BEN GREENFIELD | The Ultimate Daily Routine | Modern Wisdom Podcast 157

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   I don't really have…

   1. BGBen Greenfield0:00

      I don't really have any appreciable amount of carbohydrates until the evening. So I'm typically in a state of fatty acid oxidation or, you know, mild ketosis most of the day. And, you know, unless you're a, like a two-a-day hard-charging athlete, there's no need for like two big carbohydrate boluses during the day, unless you got to maximize glycogen restoration after an early day hard workout. And with that strategy, I avoid a lot of, uh, glycemic variability, like a lot of glucose fluctuations during the day. I find I have more stable energy levels and cognitive levels 'cause our dinner time is usually like a big family dinner or a social time or going out to a restaurant with friends or whatever. I want to be able to, for the more social meal, actually indulge a little bit. I save all my carbohydrates for the end of the day. Yeah, and the release of serotonin in response to the carbohydrate feeding, which enhances your melatonin release at night so you sleep better too. So I just think as long as you pay attention to the rules, this whole idea of carb backloading is actually a, a pretty good strategy.

   2. CWChris Williamson0:59

      Ben Greenfield in the building. How are you, man?

   3. BGBen Greenfield1:03

      Hey. Good. I'm not, I'm not in a building. I'm actually outside in some farm road back behind my house, but, but, uh, yeah, I, I can only stay in a building for so long. The sun's, sun's out today, got a nice cool, cool wind whipping up over the plains, so I apologize if it sounds occasionally like I'm in a hurricane-

   4. CWChris Williamson1:21

      (laughs)

   5. BGBen Greenfield1:22

      ... but, uh, but yeah. Uh, we'll call it a building. God's, God's giant building outside.

   6. CWChris Williamson1:26

      That is where you are, man. Uh, so are you getting a little bit of walking in, keeping yourself moving in these times?

   7. BGBen Greenfield1:32

      Uh, you know, I walk a lot every day anyways. Any excuse I can get to walk, I just love to, love to move and get some sunshine and, yeah. You know, I spend a lot of time these days, you know, doing consults and, and calls sometimes indoors or, you know, doing a lot of writing. And so, if I can get outside, I'll do it.

   8. CWChris Williamson1:51

      I like it, man. We are not using the C-word today. The C-word is not being included in this podcast. (laughs) We are talking about-

   9. BGBen Greenfield1:58

      Thank God.

   10. CWChris Williamson1:59

       We are talking about some evergreen stuff. Your new book, Boundless, might actually be useful if people are in lockdown because it is one of the heaviest books I've ever felt in my life. So it would double up, double up as a weight or is it-

   11. BGBen Greenfield2:10

       Yeah, throw, throw some, uh, throw some blood flow restriction bands on and start to do some overhead presses with that bad boy.

   12. CWChris Williamson2:16

       Well, you could use it as a step to reach high objects if you needed as well, you know?

   13. BGBen Greenfield2:19

       You could, yeah.

   14. CWChris Williamson2:20

       Um, so today, I want to go through three main areas. I want to talk about your morning routine, I want to talk about your setup for working, and I want to talk about your sleep and your nighttime routine. So-

   15. BGBen Greenfield2:30

       Okay.

   16. CWChris Williamson2:31

       ... starting off, what does your current morning routine look like? I want the full Monty.

   17. BGBen Greenfield2:36

       The full Monty. All right. Well, in- interrupt me if I tend to rabbit hole too much.

   18. CWChris Williamson2:41

       Don't worry.

   19. BGBen Greenfield2:41

       But I, uh, yeah, I usually, um, you know, wake up without an alarm unless I got to catch a flight or something like that. I just find I naturally tend to wake sometime around like, it's usually like 5:45, 6:15, somewhere in there, and I just find that, that, uh, you know, waking naturally, I'm not opposed to some of these devices. You know, like I, I sleep on one of these chili pad things that keeps your body cool while you're asleep, which is great for enhancing your deep sleep and there's apparently a function on it where you can activate it to circulate more warm water to gradually wake you. I don't use that function. I'm nervous I might just pee my pants when the warm water turns on.

   20. CWChris Williamson3:18

       (laughs)

   21. BGBen Greenfield3:19

       Um, and then, uh, I have one of those sunrise alarm clocks for when I do got to set the alarm on that just kind of gradually bleeds sun into your room so you wake a lot more slowly, which I think is just wonderful for not, you know, ripping you out of a deep sleep cycle if you happen to be one, in one, uh, in the, in the morning. And, uh, so yeah, I wake, I, uh, roll over and then I do some gratitude journaling for the first few minutes of the day. I, uh, write down one thing I'm grateful for, I write down, uh, one person who I can help that day, whether it's like, you know, calling my mom or, or, uh, you know, helping the neighbor, uh, move something or, or even just like, you know, giving a bottle of wine to somebody who I know might need a, a smile that day. And, uh, you know, I j- I, I just really like that others-facing type of mentality to start the day 'cause I figure if I, you know, if I'm writing down one person I can help each day, that's 365, you know, good things I might do during the course of a year. So, I do that and then I, uh, I write down, uh, also any, any insights that I had from my, my dream cycles earlier in the night or, you know, and any just little encouraging words to myself that I, that I want to act on during the day. And then, uh, when I get out of bed, I'm, I'm kind of into, into the, the Ayurvedic, uh, concepts in terms of the morning routine, so I do a quick tongue scrape which takes just a few seconds with a little copper tongue scraper go from back-

   22. CWChris Williamson4:43

       What's the logic behind that?

   23. BGBen Greenfield4:45

       ... back of the tongue to the front of the tongue, just helps to c- to clean out some bacteria in the mouth that accumulates during the night of sleep, and then I also do, uh, uh, oil pulling. So I use, uh, coconut oil blended with some essential oils like clove and peppermint and, uh, swish that around in the mouth while I'm tooting around during the day, you know, taking a pee and getting things ready for the day, and that's also a really, really great, uh, oral hygiene tactic, again, borrowed from Ayurvedic medicine. And, um, so I, I then, uh, go downstairs into the kitchen and if, if I've woken pretty early or if I have been traveling a lot and I'm trying to kind of like reset my circadian rhythm to whatever time zone that I happen to be in, I'll usually wear those, uh, blue light-blocking glasses that people wear at night. I'll wear those in the morning 'cause I find that that reddish orange lens kind of does a good job simulating sunrise.

   24. CWChris Williamson5:39

       Mm.

   25. BGBen Greenfield5:40

       So if I'm flipping on lights in the kitchen or glancing at my phone or opening the computer or anything, it's a little bit more of a gentle way to wake up, kind of that same concept of not waking with an alarm clock.

   26. CWChris Williamson5:50

       Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

   27. BGBen Greenfield5:51

       Uh, wearing these blue light-blocking glasses in the morning kind of gives you that really kind of sunrise-esque feel in the morning 'cause my lazy ass is not going to be out of bed when the sun's rising, so-

   28. CWChris Williamson5:59

       (laughs)

   29. BGBen Greenfield5:59

       ... I just kind of-

   30. CWChris Williamson5:59

       What's the, uh, what's, what's the brand of sunrise glasses you use?
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   (laughs) …

   1. BGBen Greenfield15:00

      time in the morning. And, I finish up all that, and you'll, you'll find if you guys, uh, use that tactic of baking soda, uh, with that glass mason jar, after about 45 minutes, that baking soda kicks in and you just go have this awesome, awesome dump.

   2. CWChris Williamson15:15

      (laughs)

   3. BGBen Greenfield15:15

      So, I, uh, I flip off the red lights after about a half hour and, you know, I just, I can tell right away, you feel the stomach gurgling a little bit. It's like, "All right, it's time."

   4. CWChris Williamson15:23

      Ready to go.

   5. BGBen Greenfield15:24

      And, uh, go upstairs and just have, have an amazing, amazing, amazing bowel movement. And then, um, you know, by then it's, it's typically around, you know, like, uh, 7:45 to 8:15-ish in the morning. And, I, I usually, before I jump into the rest of the day, um, you know, and, and kind of start work and everything, or have some breakfast, I like to do some kind of like a morning, um, some kind of morning protocol that makes me feel really good. I don't like to hit the weights hard or do like a big high intensity interval training session in the morning. So, usually for me it's either a, about a 20 or 30-minute walk in the sunshine, or a 20 or 30-minute sauna session. So, this would be after I go to the bathroom.

   6. CWChris Williamson16:05

      Yep, yep.

   7. BGBen Greenfield16:05

      You know, I'll, I'll do like a, a sauna plus a cold soak, you know, 20 or 30 minutes in the sauna, just the deep sweat. Um, again, I'll, I'll put essential oils in the sauna. Um, sometimes I'll put on like a topical rub, like any of these topical muscle creams that have things like, you know, cayenne and menthol and black pepper, 'cause they're just sweat buckets, I've found, if you, if you smear some stuff over your skin-

   8. CWChris Williamson16:28

      Yeah, I bet you are.

   9. BGBen Greenfield16:28

      ...before you get into the sauna. Uh, I'm using one called, uh, Prototype 8 by, uh, ATP Science right now, and I'll just like smear that on my arms and my legs, you know, put some, some really good uplifting essential oils in there like rosemary or cinnamon or something that's really kind of like stimulating to the brain, to get me all charged up for the work day. And, uh, do the sauna till I'm sweating really hard, then go, then I'll go jump in the cold pool or take a cold shower for about three or four minutes. And, uh, I'm either doing that or just like a long walk in the sunshine. And so, do all that, and then, um, uh, you know, I, I own a, a company called Kion, and we always have a call every morning at 9:45. So, I got to be done, showered, you know, ready for the day, you know, spend a little time with the kids and say good morning to them and hear about how they're gonna spend their day. They're homeschooled, so they're at home with me all day anyways. So, I just kind of check in with them, make sure they're all set for the day, and check in with my wife, make sure she's all set for the day. And then, I just make myself a, a giant superfood smoothie while I'm getting ready for that call with my team. And that, you know, the smoothie just changes every day, but typically it's things like, you know, for, for my base I just use ice, and then I'll put some stevia in there or some monk fruit in there for a sweetener.

   10. CWChris Williamson17:44

       Mm-hmm.

   11. BGBen Greenfield17:45

       And then, I just love to toss a bunch of, bunch of great stuff in there. So, for my liquid I'll usually use bone broth or, or kefir, or sometimes coconut milk. I, I make my own yogurt at home, uh, usually using coconut milk or goat's milk as a base. So, I'll put some yogurt in there. Uh, and then typically a few scoops of something like your greens. I'll put some collagen in there, uh, squeeze of a lemon or some kind of vitamin C in there.... and then I, I just blend all that up. If I want a little bit more creaminess, I'll put, like, half an avocado in there. Sometimes for a little bit of extra greens, you know, I, I grow sprouts at home, so I'll put some sprouts in there. And then I'll, I'll top it with just a bunch of goodies, like spirulina. Like, after I've blended it, I'll top it with, like, spirulina, coconut flakes, cacao nibs. But I, I blend the smoothie really thick, so I basically, like, eat it out of a bowl-

   12. CWChris Williamson18:36

       (laughs)

   13. BGBen Greenfield18:36

       ... almost like an acai bowl-

   14. CWChris Williamson18:38

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   15. BGBen Greenfield18:38

       ... with all these s-

   16. CWChris Williamson18:38

       Like a dessert.

   17. BGBen Greenfield18:39

       ... superfoods. Oh, yeah, it's amazing. It's so good. It's, like, the highlight of my day. I'm thinking about that when I'm doing my sauna or my walk, I'm already thinking about that amazing, amazing superfood bowl I'm gonna make at home. And so, I typically, I'll eat that while I'm on the call with my team, just chatting with my team, you know, hearing about what everybody's going to be up to for the day and, um, just touching base with, with the whole squad 'cause I'm running my company virtually for the most part, uh, because our offices are in Boulder, but I'm up in, uh, Washington State.

   18. CWChris Williamson19:07

       Mm-hmm.

   19. BGBen Greenfield19:07

       And, they're down, you know, most of my team is, is down kind of around Colorado. So, I, um, I, uh, do that call, and then after that, from about 10:00 until around 2:00 or 2:30, I just, you know, no push notifications, no, no Twitter, no Facebook, no social media. I just work like a horse with blinders on for the next four or five hours, you know, kind of that deep work concept, you know, like Cal Newport's book-

   20. CWChris Williamson19:34

       Mm-hmm.

   21. BGBen Greenfield19:35

       ... where I'm just, you know, uh, whether I'm, I'm writing or working on a book or a series of articles or shooting videos, doing content, um, doing consults with my clients or people who have hired me to go over their nutrition or their workout plans with them or their, you know, their lab work, their blood work. Uh, sometimes, you know, I, I advise a lot of companies in the health and, and fitness space, so sometimes it's advisory calls for different businesses. Um, you know, e- every, every day kind of varies, but y- but for me, that kind of, like, 10:00 to 2:00 or 2:30 slot is just deep work time, just crush the day during that time, hyper productive. And, uh, I take breaks about every, uh, you know, it depends on, on the s- style of work that I'm doing, but every 30 to 60 minutes, I'll take breaks and, you know, do some pull-ups, do some kettlebell swings, um, you know, jump up and down on a trampoline. I ju- I just like to take little breaks just to keep my body moving, uh, during those, those, you know, four or five hours of work. But, uh, you know, generally once I've, once I've finished all that work, I, um, I come up and, uh, I, again, I have a home office, so I'll make myself some lunch. Lunch for me is just usually, you know, some good greens, like some more sprouts or really nice plate of greens with, uh, you know, I'm a big fan of the whole SMASH diet, like sardines, mackerel, anchovy, herring, or salmon. So, usually I'll do, like, some kind of really good omega-3 rich cold water fish, you know, some nuts, uh, some avocado, uh, usually another cup of bone broth, and I just have, you know, kind of like breakfast. I have, like, a superfood kind of salad type of thing for lunch. Uh-

   22. CWChris Williamson21:10

       But made up with fish in it. The superfo-

   23. BGBen Greenfield21:12

       Yeah, yeah.

   24. CWChris Williamson21:12

       ... superfood fish, yeah.

   25. BGBen Greenfield21:13

       Usually fish or nuts. Sometimes if we've had steak or chicken or whatever the night before, I'll use that as the protein topper. But again, I, I don't, I don't really have any appreciable amount of carbohydrates until the evening. I save all my carbs until the evening. So, I'm typically in a state of fatty acid oxidation or, you know, mild ketosis most of the day. And, you know, unless you're a, you're a, like, a two-a-day hard-charging athlete, there's no need for, like, two big carbohydrate boluses during the day unless you gotta maximize glycogen restoration after an early day hard workout. So, I find because I typically do my hard workout in, like, the later afternoon or early evening, as long as I've had carbohydrates the night before, my glycogen levels are pretty topped off anyways. And with that strategy, I avoid a lot of, uh, glycemic variability, like, a lot of glucose fluctuations during the day. I find I have more stable energy levels and cognitive levels. Um, and it also allows me to, because our dinner time is usually, like, a big family dinner or a social time or going out to a restaurant with friends or whatever, like, I wanna, I wanna be able to, for the more social meal, actually, you know, indulge a little bit, like have some red wine or some dark chocolate or some sourdough bread or some sweet potato fries or whatever. So, I save all my carbohydrates for the end of the day, which is also nice because since I typically am not doing my, my hard workout, like weights or high-intensity interval training or anything like that until the later afternoon or the early evening, that means that I'm very insulin sensitive after that workout. So, those carbohydrates very easily get partitioned into, you know, muscle tissue-

   26. CWChris Williamson22:51

       Shuttling them-

   27. BGBen Greenfield22:51

       ... and liver tissue.

   28. CWChris Williamson22:51

       ... shuttling them all into the right muscles-

   29. BGBen Greenfield22:53

       Yeah.

   30. CWChris Williamson22:53

       ... right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Have you tried- …

   1. BGBen Greenfield30:00

      pelvis stool or the saddle chair-

   2. CWChris Williamson30:02

      Have you tried-

   3. BGBen Greenfield30:02

      ... and then the-

   4. CWChris Williamson30:03

      He- when, when standing, have you tried a small step to rest one foot on in front while you're standing?

   5. BGBen Greenfield30:10

      Yeah, I use the treadmill for that actually.

   6. CWChris Williamson30:11

      (laughs)

   7. BGBen Greenfield30:11

      Because I got a standing treadmill right there.

   8. CWChris Williamson30:13

      Yeah, I get you.

   9. BGBen Greenfield30:14

      And, uh-

   10. CWChris Williamson30:14

       That's, um-

   11. BGBen Greenfield30:15

       ... yeah.

   12. CWChris Williamson30:15

       ... that's been such a game changer for me, for anyone who's listening that uses a standing desk. Buying, like, a kid's step, you know, like what a kid would use to get up to the ke- kitchen counter, or-

   13. BGBen Greenfield30:24

       Yeah.

   14. CWChris Williamson30:24

       ... anything that raises your foot maybe between half a foot to a foot and a half off the floor, and it really does decompress my back. That's made a big difference. Also, I wondered, have you tried the rocker boards?

   15. BGBen Greenfield30:36

       Uh, I have one called the FluidStance.

   16. CWChris Williamson30:38

       Yep, yeah.

   17. BGBen Greenfield30:38

       That- that's like a, it's like a balance tool but it's not that hard to balance on-

   18. CWChris Williamson30:42

       Yeah.

   19. BGBen Greenfield30:42

       ... so I can be, like, on a phone call-

   20. CWChris Williamson30:43

       Yeah, I'm a big fan.

   21. BGBen Greenfield30:44

       ... and not feel like I'm- I'm not able to balance.

   22. CWChris Williamson30:46

       Big fan.

   23. BGBen Greenfield30:46

       The other one that you can put your foot up on that works well, this is a new one I have called- it's called a SlackBlock. And it's basically like a slack line. It was developed for balance training. So, I have it in my office as one of those things I could stand on for a little bit during, like, a Pomodoro break.

   24. CWChris Williamson31:00

       Yeah, yeah.

   25. BGBen Greenfield31:00

       But it can double as something you can put your foot up on too. And just-

   26. CWChris Williamson31:04

       That's cool. So, that's like a mobile miniature slack line?

   27. BGBen Greenfield31:07

       Yeah, exactly. But it's also-

   28. CWChris Williamson31:08

       That is so sick.

   29. BGBen Greenfield31:09

       ... a little bit of a perturbation. Yeah, so you get a little bit more increased proprioception. The other thing I have related to the feet is I always have a couple of golf balls, like, right underneath my feet, so I'm always doing some foot rolling while I'm standing at my desk. So, just some- some deep tissue therapy for the feet, and that works pretty well.

   30. CWChris Williamson31:26

       I've found as well, I'm- I'm not sure if this is the same for you, but sometimes when I'm doing some work that doesn't involve my hands, having something to just get rid of the excess energy. So, I always have a pen in my fingers and I twirl a pen. I tend to do that under the desk when I'm podcasting and actually find my ability to focus on what I'm doing when I have a- a small amount of really basic movement going on elsewhere makes a big difference.
4. 45:00 – 54:05

   Good genetics. …

   1. BGBen Greenfield45:00

      body fat. So a lot of that's genetics.

   2. CWChris Williamson45:01

      Good genetics.

   3. BGBen Greenfield45:02

      You know, I don't, I don't really go out of my way to f- to like stay super lean, but, you know, my testosterone's fine, my thyroid's fine, you know. So as long as my endocrine system is, is working fine, I'm, I'm okay with just maintaining where my body wants to be at.

   4. CWChris Williamson45:16

      Got you, got you.

   5. BGBen Greenfield45:16

      You know, 'cause I, I def- you know, I'm a foodie. I eat a lot of food. I punish a lot of ribeye steaks and lard and ghee and liver and you have, I just, my body doesn't hold onto a lot of fat, honestly. It just, it's the way it goes. So anyways though, so, um, after, after that, uh, that kind of like early evening-ish workout that finishes up sometime around 6:30 or so, uh, typically after that, I'll make sure there's no more email fires to put out, no work that's left to be done. And then from about 7:00, 7:30 on, it's all family time. Like we have these wonderful like family dinners where we play board games and go over our gratitude journals and sing songs and, um, and, and just, just connect as a family. We all typically are gathering together and making the meal together and everybody's contributing and cooking and laughing and playing music. And so from like 7:30 until 9:00 is just like full-on family time, dinner time. We finish dinner and then we go play more music. I'll read to the kids or, or play them some songs on the guitar. Um, you know, we d- we, we don't really go out to restaurants that much, but typically, it's just like super duper focused and relaxed and fun family time, um, all the, all the way up until after 9:00. And then typically by about 9:30 or so, you know, the kids are tucked away. And then my wind-down routine, um, in addition to those red lights would be, you know, as we're making that family dinner and, you know, getting back into dinner, I've typically got, you know, the blue light blocking glasses on again to start to, you know, suppress any exposure to, um, to, you know, uh, large amounts of, of blue light. Um, I, uh, what else do I do? I mean, after-

   6. CWChris Williamson47:10

      How long are you aiming for with the, with the blue light blocking glasses? 90 minutes, two hours before bed?

   7. BGBen Greenfield47:15

      Yeah, it's usually about 90 minutes, two hours before bed. Unless I plan like, you know, whatever. If my wife and I want to have like, you know, like a, you know, a, a really intensive sex session or, or so- or something, you know, we plan being up 'til 10:30 or 11:00, you know, talking, having sex, stuff like that. Like sometimes I'll just like purposefully not do a lot to wind myself down-

   8. CWChris Williamson47:34

      (laughs)

   9. BGBen Greenfield47:34

      ... because I don't want to be tired. Um-

   10. CWChris Williamson47:36

       I get you.

   11. BGBen Greenfield47:37

       But, uh, but yeah, I also, um, I tend to have a pretty raging appetite even after dinner, so I'll typically do something with glycine, uh, or gelatin in it, which really just... So I make jello. I make jello with just like some, um, some gelatin that I'll mix with coconut milk and a little stevia. Sometimes I'll put a prebiotic fiber in there, which also helps with sleep, uh, like acacia fiber, and then I'll just put that in a food dehydrator for about a day and, you know, stir that up, keep that in the fridge, and I'll just give myself a nice kind of like, um, you know, like, like a, a two-inch by two-inch, uh, piece of jello-

   12. CWChris Williamson48:15

       Mm-hmm.

   13. BGBen Greenfield48:16

       ... at night. Sometimes I'll put a little bit of almond butter on that, little touch of sea salt, and, uh, that's like, that's my go-to dessert for keeping my appetite satiated. Gel-

   14. CWChris Williamson48:23

       Satiating, yeah, 100%.

   15. BGBen Greenfield48:25

       Yeah, it's 'cause that gelatin, the glycine just helps me go to, go to bed and not feel hungry later on. So I'll have that typically for dessert after dinner and, um-... and then, uh, for the wind-down routine, other than that, um, what else do I do? Uh, I'm, my, my go-to supplements for sleep are CBD. I do about, typically high dose CBD. Most of the research on CBD that shows that it enhances sleep uses a lot more than, than what they use for, like, the anxiolytic effect. Usually it's anywhere from 100 to 600 milligrams for sleep. So, typically I'll take about 100 milligrams of CBD. Um-

   16. CWChris Williamson49:04

       Sublingual?

   17. BGBen Greenfield49:05

       Yep, yep. I, I like the droppers. I, I find I respond best to that. I just hold it in the mouth for a couple of minutes. And then, like I mentioned, the, the little bit of glycine with gelatin, and then also like I mentioned, magnesium. So CBD, magnesium, and a little bit of that jello. That's, that's kind of like my go-to snack. And, uh-

   18. CWChris Williamson49:23

       What's your, what's your magnesium supplement?

   19. BGBen Greenfield49:26

       I'm using right now Mag SRT by Jigsaw Health. It's, uh, I think it's glycinate threonate and citrate, I think.

   20. CWChris Williamson49:34

       Got you.

   21. BGBen Greenfield49:34

       Um-

   22. CWChris Williamson49:34

       What's the dosage?

   23. BGBen Greenfield49:36

       Uh, it's about 400.

   24. CWChris Williamson49:38

       Okay.

   25. BGBen Greenfield49:39

       Yeah, so you just go to, go to bowel tolerance, and man, when you, when you mix that with having the vitamin C and the baking soda in the morning, it's great for the bowels as well. And, um, then the, the, uh, red light, and then what I sleep on is I, I have a gravity blanket. You know, I'm big, I'm a big fan of in addition to making sure you're sleeping in a cold environment and you're paying attention to light and you're paying attention to, uh, not having a lot of ambient noise in the bedroom. I think safety is big. So I don't work in bed. I never have my laptop in bed. I don't even keep business books or health and fitness books or anything like that up in the bedroom. It's all just, like, fiction or something not related to work. And then I also find when I pull, like, one of these big, breathable 25-pound gravity blankets over myself for sleep, it kind of amplifies that feeling of safety even more. So it just, it's, it's super duper relaxing for me. So I sleep with a gravity blanket on top and one of those ChiliPAD devices underneath, 'cause the ChiliPAD will circulate about 55-degree cold water under my body while I'm sleeping, which really enhances your sleep cycles quite a bit. And then, um, I've got an essential oil diffuser, and kind of like in my office I'll diffuse uplifting scents like, you know, peppermint, rosemary, et cetera. In the bedroom it's usually, like, lavender or bergamot or some really relaxing scent that I'll diffuse, uh, while I'm asleep. And then same thing, I'll put on sleep, sleep blocking mask, uh, some foam earplugs. I have an app called SleepStream on my phone, and there's a lot of research showing that, uh, you know, there's all these different noises that can block out sound, like white noise or brown noise.

   26. CWChris Williamson51:16

       Mm-hmm.

   27. BGBen Greenfield51:17

       And it turns out that pi- that pink noise is the one that enhances your sleep the most. So I put some pink noise on that. And then, um, let me think if there's anything else.

   28. CWChris Williamson51:26

       How are you doing that with earplugs in?

   29. BGBen Greenfield51:29

       Yeah, the... Well, I got the foam earplugs in, but then the, the, um, the phone's in airplane mode next to the bed with the SleepStream app on just playing pink noise. So-

   30. CWChris Williamson51:37

       Just out of your phone's speaker?

Episode duration: 54:04