Christa 0:03
Hello. Alright today we are talking about biohacking which is super fun. When you say biohacking you know when you hear the word biohacking, there's so much that kind of comes underneath that umbrella. But we're gonna pull out. Four topics today that we find are really useful in our day to day intermittent fasting, breathwork circadian rhythm, and then cold dip and sauna. So can't wait to dive into this. Let's start with intermittent fasting Sheree, this is kind of a really cool, it's just a really well known and kind of hot topic right now. And I would love to bounce ideas off of you or just your experience personally and with clients with intermittent fasting. And one thing I really want to point out too, in our discussion is the difference between men and women when it comes to intermittent fasting and who this is for and who it's not for and, and how maybe, you know, different individuals should switch it up a little bit. So let's dive in. Tell me a little bit about your experience with intermittent fasting and your thoughts on it.
Sheree 1:07
Yeah, I love this. I love this topic. It's something that's so controversial as well. And like you said, there's such a big discrepancy between male and females. And I can't wait to dive into that interesting topic, my experience with intermittent fasting. It's something that I'm actually doing at the moment with having long COVID. So really fun to be experimenting on my body. That's one of the reasons I love biohacking so much, right. It's not something that I do often because of and we'll get into this in a little bit. But like because of the effects it can have on the hormonal cycle, and disrupting our natural circadian rhythm. But for the benefits of the autophagy, and like cell renewal and regeneration, and getting rid of all the essentially the crap that's living inside of our cells, that's why I'm doing it at the moment to really support and boost my immune system. The other time I absolutely love doing fasting is for a four day fast. And I typically do these and I'm more of like a gut reset type situation. So there'll be a bone broth type fast, where you're just literally living on bone broth, and maybe some warm lemon water and honey to keep your body in that sort of fasted state. But it actually helps reset repair, start the healing, like fast tracking that healing process of your gut microbiome and you know, reducing food sensitivities, food intolerances, so I typically do that three to four times a year. So like once a quarter just give my body a bit of a cleanse and repair. And that's what I've been doing for the past couple of years. This is the first time I've ever done actual intermittent fasting and my window at the moment is about three to four hours. I'm also popping training out there if I can manage some sort of some exercise. So eight, train, come home, have some dinner, and then cut my window off and then go to sleep. So
Christa 2:57
yeah, there's a tight window. When we say window, what does that mean?
Sheree 3:00
Yeah, so when domains the amount of time you're actually eating for, so you'll probably have heard of the five two, which is five days on two days of fasting. So you're not eating at all for those two days. Other windows that are really commerce like the 16, eight, so you've got eight hours of eating and 16 hours of not eating. So that's what I mean, when I say when.
Christa 3:22
Yeah, I really like on a continual basis, the 16 Eight, that tends to work pretty well for me. And that looks like eating for me and my schedule noon to 8pm. Although I really think that, you know, ideally, it's more 10am to six, something like that, like really cutting off, cutting off eating a little bit earlier. But just with our busy schedule, a lot of times it ends up being the noon to eight kind of thing. Yeah, I used it a lot, personally for myself. Also, I would recommend it a lot to patients who had some insulin resistance, meaning you know, maybe they their blood works showed that their blood sugar's were running a little bit high, or their agency meeting their past three months so that you know, they're continually running a little bit high. It doesn't, it's really great at allowing the body rest, allowing the body to the pancreas to not have to be pushing out insulin in response to blood sugar, because you're not eating. And so it really helps to heal some of that and reverse some signs of pre diabetes, even diabetes, right. So to really help your body start to use fats for fuel, so it can be a powerful tool with that. You mentioned a little bit about autophagy, which is a big word for really saying cell renewal. Yeah, so it's like the cell that is encouraged to recycle, because fasting is a little bit of a stressor. And so the cells are then, you know, get the signal to hey, we need to utilize all that we have here. So let's clean up a cell that maybe has some, some components to it that's not healthy, rather than scrapping the most salads just sell renew it. And so that can be really helpful with regeneration. But along those lines, I said that the intermittent fasting is a stressor. So what who is intermittent fasting not for in your, in your experience.
Sheree 5:15
To be honest, I generally don't recommend it for a woman. Because the day to day stresses that we tend to be exposed to are really high, not just woman. But when we look at the whole picture about hormonal cycle, right, and I know that you do it quite differently in terms of different phases of your cycle. So I'm super excited for you to share that. And this is where, you know, everything was sharing hair on the podcast, and hopefully our listeners can take away is like, it's such an individual thing, like try it on. Also make sure you're looking at the research. And that's where I'll start, like, if you're looking at a lot of the research with intermittent fasting, it's done on men. And that's so much easier for them to do because they have the same hormonal cycle within the same 24 hours, right. Whereas as females, we have our 28 day 32 Whatever your menstrual cycle is whilst whilst being a minister reading yours. And typically, science isn't really done on us, because our hormones fluctuate so much, it's really hard to get effective readings. And so if you couple the stress of intermittent fasting, with the fact that our hormones are changing continuously throughout our cycle, most women are struggling to even get hungry first thing in the morning, right, we caught up and think that that's a good sign. Oh, great. My, you know, I mustn't be I might, I might, I might as well not eat, because I'm not hungry. And I think that's actually a sign your metabolisms not doing what it's meant to be doing. And so if you're one of those women that are waking up, starting your day with a cup of coffee, or potentially grabbing a muffin or something, and, or skipping breakfast completely, you're probably not going to benefit from the intermittent fasting, because your body's already in this high state of stress, your cortisol is probably already going through the roof, right? So we coupled the stress of intermittent fasting on top of that, it's gonna cause even more hormonal disarray. So if you're someone that's, you know, identified with having hormonal imbalances, you feel like you're constantly overwhelmed, or overstressed. You feel like you've maybe been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, or burnout or whatever you want to call it, then it's generally not a place I would start. And a lot of the women that I've worked with come to me and those super high stress states. And so I look at their bodies, like the last thing we need is to be putting you under that sort of pressure, especially when a lot of the research does point to the fact that you could do a 12 hour fast overnight, say from eight to eight, and still get very, very good effects. I think the problem is people are eating later and later, and then waking up early, breaking their fast with a cup of coffee, and then going about their day and their hormones, their blood sugars, everything's all over the place.
Christa 7:51
And to clarify, what's breaking the fast isn't so things that break the fast are anything that raises blood sugar, so coffee is one of those that you know, we say black coffee with nothing in it is okay, although it can kind of Spike. Yeah, some adrenaline, which can release some sugar naturally from the body just in response to that adrenaline, right. So But technically, pure water. You know, unsweetened tea, and black coffee, do not break a fast, so you can stay in there. But I do agree that it's not for everyone, it can be really powerful, which is why we're talking about it, like it can have a lot of health benefits, which is why you're doing it. But they're also you know, it should be handled with it's not a one size fits all. And so same for me, I take a lot of caution with women, also with men who have been under a lot of stress for a long time, because because of that stress factor. So if I run tests on them, and I see that their adrenal glands, or their cortisol levels are really off, you know, they're they don't follow the natural pattern during the day. That's a signal that their body is under some chronic stress and I don't recommend longer fasts, you know, certainly 12 hours is fine. of fasting, but I even 14, but I wouldn't push it, I wouldn't, I wouldn't push it with that. The other thing that I did want to talk about with intermittent fasting and women is that our bodies are different, just like you mentioned. So when you aren't on the birth control pill and you're naturally having your menstrual cycle, your hormones fluctuate throughout the month. So we're not the same at the beginning as we are in the middle as we are at the end hormonally. And our body whether or not you want to be pregnant is a sign of health is ovulation and being able to be pregnant have regular periods. So that being said we want to create a safe environment for the body and the body is naturally going to try to conserve energy or we need more nutrients. So I always recommend when we break our cycle into one through four weeks one being In the start of your actual bleed week, and then for being the very tail end right before your next cycle starts or next period starts, I recommend week one, the bleed Week and Week Three, being more of longer intermittent fasting, week two is right. But you know, as your body's trying to really grow that uterine lining, you're about to ovulate, like you really want to be adding more nutrients to your body and pushing that within a minute fasting can be detrimental. And then the last week, that week, right before your period, you naturally tend to crave more carbs. And you know, get that through healthy carbohydrates but trying to push the envelope with intermittent fasting that week, is really just adding more stress to the body. So the female body is more apt to to feel comfortable with week one and week three being the weeks that you kind of push that envelope. So I think that that's that's something that needs to be addressed with women that we aren't, you know, men sometimes that have healthy adrenals they can they can fast anytime really and you know, scrunch their calories into a window. But yeah, like you said before, we are not little men, we have a completely dynamic system and to honor that really adds to your health and really, that's really biohacking. Right. It's taking what we already know about the body and, and just making it even better. Right. So wanted to point that out for sure. Yeah, anything else on intermittent fasting that you
Sheree 11:36
I think, just going back to, like I said, the four day fast, but I do like, really, obviously my specialism gut health is a huge focus. And I think quite often we don't realize the amazing benefits from a mental standpoint. And that is also just from like, I'm even noticing it in terms of the intermittent fasting I'm doing at the moment, but the mental clarity and the renewed energy that you can actually get from doing this as well. And I think one of the biggest things that and one of the biggest reasons biohacking is trending so much is because of the mental benefits to it, right? We're looking at a lot of the physical benefits. It you know, intermittent fasting is known for its ability to help shift weight as well, like you said, and that comes down to renewing that insulin sensitivity, where a lot of people are developing that insulin resistance. But the effects like when I do my bone broth fast, because I'll draw from that, because that's when I have the most experience with the mental clarity and focus that I have is, like phenomenal. It's so great. I just wake up in the morning, super energized, I'm raring to go, I smash out so much more work than I normally get done. Because my brain is just so clear, you really eliminating that brain fog. And then you're able to keep that up after the fact because you have really supported the gut and healing because a lot of the times the reason right, we're getting that brain fog is because of that gut brain connection. We haven't got those good books. And quite often we're living in with very high carbohydrate diets. And that's also contributing to that brain fog, right. So anything from a mental standpoint, can be really powerful. I often feel really uplifted a lot happier. So there are some incredible mental benefits to fasting as well that I don't think it talking talked enough about.
Christa 13:20
I have never done a four day fast, do you? I mean, the idea of it just scares me now you're not doing just completely water, right? Like you're doing. Okay, so you mentioned. Okay. And then did you work your way up to that? So you know, how did you get to be a, you know, how did you get to the point that you could do four days and not chew someone's head off or feel like you can't get out of bed?
Sheree 13:42
Well, initially, I did it because I started with Candida overgrowth, so fungal overgrowth. For those who aren't aware what it is, and it can cause a whole host of symptoms in your body. Mine was really flaring up was really bad eczema week that wouldn't shift, really low moods, it was starting to affect my home and health and just my day to day life. And I did some research, they suggested fasting. And I started off with a two day fast. And I was like, wow, this is incredible. I'm one of those people to be fair that if I put my mind to something, and I've committed, I'll just do it. So I'll throw myself in the deep end and like my body is my experiments. Let's just try this on. It's why I'm doing what I'm doing at the moment. But when I did more research actually read a book, Dr. Michael ratios book healthy gut healthy you. And he was talking about this four day fast. And I was like, huh, he does it quite differently. But I did some more research did some looks into the science and I was like I'm going to try this bone broth thing because the idea of having absolutely nothing scares the living daylights out of me. But if I know that I've got this mug, bone broth, that should be fine. So I just threw myself into it was like I don't like to prescribe anything in this. I've tried it did it for I did it for a full four days, but my sleep was right In this, I was hot was racing in the evening, I was tossing and turning all night, all I was having was bone broth. Now, I didn't want to did more research to be like, why on earth is this happening because this is. And my nervous system, I never thought this one was so wired. And so now, like in the protocols that I issue or when I do it myself, I make sure I have and it's not much honey, right, it's just a teaspoon of honey a couple of times a day and like some warm lemon water, and with a little bit of ginger as well, because ginger has got beautiful anti inflammatory properties and make sure I have one of those before bed as it must soon as I have that, again, that little bit of carbohydrates just calms down the nervous system allows me to fall asleep. And I get the best sleep like I you know, looking at my Apple watch, I haven't done one when I've since I've had my aura ring. But with my Apple watch, I go from getting, you know, maybe an hour and a half to two hours of deep sleep to three to four hours of deep sleep at night when I'm fasting, which is just amazing. It just shows how much the body responds in such a beautiful way. And that's why you wake up feeling more refreshed, more energized, more mental clarity, the body feels so much better. So yeah, that's my experience.
Christa 16:12
I love that you figured it out to to add the carbs. Because, you know, yeah, it's definitely a stressor on the body interesting inside there. That's really cool. Now I know you're, you're getting me to want to do the four day that is less scary than going, you know, cold turkey, just water.
Sheree 16:32
Well, that's what I just tried to do. Right. That's what my doctor put me on my holistic doctor put me on for the long bird. And he's like, just try and fast for as long as you possibly can. And I got to 42 hours on just water. And I could feel my heart racing, I had a terrible night's sleep the night before. And I was like, actually, I need to listen to my body, this is creating more stress than it's worth. And I just shifted straight into the intimate and my body feels so much better for it.
Christa 16:56
Yeah, and I think the longer fasts to to be clear, really should be only done maybe once a month, like you said maybe once a quarter, it's the intermittent fasting daily, that is very doable. I mean, especially if you're doing the 16 Eight, only eating an eight hour window. Another population that I would say should be you know, wary of this and maybe avoid it completely or people with with history of anorexia or you know, any kind of eating disorder because that could definitely trigger back into it. So barring any of those, those things, I think it's really a healthy thing for for us, like you said, like it, it gives the gut a total reset, it helps with blood sugars, it helps with cell renewal, and then all those things combined, we think clearer, we actually have better energy, kind of opposite of what you think. The other thing though, is to make sure that you're eating a good enough amount of calories too, because I think some particularly women can, you know, maybe really miss out on the nutrients that they actually need if they don't really pay attention. So it needs to be done responsibly. But when it is and it's in it's a good fit for you. It can be really, really powerful. So we both love intermittent fasting with with some with some restrictions around it. But you know, I definitely think it's an amazing thing. What about cold dip and sauna what so the my experience with cold him in, you know, we have a swimming pool. So in Texas, we don't get cold for very long, but it does be cold for a period of time. So I don't have a cold dip, you know, tub, but in the winter, like right now our pool runs around 50 degrees. So you know, sure it's not the 34 degrees that you see some people doing, but 50 degrees is uncomfortable. And I get out there and I set the timer for three minutes. And I go up to my neck in the pool. And you know, it's there's so many health benefits to it. But the other thing, and what really pushes me is the mental resilience that requires to get your body in just this uncomfortable, like no part of your body really wants to do this, right? It's really uncomfortable. And working through it and really tapping into your breath and really tapping into Yes, I can. Yes, I can do hard things. So for me, it immediately shifts, you know, my mental state. But what's happening on like a chemical level is fascinating. Like it actually releases dopamine in the brain, which you know, then helps boost testosterone so it can boost sex hormones as well. It really does have and it says it's a short term stressor. hormetic stress is what that's call so it's, it's a stress that really tells the body like whoa, we got to get our stuff together here, right? Like we need to be more resilient. So on the cellular level, it's actually helpful too. So that's my My experience with it, I limit it to about three minutes, I typically try to do it in the winter months, you know, four or five times a week? And yeah, that's, that's my experience. What's your experience with it? What do you what's your take on this uncomfortable yet powerful practice.
Sheree 20:18
I love that you brought up the former racism, like the mild stress that we need to adapt, right? Like, that's really what is talking about and building up that resilience and 100% I think it's a huge, huge mental challenge. And the science behind the benefits for someone who struggles with anxiety is incredible as well. And when we're talking about cold therapy, you know, this is talking about cold showers, it's talking about ice baths is talking about cold plans, like, you know, there's so many different names for it. My experience with it, the first time I did it was actually like the friends had a big chest freezer, went over there. And I'd been doing a protocol at the time to really support my gut healing and with that, and I jumped in. And I was like, okay, no one really told me like, the great thing to do beforehand is breathing. But within about 30 seconds, I'd managed to really focus my breath, bring myself back into it. And I was, I was about, you know, up to just above, you know, my chest, not fully submerged at that point. But I managed to last four minutes in there for like freezing. I mean, I would say if our degrees are a bit different over here, we're in Celsius. But it was really, it was really cold, about nine or eight or nine degrees. And I felt incredible afterwards. And then I didn't do another one for ages. Long story short, we actually bought like a little tub, like inflatable thing that you can fill up with ice and I do them. You know, I try and do it at least once a month at the moment. But I'd like to do them more regularly. And with that intention being said, I've actually moved into cold showers. So the benefit of doing the cold showers I find is it's so easy, right? Everyone has a shower at home, and issues. Oh, that's awful. I've just got nice and warm and feeling really good. Why would I go into the cold shower? And as what can I do to really support my immune system at the moment. And so I've committed to like a month of doing cold showers at least once a day just for 30 seconds. I'm slowly increasing them at the end. But you feel so much better. And I was at a seminar not so long ago and they talked about the cold shower. Hokey Pokey. I don't know if you do, have you heard? Okay, yeah, I was like, so you put your left arm and you put. So you just do the hokey pokey in the shower. If you're someone that's kind of like this cold shower stuff is not for me, I can't withstand to be under for a long period of time, it's a really good way to get yourself into it. And you can just do you know, your chest and the main thing, right, it really supports that lymphatic drainage, the ability for our body to reduce inflammation. So you want to get your lymph nodes out, you want to put it on your face as well, because again, all of that stimulating that lymphatic drainage is really, really powerful. So you want to get your lower back, because you want to support your adrenal health and your kidneys and all that sort of thing. So doing the Hokey Pokey, you're kind of just turning yourself around and getting a little bit of that coal exposure. But one of the interesting studies that I looked at prior to prior to diving into this was actually in terms of immune system, it reduced call at reduced sick days during just 30 seconds, just 30 seconds of cold showers a day. Reduce sick days in this one trial by 29%. So like even just the fact that that's all they had to do, they didn't change diet, they didn't change exercise, they didn't change any other lifestyle factor. And sector is reduced dramatically. Like that's actually a very significant decrease was phenomenal. And I think, you know, when you think about the overall, like you said, the increase of endorphins increases dopamine, it's one of those things that people can add into their daily life, just like brushing your teeth.
Christa 24:04
Yeah, you totally can. And I think I think the most effective way is submerging, but I love the Hokey Pokey idea of like, just get started get doing and everybody does have a cold shower. And there are benefits to even the cold shower. And just that little nudge I mean, you know, the to, to, to give the definition to hormesis is just, it's something that in too much, you know, too much could be harmful, but a small amount is just enough to really push the body. And so like we said it boosts the immune system because it's just a small stressor to wake up different parts of our body to release different hormones. It's a great way to start your day. I know that sounds awful to start your day like freezing and uncomfortable. But this kind of rolls in we'll come back to sauna to heat but this kind of rolls us into the time habit of circadian rhythm. And this isn't necessarily biohacking, but it's acknowledging and using it in your favor. So circadian rhythm is really the, you know, our, our bodies, our, you know, we wake up in the morning with the sun and then we are programmed to get tired and fall asleep with the dark. And it's really powerful to harness that because when we do that we get that longer sleep, then we are more awake during the day. But our lifestyle right now, with, you know, with phones with crazy schedules, oftentimes our circadian rhythm is off. And it really can lead to brain fog, it can lead to depression and anxiety, not feeling fully ourselves. But one way to encourage our brain to get on to that circadian rhythm, which is waking up at the light is number one getting light in our eyes, first thing in the morning. So full spectrum light. So that would be going outside if you can within the first 30 minutes, or exposing your light to bright light. If you get up before the sun. The other thing is the cold plunge in the morning or the cold exposure in the morning because that can really, that really wakes up the body, it really gets those neurotransmitters going in the morning. And so that's really where I would say it's ideal to apply it I personally don't do it right when I wake up, I typically do it in the morning hours. So like in the first couple of hours that I've been up, I'll go out and dip in the pool to get my day started. But on the topic of circadian rhythm, I just wanted to acknowledge that too, is not really a biohacking. But like, like I said, like really harnessing that power that we have. And the importance of it. Because when we talk about longevity, when we talk about energy, when we talk about living a big life, we need to be on during the day, right. And I wanted to talk a little bit too about if you if you really can't stick to like maybe your schedule doesn't allow, you know proper circadian rhythm. But if you're if you're able to do it, yeah, getting up in the morning seeing bright light, and then in the evening, having dimmer light in your house. But once the light goes down, to have your lights dimmed to turn off electronics, if you can't staff from your computer, your phone using the dimmer on that so that you're getting less and less of that bright blue or full spectrum light in your eyes. That is really going to help that melatonin naturally rise so that you get a better night's sleep for people who are nightshift workers, or you just your job requires you to be up late at night or you are traveling a lot. You want to try to encourage that as best as possible. So what you want to do is focus on bright light when you want to be awake and focus on dark when you want to be asleep. And so those are the things that can really help you harness that power so that when you want to be awake, you do feel more you feel full of energy, your brain is responding to the signals that you're getting. Because really, our brain is encased in a skull, right? Like the only outlet that our brain has is is our senses and ideally our eyes. And so we want to tell through our eyes, through light through when we eat through through all of that tell our brain what time it is based on based on the stimulation. So when you want to be awake, you want to make sure you have the bright light when you're you know winding down, make sure that the lights are dim, because that's really what signals the brain to switch into sleeping. So I wanted to touch a little bit on that circadian rhythm as well. But let's go back to temperature. What about sauna? Do you recommend and what are your thoughts?
Sheree 28:43
That's another intention for me this year, I really want to get into them a lot more. I think, you know, the hot pot therapy is another form I could say of that from Asus and getting building up that resilience. And there's a lot of research to support how beneficial it is for the body. You know, I was reading something the other day that said, if there was a drug out there that you could take that could reduce all incidents of death all cause mortality by about 40%. Everyone would be taking it. Well, there's so much research to support that saunas do the same thing, simply doing them for about four to seven times a week for about 90 minutes. So something so simple that we could be applying that just takes a little bit of discipline can have like phenomenal effects on your longevity, right, which is what we're all working towards. And I think so often that's where biohacking is becoming so amazing and really taking off because we're live we've been living too short and dying too long. Right? Our quality of life has been terrible. So how can we enhance that? Things like the saunas, you know, when you think about how little we really sweat nowadays, right? We're probably sitting sedentary most of the time we don't really build up our our level of intensity and less We go and push ourselves through some form of exercise, you know, or what ourselves in a situation like a sauna, to go and get our sweat glands really, really working, which again, helps get rid of the toxins in the body that really speeds up that detoxification process that really supports again, our immune system, it can decrease and decrease chronic headaches. There are so many benefits to sauna therapy.
Christa 30:24
Yeah, I agree. It's huge. And they've actually tested sweat to see what's actually in it, right? Like, is it possible to get rid of more toxins, and in fact, yes, even heavy metals in some degree there that has been found in sweat. So definitely mold, so byproducts of mold. So anytime, you know, if I have a patient or client who has mold exposure, multiplicity, definitely number one, of sweating, and also detoxification of hormones. You know, for women dealing with heavier periods, or, you know, estrogen dominance, it's important to support the liver in in that so I actually got so sauna it can be, it can be difficult for some people, if you don't have a gym that has a sauna, or if you don't have a, you know, a big apparatus in your home. But the I use higher dose, I know that there's other brands out there. But it's kind of like a sleeping bag, and you just zip it up, and you plug it in, and you can read a book you can listen to, we can't really read a book because your arms gonna be inside. So I haven't read a book, but I listen to music or listen to a podcast, or I lay it in the living room, or I can watch a show. But just laying in it for about 30 minutes, most days, three or four times a week at least, just really getting that sweat on top of you know, I work out and sweat that way. But there's something about that heat that just really is cleansing, right? Like it just can help. What else would you find have promoted like the promotion of the heat and so on? Or what else have you learned about that?
Sheree 32:07
Interestingly, like it kind of links back to what you're talking about earlier with the circadian rhythm, because it really does promote better sleep, right. And so we talked about the call to wake you up, while the the soreness can actually be the really good heat and help you kind of wind down. And one thing I just wanted to circle back around with talking about that circadian rhythm is, you know, what you were mentioning before is we have that cortisol awakening response in the morning. And so having that cold shower, making sure we're eating to really wake our bodies up, and then making sure we're winding down effectively in the evening is something that we're not really doing right, when we've got that blue light exposure, it's telling the brand that there's a party going on. Whereas if you were to potentially have the sauna, again, it helps calm the body down when the body down after that burst of you know, stress, because it's some sort of warming, hormetic response. It can be really, really helpful to improve people's sleep and sleep health. So I think if we're looking at this big picture, right, people who are wanting to biohack starting with optimizing your circadian rhythm is really really powerful. You know, if you're watching that TV show, while you're got your high dose, sleeping bag thing going on, put people who like glasses on as well, to help block out some of that blue light. And you'll be able to help yourself wine down really well. And I think if you're wanting optimal health, which is what most of us are really aiming for, once, if you you know, once you've got out of that healing stage, if you've had to go through that, applying these sorts of things, as a regular practice having a really good morning routine that might include a cold shower or a cold plunge, and a good evening routine. You know, for me, it's going to be at the end of my gym sessions. Once I'm able to get back into doing those a little bit better. A really top in four times a week into the sauna, really sweated out off to the gym, go home at my shower and wind down but I normally train in the evening. So again, it's a good winding down technique from that perspective to
Christa 34:04
something with you mentioned sleep. And you know, it's probably counterintuitive to what you'd think. But when we heat the body up with sauna with a hot shower, your actual core temperature then is trying to cool the body down. And we need a good cool environment. Our body actually has a lower temperature and we sleep. And so that simulates that that that cooling down mechanism inside our body. And so in that sense, yes, it can definitely help to relax you and really turn that on so that when you lay in bed, that cooling down system is already just really revved up, and that promotes deeper sleep too. So overall, yeah, saunas, an amazing thing. Red light therapy with the sauna can be really helpful because that stimulates the, the powerhouse of our cells, which is the mitochondria, helps mitochondrial health with Really, when we talk about boiling things down to energy, it really starts there. It's like inside the cell and teeny tiny mitochondria inside of the cell. And the red light therapy helps to rejuvenate to really stimulate mitochondrial health. So without getting too sciency on that right now, combining red light with your sauna can be really powerful for overall cellular health and energy and detoxification. So we love that. What about breath work, let's tap on that. breath work breathwork has been life changing for me, it, you know, it doesn't have to be this big production either. That's what I love about it. Like we always have our breath. So whether you're going in a cold plunge, whether you're feeling anxious, whether you're wanting to just meditate and tap into getting your day started, I recommend it when people wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep. There's so many different techniques. I am not a breathwork specialist, but I have definitely connected with people who are for my own benefits. And then I share what I know, with my clients and my patients all the time because it is so powerful, just just regulating our breath. I'll share really quickly. And then I want you to share too, but I so one of my favorites is box breathing, it's one of my favorites. Really where you're just you breathe in really deeply for kind of for you hold that at the top for kind of for you breathe out for kind of four, maybe five, and then hold that for kind of for. So it kind of creates this box. Before I use that if I'm feeling anxious, I use that if I wake up in the middle of the night. Yeah, I use it all the time, if I just I'm finding myself needing to relax. And the more I've started this practice, like, even if I'm starting to feel tension in my body, just relaxing my body and taking like five deep breaths in and out. It's like it completely changes how I can show up and how I can just step into calm, like I've got this, right. So and then of course, there's breathwork sessions where there's all different kinds of different breath techniques. But that's my experience, one that I use day in day out, most people don't even know that you're doing it. And you can reap the benefits no matter where you are. But what's your experience with breath work.
Sheree 37:35
It's something that I feel I've really dived into, you know, like breath work is, life begins and ends with breath. Right. And I think we quite often forget, like what you said, just even taking those deeper breaths to calm the body down, we take it back to that nervous system level, and look at our sympathetic nervous system, our fight or flight and our rest and digest. One of the biggest things we do is we breathe very shallowly with this high cortisol environment, this high stress environment that we live in. And so we're not getting deep breaths, we're not getting that oxygen saturation through to ourselves through to our bodies to be able to really calm ourselves down. So it also then when we're in our fight or flight inhibits digestion. So taking like sick five to six deep diaphragmatic breaths is all that's needed to switch you from sympathetic nervous system to parasympathetic nervous system. So doing that, like you say, before you go to sleep, even if you'd wake up in the night or the box breathing is amazing, same sort of thing, right? really calming the body down before a meal. So you're switching back into that state. We're optimizing digestive health. Diaphragmatic breathing is one of the most underrated forms of breath work. I think that's out there. Right? And that's literally you can do it right now. Notice when you breathe in, pop a hands on your heart, hands on your belly, are you breathing into your chest first, or you breathing all the way down into your diaphragm and actually expanding when you Can You Feel your belly button push against your hands and expand out. And we're not doing that we're really living this. And we don't realize how shallow and that's communicating more anxiety, more stress to the brain into the body and keeping you in that fight or flight state. So I think the box breathing is amazing. And another one I love, I learned a lot of breathing techniques through all the yoga that I've done. And it's called Nadi Shodhana and Kundalini practice, or alternate nostril breathing, in general momentums but essentially you're, you know, you're putting your fingers on your forehead, you're blocking one nostril, you're breathing in through that one, you're closing it off, you're breathing out the other one, and you're just going up and out and up and out, alternating through the nostrils. And that can really help again, calm the body down. There's even you know, if you go further into it, you can just block one side and activates your you know, more of your creative juices, and you block the other side. And it creates, it activates more of your logical brain, right. And so all of these sorts of things are just incredible that you can use simply through breath. So I don't know, something that both of us have done is, like Holotropic breathwork, which is another whole thing that I just want to mention in terms of the nervous system, because you've got the stuff we're talking about to calm the body down. But you've also got the other side, which can really heighten that sympathetic state as well that you want to touch a little bit on that.
Christa 40:34
Yeah, the Holotropic breathwork, the sessions that I've done have been around 30 minutes, this is definitely something that I love, but you've never done it before you want to do it with someone who knows what they're doing, you want to do it with someone who can, you know, either over zoom or in person be there to support you in case you need, you know, you just need support. But it's more of the rapid breathing, we're breathing directly into your belly, and then out your chest in the belly of the chest. So it's a pattern of breathing, but it changes the chemistry in your brain. And it can be powerful when you're talking about envisioning something new, really getting clarity on something, it's, it's, it can, it can create a lot of shifts in your in your brain, and it just the way the experience that you have with it. So it's essentially a form of hyperventilating, that changes the pH of the blood, which then changes the brain chemistry. And it you know, it can have some symptoms, you know, you got the tingling hands, sometimes a cramping hands. But what I love about it is that those symptoms once once you're done with it, the discomfort is really resolved within about five minutes. But the power of that brain chemistry shift and change in that 30 minutes of doing breath work like that has really changed a lot for me, it's it just brings new insights to life. So that's a whole other way of doing breath work, which I love. I don't do that as often. But I think going there and learning the power of breath has helped me integrate it into my daily life where I feel that tension. And focusing on your breath, just like you said, like five deep breaths. Not only does it help you calm down and get into that that parasympathetic, rest and digest phase, it also brings you back to the present moment. Because when you're focusing on your breath, you're here, you're in your body, you're feeling it, you're feeling expansive, you're releasing, right, you're releasing stress. And I think, you know, talking to our audience, which is made up mainly of, you know, really powerful people, people achieving big things in life that comes with a lot of stress and the power of your breath before you walk into a meeting before you walk into a party that you maybe feel intimidated by people or you're doing a project that maybe you don't feel safe in, you know, you just you feel you're you feel your nervous system, like I can't do this or you're about to walk on stage, whatever it is, the power of just the deep breaths, the calming breaths that you can take has shifted my personal, anxious anxiety experiences. And I love it, I recommend it to all of my patients and clients to, to really tap into that, and especially the box breathing, it's just an easy way to start. And you always have your breath. Like you don't need anything. You don't need any apparatus. You just have to breathe. I love it.
Sheree 43:35
Yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't agree with you more. And just like we were talking about with the cold showers with the saunas, all of that comes down to can you control your breath. Like I said, when I showed when I first jumped into that ice bath, if you haven't actually done a few breaths to calm your body down, you're gonna go into shock. And sometimes people then end up hyperventilating, they don't get all the benefits of being in that they can have a really terrible experience, right? So it's like combining a lot of these tools with the breath and going It's okay, like I'm calm, calm the body down, and then jumping into the cold. Right now. We're in the sauna, you can get paid a hot and again, ventilation can increase and so you want to just calm your body down. And I think it's amazing. I know that even the Holotropic breathwork a lot of people are now using us into intertwining with therapy and, you know, PTSD. And like you said it has some incredible benefits for the mind from like a mindset perspective, being open to new ideas, retraining those neurons that are firing in the brain. So you know if you're going to start somewhere, I think that easiest one like you just pointed out is your breath because you don't need anything. You don't need an ice bath you don't you know you don't need anything at all. You can literally just start right now by taking a deep breath in all the way to your belly and a big breath out and, you know, even through the nose, just making that subtle shift through the nose versus the mouth breathing. That's a whole nother conversation we could go into But little things like that, that can really help help the body heal as well.
Christa 45:05
Yes. Yeah, it's interesting that it's become so mainstream over the past, I don't know, maybe decade. But, you know, other other people have used this other, you know, high intensity jobs, maybe in the military divers, they've utilized this breathwork for a long time to not only change the pH of their, of their blood so that they can hold their breath longer, let's say in diving, but recognizing the the benefits of that, that it really has helped them with anxiety, it really shifts things in your body, you know, and so I'm so glad that it's become more mainstream, it's so much more accessible, to do things like Holotropic, you know, assisted breathing, breathwork sessions and things like that. But yeah, it doesn't have to be difficult. It doesn't have to be complicated. You don't have to do any special training. Just simply doing the alternating nostril breathing, the box breathing, taking five deep breaths in the middle of your day, or anytime you feel stressed. That's where you start. And you'll see a shift. I mean, it's, it's really fascinating and amazing that we have this powerful tool and yet don't take advantage of it. Right. So. So yeah, I think we've touched on a lot of really great biohacking topics, you know, I know that we didn't dive super deep into them. But hopefully this is helpful to everybody listening to what's available to you, and, and really doing some of these things, integrating some a new habit, integrating one or all of these things, like maybe piece by piece, integrating these can make such a difference in your energy in your sleep in your way of thinking and, and showing up in the world. I know they've all helped me and continue to grow and learning each one of these areas, because it's powerful. Like it's just it's just amazing how much more we can optimize ourselves. When we pay attention to what's available, what we what we have around us. So yeah, any closing thoughts?
Sheree 47:01
Yeah, I think what I'll just say is just we'll pop some some resources and extra learnings and that sort of thing in the show notes because I think, you know, I've got a link to the call Hokey Pokey YouTube video, which might be enough, a good little place to get started. Or if you are wanting to learn a little bit more about you know, any of these sorts of things are wondering where to start. It can be helpful to dive a little bit deeper and, and see what feels really aligned for you. But exactly like what you say, Christopher, it's just pick pick one. Maybe you start with your breath, and then maybe you start to layer it in like it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Like I said, I've only just started doing the cold showers. Saunas haven't even been on my agenda, you can slowly weave them into your life and sometimes it takes getting sick. Sometimes it takes something else to be the nudge but hopefully you can do this from a place of of generating optimal health and well being and actually use it more as a preventative measure than something that you need to pull you out of anything to.
Christa 47:56
Yeah, love it. Love this topic. Can't wait to talk more and dive in more and deeper levels on each one of these down the road. Hope you guys have all enjoyed it. Thanks for being here and we'll see you next time.
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