Day 37: One thing I learned today…
Okay so to become happy, well and live my best life I need to: journal, meditate, do yoga, focus on hydration, workout (strength, stability, endurance), stretch, take a walk, incorporate self care, get outside more, invest my time to activities which bring meaning and pleasure, get quality sleep, meal prep.... AHHHH so many things and there is simply not enough time to do them all.
Dr. Andy Galpin is a professor with a PhD in Human Bioenergectics, a researcher and scientist who studies and works to enhance sports performance. He of course agrees that sleep is the number one way to recover however he went on to explain that there are some simple tools out there which do not include fancy equipment.
“Best recovery tool by far, is free and will always be free”
Do you know what it is???? Breath work!
This is shown to improvement sleep quality as it has helped increased deep and REM sleep. Dr. Andy Galpin discussed one of his super stressed clients. The only thing in which was added to the clients daily routine was breath work. He incorportated strategic breath work in the morning, pre work out and post work out (most importantly) and before bed.
Prior to implementation: Average 1 hour deep and REM (sometimes 30 minutes or less)
Results after implementation: Averaging 2 hours 15 minutes of deep and REM sleep
It is noted that this client spend the same amount of time in bed as before so he was not actually sleeping more but the quality of his sleep increased. The only change made was breath work.
Dr. Galpin also discussed the importance of down regulation after exercise. Those who can down regulate post exercise the fastest get the best adaptation = better long term sleep quality and recovery. Many people cut recovery out of their routine because they do not have time for it. He suggested to cut the workout by 5 minutes to get in some good down regulating breath work which can improve recovery.
What works for one person is not going to be right for another. Each person is very individualized however this is a FREE recovery strategy which does not take much time and it is available in a moments notice. I don’t think it would hurt to give it a try. I have started to incorporate breath work into my meditation and yoga practice however I am not consistently doing so. I am going to start to track this and see if I have any improvements on my own sleep. Fun fact, my Garmin watch has a breathing app on it with guided breathing. There are plenty of apps out there to help with this.
Source: Muscle Maven Radio: Dr Andy Galpin - MMA training, hydration, and taking ownership over your health, January 26, 2021.
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