In this video, concussion survivor and health coach David Brimacombe explains how sleep problems after post‑concussion syndrome (PCS) begin the moment you wake up, and how a deliberately designed morning routine can reset the circadian rhythm and improve night‑time sleep. Drawing on 20 years of personal experience and seven concussions, he outlines three core morning practices – regulation through breathwork, gratitude, and movement – and supplements them with midday sunlight exposure and a structured evening down‑shift (early meals, avoiding stimulating work, dim lighting, and a bedtime mantra). He emphasizes starting small, adding one habit per week, and monitoring its impact on anxiety, brain fog, and overall sleep quality. The video ends with a call to experiment, iterate, and “win the morning” to restore nervous‑system balance and achieve restorative sleep.
Chapters
Most people try to fix their sleep at night, but if you're living with PCS, sleep starts the moment you wake up. By the end of this video, you will understand how your morning routine can help create clarity, emotional stability, and regulate your body so that you aren't fighting your brain before you go to bed. If you're new to this channel, welcome. My name is David Brimacombe. After 20 years and 7 concussions, I learned a lot about the lifestyle modifications needed in order to regulate. One of the most important things I learned was that sleep starts the moment my feet hit the ground. What I want to talk about are the 3 things that helped me the most in changing my circadian rhythm and getting back to the place where I could sleep through the night and wake rested and feel like I could actually attack the day. For me, I need to win the morning to win the day. And it involves 3 simple things. Now, again, I'm not going to tell you that everyone needs to do these 3 things. These are 3 things that have helped me. And again, I'm going to say that in most cases they are universal, depends on their application, but they will possibly help you as well. Now, the first thing I want to talk about is regulation. Now, the biggest times to regulate your body is as soon as you get up, And just before you go to bed. Now, when we wake up, our brain kicks on and we start thinking about the things that maybe we're ruminating on the other day or that we need to do that day. And in many cases, they're not the most positive thoughts. Maybe you have a big work meeting that you're anxious about, or maybe you are meeting up with a friend. Whatever the case may be, your mind shifts on that moment you wake up. Now, how do we help determine that those thoughts are positive, that those thoughts are moving us in the right direction? Through regulation. So what I do when I get up, I do 5 sets of breathwork. Okay? And again, depending on the day, sometimes I'm doing some kind of Wim Hof deep hyperventilation breathing. Some days if I need something a little bit lighter, it's just an extended exhale or a Physiological sigh, whatever the case may be, I'm telling my body it is safe. We are okay, and we're ready to start the day. The second thing that I have found to be incredibly helpful in my circadian rhythm realignment is gratitude. Okay, now again, I'm sure you've heard the the virtues of being grateful, but it starts simple. It's Start with the basics. Now, I started with a sticky on a mirror, a sticky on a mirror that I knew I was going to walk past throughout the day. Now, that one point of gratitude could be something simple: you're grateful for another day, you're grateful for something that someone said the day prior, or you're grateful for the opportunity to improve and be a better person today. Whatever the case, you're going to put it on that sticky, and every time you walk by, I want you to acknowledge it. I want you to think to yourself. That is me. That is the rhythm of my life. I'm trying to be more positive. I'm trying to see the world in a light where I am healing instead of always hurting. Okay, if you're more prone to wanting to write in a journal or text a friend your daily points of gratitude, that works. The biggest thing is that you're thinking through a lens of positivity. You're thinking through a lens that you are being grateful even in spite of the fact that maybe you are in the turmoils of PCS. You're in the absolute valley of despair, but there has to be something that we can find as a win because those small wins stack up and eventually become victories. And the third thing I want to talk about that was impactful in my realignment of my circadian rhythm was, and is to this day, movement. I love to move. I am a kinesthetic body. I am a mover by nature. So things like exercise, and running, biking, playing tennis were next to impossible during my PCS recovery. But what I could do is I could move. And when I couldn't even move, I could at least lie on the ground and do some deep stretches, or I could listen to a yoga nidra session where I was basically able to feel my body in alignment with what the instructor was telling me. But you need to be able to add that element. See, the power in movement lies in the fact that it's not only going to increase those happy hormones, okay, but it's also going to increase blood flow. Now, one of the big hallmarks of concussion and the dysregulation that comes from a concussion is the lack of blood flow. So, if we're able to move, and again, if it's only for 2 minutes, that's better than nothing, okay? Up and down the stairs, fantastic. But that's actually going to allow the blood flow throughout your body And therefore, when you get the blood flow to the brain, you might reduce that brain fog. You might have more clarity of thought. But you're starting where— I'm going to meet you where you are. And if it's 2 minutes, it's 2 minutes. Maybe it's 3 minutes next week. Small steps. Let's start small and scale big later. Some other ways that your circadian rhythm can be reinforced is through midday sun. One of the best things you can do, if you're able to go out at lunch and go for a walk, Fantastic. Let's say the weather is crummy, you're stuck in an office building, you're stuck at home, whatever the case may be. By even looking out in nature, it has that same way to downregulate your body. It has a way to calm your nervous system, okay? And it has a way to tell your system that yes, we are at midday, okay? And your body has an understanding that sleep will be coming, but you're setting your body up. You're giving it that necessary pacing so it So it understands where you are. The other way to impact your sleep positively is through a downshift at night. Okay? I'm sure we've all heard that blue light at night makes it hard to sleep. But here is a simple way to think about how to set up your nighttime routine. Okay? The first thing is 3. Try not to eat 3 hours before bed. Your body takes time to digest the food. And if it's digesting the food while you're trying to lay down, Okay? It is hard for your body to settle. 2, 2 hours before bed, try not to do any stimulating work 2 hours before bed. Now, they say it takes an hour and a half for your body to fully downregulate. Let's say you were in a meeting or you were writing an essay for a class. If you are writing that essay and trying to go right into sleep, your brain is highly sensitized. It is now in that sympathetic state. In order to drop it down into sleep is going to take time. Therefore, that initial phase of your sleep is going to be compromised. And lastly, an hour before bed, think about dropping the lights. I typically turn off any lights that aren't necessary. I will have a couple very calming lights, warm colors, not cool bright colors, and they'll just be around just so I can see my way around the house. But then that's my time to read, to relax, to calm the body. A lot of times I'll do some stretching, I'll do some thinking. But again, things that aren't overly stimulating. It's all about telling your body, not only is it time for bed, but it is time to remind yourself that you are safe. Okay? Before you go to bed, I want you to come up with a mantra, okay? Something that's going to tell your body that the day is done. All those ruminations, those thoughts that were roaming around in your mind, it's time to cease. It's time to sleep. I want you to think 2 weeks from now. How would it feel if you were to wake up, you were to wake up and that anxiety would be gone? You'd wake up and that fatigue, that brain fog would be all gone. Now let me tell you this, it doesn't start the second before you go to sleep. It starts the second you get up. So think about what you need to add to your morning routine in order for this to happen. Start small. Add one thing a week. How does it feel? Do you feel better? Is your sleep quality better? Okay, you can even think of this as a small test. Every week, layer up. And again, if something isn't really adding any value, you might not need it. But if you feel intense value from what you're doing, again, if adding gratitude in the morning makes you sleep better at night, that is a, a win. A small thing that can have a big impact on your well-being. So So I would add that. It all starts with one simple win. By winning the morning, you regulate your rhythm. You then restore your nervous system functioning and therefore create a life that you had only ever dreamed of. If you enjoyed this video, you'll probably also like the video I'm gonna put up above here about my ultimate morning routine, okay? I hope you enjoy this. Thank you for listening to the end and have yourself a great day.
