Is There Anything to Assist Me to Wake up Feeling Refreshed in the Morning?

Hey, it's J.J. here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever, and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything. They just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family's sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on your first order. Hey JJ here. Every year around this time, I get the urge to make my home feel a little extra special. A space that feels just like the holidays. And Wayfair is my go to for that. Think cozy textures, twinkly decor, warm lighting, and all those little touches that make you want to curl up with a good book and a blanket. You'll usually find my book stacked on a great little end table I got from Wayfair, proof that function and style can coexist. Now, whether you're adding last minute hosting essentials, picking out gifts for loved ones, or refreshing your decor for the season, Wayfair makes it easy with beautiful finds, great prices and fast delivery. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Plus, with free shipping for any order over $35, that's fast delivery and a total peace of mind. It's the perfect mix of joy and order, bringing the holiday spirit in, then storing it all with EAs ready to make your home feel as good as it looks. Get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less, head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair Every style, Every home That's W A Y F A I r dot com.

Some people think nature is like this, but actually it's like this. That's why Columbia engineers everything we make make for anything nature can throw at you. Columbia engineered for whatever.

Is there anything to assist me to wake up feeling refreshed in the morning? This is JJ Virgin, four time New York Times bestselling author, celebrity nutrition expert, and Fitness hall of Famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health questions, and now I'm sharing what I found with you. Welcome to Ask the Health Expert. Erin King from Facebook asks. I get eight hours of sleep and I still feel sluggish in the morning. I take iron and other supplements, including vitamin D and magnesium and work out at least four times a week. Is there anything to assist me to wake up feeling refreshed in the morning? All right, well, I have some more questions before I can do the answers, so stay with me. I'll be right back to deconstruct this.

Hey, it's J.J. here. Now, let's be honest. The holidays are basically a financial ambush. Travel, hosting gifts, surprise holiday school things. Suddenly you're wondering how December turned into a spending spree. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. It's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface on your laptop or your phone. What really grabbed my attention is how fast those little holiday expenses pile up with Monarch. Seeing everything in one place makes it a lot harder to accidentally overspend. And honestly, I appreciate anything that keeps me from starting January with a money hangover. You'll love exploring the holiday spending category. Imagine how good it will feel to actually see what's happening before your credit card statement does that whole dramatic reveal thing. Monarch basically shows you exactly where the money is going in real time, and that level of clarity could change everything, right? Don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code virgin@monarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with code Virgin.

This episode is brought to you by Buffalo Trace Distillery. Powerful, yet smooth. Contained, but never tame. Proudly going their own way but never going alone. This is the spirit inside Buffalo Trace Bourbon made at Buffalo Trace Distillery. The world's most award winning distillery. Buffalo Trace is always perfectly untamed. Distilled, aged and bottled by Buffalo Trace distillery, Franklin County, Kentucky. 90 proof 45% alcohol by volume. Learn more at BuffaloTrace distillery.com Please drink responsibly.

So whenever anyone says how do I feel more refreshed in the morning? How do I have more energy throughout the day? There's a couple things that I'm going to look at first. The first, most obvious elephant in the room is going to be sleep. Because if you are not sleeping well, you will not have great energy throughout the day. Now here's the challenge is that Erin said she slept eight hours a night. But what we don't know is the quality of that sleep. That is where an Oura ring, a Fitbit, an Apple watch, you can use something that's going to look at the quality of your sleep. How restless were you? How much deep sleep did you have? How quickly did you fall asleep? And here are a couple things that we want to look at is your bedroom should be for sleep and sex. That's it. All right. Or reading what I call a good but not great book. At night you want to do a little power down hour before bed. I got that from my buddy Dr. Michael Bruce, the sleep doctor. You take a hot bath, use some Epsom salts, then cool down and bring the temperature in the room down to a at least 68 degrees. Make sure that your room gets pitch black. No little lights from clocks or anything else that can actually trigger pineal glands so that you do not get a good night's sleep. Put on those weird looking glasses that my buddy Dave Asprey of Bulletproof makes, you know, that make you look kind of like Bono. Put those on because they're going to block out the light from your technology. Ideally, you're not looking at your technology either, but that's going to help you make that shift as well. And you can change on all your computers. Ideally you did the power down hour, but you can change them so they go into nighttime mode as well. Take your sleep supplements if you do. I use my sleep candy every night. And then get yourself to bed now. You should fall asleep within 30 minutes of your head hitting the pillow. You should wake up without needing an alarm and feel refreshed. If that's not happening, then I'm going to question the quality of your sleep. So that's why I say let's look at the quality of your sleep first. And it may be that you need to do some things to help. Those blue blocker glasses can help tremendously. That was a big hack that Dave gave me that Made a massive change. And I was tracking my sleep with my OURA ring. So that can be a big help. Supplements can be a big help. One of the things is magnesium really helps promote restful sleep, something I take every night. And then the other thing, I use a product called sleep candy. And in that product there are a couple things that can help you. So I want you to think about these things. Melatonin and either GABA or L Theanine because they're both going to create the same thing. They're both going to lead to GABA. And GABA is the calming neurotransmitter 5 HTP, which then helps your body make melatonin inositol in B6. These inositol is a calming B vitamin and B6 is needed to make melatonin and to make GABA. It's one of the vitamins you need along that pathway, a CO factor. All right, so that's the first thing. Let's make sure your sleep is good. Next, let's make sure your thyroid is functioning well. Because if you've got low thyroid function, you'll be tired, you won't feel refreshed. Next thing to think about is stress. If you're stressed, this can make you tired and wired. You won't feel refreshed, you also won't get great sleep. So that's another important one. Then also look at what you're eating three to four hours before bed. You wanna stop eating at least three hours before bed. Four is better. But you want make sure that your evening meal is from the trifecta, what I call the satiety blood sugar balance trifecta, that is clean protein, healthy fats, slow low carbs and non starchy vegetables. That's where you're gonna get your fiber. The reason this is so important is the fiber is gonna moderate your blood sugar response. The healthy fats are gonna tell your brain that you have eaten something. The protein and the carbs, the protein and the fiber are gonna slow down stomach emptying so that you won't have any kind of blood sugar issues throughout the night. That if you wake up in the middle of night a lot of times that can be a blood sugar issue. And if it's, if you had a couple glasses of alcohol, that's generally something that will happen there. Now, couple other things, make sure you're not over training when you are training and that you're doing that earlier in the day. And then also look at, do you really need iron? Now if you need iron, if you're iron deficient. I had an iron deficiency situation earlier this year and in order to get my levels up to where they needed to be, if I'd done it through supplements alone, it would have taken a long time. So if you do have real iron deficiency anemia, you may need to do iron shots or IVs to get your levels up and then you can maintain it with pills. The important thing there is that you're testing. Iron is not a product, especially if you are a postmenopausal or a man that you want to take, unless you've got a lab test. And so you look at a CBC and you look at serum ferritins and you work with your doctor to get your levels up to normal. Now, here's another one, two other ones that I really love. B12. I've got a product called B12 Boost. It's sublingual, and that's really how you want to take B12. Um, so two things that can, that can kind of mess with your energy that you'll feel a lot better. B12 is one, and then Coq10 is another one that can make a big difference. I'm going to do a shout out to the company Designs for Health and their product duocanal. It's kind of the next generation of CoQ 10. Get your mitochondria functioning well. That's the how you produce your energy. So there you go. There's the key, most important things. And Erin, let me know how you do with shifting these things. Report in. I want to know that you're feeling refreshed.

This is JJ with Ask the Health Expert.

I do this five times a week, so make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribetojay.com.

Hello, listeners. This is Anne Bogle, author, blogger, and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week, I take all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately. And I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment, whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work. School, everything. You'll learn something about yourself as a reader, and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and visit our website what Should I read next podcast.com to find out more.