#12: Sleeping My Way to Success
True confession time…
I once fell asleep on a first date.
In a bowling alley.
With bowling pins cracking every minute.
While sitting at the bar.
On an upright bar stool.
That had no back.
With a medical resident.
Who'd just done a rotation at a world-renowned sleep clinic?
I then paid ~$2,500 to find out I don't have a sleep disorder.
I’m here today to help you better manage your energy so you can get more time back in your day and accomplish everything on your “to-do” list without feeling overwhelmed or burnt out.
Yes, it’s true!
Quick clarification: I'm not going to talk about why sleep is so important.
I do, however, want to talk with you about managing your energy--a key component to overcoming burnout--by focusing on your biological rhythms.
Biological rhythms are the natural cycle of change in our body’s chemicals or functions. It’s like an internal master “clock” that coordinates the other clocks in your body. The “clock” is located in the brain, right above the nerves where the eyes cross. It’s made up of thousands of nerve cells that help sync your body’s functions and activities.
There are four types of biological rhythms:
Circadian rhythms: the 24-hour cycle that includes physiological and behavioral rhythms like sleeping
Diurnal rhythms: the circadian rhythm synced with day and night
Infradian rhythms: biological rhythms that last more than 24 hours, such as a menstrual cycle
Ultradian rhythms: biological rhythms with a shorter period and higher frequency than circadian rhythms
While I love talking about all of these, today I’m just going to focus on ultradian rhythms. But, first, I want to give a quick shout-out to the myFLO app that can help anyone with female physiology really tune into their infradian rhythm to better support their health and wellbeing. From what to eat and which type of workout to do...to what to focus on, in terms of productivity, and how to best manage stress, this app will help you sync your life with your menstrual cycle in meaningful ways that create better energy throughout the day. I’m not getting paid to promote this app--I just love it so much and refer so many of my friends and clients to it. Look it up in the App Store: myFLO Period Tracker...it’s maybe $2 and really priceless in terms of the benefits it provides.
Okay, so let’s dive into ultradian rhythms, which are the 90-120 minute rhythms that occur when we’re both awake and asleep. Ultradian means “many times a day” and rhythms refer to the up/down wave patterns these cycles follow.
Picture this…
You start your day and feel focused and energized
Within ~90 min, you reach the peak of your productivity and performance
Meanwhile, the byproducts of your activity—metabolic waste, snippets of data, cellular debris—are building up in your system
After 90 minutes to 2 hrs, you begin experiencing stress…your productivity and performance begin to decline as you reach an energetic trough
You start feeling fatigued, spacey, groggy, irritable, distracted, hungry, fidgety…your attention wanders, the body feels heavy, as your eyes glaze over
Maybe you hit the restroom or you suddenly crave a dose of chocolate or coffee
And then there’s that little voice that says, “Really? Already? It’s only mid-morning and I’m already losing it. What am I going to do for the rest of the day?”
These days, your body-mind needs to protect and rebuild itself in the face of all sorts of daily assaults and stressors. The solution? Ultradian Rhythm Breaks.
Now, you might be thinking ultradian rhythms are some sort of esoteric concept like chakras (though I absolutely respect chakras on their own merits), but--like I said earlier--ultradian rhythms are biological patterns hardwired into your DNA that dictate how your body functions in time. Similar to cardiac rhythms and brain waves, ultradian rhythms are measurable, observable, quantifiable physiological patterns that your body must maintain to operate properly. This is full-on science, folks.
The primary purpose of ultradian rhythms is to manage the cycles of energy production, output, and recovery that occur in all humans (as well as animals and plants). Think of ultradian rhythms as mini-versions of circadian rhythms, except they’re much shorter and occur many times in a single day. They have a powerful effect on your body and when disrupted or ignored, they can really mess with your health, your happiness, and your overall wellbeing. They’re also what affect your sleeping patterns, such as when you go into a REM state. During the day, though, they have a tremendous tangible effect on how you feel.
Even if you don’t care that much about your health and happiness, if you care at all about your career…your brain…these are signals to pay attention to, friends. The short answer as to why is that your body wants to produce a healing response…and there’s just a series of biochemical responses that need to support you.
But if you ignore these moments—which so many of us do—then your body will slog along at reduced capacity…and your functioning will decrease in subsequent 90-min cycles, such that you’ll feel especially “blah” and no amount of caffeine or sugar can help.
This means you can expect to see of a host of consequences:
Rising markers of inflammation
Increased blood pressure
Imbalanced blood sugar and insulin response
Higher cholesterol
Lowered immunity
Gaps in memory
Disrupted digestion
Slowed metabolism
Increased moodiness and emotional reactivity
Increased sugar and carb cravings
Diminished communication and relationship skills
Declining motor skills
Feeling like you “can’t think straight” and reduced reading comprehension and plummeting productivity
Creativity declines
Disrupted sleep patterns and quality
So how’d we got here?
We live in an “always-on” society...and this is even more exposed during a pandemic when our work and home lives have blended together. We chronically reward 24/7 availability and disregard rest. But rest, and its big sister, sleep, are essential times of rebuilding and strengthening.
Just as it’s impossible to imagine Hall without Oates, “on” is impossible without “off.” We need to integrate “off” time into our lives to make “on” time more impactful. The body mind is a very busy place (even during sleep), but it also places high value on rest. So much so that it sets us up to need rest off and on all day, every day. As an integrated part of each day.
You’ll flourish if you embrace this fact and make room for it in your daily life.
Since we’re getting cozy (cue Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams Come True”), let’s now move into the special portion of the show called “What I Learned About…” where I share a personal story to illuminate insights that can apply to all.
Today’s focus is “What I Learned About Life Rhythms from that Time I Fell Asleep on a First Date.”
You’ll recall the scene of the crime: bowling alley, bar stools, first date, medical resident, me falling asleep.
As we hugged it out post-date with the niceties, he encouraged me to make a visit to the sleep clinic--who says romance is dead!? I emailed him to express we weren’t a “match” after all (duh), to thank him for not simply leaving me to fend for my sleepy self, and to remind me of the name of the doctor I should ask to see. He kindly responded and also asked if I’d be willing to share my test results. “Yes, of course. We’re all in this together,” I thought.
A couple of weeks later, I went to an afternoon screening appointment at the sleep clinic. Side note: 2:00p can be a difficult time of day for me with low energy and an unfavorable mood state, depending on my lunch selection...and, of course, if I’m not honoring my ultradian rhythms.
The doctor asked me what brought me into the clinic and how I’d heard about their services. I referenced my fortuitous Match.com date. She said, “Interesting…” with the most Minnesotan of interpretations. She then left to get the world-renowned sleep expert. While gone, I fell asleep in my chair. When the two doctors opened the door to my exam room, I was startled awake and promptly peeled off the magazine that was stuck to my arm. The sleep expert asked what brought me into the clinic. I quipped, “You didn’t hear?” He said, “Nah, I did. That’s a good one.” He then ran the tests to determine I needed to do an overnight visit.
Two weeks later, I entered the overnight facility where the woman admitting me asked an innocent question about my reasons for being there. I don’t know what I said but her response was, “YOU’RE the Match.com girl.” “Yes, that’s me” I bemoaned.
My insurance and I ended up paying a few thousand dollars to have diodes stuck to my head and take scheduled naps…all to reveal that I don’t, in fact, have a sleeping disorder. I simply have a “ROBUST INTERNAL CLOCK.”
Now...on the one hand, this wouldn’t be the first time I’m known for robust something or others. Have you seen my thighs?
But on the other hand, I want to save you the time and money (and online dating infamy) of a sleep study, so that’s why I’m delving more deeply into ultradian rhythms.
We hear a lot about circadian rhythms and Arianna Huffington has made sleep her life mission. But ultradian rhythms of the human body get scant attention, despite being the pillars that support our wellbeing.
Our ultradian rhythms hum regardless of whether we acknowledge them. When we attempt to defy life’s natural orders, we deplete ourselves. It’s futile and draining. But when we work in harmony with them, we kick ass at life.
So here’s a simple truth: our bodies like to take a rest from activity every hour and a half or so. This is a time-honored truth…so much that many body functions are built around our ultradian rhythms.
What this means is IRL: after 90 minutes of busyness, take a 20-minute break. Or a 10-minute break. Or even a 3-minute break. Simply breathing deeply, letting the bodymind relax and rest, would do wonders. Try it and see what happens. You may want to sing along with some Hall and Oates.
During this break, our bodies experience a regenerative burst, creating energy for the next 90-minute session. Say goodbye to the drain and distress!
But when we disrupt these rhythms too frequently, our bodies and brains suffer an illness, cognitive problems, and mood disorders.
In this way, unplugging is part of (not in opposition to) our days.
This pattern of 90-minute activity, 20-minute break, is a 24-hours-a-day affair, happening not just while we're awake but all through our supposedly uneventful sleep as well.
Many sleep disorders may be due to malfunctions of the ultradian rhythm. REM (rapid eye movement) sleep appears every 90 minutes or so throughout the night. Each of these cycles involves deep sleep, then REM sleep.
At the end of these 90-minute ultradian rhythms, we tend to resurface toward wakefulness. We turn over, rearrange the covers, nuzzle deeper into the pillow, then sink back into sleep again. With each round of ultradian rhythm, the length of time spent in deep sleep becomes shorter and REM sleep time lengthens.
Since sprints get us to focus on and finish our tasks with crisp consciousness, we know they’re the most effective way of working. But what’s fascinating is why they make us work so well.
We like to think of ourselves as machines that move linearly. But we’re actually organisms that move cyclically. And to do our most creative, productive work, we need to step to that rhythm. That ultradian rhythm. It’s the basic rest-activity cycle, where we move from higher to lower alertness.
This 90-minute rhythm abounds across fields of study, by the way. For example, in a widely cited study of prodigious violinists, researchers found that the top performers all had the same practice characteristics:
They practiced in the morning
They practiced for three sessions
Each session was 90 minutes or less
There was a break between each session
That same pattern is found in other top performers: focus then rest, focus then rest.
Life naturally ebbs and flows. Challenges are worked through, not gotten over. When we work with life’s ultradian rhythms, we can say goodbye to drain and distress.
Okay, so now that you know more about ultradian rhythms, here’s how you can implement them:
Start noticing throughout the day, how your body-mind moves through a repeating, oscillating energy cycle. Rising to an energy peak during the span of 90 to 120 minutes, then dropping into an energy trough that lasts ~20 minutes
Know that these low-energy troughs are your friend and that they have a purpose: Getting you to take a physical and mental break so your body-mind can repair, rebalance, replenish, and reorganize its core systems
Be on the lookout for signals that you need ultradian rhythm breaks: fatigue, brain fog, loss of focus and productivity, yawning, fidgeting, difficulty keeping your eyes open, irritation, hunger, thirst, clumsiness, increasing errors, and any kind of bathroom urge
Watch for ultradian troughs to strike midmorning and midafternoon (within 2 hours of starting work and again after lunch). At or before the first sign of depletion, stop what you’re doing to take a break: 20 min is ideal but even 5-10 minutes is better than nothing. The longer and more chill your break is the more repair and replenishing work your body-mind will do.
Give your body-mind a chance to shift gears: if you’ve been sitting still, move; if you’ve been moving, sit still; if you’ve been focusing intensely, let your brain shut down. Doing puttering, manual tasks are okay but avoid intensive demands or distractions (including scrolling Instagram).
Consider setting a timed alert that prompts you to assess your energy state and focus every 90 minutes. Once you become adept at noticing your own energetic rhythms, you’ll no longer need an extra alert.
If you want to upgrade your energy, focus, capacity, immunity, resilience, creativity, and relationships, start building ultradian rhythm breaks into your day. There are lots of ways you can do this. If you’d like support, let’s schedule a session to create your plan. Head to meghankrause.com to get started.
Okay, so to quickly recap:
Ultradian rhythms are one of 4 types of naturally occurring biological rhythms we experience
Because we promote “always-on” living, it’s difficult to tune into the power and promise of ultradian rhythm breaks
This leads to a host of mental, emotional, and physical health problems
It also leads to falling asleep on a first date in a bowling alley bar with a medical resident who referred me to a sleep expert...again, I do the research so you don’t have to
When we embrace these 90-120-minute cycles and incorporate brief periods of rest throughout our day, we’ll actually be more energized...and healthier...and happier...and overall well
Normalize ultradian rhythm breaks (picture me saying this as though I’m Sally Field’s Norma Rae character holding up a sign)
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