turns out, sleep is one of the most important factors when it comes to positively changing our body composition. Whether your goal is to increase Lean Body Mass (through increasing skeletal muscle), lose body fat, or a combination of the two, quality sleep is an incredibly important piece of achieving these goals.

When trying to increase Lean Body Mass, it is important to optimize our bodies natural ability to produce our anabolic (muscle growing) hormones (1). The first hormone that we must consider when trying to increase skeletal muscle is Growth Hormone (GH).

Sleep, Muscle Development & Recovery

Research has shown that 70% of GH is released during our deep sleep cycles (2), which take about 90 minutes to occur. So in order to optimize our bodies release of GH during sleep, we would need 7 ½ hours of sleep for five 90-minute cycles to occur. Thus, if we are not getting at least 7 ½ hours of sleep each night, we are missing out on potential GH release in the body and in return missing out on potential skeletal muscle growth.

The second anabolic hormone that is heavily linked to sleep is testosterone. In both sexes, testosterone production will increase in the body when they exercise, this promotes muscle development and recovery (3). In much the same way as growth hormone, testosterone secretion has been heavily linked to deep sleep, and research has shown that sleeping 5 hours or fewer leads to a 10-15% decrease in the amount of testosterone your body will produce while sleeping (3).

Lack of Sleep & Cortisol

Besides dampening the release of anabolic hormones, lack of sleep also can lead to an increase in the amount of catabolic hormones our body produces, specifically cortisol. Cortisol is released in the body to break down tissue to be used as energy in response to stress. Research has shown that during sleep deprivation cortisol levels can increase by 37-45% the following evening (4). This does not spell good news for increasing lean body mass, especially when combined with the decreased release of our anabolic hormones, growth hormone and testosterone.

In conclusion, a lack of sleep can cause our bodies to produce and release less of the anabolic hormones that positively impact our body composition through muscle growth and recovery. Further, missing out of sleep can cause our body to produce more cortisol which leads to increased muscle break down. By missing out on sleep, we are also missing out on skeletal muscle growth and increased lean body mass while potentially reversing our progress through increased cortisol in the body.

Thus, I encourage everyone to get at least 7 ½ hours of quality sleep per night! To make sure the sleep you are getting is quality, put up blackout shades in your room to keep it as dark as possible, put screens away one hour before sleeping, keep your room cool, and turn off or cover any small lights in your room. Protect your sleep and start seeing the positive results carry over into your body composition goals!

5 Tips for Better Sleep

Adequate sleep is one of the most important aspects of living a healthy life. It helps us with many things including repairing and building muscle after exercise, improving memory and retaining the information we have learned, curbing inflammation throughout the body, fighting off illness, regulating body weight and body fat percentage, the list goes on!

When considering all of these benefits, it is easy to see just how important sleep is. We need sleep and when we don’t get it we are left under-recovered and cranky. Long-term sleep deprivation can put us at risk for some serious health problems including heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. (1)

A lot of us struggle with getting adequate sleep, including myself. Here are five things I have put into practice that have helped me to improve my sleep:

1. No screens of any kind one-hour before bed.
   The blue light from phones and computers stimulates the mind, which in return prevents us from being able to fall asleep when we lay down for the night. (Taking it one step further, no phones in the bedroom should be everyone’s rule.)
2. Complete darkness in your room.
   Try blackout shades, they work wonders. 
3. No caffeine at least 6 hours before bed.
   Better yet, I would suggest stopping at least 8 hours before bed. The half-life of caffeine is about 6 hours, so consuming coffee with 200mg of caffeine at 2 pm leaves you with 100mg of caffeine still in your system by 8 pm. Therefore people who claim they can drink coffee and go right to sleep are actually degrading the quality of their sleep and they don’t even realize it. If you are one of those people, try this out and you will see what a good night’s sleep really is!
4. Magnesium is a great sleep aid.
   It helps relax muscles and has been shown to also lower cortisol, our stress hormone.
5. Take vitamin D!
   Low levels of vitamin D have been shown to cause sleep disorders, insomnia, light sleeping, etc. (2) 

Beyond the benefits listed above, I know just how frustrating bad sleep can be. Try improving the quality of your sleep by implementing these 5 tips! I have seen improvements first hand.

Bonus Tip! I use a sunrise simulation alarm clock and I really love it. You set your alarm and it will slowly increase the light intensity as it leads up to your waking time. It is a great way to simulate being woken by the rising sun, which is most natural for our bodies (especially while using your new blackout shades.) Another great benefit of the clock is that it slowly brings you out of your sleep as opposed to being jolted awake by an annoying siren from a regular alarm. You can find them relatively cheap on Amazon, here, or at any department store.

Looking for more positive body composition changes in your life? Join our online Nutrition Program with coaches Connor Nellans and Jenn Ryan!

References & Resources

(1) http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/10-results-sleep-loss#1
(2) http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/vitamin-d-deficiency#1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21550729
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8627466
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21632481
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9415946

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Airplane Mobility – Tips for Your Trips
Video by Nick Hawkes & TJ O’Brien

What do you do to keep moving when you are stuck on an airplane…especially if you are trapped in the middle or aisle seat? Sometimes there’s an appropriate time and opportunity to get out of your seat and move around, but what if you don’t have that chance? Here are some ideas for how to keep mobile even if you’re stuck in our seat. Check out Coaches Nick & TJ’s in-flight mobility routines to keep you moving and pain-free! Don’t worry about looking weird – just grab a friend to join you – it’s only weird if you do it by yourself…

Seriously though, there is a concern for not only blood clots from not moving around enough on long flights but also unraveling or locking up what those ‘problem’ parts or the areas you’ve been working so hard on keeping mobile. But never fear – there’s so much you can do from your seat. So if you don’t want to wake up the snoring guy next to you, here are some ideas…

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Sleep is essential for recovery and hormonal balance. It costs us nothing for this amazing, magical thing. SERIOUSLY – if you’re putting time into working out and eating well, but sleep is minimal – you’re just spinning your wheels. All the supplements you can buy should be added on IN ADDITION to good quality sleep, not to take its’ place.

This is when the body releases the highest amount of growth hormone, with the major period of release being about an hour after you fall asleep. As you move through the sleep cycles 4-5 times/night, human growth hormone is released.

So a simple way to look at this is if you’re depriving yourself of enough sleep, you’re missing out on this valuable time of repair and recovery. HGH helps promote a healthy metabolism and improved performance. Both are key factors if you want to improve your body composition, have increased energy, and perform better in the gym or during competition.

Achieving a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep per night has been shown to be beneficial. Bonus points if you can get to sleep before 10 pm.

Symptoms you may have if you’re in a chronic sleep deficit:

• Impaired digestion and gut health or Increased inflammation
• Impaired hormonal balance or Increased food cravings (ghrelin, the hunger hormone is increased)
• Your body may not tolerate carbohydrates as well (you’re experiencing insulin resistance)
• A vicious cycle of requiring caffeine to get through the day but unable to fall asleep at night

How are you Going to Implement this?

• Get to bed and wake up at the same time every day if you can to provide the body with consistency in sleep patterns (circadian rhythm)
• Aim for a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep per night, more if you’re a highly active individual
• Start with adding 15 minutes to your normal amount by getting to bed a little earlier
• Set a specific cut-off time for electronics at least 1 hour before bedtime
• Keep your room cool and dark, you may even want to wear an eye mask
• Cut off caffeine and stimulants by 2 pm each day
• Limit alcohol intake – it may cause you to fall asleep, but it does not allow for restful sleep.

Are you struggling to figure out where all the pieces of the nutrition puzzle go? Our nutrition coaches can help if you join the Invictus Nutrition Program online! With it, you will not only have your very own nutrition coach, but you will also have numerous other resources including a community of support from others in the program to share ideas, struggles, and achievements.

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We Are All Somewhere
Written by Invictus Member Adam Towle

After weeks of procrastinating to write this, I had an experience that confirmed it was time. It was just about 9 miles into an 11 mile race when I approached a much older participant walking up the steep incline. I was feeling unusually strong in my new body when I quickly trotted past him. He exclaimed, “go get’em! I started an hour earlier – great job!” I reflexively shouted back to thank him and then surprised myself with my own attempt at encouragement, yelling, “we are all somewhere!”

I was shocked by my instinctual comment, part Eckhart Tolle, part Siddhartha, and part John Wooden. Philosophically I suppose it meant that we are all somewhere on a continuum of fitness, speed, life, etc. and not to worry or be ashamed. Furthermore, while I may have passed him, there were still a handful of others far ahead of me, but deeper below the surface of that response was the answer to my prolonged procrastination in writing up my testimonial. In my mind I had not “finished”…I was not done with my journey yet – but will I ever truly be done? We are continually “somewhere” between here and whatever destination we are determined to get to, but the reality is that destination is continually in motion and dynamic.

A Holistic Approach to Wellness

From the beginning I instinctively knew Functional Nutritionist and CrossFit Invictus member Jackie was going to be someone who was going to shepherd me in the direction to where I wanted to go, to be, or better, to return to. Jackie’s approach to getting my body back in gear was more holistic in nature, based on four foundational principles: nutrition, sleep, stress management and movement. The root of my issues was understanding the effect that stress was having on my life. She shared with me that stress comes in many forms; physical stress of a challenging workout, dietary stress from eating processed foods and drinking copious amounts of coffee, emotional and psychological stress from the demands of my job and the pressures that I placed on myself, that gnawing internal voice that shouts, “you’re not good enough, you’re a failure”…all on four hours of sleep. I was a powder keg ready to explode. Needless to say, I walked out of my first meeting with Jackie filled with hope.

Stress Reduction

Jackie immediately supported me to address my stress addiction – starting with caffeine. I have been an adult-lifelong consumer of coffee. I love the process of brewing my own cup, it is a sacred ritual for me in how I start my day, but it had become habit and a crutch that lasted throughout the day. I depended on the interaction and comfort at the coffee houses and the indulgence as a safety blanket for all the other issues that confronted me throughout my chaotic life. Since November, I have gone from nearly five cups of coffee a day, down to one, which has greatly reduced both my stress and anxiety, not to mention has saved me hundreds of dollars. She also introduced other stress reducing habits, like monitoring screen time, working in intervals with planned breaks and daily meditation. Throughout this entire journey, realizing the connection stress has on my body and overall health was overwhelmingly apparent. I had every box checked from emotional, mental, physical to metabolic stress. I had hit them all and it had left my body an unhealthy shell of what it used to be.

Learning to Use My Kitchen

We all have a relative awareness of which foods are healthy for us and what to avoid. Self-admittedly I used to live off sugar. My main vehicle for ingestion would be ice cream, chocolate, breakfast breads (my validated terminology for pastries), pizza (routinely, twice a week), hamburgers, diet soda, etc. Since working with Jackie on my nutrition, I have not had a pizza and greatly reduced my use of the others, eliminating them entirely for the first two months of our work together. Jackie showed me that food prep didn’t need to be the overwhelming. We met at the store together and she broke it down into a simple formula, helping me to put together new recipes, quick easy meals for busy nights and introduced me to many new varieties of food. I was relieved to know that I didn’t need the bodybuilding 12-meal storage gym bag I was sweating over in my Amazon shopping cart. Needless to say, I have used my kitchen more in the last 4 months than in the last 10 years combined!

Addressing the Lack of Sleep

We also addressed my sleeping situation – or lack thereof. Through an understanding of how my body utilizes and requires adequate rest and how it affects so many other areas of my life, Jackie shared with me a few ideas on how to better prepare my body to meet life’s demands by incorporating a bedtime routine and ensuring proper rest throughout my day. Being a single father of two children (half of the time) I found that my life and “routine” would tailspin once I picked up my children. Jackie challenged me to create and stick to a schedule. Prior to meeting with Jackie I was “sleeping” roughly 4-5 hours a night, waking up exhausted and somehow making it through the day. Amazingly after a very short period of time of implementing a new routine including disconnecting from all technology, taking magnesium and sipping on bone broth (yes, bone broth), I woke up well rested with a balanced amount of energy that lasted throughout the day. The best part was having more family time with no screens or technology distractions, and more time to connect with the most important part of my life: my children (who also participate and benefit from these changes!).

Becoming Physically Competent

Next, we looked at my fitness. This has been a humbling area for me. One day while doing a partner workout, I wanted to cry. I felt broken, disconnected from any semblance of my past. I could barely finish. Jackie was in the class and introduced herself and her services. Her approach to my physical movement and regaining my lost fitness was to scale back and take it slow. She encouraged me to finish my workouts wanting more and explained to me that I needed to bring down the intensity and rebalance my cortisol. You can imagine my initial resistance as I sat in her office. With her guidance and the support from the coaches at Invictus, it was easy to scale workouts back yet still challenge myself. I let go of the perceptions and my own falsely set expectations. I eased into the process of rebuilding myself and the results have been amazing. I won’t be challenging Josh Bridges or Lauren Fisher at the CrossFit Games this year, but that is no longer my goal. Now I strive to be physically competent and the best version of myself. Today I am there and I am also stronger, faster, and in a much happier place than I have been in a long time.

The Results Speak for Themselves

I am 13+ pounds lighter, I am running faster than I have in a long time (and anticipate being faster than I have ever been soon), I am more fit and getting even more so, but better than that, I feel physically competent and confident again. I am stronger physically, mentally and emotionally. I live more balanced, enjoying ice cream from time to time, but more consistently and regularly, I make healthy decisions and am armed with the knowledge and the experience to make the best life choices for me. I have an addictive personality and once I commit to something, I go all in. Because I have done this with many areas of my life and have not always followed through, my daughter initially commented that this was another “diet.” I was determined to prove her wrong this go around. Months later and many new habits in place, she now comments on how strong and healthy her dad is and even participates in our new household routines. That is motivation in itself to keep going.

Jackie and the Invictus community have been instrumental in helping me create a new body for myself to live life in and I can’t thank them enough. They believed in me and held me accountable to face some hard truths. I have a new outlook on my health and a have a stocked tool kit ready to combat stress when it inevitably sneaks back into my life. I now understand the connection between stress and cravings, between sleep and recovery, and the importance of scaling back when life derails you. We are all somewhere on the journey to a happier, fitter, healthier and more fulfilled life. Thank you, all!

Also Check Out…

Unconventional Meal Prep Strategies & Secret Meat Shopping Guide

How to Interpret Your Body Fat Test

The Cortisol Connection

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We’ve all heard it before…In order to perform at an optimal level, we require 7-9 hours of sleep per 24 hour period. The science behind it – heart rate variability, brain function, cell regeneration, inflammation maintenance, memory enhancement, etc. – is just about bulletproof (I know there is that rare genetic breed that only require 4-6 hours per night, but odds are you aren’t one of them, so don’t try it).

Now, how many of us actually are getting this? Even more importantly, how much of it is actually quality? Anyone can lay down and let their brain run crazy for a few hours, in and out of sleep, lucid dreaming, and say they slept 8 hours. But how many of us are going through the REM cycles and deep sleep needed in order to optimize our body’s functionality?

If you’re one of those people out there that this resonates with, stick with me, I’m about to give you a few tips (some more obvious than others) that can help you get to sleep faster, sleep more, and to improve your quality of sleep.

So, here we go…

#1 – Go to bed sooner.

Ok this one is obvious, right? The sooner you get to sleep, the more sleep you’re bound to get throughout the night (duh). But on a serious note, it is something that needs to be addressed.
How many of you find yourself mindlessly wandering through social media or fixed to a TV screen at night, or even reading into the late hours? Television and social media, especially, are notorious for increasing dopamine levels within the brain, which in turn keeps you feeling up and awake!

All of these things are contributing to keeping your mind up and running when instead you should be in the process of decreasing dopamine, increasing melatonin, and shutting your brain down. I’m going to bet the odds here and say that this pertains to the majority of us, which brings me to the slightly less obvious second tip..

#2 – Sunlight is good, artificial light is bad.

If you think about it, cavemen didn’t have watches or alarm clocks. Their circadian rhythm was controlled by the sun rising and setting. In layman’s terms…light = awake, dark = asleep. It is our primal and biological desire to do the same, but it is something almost all of us fall short of in today’s age. Too many artificial inhibitors have changed this rhythm in our brain, but there’s a few ways to help bring it back to equilibrium.

We live in a time where lives are influenced daily by screens. Whether it’s phones, iPads, computers, TV’s, or whatever, people these days are getting more exposure to screen time than ever before, and less exposure to direct sunlight. I understand that we live in a digital age. It’s imperative for many of our livelihoods to be connected to the world, but that doesn’t mean we can’t limit the amount of unnecessary time our eyes are exposed to artificial blue light and find a way to increase our exposure to sunlight.

Try waking up and going on a quick walk, stretching, or just standing in the sunlight first thing in the morning. I understand that’s not possible given certain geographical locations, but work with me here. Studies show that early daily exposure to sunlight has a direct correlation with the amount of melatonin your body creates at night – the hormone made by the pineal gland that helps regulate sleep-wake cycles. If for nothing else, feel how refreshing it is to feel the sunlight on your face first thing in the morning to tell your body it’s time to be awake. If you don’t live in a sunny place like San Diego, I recommend you move here. Kidding, sort of. In all seriousness, even if you’re in a cloudy and rainy place like where I used to live, try to get your eyes exposed to as much natural light as possible, whether it’s direct sunlight or not. That’s the important takeaway here.

The flip side to that is limiting our amount of exposure to artificial light. While sunlight helps to regulate your hormones, artificial light does the opposite. It can contribute to cataracts, macular degeneration, circadian disruption and poor sleep patterns, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the list goes on. It can even make you fat (because of all the other side effects it causes).

Now how do we limit our exposure to artificial blue light? The first obvious answer is to put the screen away, but that would be hypocritical as I’m sitting here typing this on a computer screen. Another answer and increasingly popular method I’ve seen others begin to implement, and that I’ve hopped on as well, is to wear blue light blocking glasses.

What kind of glasses should I get?

There are a wide array of companies and models of blue light blocking glasses, some more expensive than others. If you’re on a bit of a budget, try first looking for a brand that can block out 90% or more of blue light, with an even more specific quality being that they block wavelengths in the spectrum of 400-485nm. Typically lens color varies from yellow to orange to red, with darker lenses being better for night usage, and lighter colors being better for daytime. Some even come in prescription for those who need it.

If you’re someone who requires a lot of screen time for work, I highly recommend implementing this game changer. It’ll save your eyes, and reduce the mental fog, blurred vision, and headaches that are often associated with too much exposure to blue light.

Now that we’ve addressed our body’s primal desire for natural, and how artificial light can inhibit the benefits, let’s talk about how to fall asleep faster – without the use of sleeping pills!

#3 – Hack your sleep environment.
First step:
We’ve discussed harmful blue light, so I won’t go there again, but in all honesty how much light is in your sleep environment? Flashing laptop lights that all of our macbooks have, alarm clocks, smoke detectors, your fan or AC unit, the list could be endless. Our ancestors slept in the pitch black, which is what we’re meant to do as well. How do you do it? Try purchasing black out curtains, and taping over or covering the lights that do show up when you turn the big lights out. If that doesn’t work, consider purchasing a wrap around sleep mask that allows you to comfortably shut out all light.

Second step:
Increase the amount of white noise. If you’re like me, pure silence is a no go when trying to sleep. It just invites a never ending parade of thoughts. The best way to mitigate this is to turn on a fan, purchase a small AC unit, or even download a white noise app on your phone. Implementing some sort of white noise in the background can do wonders for shutting your brain off, this does not mean the television!

Third step:
Sleep cold. Studies show that somewhere between 60-67 degrees (F) is the optimal environment for higher quality sleep. The best way to do it is to have controllable central air that puts you in charge of the environment. I understand this option isn’t feasible for many of us. A second, cheaper, option would be to purchase a fan that allows airflow to cool the room down. A third option many people never think of is to purchase a device called a “chilipad”. This allows you to regulate the exact temperature you’re exposed to underneath the blankets. Although expensive, it’s a game changer and something many people overlook.

Fourth step:
Regulate water and food intake before bed, and always pee before you go to sleep. It seems silly, but having that tiny little bit of liquid stored up in your bladder can subconsciously disrupt your sleep pattern and limit your ability to fall into the deep sleep stage of sleep cycles. By limiting the amount of food and water you eat up to an hour or two before bedtime you can help to mitigate this, and reduce the potentially frequent night time potty breaks you (or your significant other) take.

By finding simple solutions to “hack” your sleep environment, you should find yourself being able to fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer (no more midnight tinkle breaks), and wake up feeling like you’ve slept better.

If you’ve got any tips or tricks that I haven’t discussed here, throw them in the comments section. We’d love to hear what works for you!

Also Check Out…Top 3 Supplements for a Better Night of Sleep.

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Is Your Sleeping Position Contributing to Your Pain?
Written by Michele Vieux

It’s pretty safe to say that most people understand the importance of getting “quality” sleep each night. It’s also probably safe to say that when most people define quality sleep, they mention things like getting eight hours of sleep each night, that the sleep be uninterrupted or that they hit REM at least three times per night. But how many people factor in their sleep position as a major player in sleep quality?

Different sleeping positions can determine how well we digest, how much we snore, and how much pain we have in our necks, backs, shoulders, hips and knees. So if you have nagging joint stiffness, tightness or pain that you’re unable to resolve with mobility work and virtuous form in the gym, it might be time to examine if how you’re sleeping is contributing to your pain.

Fetal Sleeping Position

Did you know that this is the most common sleeping position amongst adults with 41 percent choosing to sleep this way? The fetal sleeping position is another side-sleeping position but instead of long legs and spine, both are curled and bent so that the sleeping person forms a loose ball with their body.

Although this is a great position if you are pregnant – especially if you are on your left side – and for snorers. It’s maybe the WORST if you have arthritis and achy joints because you literally have to uncurl yourself from being stuck in a ball all night.

If you sleep in this position and you wake up stiff and sore, it might be time to try a new pose. You can try uncurling yourself a bit and using a pillow between your knees to straighten out your hips and relieve discomfort and pain. Or, you can start to make the move to the ideal sleep position (below).

Sleeping on Your Stomach

Sleeping on your stomach can be a major contributor to low back pain due to your head and upper half being elevated by a pillow, placing pressure down the chain. This can be an especially painful position if you have limited mobility in your thoracic spine – lack of mobility there needs to be made up somewhere and that’s usually the lower back. This low back pain can occur while you are in your sleeping position but can also rear its ugly head at other times throughout your day like when you are sitting or working out.

This position can also be a major contributor to neck pain if you sleep with your head turned to one side. So if you have a nagging pinching in your neck, your neck rotation is limited, or the ability to touch your ear to your shoulder is shortened, you could be causing it from how you are sleeping.

For stomach sleepers who MUST sleep on their bellies even after reading this, try doing so face down (instead of with your head turned to one side). You can either prop your forehead up on a pillow so you have room to breathe, or you can try out some sort of massage table headrest apparatus. These should be a last resort though because, again, this is the WORST position for your body to sleep in.

Sleeping on Your Side

Although you are less likely to snore in this position, sleeping on your side is more likely to cause shoulder pain from putting weight on your arm in this position and even numbness and tingling in your arms and hands because either your circulation is being restricted or a nerve in your neck is being pinched.

There is not a lot of extra space in the shoulder so putting a piece of the moving puzzle even just a little out of position can cause major issues. Besides being painful, let’s remember that if a nerve is being pinched then the signal is not getting through or it is weak and/or delayed so your body is not performing at its peak level.

Sleeping with Elevated Knees and/or Legs

Some of us get into this habit to alleviate lower back pain or post-injury or surgery in the case of the knee. Yes, it feels better…at first…but then other types of pain and tightness creep in with this position.

Many times, “unexplained” knee pain will occur for those sleeping in this position because the sleeper’s knees never hit extension for 6-9 hours of the night. Lack of terminal extension of the knee can lead to many-a-problem and much pain for the knees. With lack of terminal extension, your quads are always loaded – causing patellar pain. When the quads are always under tension, the knees can become “twisted” out of position (ouch!). And, the popliteus – the small muscle behind the knee – gets tight and has to work overtime to stabilize.

Hip pain and tightness can also rear their ugly heads for those who sleep with elevated legs for reasons similar to the issues that arise with lack of extension in the knee. When you sleep with your legs elevated, your hips remain slightly closed for hours at a time causing stiffness, tight hip flexors and tight psoas – all of which can lead to pain in the hips but also lower back.

Sleeping on Back with “Froggy” Legs

This is ALMOST the ideal position where the sleeper is face up but instead of the legs straight out on the bed, the knees are slightly bent and the hips are in external rotation. Similar to the leg lifter above, this sleeper will likely experience some tightness in the hip flexors that can lead to pain in the hips but also in the glutes.

By keeping your leg(s) in external rotation all night long, you are shortening all those muscles, especially the glute medius, causing pain in the actual glute itself, but also possibly pulling the hip and knee out of position which can be painful. Not to mention, you are totally shutting off your internal hip rotators and adductors. So if you’ve noticed those things aren’t working on your deadlifts…you might examine if this is the cause.

The Ideal Sleep Position

You know that anatomical drawing of “supine man”? Well that’s also the ideal sleep position – on your back with your head, neck and spine resting in neutral positions. The head should be elevated just slightly above the stomach to prevent acid reflux and snoring. *MOST* people should be sleeping in this position.

* If you have sleep apnea, then the supine sleep position might not be right for you and could even be dangerous. In this case, you would be best off in the side-lying sleep position which still elongates the spine and takes pressure off it and the lower back. BUT…it can lead to shoulder pain if you can’t figure out what to do with that arm.

* Pregnant ladies are the other group of people who should probably not sleep on their backs, but instead adopt the side-lying sleep position while carrying.

How to Fix Your Sleep Position

Your bad sleep position is your bad habit and you basically have to train yourself to sleep in the ideal position. Here are a few ways you could try to make this happen.

One is this sleep belt which straps on around your waist and the attached balls poke – very uncomfortably – into your sides and stomach if you roll over in your sleep. You can adjust the balls depending on your ideal sleep position to keep you there.

Another option is a little more comfortable and you should already have what you need at home – pillows! Just pack them around you – one touching each side – when you go to bed to help keep you in position. If you wake up in the night and find that you’ve rolled out of your ideal sleeping position, just get back into position, repack the pillows and return to slumber.

A third option for pet lovers – enlist the help of your furry friend(s)! Instead of packing pillows around you, pack your furry pets! They can lay next to you but also ON your legs to help keep you in position. This only works if they don’t weigh more than 20 pounds or move around too much in the night. Also, pets are known contributors of interrupted sleep so if your furry friend doesn’t already sleep in your bed, it’s best not to get that started.

Improving your sleep position will lead to better sleep quality and less pain! Give that “ideal position” a try to see how much better you can feel and perform!

Resources
The Best Sleep Position for Your Body. The National Sleep Foundation.

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Book Review: The New Primal Blueprint
Written by Ricky Moore

As a coach, I find myself to be strong in educating my clients and athletes on Olympic Weightlifting, gymnastics and general overall fitness. But as I evolve as a coach, I would like to expand more on nutrition and lifestyle outside of the gym. Enter The New Primal Blueprint, a comprehensive book written by Mark Sisson.

Sisson is the author of numerous books, including The Primal Blueprint (the original version), which was credited with turbocharging the growth of the Primal/Paleo movement back in 2009. In 2017, he officially became a New York Times bestselling author with The Keto Reset Diet, which reached the #1 overall bestseller among all books on amazon.com for two days. Sisson has written several other books, including popular Primal-themed cookbooks, lifestyle books and also has a popular website.

In a nutshell, the Primal Blueprint is a way to reprogram your lifestyle similar to that of our ancestors. Even though evolution has helped with a lot things related to health, it has also caused our health and wellness to suffer in other areas. For instance, although tasty and convenient to many, the “standard American diet” has greatly impacted our nation making us the most obese country in the world.

This, along with our attachment to technology and detachment from face-to-face communication, being outside and moving like we were meant to move, have greatly affected not only our physical health but also our mental health and overall wellbeing.

Within this book, I quickly learned about 10 laws we should try to follow to reprogram our or genes for weight loss, health and energy – the way it was meant to be, not with quick-fix gimmicks and magic pills like we’ve been accustomed to seeking out.

The 10 Laws are simple and I will plan to elaborate more on each of them in the weeks to follow:

1. Eat Plants & Animals

I’m sure we have all heard this before, especially with almost everyone hearing of the Paleo Diet. But this will be a nice refresher to help get back on track to eating what we need to be eating and WHY it is recommended we eat this way for energy, wellbeing and long-term health benefits.

2. Avoid Poisonous Things

While this may be common sense to most of us, we probably don’t do as good as we should with actually looking at what we are putting in our body with certain products. Or even who and what we surround ourselves with – yes, some people and situations can also be poisonous and should be avoided as well.

3. Move Frequently

Now this is something I know we can all improve on, especially with the typical desk-jockey world these days with everyone working 9-5 and then going home and becoming couch potatoes. It may seem like there is no time to move away from your desk, screen or couch but the book gives plenty of ideas of how to incorporate more movement into our busy schedules.

4. Lift Heavy Things

This is something we love as a whole but I don’t think many of us understand from a fat loss aspect how it can help as, many times, we see people who want to lose weight doing hours upon hours of cardio each week to get there.

5. Sprint Once in a While

When was the last time you did and all out sprint for 20 seconds or less? Adding sprinting into your program can help train strength, power and body awareness. Sprinting and using sprinting drills are a great way to improve form and build stability and strength in certain areas most people have issues with: like hip extension, hip flexion and lower abdominal control and strength. Sprinting is also a great way to get in some fun conditioning as well.

6. Get Plenty of Sleep

We always need to be consciousness of how much sleep we get. We need to focus more on sleep instead of our work, better sleep can make us better workers. It also improves memory, creativity and focus, curbs inflammation, maintains a healthy immune system, promotes healthy blood sugar regulation and weight control, improves recovery and performance, increases energy and overall mood, reduces stress and gives us clearer, healthier skin.

7. Play!

Our society as a whole does not do this enough or at all. This is essential to our production as humans and will make us better physically, mentally and emotionally.

8. Get Plenty of Sun

Adequate vitamin D will take your energy and productions level to new levels and help your immune system. It’s also nice to get outside frequently, not only for fresh air and sunshine, but to connect with nature, of which we are a part.

9. Avoid Stupid Mistakes

We all strive to become better people and avoid doing things we shouldn’t. Following Laws 1-8 will definitely help Law 9. What other stupid mistakes can we avoid? How/what can we learn from the ones we have already made?

10. Use Your Brain

The ability for us to use our brains has helped us develop what we are today. “But I use my brain every day,” you might say. Of course you do, it’s what helps us survive. But how can you use it a little differently so that you not only survive, but thrive?

These are just rough summaries and will be expanding more on these laws over the following weeks and months. I hope you’re as excited as i am to help bring better health and energy into our lives!

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Is It OK to Run and Workout When You Are Sick?
Written by Nuno Costa

As coaches we get asked this question all the time – is it ok to workout when you are sick? The answer is not that simple…It usually depends on what your symptoms are. Anytime I go into the doctor with some sort of illness, that’s usually my first question – when can I get back to working out?

It’s in Your Head

From what I have read online, and by asking as many experts as possible – the common answer I get is: If your symptoms are above the neck then you are fine to exercise at moderate intensity. This means dialing back the intensity on your run and CrossFit workouts. You will not lose a lot of fitness by doing so and it may help you get better more quickly.

You Got Hit by a Bus

If you have severe flu/cold-like symptoms where you ache everywhere and have a hard time moving or doing anything at all – your best bet is going to be to rest until you feel better. If you’ve got a fever, make sure your body temperature returns to normal before working out again. No need in coming in and raising your body temperature even more.

Running with the Runs

What about stomach issues? I’ve had run workouts that I tried to push through with stomach issues and that was highly unpleasant – let it pass, no need in having an accident in the middle of your run/workout…

Sample Sickness – Sinus Infection

I will give you a couple of examples of recent illnesses – this past week I came down with a sinus infection and it hit me super hard. My head felt like it was going to explode from the inside out. My body felt fine, I didn’t have aches, pains, had a minor cough but the head congestion alone made me feel like I couldn’t do anything. I promptly went to the doctor and started some antibiotics – and of course I asked him when I could get back to training – to which he replied, “If you feel up to it the day after.” I ended up waiting two days, and by the 3rd day, I finally felt like my head had cleared enough to be able to move. As I did so, I made sure to lower my intensity on the workout and not to over do it. My goal is always to be healthy first and I need to make sure my actions are in alignment with my goals.

Sample Sickness – Strep Throat

Another example I can give – I have had strep throat the past couple of years and I managed it better the most recent bout. A couple of years ago, I didn’t quite realize what I had come down with, was coaching a seminar and we did a lunchtime workout that floored me. Needless to say, that was not a smart decision and I paid for it. The most recent case of strep, I caught it early enough and decided to give my body complete rest for a few days – it took me a good 5 days or so before I was able to do anything. My body did not want to move, it ached and I didn’t think working out was going to make it any better, if anything it was going to make it worse.

Mounting Your Comeback

Make sure you aren’t contagious before you go back to the gym. Usually I will wait until I have been on antibiotics for 24-48 hours to make sure I am not going to affect others. Let people know you are under the weather so they don’t hug you or shake your hands – do what you can to prevent it from getting passed on. Make sure you wash your hands as much as possible, use hand sanitizer more than usual if you are a little under the weather and make sure you wipe off all your equipment thoroughly.

Ease back into your training. It could take a few days to even a few weeks before you start feeling 100% again. Adjust not only your intensity during this time, but take into account your depleted energy when attacking strength workouts as well. You probably won’t be able to follow the prescribed percentages right off. And even if you can, you probably shouldn’t.

Make sure to check out our our online Endurance Training Program. In addition, please feel free to contact me directly – nuno@crossfitinvictus.com if you have any questions about this article, your running plan, or life and training in general.

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Cold Showers Are My Victory
Written by Kirsten Ahrendt

Cold showers. They’re so hot right now. (See what I did there?)

There is an array of health benefits that result from exposure to temperatures far outside of our preferred range of 68-72 degrees. From improved circulation, to improved stress response, and increased metabolism – the health benefits of concentrated exposure to cold temperatures, in specific, are plentiful. But to be honest, there’s an entirely different reason why I’ve incorporated cold showers into my daily ritual. First, let’s discuss why someone might incorporate cold exposure to their lifestyle.

Using Exposure to Extremes to Calibrate (and Fortify) Homeostasis

If your body is perpetually in a state of “non-stress”, it gradually deteriorates in its ability to efficiently respond to a “stressor”. Stress doesn’t just have to be uncomfortable temperature. This principle of “stress-encounter” > “stress-response” > “future improved response to stress” is applicable in a variety of situations, ranging from exercise, temperature exposure, high-pressure work environment, public speaking, and the list goes on.

Consider this: If you stop exercising and lifting weights (exposure to physical stress) your physiological ability to perform and respond during said stress or to recover from the stress decreases. Expose yourself to the anxiety-inducing experience of public speaking frequently? Ta-da! Your body’s ability to maintain a calm, cool, collected composure is easier after repeated exposure. Do you periodically have big deadlines at work? You’re going to train your body to appropriately respond to chaos and produce excellent work in spite of difficult timelines.

The same holds true with temperature. Many people today spend a disproportionate amount of time in climate-controlled environments (home/office/car/globo-gyms). Your body has specific health functions and stress responses that it executes when exposed to temperature extremes (hot and cold). In an effort to maintain a constant state of “comfortable” temperature, we’ve inadvertently decreased our body’s ability to calibrate a healthy homeostasis (balance within the body) and allostasis (the processes the body executes to achieve homeostasis).

Health Benefits of Exposure to Cold

To quickly review, some of the health benefits resulting from cold shower routines or concentrated time spent in cold (ocean/ice bath/outdoors, etc.) are vast and include:

• improved hormonal activity (nervous system and metabolic response)
• improved circulation (contrast of vasoconstriction and dilation)
• reduced stress & improved mood (autonomic nervous system response and release of neurotransmitters)
• skin rejuvenation (less oil lost compared to hot water)
• detoxification of the body (changes in vasoconstriction/vasodilation)
• increased metabolism (increased metabolic rate and stimulation of brown adipose tissue)
• improved immune system support (release of white blood cells in response to increased metabolic rate)[2]

The Culture of Cooling Thyself

The science of cold exposure is *cool*, but there’s actually much more information on the cultural incorporation of cold exposure throughout history than anything else – from ancient Greeks finishing hot baths with a plunge into a cold bath, to the Finnish practice of “avantouinti” or ice hole swimming. There are accounts of Napoleon and Thomas Jefferson (amongst others) utilizing daily cold baths to combat depression and maintain health. From my personal experience, this past Spring, I took a trip to Iceland. Soaking in hot, natural springs is a mainstay tradition in their culture. Often, the springs were located near the ocean, and I frequently saw older Icelanders going for icy ocean swims around the bay with one another (no wetsuits) then strolling over to the hot springs for a soak, before repeating the process multiple times. I tried to keep up, but I could only manage a minute or two in the ocean. They made it look easy!

Being in Control of That Voice

So, if not for the health benefits, what has inspired me to continue my morning ritual of cold-showering for nine months? Essentially, it’s transcended from an activity in search of physical health, to a daily exercise in controlling one’s actions, despite circumstances. My two to three-minute cold shower has literally changed how I look at a lot of things. Let me explain.

I am addicted to the ‘win’ I get upon feeling my own resistance, and choosing action in spite of it. It would be easy to rationalize reasons why I don’t need to/have time to/want to take a cold shower. But every morning I consciously decide to take action to overcome those rationalizing behaviors.

No one helps me. No one cheers me on. No one pats me on the back. Just me and the voice inside my brain. Some days are harder than others. Cold water rarely sounds THAT nice. But if you can willingly place discomfort in your path and act accordingly, imagine the strength to endure that you will foster in other areas of your life?

How many victories are within your grasp daily?

• reading a chapter instead of watching an episode
• finishing the report instead of checking the social media
• choosing the grapes instead of the chocolate
• making the coffee instead of buying the expensive latte
• taking the high road when you really want to sink to their level

Cold water never becomes “not cold”. Exercising never becomes “not hard”. Life never stops presenting challenges. You simply get fitter, more determined, and more acclimated to overcoming the difficult. Or you don’t. The stoics called it the Inner Citadel – “the fortress inside of us that no external adversity can ever break down.”[3]

Build the behavior you want. Every action and decision is a brick.

Resources
[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inner-source/201407/cold-splash-hydrotherapy-depression-and-anxiety
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4049052/
[3] “The Obstacle is the Way: The timeless art of turning trials into triumph”. Ryan Holiday

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