1. Don’t read (or work) from a computer or phone screen late at night to avoid the disruptive blue light emitted. The light emitted from these screens seems to have an effect on our body’s production of melatonin. You might try jotting down a to-do list which can help ease your mind and relax knowing “it will be taken care of tomorrow.”
2. Maintain a fixed time to wake up each day and go to bed at night. This includes trying to wake up and fall asleep at similar hours during the weekend so our body’s circadian rhythm is not disrupted.
3. Try to focus on breathing and mediation rather than “trying to sleep” as the mere effort of trying to fall asleep can be anxiety-inducing. Try staring at the ceiling, counting 50 to 100 long deep breaths, and then rolling over onto your side (or other preferred sleeping position) to now “try to fall asleep.” This life hack can work miracles.
4. Exercise during the day. Healthy habits throughout the day can also improve our sleep quality. Getting adequate exercise during the day will also improve your ability to fall asleep and maintain deep rejuvenating rest. Your body will simply be more “ready” for sleep, not to mention the sustained relaxation during the day following good exercise.
5. Avoid alcohol. Having even a glass or two of alcohol before bedtime may make it easier to fall asleep, but the alcohol disturbs your sleep cycle overall which prevents deep and restful sleep. Maybe that’s why hangovers are so painful? We get both sleep deprivation + brain dehydration at the same time…double whammy!
6. Avoid large meals before bedtime. Some also say that eating a large amount of food just before bed is a definite no-no, though an occasional late-night (healthy) snack may be just what your body needs. Turning your body into a big digestion mode may disrupt sleep by reallocating our body’s resources to digestion rather than repairing and cleaning.
7. Maintain a healthy physical sleeping environment. Maintaining optimal physical surroundings where you sleep is also critical. For instance, many health professionals say that your bedroom should be reserved for either sleep or sex (or reading). It becomes more and more difficult to turn our brains off and fall asleep when we are working from our bed just before turning off the lights or staying glued to episode 124 of Breaking Bad or worse yet, watching 15 more minutes of the adrenaline-inducing political food-fight on Fox and CNN.

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In this podcast, we'll cover the top 10 benefits of sleep with research-informed by studies from the National Institutes of Health, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, sleep.org, and Web MD. 

Top 10 Benefits of Sleep

1. The brain can store the key information processed during the day

If we compare our brain to a computer, we might think of the brain itself as the hardware and the learning and experiencing as routine software upgrades. Each day we live, we register new experiences and life lessons. Sleep allows our brains to store some of the most important information and learnings in our human hard drive. For instance, the 30-year-old you is in some ways an upgraded 20-year-old you just like a 40 or 50 or 60-year-old you will have decades more software updates. See, getting older is just like installing the latest version of our apps!

2. The brain can delete junk memory clogging up the mental hard drive

In much the same way our brain stores and registers key information and learnings from throughout the day, the brain also discards superfluous information. To build on the brain-computer analogy, sleep is sort of like a computer system undergoing maintenance where viruses are removed. In some ways, the brain’s “recycle bin” gets emptied.

3. Physical rejuvenation of our body’s cells takes place

We seem to be obsessed with protein consumption from our diets. But, did you know that a lot of the protein production takes place while we sleep? According to Cleveland Clinic, the body actually ramps up protein production while we’re asleep. Wow, so maybe a good night’s rest can be as important or more important than the protein shake or the latest trending intense group workout class!

4. Lower blood pressure

According to Mayo Clinic, blood pressure is usually lower during much of our sleep cycle. Therefore, if you are getting less sleep (including the highly restorative deep sleep), your body’s blood pressure will be higher on average over a given 24 hour period. The most well-known circadian rhythm is our sleep-wake cycle, which we might refer to as our “24-hour human body clock.” 

5. Insulin sensitivity repaired potentially reducing the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes

According to sleep.org, sleepfoundation.org and WebMD, insulin and blood glucose levels are managed during sleep. There is also a surge of glucose levels in our bodies a few hours before we wake up. Having adequate insulin sensitivity helps our body remove excess glucose from our blood. Type 2 diabetes develops as our bodies become resistant to insulin.

6. Caloric consumption reduced…it’s hard to snack while asleep for most of us!

Naturally, when we are asleep, our body is not “running on all 12 cylinders.” Many parts of our body are powered down as our body enters “build and repair” mode. Having proper levels of various hormones can also affect how hungry we are during the day. The body does seem to require at least one long sleep period where we cycle between light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep, each stage having its own unique functions and contributions to sleep’s overall benefits.

7. Hormones are produced including growth hormone (particularly important for adolescents) 

Hormones regulate many of our body’s functions. These hormones are particularly important among adolescents during growth and development. It’s quite alarming how sleep-deprived teens are in America today.

8. Production and adequate maintenance of the neurotransmitter serotonin

Serotonin is an important hormone that helps stabilize mood. It also can increase overall feelings of well-being and happiness

9. Possible disease prevention for a variety of diseases, including cancer, developing Type 2 diabetes, and possibly even delaying the onset of Alzheimer's.

10. Last but not least…dreaming is fun!

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The multi-part podcast series on success will cover several aspects of success drawing on examples of great companies like Google, Alexa, Amazon, Facebook, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos as well as some lesser-known examples that helped pave the road for their success, including AskJeeves, Yahoo! and MySpace. Topics covered include:

1. How to succeed in life

2. How to define success

3. What it takes to succeed

4. The element of luck

5. The elements of time, patience, grit, hard work, determination, failure, and perseverance

6. Fun and great examples of both success and failure we can all relate to

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This podcast episode from Henry Gindt will help you learn how to start taking action in your life to reach your career goals, financial goals or other personal goals; the key is taking the first step! If you prefer video format or longer content either visit the YouTube Channel or website listed below.

YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/3iOIIE0

Website: https://gocheezy.com/

Walt Disney’s most famous motto was to “Dream, Believe, Dare, Do.” Disney’s most famous quote of “The Best Way To Get Started Is To Quit Talking And Begin Doing” can be applied to many elements of our lives, discussed in this video from Henry Gindt. In the clip below, Henry Gindt of GoCheezy talks about one of Walt Disney’s most famous quotes and analyzes how we might apply these teachings to our daily lives as we sometimes struggle to take the first step in starting a new business, writing our first book, learning a new skill, traveling to some of the most interesting places in the world, learning a new language, or simply finding the motivation to go to the gym regularly and consistently and discovering new ways to eat healthy by cooking nutritious foods at home and trying some of the best recipes for healthy foods. Separately, you might check out some of the recipes and healthy food tips from GoCheezy here.

The top 10 best Disney movies, which you can likely stream on Disney Plus include:

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
2. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
3. Bambi (1942)
4. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
5. Aladdin (1992)
6. The Little Mermaid (1989)
7. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
8. Pinocchio (1940)
9. The Lion King (1994)
10. Lilo & Stitch (2002)

YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/3iOIIE0

Website: https://gocheezy.com/

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We are all guilty of overcomplicating our lives at times. We overcrowd our schedule with events and meetings and oftentimes forget to prioritize our own well-being, especially introverts who enjoy decompressing alone on walks, reading or listening to podcasts or music.

The KISS principle is perhaps one of the oldest and most underappreciated life tidbits that have been passed down through the generations. As we enter 2021 in an age increasingly dominated by technology and leave the 2020 Covid nightmare year behind us, don’t forget to take a step back to unwind and appreciate the small things in life. A cup of coffee. A glass of wine. Conversation with friends and family. Just because the holiday season is coming to a close, doesn’t mean we should de-prioritize the things that matter most in life.

The KISS principle is one of my favorite principles since it can be applied to so many things in life, from how we interact with technology (e.g. perhaps limiting the number of apps we use from dozens to just a few) to how we plan for the year (e.g. schedule 1-2 vacations now) to how to grow a business (e.g. enter one market at a time and try not to offer all things to all customers or be all things to all people).

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This podcast episode from Henry Gindt will help you practice being yourself by following the examples of two of the best writers of all time: Oscar Wilde and David Foster Wallace. If you prefer video format or longer content either visit the YouTube Channel or website listed below.

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde

Who hasn’t wondered what the best ways are to find happiness? The journey through life itself can be happy or sad depending on whether you might be an inherent optimist or an inherent pessimist. Oscar Wilde offers some very interesting insights into how we all might find true happiness from being ourselves. Sometimes this will require you to step outside of your comfort zone, but the benefits from that short-term pain can yield a significant amount of long-term gain. See below video and thoughts on 4 concrete ways to practice being yourself…it may just help you find lasting happiness…

YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/3iOIIE0

Website: https://gocheezy.com/

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This podcast episode from Henry Gindt will help you focus on getting into the right mindset by learning from some of the best tips and life advice from Elon Musk and Henry Ford. If you prefer video format or longer content either visit the YouTube Channel or website listed below.

YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/3iOIIE0

Website: https://gocheezy.com/

Below are ten practical ways you might better focus on living in the present in order to achieve happiness:

1. Write down 5 things you’re most thankful for and try to be as specific as possible.
2. Repeat step #1 for a full week, coming up with new things each time (people, health, a roof over your head, specific friends, etc.).
3. Slow down when you’re having your cup of coffee in the morning and practicing savoring the taste and smell
4. Meditate for 10 minutes before falling asleep – see some of the sleep benefits from meditation and getting better sleep here.
5. Spend 10 minutes listening to your favorite songs while doing nothing but listening with your eyes closed
6. Exercise vigorously for 1 hour, including going to one of your favorite spin classes, yoga classes or HIT (high-intensity-training) fad of the day
7. Drink 1 (repeat one) glass of wine in the very early evening, say 6 pm rather than later in the evening to avoid sleep disruptions
8. Call the friend you haven’t spoken to in over a year
9. Go for a long walk or hike (either by yourself or with a friend, whichever is more soothing to you)
10. Have sex!

Feel free to learn more here:

YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/3iOIIE0

Website: https://gocheezy.com/

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