Suicide Prevention Saturday -Sleep is KEY to Your Health

Wherever this is. Oh, there it is. Okay, so it's not really 9 o'clock yet, and I'm hitting the wrong buttons. So where is it? At 9 o'clock in a whole minute-ish, I have to run my Great Start Shooting School start thingy, which is only 30 seconds. So those of you watching on Facebook Oh, let me turn that part off too because that's just not okay. Uh, where's that do not disturb thingy? Hold please, they'll be ready momentarily. Do not disturb. So that should stop doing that at least, maybe, I don't know. Um, and I'm gonna play the Facebook one, so Okay, so I am totally, um, Yeah, I'm on Facebook and YouTube. However, I'm— hold on, ready? I'm on Facebook via my phone and I'm on YouTube via my computer. And DJ, your link is in the, um, in your calendar. Um, so yes, I am early. I've decided with all of the technical challenges that I've had lately, um, because Facebook still thought I was going live even though I took it off of StreamYard. It still said I was gonna go live there, so it's all a pain in the neck because Facebook will ding me for not going live when I have a live scheduled. So, and I don't even know if on my phone I'm live, which channel I'm on, whether it's my, uh, private or my, um Brooke Cheney or a Great Start Shooting School. That's what I'm trying to say. Yes. All right. Hi everyone. Now it is actually 9 o'clock. And why are we here? Because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths we hear about are suicides. And if we actually want to save lives, we need to talk about mental health and suicide prevention and violence prevention. Because funny thing, if we If we look at the things that help prevent suicide, they are the same things, or a lot of things are similar, as far as things that will actually help prevent violence as well. So with that, and DJ may or may not find the link, but I am not going to email it because I don't know where to go because I'm already working two different pieces of equipment and I'm not feeling that confident. DJ, I'm sorry. But yeah, it should be in the, um, uh, original invitation I sent you. All of them, every last one of them. All right, so let's start with saying hi to everybody out, out there. First on the comments was DJ, and he is sleepy because he's been awake since Wednesday, apparently. Funny thing, we're actually going to talk about the importance of— oh wait, he found it. He's popping in now. Are you gonna say something? Are you gonna leave yourself muted so you don't get to say hi to everybody?

I didn't want there to be the echo thing. I had one instance where I was listening to you and one instance where I was coming into this room. Sorry for, uh, being tardy to the party. Um, so who have you already announced? Should I pick it up from the top?

I was only saying hi to you so far.

Oh, all right. Well, I showed up a little bit early, but as I am wont to do, and I beat Guns of Barbecue, but he's out there in the crowd, and so is Gun Websites. You were doing double duty, it looks like. Ozzy Osbourne is out there. Sorry, Fan 93. Mark Thomas, good to see you, man. Uh, Guns and Barbecue, like I said. Viejo, hey fella. Uh, Chris Bron—

uh, yeah, yeah, here in Connecticut.

And Scottish American just dropped into the room. That's a real call.

All right, well then you're looking at the real stream because he is not here in the, uh, room yet. Oh, there it is. Um, yes, see, Scottish American is better about that sort of squish the thumbs up thingy. Uh, I think DJ, you said you were number one for getting thumbs up here, right? Oh, sorry, Fiona was out playing at the range today, so, um, so she has— she put holes in paper and now she's got a dirty gun too. And one of these days we're really going to clean our guns. Someday Fiona and I are actually gonna get together, clean guns. Uh, today is not that day though, because see this? This is my soft squishy, uh, bathrobe, and I'm already in my PJs because it is the worst night of the world. This is the most dangerous time of year for those of you living here in America. We are about to lose one full hour of sleep And you all know my bedtime is very precious to me, and normally it's 9 o'clock every day except for Saturday for you folks. So, um, this is that whole thing of how important sleep is because mental health, right? Here we are. Um, of all the things you can do for your health, sleep is number one. Pretty much all performance coaches across the globe that I've worked with, heard from, talked to, etc. Your sleep is number one. It helps reset everything the way it's supposed to. And this is the irony of this, is DJ has been awake since Wednesday. So DJ, you need to actually get sleep tonight after this.

I'm gonna work on that.

Okay, you should work on that. That would be good. So why is it number one? Well, your sleep schedule— having— oh yeah, I'm sure for Tara this is fun and excitement too. Um, the more sleep we get, the better sleep we get, the better our mental capacity is. Then second on our health is the actual exercise, lifting weights, growing muscle, that sort of stuff. And well, actually, sorry, nutrition. My bad. Good food in, good food, um, helps build body parts and all that sort of stuff. And then actual physical exercise. But sleep is number one. Pretty much every performance coach is going to tell you that. So what have I done to help you guys with sleep today other than bore you to death so you go night-night? No, I really hope that's not the case, but if it is, I apologize. Or no, good, I'm putting you to sleep. That's all good. All right, so, um, what are we going to talk about? How do we create good sleep habits? Obviously I need to work with DJ just a little bit, and I apologize because I feel like I'm starting to lose my voice today. Of course, perfect timing as always. But, um, sleeping habits— one of the things which hardly any of us do, and I mean any of us, is that this thing that we're watching right now at least 30 minutes before we go to bed, we turn it off. No more blue screen, all of that sort of stuff. And even if you're, um, you've got the blue blocking light on and all of that sort of stuff, you still just don't want to have any electronics around you for at least half an hour. One hour is even better. In the comments— in the comments, so sorry, on Facebook it's up here, uh, YouTube is down here— I gave you guys a ton of resources Um, one of my favorite guys right now is Huberman, and if you like really nerdy stuff broken down to so most of us can understand it, Huberman actually does a really good job of that. And he does these, uh, podcasts, and the links that I have— uh-oh, sorry, we just lost Facebook. I moved the thing too much. Um, Huberman is really quite awesome with making super geeky stuff because he's an ophthalmologist who's a neurologist. Because did you know your eyeballs They're the only part of your brain that's actually outward facing. Yeah, that's why if you're ever in a save your life sort of thing, you stick your finger in somebody's eyes because that makes them like cringe badly. So, um, so yeah, so there's a bunch of leaks to Huberman. But so number 1, no electronics at least 30 minutes to an hour before you go to bed. 2, actually have relatively a specific time where you actually go to bed. It's okay to stay up late once in a while, it's also okay. You know, we do all-nighters from time to time for one reason or another. And the thing is to try not to do it on a regular basis. Now, I forget which one of the Human Podcasts they talked about this. I think it's actually the one with the sleep study guy. And he talks about this particular night, because you all know this is spring ahead, right? At 2 AM, we're all going to lose an hour. And when we lose that hour, we are losing health. It is bad for us. So yeah, when the guy says— he's like, here's the deal, we know how important health is because of this weekend, because no research out there has the ability to, to have millions of people in their research except for on this one weekend. And what it shows is that your lack of 1 hour of sleep Monday on the way to— um, hello handsome boy. Um, I want to know who the one without the return address is. Sorry, my, my Eagle Scout. Oh, I forgot to add this. Oh wait, come here, come here, poke around here. Um, yes, say hi, Maxwell. Hi. All right, so hold on, I'm gonna go to the comments. Everybody, if you'd be so kind Um, tell Maxwell congrats for becoming an Eagle Scout officially, officially, officially as of Tuesday.

Well, I'll kick it off. Congratulations, man.

Uh, thank you.

That is no small feat, and I did not meet that rank. So again, congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you. Ah, so anyway, I just had to take this up. Fiona says hi. Um, she was at the range today too. Oh, Max was teaching today too. He was helping me. Ozzy says, uh, congrats, Mark Thomas, Eagle Scout, big deal. And Mike Ballinger, of course, he already knows. Yes, Mr. Um, Max must be a golden eagle because he's clear— he clearly isn't a bald one. Barbecue's always got something funny to say. So, all right. Oh, but wait, wait, ready? No, come on, let me see, let me see. It's fan mail. Yes, uh, Max is getting fan mail. If you will also also want to send Max fan mail, let me know. I'll send you our address. Oh, actually, I just showed it to you, everybody. Um, Representative Piscopo already sent him a card, and I'm dying to know who the other card is that doesn't have anyone's name on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm, I'm more used to being the cameraman. I'm not internet famous. I know, I know, but it's all right. All right, thank you guys. All right, sorry for indulging me, but it's so exciting to see my son do such amazing things, and everybody gets the idea of like what a big deal, um, Eagle Scout is. So back to, um, uh-oh, uh-oh. I don't know if this is true or not. Really? I don't think so. He, he's got more of the Duck Dynasty, uh, scrubbiness going on, honestly. But all right, back to sleeping. All right, when you look at this weekend where everybody is losing 1 hour of sleep, Monday is the— and Tara, this is super important for you to know— Monday is the most dangerous time to be on the roads because that 1 hour of missed sleep causes more accidents than any other time of the year. So That's why I'm bringing this up, because the more you know, the more you understand. And not that I don't think you guys are all good drivers and pay attention to what you're doing and that sort of stuff, but to understand like just the importance of how important it is for your sleep, because it's just the amount of stuff that our brain does, right? Right now you're listening to me. But there's still thoughts that go in your head that are making noise while I'm talking to you. Because I don't know, maybe you're thinking about what's for breakfast tomorrow, what your workout is tomorrow, if you're gonna go to bed tonight or not. Because right after this, as you all— well, hopefully you all know, uh, Hillbilly has his, his next show on YouTube at 10 PM Eastern, which is past my bedtime, which is why I will not be there. So the more you focus on taking care of you first for all of us who loved helping others. Like, is Woods on here, DJ? I, um, I don't know if I missed anyone.

I don't see him. He may be listening.

All right, no, no, no, it was just one of those things. I'm like, oh yeah, wait, who was that? Uh, so anyway, um, it's one of those things where it's just like Woods helps kids all the time, and a lot of us have just compassion for others and we want to help take care of— oh, Woods is here, huh? Okay, see, I just want to check if I'm talking about you, if you're here or not. And, um, it's like because someone like that's super compassionate and working all the time to help others, it's like we forget to take care of ourselves. And the number one gift we can give ourselves is sleep. Please take some time since some of you— if G23 watches the replay, because I don't think I saw him here either yet, but long-form Huberman is at least an hour to 2 hours depending on which one you're watching. But it just really helps you understand what the importance of is getting our sleep. My kids are 16 and 17 for a whole nother month or two. Uh, Max turns 18 in May, but I'm pretty sure we are the only teenagers— we have the only teenagers that actually have bedtimes. Most kids are going to sleep whenever they want, and it's super bad for their health. So have I harped on this enough? Y'all sick of me saying sleep more. Um, like, um, oh wait, sorry, I had, I had DJ starred comments and then I got rid of them. So let's see, working on a farm, hold up, sleep is relative. It is. And here's the other part of this, is that everybody's got different schedules. Farming, for example, though, actually works best with your sleeping schedule because I think I saw Viejo or somebody say that they get up with the sun. And honestly, um, following the sun is one of the best ways to regulate your sleep. So yes, you get up in the morning when the sun gets up. Uh, one of Huberman's top number one tips is get sunlight on your face. Look towards the east and just get 15 minutes of sunlight in the face. It helps set your circadian rhythm and it really, um, basically it resets your clock. So tomorrow morning is probably one of the most— uh-oh, poor Facebook, they keep crashing literally on my lap. Um, tomorrow morning is probably one of the most important things that you can do is first thing tomorrow, once the sun is up, to go out and get some sunlight there. So that will help minimize the impact of our lost hour of sleep. So yeah, so for those of you who don't know, uh, Chasing Ghosts is, um, a truck driver. So that's why her life is big on a logbook, because my understanding of truckers, if it hasn't changed dramatically since my dad was a trucker, they can only drive for so long. So they drive as long as they can until they're forced to take a nap, um, and take a break. And then as soon as that nap is over, they have to get up and get going to get their loads wherever it is. So obviously it's hard for that. But here's the thing, is if you take the time to watch the other Huberman podcasts on sleep, there's hacks. There's always hacks. It's like, because there are people who live in Alaska and so it's impossible to wake up and see the sun in the wintertime. And then it's super hard to make it dark before you go to sleep because the sun is always up. So, um, sorry, I'm looking at a hillbilly. Yeah, if you pass out, make sure you face the east. That way when you wake up, you're, you're good. So a couple things, a couple more things before I go, because I don't want to go on for on and on about this, but No electronics half an hour-ish before your bedtime if you can. And just try it, try it for a day or a week, see if you can do it in a day. Um, then— oh wait, what does this say? Sorry, I can only half read it because I put my thing. Oh yeah, um, so Gun Websites has one of those alarm clocks to set, an LED lamp with the— what is it— the wavelength to reset the circadian rhythm. And I've had some of those, um, alarm clocks as well. And what happens is when you're going to get up, it helps wake you up by just slowly getting the light brighter and brighter and brighter. So, um, that is definitely another way to like cheat a little bit. So anyway, DJ, help me out, man. I've said so like 5,000 times. And I know people have a hard time actually sleeping, but, um, DJ might be the poster child. I have a lot of friends who just don't sleep at all, and it's— it's— and they also have bad health, so there's a little bit of that. Um, all right, so DJ, tell me what you think. What we got going on in the head of yours since you're on, what, zero sleep since Wednesday?

Yeah, I did. I got up, I got up Wednesday early evening, I think. Um, this is like, it's just part of me. I am up for days at a time, and I sleep when I finally do, sometimes 12, between 12 and 16 hours. So I really do run my batteries completely out, and tonight is another example. Um, I could tell, I could directly relate to you symptoms of not getting enough sleep like that. I get a little jittery. I'm, my thoughts are not as focused. I stumble over my words like I am now because systems are starting to shut down. They're just like, knock knock, DJ, you really got to hit the rack this time.

It's time to go.

Yeah. And I don't really, I don't take anything to go to sleep. I don't, you know, there's no melatonin. I don't have some tea. There's no warm milk and, you know, whatever it is.

So he talks about the melatonin stuff a lot in his podcast. He's like, it's mostly a lie and it shouldn't actually really help. So it's more placebo. And you can go look up another one that's about placebos on that.

And St. John's Wort and this and that. Um, you know, I've had the problem almost lifelong. And so I have tried some of the, you know, homeopathic remedies and whatnot. And then I just decided it was about 6, 8 years ago, um, when I had to shift in employment from working through the, you know, mostly through the night into the early morning. I got crash out during the day. I, that's when I started to take seriously, why don't you just go on your own rhythm? And one of my physicians said, it's not quite, I can't say it's advisable, you know, based on the sleep patterns you have now, but, you know, get back to me, you know, after a bit.

Yeah. Oh yeah. You're definitely not the first person that I know that has wonky sleep patterns. But in general, most of the folks watching, and those who are watching the replay, you really want to do everything that you can to make it a little bit normal. Again, Chasing Ghosts, she's gotta get her, her, her truck to wherever it needs to go on time. Uh, Hillbilly stays up till midnight my time to do his show, but that's one day a week. Even this, this half hour that I go past my normal bedtime is definitely— I feel it only because like at 7 o'clock today I was ready to take a nap. So, um, and then the other thing is like Surya Fan, uh, 93 said she slept— he slept for 12 hours yesterday. And it's just like a lot of people don't have that luxury to be able to do that. So it's like take what you can when you can. I know someone, I think it was Woods, said naps rule. Which I absolutely agree with. And, um, yeah, just, it's one of those things. We're always trying to do something and sleep is number one. If you can do one thing to make your sleep a little better, then, um, yeah, see, Woods is ganging up on you with me, DJ.

He used to be one of the people that would remind me.

Yeah, for sure, for sure. But, um, all right, wait, sorry, now I'm getting stuck in the side chat. Um, antidepressants can be, um, sedatives for sure, and unfortunately some of them do the exact opposite where they mess up your sleep schedule. And, um, I don't know. Yeah, so I mean, there's random stuff, right? So for taking meds, you never know if it's going to help you or hurt you. Um, oh, Viejo, I'm actually not surprised that you do not nap and your brain won't shut down. You've got too many things in your brain.

Yeah, I was going to relate. I want to relate to that. Um, yeah, I, I experienced that quite a bit, even if I'm trying. Um, like, I, I do not lay down in my bedroom until I am at the state where I'm passing out, because I'll just lay in there and I don't like the idea. So it's kind of like the salt, you know, it's like this chamber that I don't really enter until it's time. And not being able to shut down, you know, and for me, honestly, it's racing thoughts. That's something that I deal with and, you know, it'll carry me over and through so many other things, uh, when you mere mortals, um, have to lay down. So yeah, you know, and I have a little bit of something common. I'm glad that it's not all the way through the night for you, bro.

Yeah, well, I mean, to, uh, Guns and Barbecues, well, no, we were meant to get up when the sun comes up and then go back to sleep when the sun goes down. That is actually what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to have that seasonal change in our sleep patterns. It's not about 8 hours specifically. It's that it's when the sun comes up is when we start our day. When the sun goes down, that's when you go to bed. And this is why, like, we're talking about the farming before. He's like, yeah, during spring, summer and, um, you know, you're working a ton. Like, my dad used to do haying, and you get up in the morning, you're out on the tractors, you're mowing, you're raking, you're baling, you're chucking bales, whatever it is. And you do that 12, 15 hours, and then you sleep really well that night. And that's the other part of this, right? So number one, to help your sleep, have a routine that you do. Two, the more you exercise, generally the easier it is to sleep But don't exercise too close to bedtime because that makes it harder. Um, uh, some people are more sensitive to caffeine than others, so it's like, all right, no caffeine intake after X time of day depending on what you are doing. Hydration helps you sleep better. There's so many little things, and I know as an overachiever who tries to do everything all at once— don't try that. Just pick one thing. Whether it's you're going to take your phone— I'm going to show Facebook the TV again, right? You're going to take your phone and put it in a different room and go to bed. Don't charge it next to your bed, for example. For the racing minds, see if there's a way to find a meditation. You can do a wakeful meditation where you still get rest. You're not actually sleeping, but you get to focus on something. So That is what I have for tonight.

I'd like to jump in right there. Um, for the, for the getting to sleep fast, I, I don't know whether it's true or not, but I was told at some point that JFK was able to put him, put himself to sleep in just mere minutes, like 2 minutes and he was out. And so I wanted to see if that, you know, I was testing the veracity of whoever told that to me. And I came up with this, which is supposed to be, um, what Marines are taught to do to be able to fall asleep in 2 minutes. 1. Relax the muscles in your forehead. 2. Focus on calming your breathing. 3. Relax your arms and drop your shoulders so that you're not tensed up. 4. Imagine a warm sensation flowing from your head to your fingertips. 5. Take a deep breath and slowly exhale, relaxing your chest and your stomach. Lather, rinse, repeat, maybe?

Good job, you already put Woods to sleep. I was about to ask, did anyone fall asleep? And, uh, Woods put his Z's across there, so good job, DJ.

Well, I'm going to jump up here to, uh, SorryFan93's, uh, but for sleeping I use ASMR like Bob Ross and I snuggle with a life-size plush doll. Uh, I like the pressure she exerts on my body. Um, I do ASMR things not with voices, but I do it with the sound of rainstorms and wind and ocean waves, beach sounds, that sort of thing. I don't know why specifically, besides I like those places. Maybe it does put me in a little bit more of a happy place, but it is that rhythm. It's, it's, it's slowed down. It's waves that are lapping on shore. And that does reinforce—

good job.

Sorry, folks. Well, you're gonna get that nap in perhaps.

All right, and while we're going for little tips and tricks, Gun Website says 4x4x4 breathing. Uh, if y'all don't know what that is, it's you just count in for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, breathe out for a count of 4. But wait, I don't know what the fourth 4 would be then. So wait, if I breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4, I hold 1, 2, 3, 4. And I breathe out 1, 2, 3, 4. I don't know what the fourth 4 is. G-Webs, what would that be? Um, oh yeah, right.

Okay, like, I'm gonna— I want to toss this up here. Okay, Viejo, man, you know SoCal's got some, some, some guys that can, uh, cut up and make jokes on the fly, and he's one of them. If I overhydrate before bed, pretty much guaranteed about that warm feeling. Unless I wake up in time.

Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Yeah, I was laughing at that. It's like that warm feeling. Yeah. Um, but yeah, no, there's lots of tips and tricks out there. Again, most of you guys are out here on YouTube, not on Facebook. And, um, well, yeah, the hold is 4. So it's breathe in 4, hold for 4, let out for 4, and repeat 4 more times. Square breathing. Yeah, actually, so therapists talk about square breathing all the time. And that's where I just sort of, um, it's— there's so many ways. So here's the cool thing about today's description for this video: there's tons of links in there. Go find something that works for you. Dr. Huberman is relatively interesting to listen to. Yes, you have to listen for, um, Hold. Oh, so you're gonna hold 4 times for 4. Okay, sorry. All right, in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4 before you go back to in again. So you're holding your breath twice. I'll try that tonight in about a minute and a half when we're all done. So, um, and yeah, anything that you can do, no matter how simple, no matter how hard it feels Pick something easy, make it easy for yourself. And next week, let me know how you slept tonight and if you really noticed it. And like I would say, the number one tip I would give you for tomorrow morning: wake up, go outside, get some early morning sun. DJ, what you got?

I got a roll call for you on the way out the door. Uh, let's see, we were joined tonight by Guns and Barbecue at, uh Oh no, like I'm trying to reference this chicken scratch and that's not working out all that well. Woods was in here, so was Michael Ballinger. We got Gun Websites joining us tonight. Sorry, Fan 93. Viejo the Trickster, Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Canto— did I get that right?

Oh, I don't know, I missed that one altogether. My bad.

Okay, um, Hillbilly Up, Mark Thomas, uh, Scottish American. Chasing Ghosts. And you and I, that's your real call.

Oh, Chris Brancato. Sorry, I'm like, Chris who? Yeah, thank you, he's local. Um, yeah, so thank you all for popping in and, and saying hi to us. And may you sleep well tonight when you actually hit the ground— hit the ground— when you hit the ground, hit your bed. Um, and I will see you all next week, and hopefully you will have some lovely um, sleep tonight. And G Web just dropped another, um, breathing tip in there. And, um, I'm gonna go to bed now because I can't wait. I'm just not happy about losing my sleep. So DJ, hope you sleep well as well, and see you guys next week. And that's what I got. Goodbye, everybody.