Turkey Leftovers GAINZZZ

Repeats for the Thanksgiving break.

Last week I talked about the usefulness of the yoga nidra or "non-sleep deep rest protocol" for getting most of the benefits of a nap if you can't nap. Or this version, with a female voice.

I found out something interesting. I came across a video about fixing terminal insomnia -- insomnia of the waking up and not being able to fall back asleep kind, rather than the not being able to fall asleep in the first place kind.

That video recommended what she called the "A Robot Shutting Down" protocol.

Although I said that the yoga nidra was super-gay, this changed my mind -- Robert O'Neill, the guy who plugged bin Ladin, said that a protocol which is just a very minor variation of the yoga nidra is taught to SEALs for purposes of helping them sleep during stressful situations, like when they're being ferried on choppers to a mission.

It follows the basic "relax and shut down each muscle group one by one" script of yoga nidra before turning to a countdown.

I had thought the protocol was for a semi-nap, not to help you fall asleep, and it didn't really occur to me that it was something you could just do in your own head, rather than listening to someone else's voice taking you through a guided meditation.

I've been doing this now for a week days and my sleep is much, much better. I do it at the beginning of sleep and fall asleep quickly, and I do it when I wake up in the middle of night and also usually fall asleep pretty quickly.

Very recommended.

Two things: You probably have to listen to the guided style of the protocol so that you can recall the basic script easily. It's an easy script to remember the basics of, but I assume that if you're taxing your brain to recall it, that would interfere with relaxing your brain and keep you from sleeping instead of putting you to sleep.

The other thing is that I find it's been working less the past few days. Maybe I've gotten too bored with it and it no longer is in that perfect range of just interesting enough to keep my mind occupied with a boring task, but not too interesting to excite my brain. I'm finding it getting so boring my brain is wandering off, as it does when I try to count sheep. Maybe I just have to vary it up and try a slightly different protocol.

I'll tell you though, for five days, wow, one of the best hacks I've ever tried. It's worked all week, just not as great the past two nights.

Anyone else try this? I think LadyC tried it (nap form) and really liked it.

Last week I added in a restatement of how to do intermittent fasting or time restricted eating. I added that in after the post had been up for like forty minutes, so I'll put that below the fold if anyone's interested.

My GAINZZZ are weaksauce; I was chained to the computer because of the trial, though I finally got out for a hike yesterday. I shed a pound over the week. Sleep was good, thanks to the yoga nidra --or , as I'll now call it, the SEAL Sleep Hack.

What about yo' GAINZZZ? Any PLANZZZ? PROJEXXX?

Any BOOKZZZ you're reading?

Any PROGREZZZ on BOOKZZZ you're writing? Share with the group.

As you might know, my PLANZZZ is to take a week off, until next Tuesday, and WORKZZZ on my own BOOKZZZ. Maybe some SHELVZZZ stuff too.

Below, IF stuff.

If you want to try this, remember, you're already fasting when you're asleep, so there's 6-8 hours of fasting right there. Make sure you don't eat three hours before bed (it disturbs your sleep anyway) and put off eating or drinking calories (you can have black coffee or tea without milk) for at least an hour after waking up and you've got 10-12 hours of fasting as a starting point.

Then just end eating an hour earlier and put off eating an hour later every few days until you start eating at around noon or 1pm, and finish eating at 7pm or 8pm. That puts you on an 8 hour eating window, with a sixteen hour window of fasting, which is a 16:8 intermittent daily fast.

There is a period of adjustment and yes your body's clock will tell you you need food when it's accustomed to having food. You don't actually need food at that time; that's just the time your body has been conditioned to expect it, so that's the time it pulses out hunger hormones to spur you into eating. Your body will retrain to adapt to a new eating schedule in a couple of weeks. Not gonna lie, though, those hunger signal will be distracting at first, which is why it's best to just expand your fasting period by an hour maybe every three or four days (or two hours per week, one hour after three days, another hour after four).

(Actually I think it's probably better to just do it all in one go and gut your way through it but everyone says do it slowly so I'll just repeat what the namby-pamby "experts" say.)

I had been on an IF schedule for years and it was automatic and effortless to keep it. But when I went off it, and tried to get back on it, it was a bitch. And I had to go through the nagging hunger pangs again.

It takes an upfront payment in willpower and self-denial. Then the body resets its expectations of its feeding times, and the hunger goes away (or, rather, comes at the new schedule you've set).

Sixteen hours of fasting is recommended because the body begins burning small amounts of fat at 11 hours of fasting and then ramps up to burn a significant amount of fat at fourteen hours of fasting. So at sixteen hours of fasting, you're getting two solid hours of fat burning daily. If you can extend that to an 18 hour window or 20 hour window, that's better, but 16 hours is good.

posted by Ace at 07:34 PM

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