What the Research Says About Melatonin

Melatonin is a hormone that your body produces naturally. It’s released by the pineal gland in the brain to help you fall asleep, and can support greater sleep quality. To understand the importance of melatonin, you need to know about circadian rhythms.

Your body has its own clock, so to speak. Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that carry out functions and processes in your body. For example, your digestive system will automatically produce proteins that help you break down meals during times when you’re likely to eat, and your endocrine system releases hormones that provide you energy at times when you’re active. In other words, your body knows what time it is, inherently, and makes adjustments accordingly. Feeling tired at night and awake in the morning are examples of a particular type of circadian rhythm called the sleep-wake cycle, and melatonin helps regulate it.

During the day, contact with natural light stimulates your brain to send signals that promote alertness. As the sun goes down, darkness influences the brain to release melatonin, which helps you wind down and ultimately fall asleep. But in the modern world, most of us don’t get up and go to bed according to the sun.

Staying up late disrupts the body’s normal sleep-wake cycle, and exposure to artificial light reduces the amount of melatonin that’s produced. This is why sleep experts recommend dimming your lights an hour or so before you go to bed, hanging blackout curtains over your bedroom windows, and avoiding blue light—a type of wavelength that is present in electronics such as computer screens that essentially tricks your body into thinking it’s daytime, boosting attentiveness.

Melatonin supplements exist to offer nutritional support for sleep problems, and they’re quite popular: a 2012 study by the National Institutes of Health found that melatonin was the fourth most used natural nutritional product by U.S. adults.

Scientists aren’t sure exactly how melatonin supports sleep, but it is known to inhibit dopamine, a hormone that promotes alertness.

Whatever the mechanism, there is a large body of research showing that melatonin can aid sleep. A 2018 study found that subjects with sleep trouble who took a low dose of melatonin one hour prior to bedtime—in addition to following a regimented bed and wakeup time schedule—slept better. Furthermore, compared to a placebo, they fell asleep 34 minutes earlier.

A meta-analysis of 19 studies covering 1,683 subjects showed that melatonin could help increase total sleep time and overall sleep quality. Here, melatonin users fell asleep an average of seven minutes faster, stayed asleep roughly eight minutes longer, and said they slept better than subjects taking a placebo.

Another meta-analysis of 12 studies found that melatonin supplementation helped people fall asleep faster, and better regulate their sleep and wakeup times.

Many people turn to sleep aids to help them adjust their sleep-wake cycles while traveling. Moving across time zones, such as when flying across the country or internationally, can result in sleep disturbances commonly called jet lag. There is much evidence that melatonin can help with this specific problem. Two reviews (1, 2) have suggested that melatonin can help to reset sleep-wake cycles and support better sleep in jet lag sufferers. 

Those who work nights may benefit from melatonin in the same way. Having to stay alert at times that are out of sync with the body’s circadian rhythm can harm sleep, but a review in Sleep Medicine Clinics implies that shift workers may be able to realign their sleep patterns with melatonin use. Another trial in the journal of Sleep Research determined that melatonin helped night shift workers get more sleep during the daytime (when they go to bed).

Uses of Melatonin

Melatonin is best known for its ability to aid sleep, but its supplementation has also been linked to other health benefits, although to a much lesser degree.

One trial showed that daily melatonin use for several months helped protect retinas, the light-sensitive tissue in eyeballs. Two other studies (1, 2) indicate that melatonin may be helpful in stimulating release of growth hormone—the chemical that helps the body maintain its tissues, build muscle, and use fat for fuel. It’s too soon to say if melatonin can really support eye health, athletic performance, or body composition, but the research shows promise.

What To Think About Before Buying Melatonin

Melatonin supplementation appears to be safe for healthy adults. Side effects, if any, are generally mild, and may include headache, dizziness, nausea, and daytime drowsiness. These effects, however, have only been reported with high doses and extended-release formulas—not what you’d get from responsible use of the typical melatonin supplement. There is no evidence that you can build up a tolerance to melatonin that would reduce its effectiveness.

The authors of an article in StatPearls (linked above) sum it up well: “Melatonin is a safe first-line sleep aid that may help promote a regular sleep cycle.”

Liquid Melatonin Vs. Gummies Vs. Tablets

Supplemental melatonin is available in several forms that are taken orally, including chewable gummies, capsules, tablets, and liquid sprays. Research hasn’t picked a clear winner as far as effectiveness, so the best delivery method is mainly a matter of preference.

Gummy melatonin often comes in berry flavors and may remind one of candy. However, like candy, it usually contains some sugar, so those watching their sugar/carb intake may want to opt for another type of supplement. The same goes for melatonin lozenges.

Capsules can be swallowed quickly, and tablets dissolve in the mouth (a good option for people who dislike swallowing pills).

Liquid sprays allow one to enjoy some flavor but not have to swallow or chew. They’re also highly portable.

“I love taking melatonin as a spray,” says Shawn Stevenson, a sleep expert and the author of Sleep Smarter and Eat Smarter (now available at themodelhealthshow.com). “I spray it under the tongue and hold it for a little bit of time to help with the absorption. Taking it sublingually means a faster route to the bloodstream—melatonin doesn’t have to navigate through the digestive tract, where you’ll lose some of it, before it enters your system.”

Who Would Benefit From Taking Melatonin Spray?

Sprays generally supply smaller doses of melatonin (3 milligrams or so, while gummies can offer up to 10 mg in a serving), but this can be ideal for those starting out with the supplement, and who need to gauge their tolerance. This is one reason SleepFoundation.org endorses Onnit’s melatonin spray.

In general, melatonin supplements can be helpful to anyone suffering from sleep problems or trying to adjust their sleep-wake cycle. They may also be appropriate for those whose behaviors can jeopardize the body’s own production of the hormone. Supplementation may help in these cases to get it back on track.

One study in Toxicology and Industrial Health showed that teenage women who smoked had reduced melatonin production, probably due to tobacco smoke’s oxidative effects. Researchers also suggest that supplementing with melatonin may help with the cellular damage induced by cigarette smoke.

If you’re the type who likes to wind down with a few drinks in the evening, you should know that they’re not helping you sleep better. A study in Chronobiology International looked at men in their 20s and found that alcohol consumption one hour before bed reduced melatonin levels up to 19%. If your work life resembles the movie Office Space (minus the humor), you’re also at risk. A 2015 study revealed that subjects whose workspaces did not have a window, thereby denying them exposure to natural light during the day, had lower melatonin levels at night, and higher levels of stress hormones.

The post What To Know About Liquid Melatonin appeared first on Onnit Academy.

– Pre-workout supplements have been shown to be safe and effective for cognition, mood, and muscle and aerobic endurance.

– Most research on pre-workouts has been done on men, but some studies show clear benefits for women.

– Caffeine, citrulline malate, rhodiola rosea, EAAs, and L-theanine may all be beneficial.

– Pre-workouts generally contain caffeine, but don’t have to. Those that don’t are still not necessarily “stimulant-free.”

The Best Pre-Workout Supplements for Women in 2020

When you Google a pre-workout supplement, you typically come up with images like these: a bottle with a flaming skull on the label, bolts of electricity, or a big, sweaty, bodybuilder guy flexing, with a look on his face that’s so intense, you have to wonder if the product he’s advertising drove him insane.

The fact is, most “pre-workouts” aren’t for women. They’re studied in men. They’re marketed toward men. They’re recommended by and for men—and usually men who want to run through the gym wall and count it as their warmup.

Yikes. That’s not what you’re looking for at all.

Women can be just as passionate about training hard as men are, and just as serious about getting results, but we don’t necessarily want to take something that’s going to make us aggressive, get our hearts racing, or keep us up all night.

Contrary to popular belief, there are pre-workout supplements that have been shown to work specifically in women. There are also ingredients that many women may not be aware of that can have a potent effect and promote killer workouts, without making you foam at the mouth.

Here’s a look at the best pre-workout supplements for women who want an edge in the gym right away—but don’t want to risk health and safety to do it.

What Are The Benefits of Pre-Workout Supplements?

People usually seek out pre-workout supplements to help them get in the zone before training, promoting focus and alertness. They may also want something that promises an immediate effect on performance, potentially supporting strength and/or endurance in the upcoming workout.

A 2018 review in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition analyzed the results of 80 different studies to determine the effect of what it calls “multi-ingredient pre-workout supplements (MIPS)”—the popular and widely available pre-workout drinks, powders, and capsules that contain numerous alleged ergogenic aids. The researchers determined that, though it’s difficult to pick out which compounds are truly effective given the blends they usually appear in, a substantial body of evidence suggests that consuming pre-workout supps may benefit muscular endurance and subjective mood.

They went on to say that “The chronic consumption of MIPS in conjunction with a periodized [planned out] resistance training program appears to augment beneficial changes in body composition through increased lean mass accretion.”

However, the scientists explained that more research on pre-workout supplements is needed before strong conclusions can be drawn—especially for female athletes, and untrained adults over 40 years of age. 

Indeed, most of the research on pre-workout supplements has been done on men, and the studies that use subjects of both genders typically don’t examine how the ingredient(s) in question may affect men and women differently. They also don’t account for a woman’s menstrual cycle, and how it could influence a supplement’s effects, and vice versa. The International Society of Sports Nutrition’s review found that both men and women taking pre-workout supplements had similar results in most measures, most of the time, so there’s little reason to think that a product or ingredient wouldn’t work as well for a woman as it does for a man, provided that the dosage is appropriate. However, some differences between the sexes have been noted.

A 2018 study on recreationally active women found that MIPS supported muscle endurance in the upper body, but had no impact on lower-body muscle endurance or power. Another study from the same year revealed that MIPS had no appreciable effect on fat burning in female aerobic athletes. But never fear, we’ll show you the products that do have strong evidence supporting their efficacy in women further down.

Pre-workout supplements are generally considered safe, at least in the short term (less than eight weeks of regular use). There are no studies yet that show what happens with long-term use, but there is a way to put time on your side: use supplements that have been tested by a third party, which provides some assurance of quality and safety. Look for a seal on the product label from an organization such as Informed Sport. This kind of distinction ensures that what’s on the product label is in the bottle, and the ingredients should be free of contaminants.

Our Reviews of the Top Pre-Workouts on the Market in 2020

As mentioned above, it can be difficult to say which pre-workout formulations are really winners when they have multiple ingredients. Some of the compounds could account for the majority of the benefits while the others are filler, or may even detract from the positive effects. For that reason, we’ll break down the specific ingredients that are popular in pre-workout supps and that we believe are efficacious, based on the most reliable scientific findings. They can all be purchased on their own, as well as in blends with other ingredients.

Note that the supplements creatine monohydrate and beta-alanine are often considered pre-workouts and are usually included in pre-workout blends. However, we have not included them here as they don’t have an immediate effect on cognition or exercise performance. In other words, they have to build up in your system before you notice them working—they don’t work right away. You can read more about them in our complete guides for creatine and beta alanine.

Caffeine

Probably the most popular ingredient in pre-workouts, caffeine is a stimulant that has been proven to aid alertness and help manage feelings of fatigue. According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), caffeine can promote athletic performance in a variety of sports. It’s been noted to be effective during exhaustive exercise, and when subjects have been deprived of sleep. Scientists recommend using low to moderate doses of caffeine: 3–6 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight (1.36–2.72 mg per pound).

Most research on caffeine hasn’t looked at the way it affects women versus men, but a 2019 meta-analysis did, finding that caffeine aided aerobic performance and helped with fatigue in both sexes to a similar degree. However, researchers concluded, men seem to get more benefit for strength and power exercise out of the same dosage.

Drinking coffee, of course, is one way to get caffeine, but research shows that the concentrated caffeine powder available in most pre-workouts—called caffeine anhydrous—has a greater effect on performance. It’s also easier to consume. According to the ISSN’s guidelines, a 140-pound woman (64 kg) taking 3–6 mg of caffeine per kilo of her bodyweight would need 192–384 mg of caffeine to get an ergogenic effect, and that equates to approximately 2–4 cups of coffee. (The caffeine content of coffees varies.) Most pre-workouts will offer the caffeine punch you get from three or more cups of coffee, so, if nothing else, they’re a more convenient option.

Caffeine is generally considered safe, but some people can be sensitive to it. The ISSN says that caffeine has not been shown to have a diuretic effect that could negatively impact performance. However, doses of 9 mg per kilo of bodyweight have been shown to cause dizziness, shaking, sweating, and vomiting in some. As a stimulant, caffeine can increase blood pressure, and it can make it difficult to fall asleep, so you should consider starting with small doses and avoiding it in the afternoon, so your body has ample time to process it before you go to bed.

Citrulline Malate

Many pre-workouts are marketed for their ability to stimulate nitric oxide (NO) production in the body. NO is a naturally-occurring compound that’s already present in our circulatory system, and it serves to dilate the blood vessels, allowing greater blood flow. More blood flow means greater delivery of nutrition and oxygen to working muscles, as well as expedited removal of metabolic waste products. Citrulline malate is an amino acid that can be converted into L-arginine—another amino acid—which itself converts into nitric oxide.

A study in the European Journal of Nutrition tried to determine if women could get the same results from citrulline malate supplementation as men. Researchers used women with resistance-training experience, and measured their performance on a variety of weight-training exercises one hour after they consumed a citrulline malate supplement.

The results were in fact comparable: citrulline malate promoted significant gains in both upper- and lower-body muscle endurance. The women also rated their upper-body training as feeling easier when they were on citrulline malate versus a placebo, indicating that it may help with perceived exertion (how hard you think you’re working).

Furthermore, a 2016 study in the European Journal of Sport Science found that citrulline malate helped boost explosive power and grip strength in female tennis players.

As Shannon Ehrhardt, RD, CSSD, an EXOS Performance Dietitian, noted in our guide to nitric oxide supplements, “Taking any sort of supplement that is intended to increase nitric oxide should be taken prior to a training session, as most ingredients found in these types of products—for example, arginine and citrulline—have short half-lives… Arginine has a half-life of one-and-a-half to two hours, and citrulline has a half-life of about an hour.” In other words, the longer you wait, the less potent these compounds will be in your system.

Rhodiola Rosea

Rhodiola is an herb that grows in cold climates. It is an adaptogen, meaning that it helps support the body’s management of stress. Several studies have shown that rhodiola can help with fatigue (as discussed in our guide to rhodiola), but it has also been shown to support athletic performance.

A trial in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise showed that, when taken one hour before activity, rhodiola aided work capacity in subjects doing endurance training—helping to extend their time to exhaustion by 24 seconds. Only half the subjects were female, but the way the study was set up, it was clear that rhodiola worked as well for the ladies as it did the fellas. 

Essential Amino Acids (EAAs)

EAAs are the amino acids your body can’t make on its own, so you have to get them from food or supplements. There are nine of them: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Of these, isoleucine, leucine, and valine make up a subgroup called branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), which are thought to be particularly important for muscle strength and performance.

Many nutritionists argue that if your diet is already rich in meat, eggs, and poultry, and you’re supplementing with a protein source such as whey, you’re already getting enough EAAs/BCAAs, and don’t need to make an effort to get more. However, there is some evidence that supplementing with them specifically may offer advantages.

Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism reported that soccer players who took BCAAs one hour prior to running tests had better reaction times. OK, the subjects were dudes, but stay with us here…

The journal Nutrition published a study showing that women who took EAAs before and after training, as well as on off days, had significant increases in aerobic endurance. These findings are particularly interesting because the subjects were eating about 400 fewer calories daily than the ladies in the placebo group, suggesting that EAAs might help performance even during times of lower energy, such as when dieting.

Some research has shown that EAAs can be useful when consumed in the midst your workout. Scientists found that gulping aminos on the go can assist mental and physical performance during endurance training. 

EAAs may also have a supportive effect for mood, which can lead to better workouts. A short-term study on older women found that taking a tryptophan supplement daily promoted feelings of happiness, as well as quicker reaction times.

L-Theanine

Another mood-supporting supplement is the amino acid L-theanine, which comes from tea plants. When taken supplementally, L-theanine can act similarly to caffeine. A study in Biological Psychology that looked at the effects of caffeine and L-theanine both in isolation and in combination—and included nearly twice as many female subjects as males—discovered that the two compounds aided cognitive speed, memory, and alertness to a higher degree when taken together than when either nutrient was consumed on its own.

Bonus: Carbohydrates

Although not a supplement, carbs are the body’s preferred energy source for fueling muscle contractions, and there’s plenty of research that shows that consuming some shortly before a workout can boost performance. The trick is not to eat too many in one shot, which can raise blood sugar sharply and cause an energy crash—the last thing you want when you’re about to walk into the gym.

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to take much to get the job done. A study in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism studied 16 runners—eight male, eight female—and found that taking in only 14 grams of carbs in a sucrose and fructose mixture resulted in faster 10K times than placebo. Taking different, and higher, amounts of carbs did not improve performance. Pre-workout carb powders are available, but if you don’t like the taste, about half a banana makes a great pre-workout snack on its own.

Are Stimulant-Free Pre-Workouts Better Than Ones With Stimulants?

It’s one thing to take something that makes you feel energized to train hard, but it’s another to get hopped up and jittery to the point where you almost feel sick or can’t sleep. Many pre-workouts contain several hundred milligrams of caffeine anhydrous, often equating to the caffeine content of three cups of coffee or more, and that can be too much for some women—especially since we’re usually smaller than men, and have slower metabolisms.

Determining whether a stimulant-free pre-workout is right for you really depends on your definition of what a stimulant is. The FDA defines it as a drug or substance that helps restore mental alertness or wakefulness during fatigue, but most people think of stimulants as things that rev up the heart rate and central nervous system. Caffeine is certainly a stimulant by any definition, but L-theanine seems to promote alertness while actually having a calming effect on the mind that helps manage stress, and may help attenuate the spikes in blood pressure that are associated with caffeine use (according to British research). Rhodiola may promote the effects of caffeine, but it also helps the body cope with stress.

Generally speaking, most of the pre-workout formulations that have been shown to be effective contain some caffeine, and the so-called “stimulant-free” options out there that don’t have caffeine may contain other ingredients that have a similarly exciting, stimulant-like effect. If you’re sensitive to caffeine, or you work out late at night and don’t want anything to interfere with your ability to sleep, you may do better to take citrulline malate and/or EAAs, and steer clear of multi-ingredient formulations that could have stimulant properties.

The post The Best Pre-Workout Supplements for Women in 2020 appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Remember the skateboarders on your street when you were growing up? They were probably the first kind of stuntmen you ever saw outside of a TV screen, turning your block into an obstacle course and landing death-defying tricks until the sky got dark—and even then they didn’t stop. They may have also been the first people your mom told you to stay away from, as drinking, drugs, and tattoos tend to be a part of the lifestyle. But Neen Williams, a pro skater and entrepreneur, has been changing that “skater punk” stereotype ever since an ACL injury caused him to prioritize his health and career longevity.

Williams, 34, is now a bonafide fitness influencer as well as a boarder, getting as much attention online for posts on how he’s working out and what he’s eating for dinner as he is for his heel flip catches and handrail grinds. Williams visited Onnit to discuss how he changed his habits, and how he can help other aspiring skaters do the same, improve their tricks, and make a living doing what they love.

Life before skateboarding – 0:13

Advice to sk8er bois – 1:50

Breaking the skateboarder stereotype – 3:30

The skater party scene – 4:30

The pro skater lifestyle – 8:15

Tearing his ACL – 9:30

Leaving the party – 12:10

“Fitness is my new vice” – 13:55

How he started working out – 16:30

Getting known for fitness as much as skating – 20:45

Eating to help lower injury risk – 23:20

Life after skateboarding – 25:25

Why he doesn’t wear a helmet – 26: 20

What to look for in a skateboard – 29:25

Tips for safer falls – 31:00

His toughest trick – 32:30

The secret to a great heel flip catch – 35:40

Neen’s new shoe – 37:00

If he weren’t a skateboarder… – 39:00

The origin of “Not a damn chance” – 41:30

Follow Neen on Instagram, @neenwilliams

The post “Not A Damn Chance” – Interview with Pro Skater Neen Williams appeared first on Onnit Academy.

– Bruce Lee

This post originally appeared on https://jasonferruggia.com

67 Tips on Happiness, Fulfillment & Life

1) Always have a quest.

2) Don’t feel the need to justify your opinion.

3) Cut your expenses in half. Then cut them again.

4) Don’t die without any scars. Like Tyler Durden advised.

5) Remember that everyone wants to feel important.

6) Don’t fall into “the busy trap.” It’s okay to not always be “on your grind,” 24/7.

7) Learn something from everyone you meet.

8) Take more risks without fear of making mistakes.

9) Sweat every day.

10) Get Facebook and email off your phone.

“No one ever got rich checking their email more often.”
– Noah Kagan

11) Never “grow up.”

12) If you haven’t worn something in more than two months, get rid of it.

13) Send more handwritten notes.

14) Not everyone will like you. You need to be okay with that.

15) You don’t have to respond to every Tweet, email, call or text message. That’s a form of slavery.

16) Question authority.

17) Learn to do something artistic – paint, draw, play an instrument.

18) Keep your cell phone off the dinner table.

19) Get punched in the face at least once. Everyone needs that. (Keeping your phone on the table is a good way to facilitate that)

20) Say “please” and “thank you” more than everyone else.

21) Repeat a person’s name aloud when you first meet them.

22) Never waste time arguing on the internet.

23) Carry a book with you wherever you go. A real book.

24) When you’re with friends or family members, be with them 100%. Don’t think about work or check your phone.

25) Make a difference in someone’s life.

26) Never discuss how much money you make.

27) Go for a walk every day.

28) Be the first one to try everything.

29) Slow down.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
– Lao Tzu

30) Don’t watch the news. It’s depressing. If something important happens, you’ll know.

31) Tell your friends you love them.

32) Smile before you pick up the phone and say “hello.”

33) Give advice only when it’s asked for.

34) Don’t give it a second time if the person didn’t listen the first time.

35) Do things that make you uncomfortable.

36) Everyone’s looking for a leader. Stand up and lead.

37) Turn off your cell phone after 8 pm. Or at least set some kind of boundaries.

38) Get out of debt. Take it from someone who was buried in it.

39) Spend more time doing only things you’re passionate about.

40) Change the way things are normally done.

41) Say less, listen more.

42) Think long and hard before you make the decision to go to college or grad school. Read The Education of Millionaires before you do. And visit this website.

43) Challenge the status quo.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
– Mark Twain

44) Spend some time to come up with a really fucking cool bucket list and start working your way through it.

45) Make more time to spend with your friends and family.

46) Get your hands dirty.

47) Daydreaming and saying “I want” or “I wish” are the signs of an amateur. Be a pro.

48) Do things that scare the shit out of you.

49) Remove all stressful people and situations from your life.

50) Whenever you see a member of the military, thank them.

51) Pick up the check.

52) Travel more. This doesn’t always cost as much as you think. Read this book for some ideas.

53) Help others make their dreams come true.

54) Anger, jealousy and bitterness ruin your life. Be happy for everyone.

55) Laugh every day.

56) Pay your credit cards off each month.

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.”
– Will Rogers

57) Reinvent yourself.

58) Dream bigger. Most people don’t think they can accomplish big things, so they settle for mediocrity. Don’t be like everyone else.

59) Quit your job if you don’t like it. Life shouldn’t be spent doing shit you hate. Benefits and security aren’t worth your happiness.

60) Save more of your money. Trust me on this.

61) Read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

62) Everyone wants to change the world. That doesn’t make you unique. Acting on that desire does.

63) Eat your steak rare.

64) Try completely unplugging one day per week. Or at least, per month.

65) Remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

66) Eat more greens.

67) Call your mom more often. Now would be a good time.

Increase Your Happiness and Fulfillment

The post 67 Tips on Happiness, Fulfillment & Life appeared first on Onnit Academy.

In late 2017, Hannah Eden’s best friend, Jessica Boswell, was diagnosed with cancer. Boswell was only 32 years old, and also six months pregnant. To bolster her friend’s spirits and raise money for treatment, Eden set a goal to bike and run around the perimeter of Iceland, known as the Ring Road.

Boswell’s disease moved quickly, however, and she passed the following spring (but not before giving birth to a healthy baby boy). In July of 2018, Eden followed through on her promise to make the 828.6-mile journey in Boswell’s honor. She completed the bike and run in only nine days, raising almost $60,000 for cancer research and the Serene Soldier Foundation—a group founded in Boswell’s honor that works to give cancer patients and their families a happy Christmas.

Eden, 28, has since blown up to be a successful fitness influencer and entrepreneur, with her own gym and app. In her interview with Onnit Editor-in-Chief Sean Hyson, she reveals how she transitioned from a wild child to a health nut, gives tips on growing a fitness business, and explains why working out will always mean more to her than just abs and biceps.

Growing up as a hyperactive kid ­– 0:05

Moving to the US – 0:50

Why her dream job wasn’t what she thought – 3:00

Finding CrossFit – 5:00

Pros and cons of CrossFit – 6:04

Going from student to teacher, and starting her own business – 8:07

Why fitness is more than just the physical – 10:05

Why she programs according to time rather than sets and reps – 13:00

Where her life would be if she hadn’t found fitness –15:25

Why last year was the hardest of her life – 17:30

Hannah’s bike tour around Iceland to honor her friend – 18:55

How she ran and biked 828.6 miles in 9 days – 24:22

How she stayed motivated – 26:00

How to find your own reason – 27:15

Learning to turn if “off” – 29:40

Why she’ll lose her drive one day – 31:05

What her husband understands about her that no one else does – 32: 25

Tips for aspiring fitness influencers on building an online following – 35:00

What she and “Primal Swoledier” Eric Leija have learned from each other – 38:15

Follow Eden on Instagram, @hannaheden_fitness

The post “Fitness Is More Than Physical”: Interview With Hannah Eden appeared first on Onnit Academy.

When it comes to health, there is one criminally overlooked element: sleep.
Good sleep helps you shed fat for good, stave off disease, stay productive, and improve virtually every function of your mind and body. That’s what Shawn Stevenson learned when a degenerative bone disease crushed his dream of becoming a professional athlete.

Like many of us, he gave up on his health and his body, until he decided there must be a better way. Through better sleep and optimized nutrition, Stevenson not only healed his body but also achieved fitness and business goals he never thought possible. Now a world-renowned health expert and host of the top-rated podcast The Model Health Show, Stevenson shares his health advice with fans in more than 150 countries each
week.

What’s his #1 rule for better health? Get high-quality sleep.

Now in the Sleep Smarter 14-Day Sleep Makeover, you’ll have access to Stevenson’s easy tips and tricks to discover the best sleep and best health of your life. With the 14-Day Sleep Makeover, you’ll learn unique strategies like:

• How to create the ideal sleep sanctuary.
• How to hack sunlight to regulate your circadian rhythms.
• Which clinically proven sleep nutrients and supplements you need and why.

Also included are stress-reduction exercises and fitness tips to keep you mentally and physically sharp. The Sleep Smarter 14-Day Sleep Makeover is the much-needed guide for achieving the rest, body, and life you truly deserve.

If you are interested in exploring more ways to optimize your sleep, check out this guide’s companion book “Sleep Smarter” at Onnit.com/sleep-smarter.

Download HERE

The post The Sleep Smarter 14-Day Sleep Makeover Journal appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Sears, a veteran “emotional healing coach” with a legit clinical background, is redefining what a granola, gluten-free, hippie can be, using humor to (in his words) “till the soil for a more sincere seed to be planted in [your] heart.” The 36 year-old star of such viral videos as “If Meat Eaters Acted Like Vegans” visited Onnit HQ recently to talk spirituality, healing, and just who the hell he really is.

Onnit: How did you get interested in spirituality?

Sears: In my late teens I began a search for something more. Something more than status and achievement. I just felt an emptiness inside, like there has to be more. I sure as heck didn’t know what I was searching for when I began but I think my mind started to become open.

This lack of meaning I felt inside got me to open my eyes to what else life might offer. From there I encountered some important mentors who opened me up to the spiritual world, which I would define as the world beyond the five senses.

Where do you think that emptiness came from? How were you raised?

I was raised pretend Catholic. My mother was Catholic and wanted my sister and I to be Catholic to please her parents because that’s how she was raised. But my dad was an atheist. So there was a nice balance. I got a taste of spirituality but not the kind of overwhelming dogma that can be traumatizing. I think the answer would be that I was very emotionally disconnected as a child and through my teenage years, and probably still to this day—although I’m working on it. I think the emotional disconnection really created a sense of emptiness—if I’m not connected to myself, of course I feel empty.

I would disconnect from emotions because I was trying to be the stable one in the family. I’m not allowed to be afraid or angry or sad because I need to be the one who brings balance and stability to the family. I need to take care of mom and dad. But what that really was was me not giving myself permission to be a child, and one of the important, beautiful gifts of being a child is being connected to your emotions.

Are you saying you never felt really happy or really sad?

I mean the peaks and valleys were really small. I’d feel a little happy at times, a little sad at times. But only feeling “a little.” Anything more than a little emotion one way or the other triggered the breaker that caused an electrical disconnect of my emotions. I didn’t know that was strange at the time because that’s just how things were.

“The worst life ever is a life that never changes. It may be the most comfortable life but it’s the least fulfilling.”

Who were these mentors who began to enlighten you?

Paul Chek [founder of the world famous C.H.E.K. Institute] was my first mentor. At first, I was interested in exercise and nutrition, so I sought out Paul. This was in 2001. At the time he wasn’t really open about his spiritual beliefs and teachings, so it was a surprise when I started learning spirituality from him—how people’s emotional health would heavily impact their physical health. My interest in him through exercise and nutrition was essentially the gluten-free breadcrumb trail that got me interested in the subtle aspects of life, like emotional health and spirituality. He was the messenger who could deliver it to me. I saw Paul at the time as a rock star.

If some boring-looking dude in a suit had shown up and started talking about emotions, I would have said “Whatever. I don’t want to hear about it.” But when it’s Paul Chek, I thought, “Yes, I DO want to hear about it,” because I found him very interesting.

The next mentor I had was John McMullin [journeysofwisdom.com], and he’s more directly all about emotional healing. He’s an amazing person—an angel inside of a human body. I learned how to work with people at the heart level. How to resolve pain, wounding, trauma, self-sabotage, and self-imposed limitations. The most integral part of my journey, of course, has been working on myself.

You’ve said that you discovered your own need for emotional healing by coaching others. Have you been able to heal your own wounds?

Have I healed them? Probably not. Am I healing? Hopefully. I think healing is probably infinite. After we get out of acute pain we might start calling it growth but it’s the same thing. I’m still affected by my wounding but I’ve made progress on it. The first real meaningful wound that I became aware of was on December 3, 2002.

Wow, you remember the exact date?

I was 21. I had been working with Paul Chek so my mind was open but my heart hadn’t quite arrived yet. It arrived on December 3. It was the afternoon of my first class with John McMullin. He’s very intuitive and he saw through the stoic façade I had—the “I have everything put together in my life.” This was such a persistent façade that I thought it was real. I thought this is how I am. I am so strong, stable, and put together. I hadn’t cried for at least six years before that day, probably longer.

John brought up a time when I was seven and my parents were going through a separation and my sister was relying on me as a father figure. John brought up questions that made me look at that and realize how tough that was for me and I really hated it but I started to connect to emotions. I started bawling my eyes out and that was so unnerving for me because who I thought I was was suddenly shattered. It’s not what I wanted but it really was what I needed. I opened my heart to emotions, unresolved pain. It initiated an ongoing journey to connect emotionally to who I really am.

So what exactly is your job? Are you a coach, a counselor?

Present day, I don’t know how to define it. I’m a collage of different things: Youtuber, speaker, performer, author. I coach people at retreats and make guest appearances. I’ve always worked in the “helping people” profession under the umbrella of a coach. So how I became a coach is that I started working with people as a personal trainer, doing exercise and nutrition. Then as I was getting more into the emotional coaching world and getting really passionate about that, I started applying that work to my existing exercise clients. It was a smooth transition.

I was put through a steel mace workout today by @erikmelland. I used all of 10 pounds and it was still too much. I benefited immensely and didn’t enjoy any of it ? Go CNS or go home! #ONNIT #SteelMace #LookAtMyLeftBicep

A post shared by JP Sears (@awakenwithjp) on Jun 15, 2017 at 9:49am PDT

What is different about the kind of coaching you’ve done versus what people would get from a traditional therapist?

With a traditional therapist, someone might have a condition that needs treatment and the therapist might be treating symptoms. That’s not what I do. I focus on facilitating the person getting connected to their inner wisdom and their own emotions, whether they’re emotions that are being generated now or leftover from 50 years ago. I don’t tell people what to do; I help them find their own answers.

What’s the advantage for someone in seeing a coach like you, versus a psychologist or social worker?

That’s a good question. Being challenged, I think. When a person is in a place where being challenged is helpful to them, there’s an advantage to my system. But when a person needs outside support, or is in a really compromised situation, then I wouldn’t be at all convinced that how I do things is best.

But when a person is in a place where they’re stuck, they’re somehow not progressing in life or toward a deeper inner peace, they have reoccurring patterns of dysfunction, then how I coach them is challenging them to connect more deeply to themselves, to take new risks, to encounter discomfort inside of themselves that they’ve maybe been avoiding. To me, a good coach is someone who appropriately guides someone into discomfort that is for their greater good, kind of like a personal trainer. Much like a trainer, the coach isn’t doing the workout for the person, they’re standing in a role of support and offering guidance.

“I think if there’s an undercurrent to all my videos it’s a message that transparency and authenticity wins, rather than covering up who we are.”

Can you give an example of how you challenge people?

A very common example is when people show up and they’re depressed or dealing with pain. I’ll ask, “How are you benefitting from this pain and depression?” Of course, it’s easy for them to say, “I’m not. I hate it.” Yes, part of you hates it, and how does part of you potentially love it so much and find so much comfort through the recurring discomfort of it that you won’t let it heal? How might that be possible?

I challenge them to find the more deeply-rooted pain. I help them create awareness and ask specific questions. A lot of time it goes back to childhood. That’s what causes our blockages. So I help them reframe childhood experiences.

Could you give us a guide to start self-healing?

Preview of good things coming… #NotTan #FunctionalTraining #ONNIT #StoicStare

A post shared by JP Sears (@awakenwithjp) on Jul 11, 2017 at 1:42pm PDT

There’s what I call the FFF meditation exercise: it stands for “Feel your Fucking Feelings.” It’s so simple yet it’s very beneficial. Sit there and pick one body sensation you have right now. Maybe it’s tingling in your chest or aching in your thigh, tightness here or there. Just pick one and focus on it and bring your attention to it and breathe with it for five minutes. You’re not trying to make it any different or make it go away or make it good or bad. Just pay attention to it and breathe with it.

This trains your emotional muscles. We go through life and we have years of education for our intellectual mind but zero hours of education for our emotional mind. So a lot of us have very weak emotional muscles. Like actual muscles, when we use them they get stronger. Exercising our ability to feel anything strengthens our connection to our emotions. Emotional muscles are typically kind of weak.

Understand that this exercise is not about accomplishing anything. That’s what our intellectual pursuits are about but that’s not how emotions work. Emotions work emotionally, so we cant apply a logical mindset to them.

One of your former clients works here. He says you helped him realize he had to break up with his girlfriend, and that by doing so, his back pain went away.

I think he’s giving me too much credit, but with that said, I think the fear he had of leaving the relationship— the sense that he’d be letting her down if he leaves her—whatever the emotion was he was avoiding by carrying on the relationship was weighing him down. I think it’s amazing how the body is a biofeedback instrument that’s always showing us what’s going on in the intangible reality of our psyche. His psyche was burdened. He wanted to spread his wings but he wasn’t letting that happen. The body mirrored what was going on in his psyche. The question we have to ask ourselves is, “Am I wise enough to become curious about what pain in my body is trying to teach me?” And then pain becomes our friend.

It’s hard to know where the JP Sears character ends and the real man begins. Can you summarize your own philosophy—from the real JP Sears—on how people should live?

It’s a good question. People should probably definitely not live the way that I think they should live [laughs]. They should live based on their calling. As a generalization, I think meaning and a sense of purpose in life comes when we’re willing to explore mystery. He or she who’s willing to step deeper into mystery will always find more meaning relative to if they stay in their comfort zone. Become a curious student of life who’s willing to move toward discomfort and challenge him or herself rather than avoid discomfort. This challenge is hopefully physical and mental.

Some big-time athletes get addicted to challenging themselves only physically. They’ll do amazing things but that might be a defense mechanism to avoid things psychologically. Then there are people who are really tapped into their heart and they completely bypass the fact that they’re in a human body too that deserves to be challenged. When we grow we realize more of the magnitude of what we already are and always have been. Our awareness expands when we’re willing to embrace discomfort.

“Authenticity is when we look at our gifts and look at our flaws and we say yes to both”

Some athletes probably have the fear that if they look within themselves and confront some of the issues that make them work so hard physically, they might lose their edge and wont be as good of a competitor.

That could happen, and it probably does some of the time. Another possibility is that your “why” will change. If someone is an MMA competitor and say they were picked on as a kid and overlooked by their parents, they may feel this sense of insignificance. They created this compensation mechanism that is the desire to get into MMA and fight to prove how significant they are—“I’m going to dominate you and make you the insignificant one so I can feel significant.” But then they find that they only feel that way for 10 minutes after the fight.

An athlete’s whole why behind athletic endeavors could be to escape himself. So maybe if he connects with himself his why will change. Maybe his new why allows him to show up even more for his athletic endeavors because it’s more aligned with his heart—rather than a fear-based why that’s about escaping emotions.

On the other hand, maybe the fighter realizes he wanted to fight to feel more significant, but he’s over that now and doesn’t want to train anymore at all. He’s not a fighter anymore. Maybe that is the case, but he’s happier, and he finds something else that’s more meaningful to him. That’s a big win. The worst life ever is a life that never changes. It may be the most comfortable life but it’s the least fulfilling.

You’ve said you started doing funny videos because you needed to. What did you mean by that?

I was being tickled by the creative muse. And I may sound like the ultimate cliché, ultra-spiritual artist, but that’s OK. Expressing deeper perspectives through the language of comedy was an expression that wanted to come through me, and I was resisting it. After a while I was like, “I’ve got to allow this to happen.” So for the first 13 years of my career, I didn’t allow my sense of humor to come out publicly. That was me betraying myself. That was me looking at my inner comedian and saying, “You’re not good the way you are. You will be bad for business. You’re flawed the way you are so I can’t let you be seen.”

It was self-inflicted shame and self-betrayal. I couldn’t do that anymore. I had to put my arm around this creative part of me and say you’re welcome in my life. This creative part of me has brought so much more value to my life. On the inside it feels so much more fulfilling to be embracing this part of me and I’ve come to learn that the comedic part is good for business and it allows me to connect with a lot of people.

How can we tell the serious videos apart from the humor ones? Are you always wearing a flower in your hair when you do jokes?

If there’s a flower in my hair it’s definitely a comedy video. But the past six months I haven’t been making videos with the flower. For the past year I’ve just been putting out comedy videos. I think the only real way to tell what the intent is is to watch it. When I do comedy, at the same time, it’s not just comedy because there is a deeper consideration that I’d like people to contemplate. It’s important to me not to put myself in a box and only communicate through comedy. It just so happens that on video at the present time the only videos I’m doing are comedy. But when I do live speaking I do stand-up comedy and then what I call stand-up authenticity where I’m speaking from my heart. Comedy is a language that gets people’s attention and once the attention is there, I can get into their hearts. With live events I do a lot of sincere talking. In the not too distant future I’ll have some various projects that have comedy but are largely sincere. And I’ll do more sincere videos in the future, but right now I’ve got them on a temporary hiatus.

Do you enjoy confusing your audience? It seems that even some of your biggest fans can’t always tell what your message is and when you’re being facetious.

I do enjoy confusing people. I think confusion is sometimes an uncomfortable place to be but a beneficial place to be. Because it means we have to connect deeper to our inner resources. So if someone is confused about me—is he serious or is he comedic—they can’t put me into a box so they don’t have to think. What if I’m both?

People are used to conforming to something. Even if you say, “I don’t conform to anything,” well, that’s a box too. We all deserve to look at what box we put ourselves in and challenge ourselves to be bigger than a box. It won’t be so easy for people to comprehend us in a few seconds and that’s OK.

If I were your doctor I would advise you to be on the lookout for the podcast I recorded today with this savage primal angel, @aubreymarcus. He’s from a different planet (that’s also flat)! The podcast will be coming at you soon-ish.

A post shared by JP Sears (@awakenwithjp) on Jun 14, 2017 at 10:12pm PDT

It seems like happiness and peace of mind for you is largely about lightening up. Many of your humor videos take the piss out of things you actually believe in very strongly, but it seems like you’re saying that if people could see both sides of it—be spiritual but you don’t have to be spiritual all the time—they would be OK.

For me the message goes beyond the spiritual genre because life is bigger than that. When we have certain beliefs we begin to think we are these things we believe in. But I believe that being the miraculous human beings we are is something much bigger. I believe my videos are shining the light on rigid beliefs, ways we hide from ourselves, how we try to cover up some of our chaotic human nature, our pretentiousness and self-righteousness. I think if there’s an undercurrent to all my videos it’s a message that transparency and authenticity wins, rather than covering up who we are. Have your beliefs but don’t believe them like they’re the gospel.

One of the most egotistical things a person can do is try to be ego-less. If someone says, “material things don’t mean anything to me because I’m above all that,” I think, “how egotistical.” When we get into trouble is when we actually care but we pretend that we don’t. It’s not authentic. Authenticity is when we look at our gifts and look at our flaws and we say yes to both. Our flaws are also our gifts. We just don’t see how they’re amazing yet.

What’s next for you?

Theres a TV show being shopped around to networks that may get picked up. Cool if it is; certainly OK if it isn’t. It would be kind of a sketch comedy show. We’ll see what happens. There will be more books in the future. Later this year I’ll do more of a full-on stand-up comedy, authenticity tour.

Visit Sears at awakenwithJP.com

Don’t forget that the true spirit of any holiday is properly honored by drinking excessively. Happy 4th of July! Don’t blow your thumbs off America ????

A post shared by JP Sears (@awakenwithjp) on Jul 4, 2017 at 9:54am PDT

The post Who Is JP Sears In Real Life? appeared first on Onnit Academy.

A lifelong athlete and fitness freak, Callen turned 50 this past January, and got in a workout at Onnit headquarters in Austin, TX, en route to a sold-out stand-up show. We got him to sit still long enough to answer a few questions, and he proved he could make us think as well as laugh hysterically.

Bryan Callen Q&A

Onnit: Bryan, you’re 50, why are you still going by the nickname “The Kid?”

Callen: You know, apparently I don’t age. Oh, and I gave that nickname to myself. I was on set, doing a movie that nobody will ever see… Like most movies you do, you think this is going to be the one. I said to everyone on set, “From now on I will be known as The Kid, and not Bryan.” They started calling me “Kid,” and I said, “Excuse me, it’s The Kid,” and somehow it stuck.

Did you ever see me moving around the gym? I’m so spry and supple. It’s like someone stretched my skin over a cheetah, you know what I’m saying?

Without a doubt. What’s your training like these days?

My training is pretty unorthodox. I like to haul sand and wrangle cattle. I hunt boar on horseback with a spear. I do a lot of street fighting and power fucking… But seriously, I like to do full-body workouts. I don’t do this isolation bullshit like concentration curls, even though I look like I do. In all seriousness, I do a variety of things. The secret is not to push yourself too hard.

I box. I spar. It makes me nervous and keeps me uncomfortable. I think the new science on exercise is probably dead on. You can work out a short time with intensity and get great results. Weights are very important. You can get a lot done if you follow the Onnit blueprint and vary it—there’s endurance, there’s mobility, strength training, circuit training in what Onnit does. But as you get older you don’t recover as quickly, so you have to be more conscientious about how you warm up, the kind of workout you do, the intensity, and what you put in your body. I work out four or five days a week. I box three or four times a week and play tennis. I think yoga and heavy Olympic lifting—snatches, cleans, deadlifts, and squats—are the foundation. I do those once or twice a week.

@bryancallen ready to lift, no excuses! ? #GetOnnit @onnitacademy @onnit #BryanCallen #Barbells #OnnitAcademy #OnnitAcademyGym

A post shared by Onnit Academy (@onnitacademy) on Feb 5, 2017 at 6:43am PST

How hard do you go in your sparring?

If you’re sparring a pro, they won’t tune you up. They’ll let you move and then you’re going to get more tired than hurt because they can measure their shots. When you get your bell rung is when you’re sparring with someone like you, and it’s like two high school athletes swinging for the fences. I got my bell rung by a girl who was trying to go pro. She caught me with a hook.

BOSTON I’m doing comedy at Laugh Boston starting Thursday but this is a taste of the street fighting seminar I’ll be giving during the day. @boxnlife @boxnburn

A post shared by bryancallen (@bryancallen) on Feb 28, 2017 at 3:50pm PST

You’re going up against pros?

Let’s be careful. Pros can do anything they want to you, but a pro will sometimes be nice enough to move around with me and make me feel like I’m actually doing something. When actors say they spar with pros it annoys the shit out of me. I’m like, “No, you don’t. You move around. You don’t spar.”

What supplements are you taking?

I do fish oil, krill oil. I like multivitamins because most people are short on zinc and magnesium. Sometimes I’ll take Total GUT HEALTH™. I was talking to a medical student whose area of focus was bacteria in the body, and he said, “Believe it or not, Onnit’s Total GUT HEALTH™ has got it right.” I like that Onnit’s owners take their own products. They’re obsessed with purity and the newest science.

You’ve always been health conscious. Most comedians are not. Did that make it any harder for you to break into the business?

It’s funny because I was always considered a physical comic. People would say, “You’re physical because you can’t really write jokes.” To an extent, they were right. But when you’re in shape, people want to take something away from you. I just know that I feel better when I’m in shape. I like using my body and staying elastic. I’m a physical guy.

We all have prejudice. There’s a good-looking, athletic guy I just met in [Onnit founder] Aubrey’s office. The first thing you think when you meet a guy like that is, “I wonder if he’s smart.” We all have a prejudice against people who look good and take care of themselves. “Yeah, she’s hot but she’s probably dumb.” Well, that’s not very fair. It’s probably your own shortcomings that make you think that way, so I try not to.

Have jokes about your healthy habits ever made their way into your act?

I make jokes about the fact that I act like a guru and I know what’s good for you. But here’s the thing, if you spend all your time trying to optimize physically, not mentally, not spiritually or philosophically—if you are simply and only a physical creature—you will become peculiar. I think the whole point of staying in shape and being physically optimized is so your body doesn’t break down and get in the way of what you really want to do. Your body is a tool to service you in whatever your particular endeavor is, and, hopefully, what you choose to do is in service of others.

I think about this stuff as I get older. I’m on TV and I have all this stuff going on, but if I’m only using it to consume… one of the great privileges of being a comic is making people laugh for no reason. And when I do that it only lasts for a minute and then it goes into the ether. People are a little happier for a minute. That’s the best I can do. I don’t know how to cool the planet, save the whales, or ensure that lions have a safe habitat. I’m just a silly goose and make people laugh, and I use my body to do that.

My secret? I eat elk. It also helps that my elk was slain by @joerogan but nonetheless…m’carnivore #man-wolf

A post shared by bryancallen (@bryancallen) on Jan 16, 2017 at 11:19am PST

Are the jokes that you write different when you feel healthy?

I don’t know. Comedy comes from all sources. It sometimes comes from the fact that you hate yourself, or you’re tired. I don’t worry about where it comes from but I do think that sleep and hydration are where it should start. People who say “I sleep four hours; sleep is for the weak…” Good luck. Good luck sustaining that lifestyle. There’s too much evidence, too much science against that.

You’ve said that when you write jokes you think of what you’re afraid of, ashamed of, or what you’re trying to be. Can you elaborate on the process?

We’re all afraid and we’re all ashamed. You come up as a child in this world and you don’t have the tools to navigate it. Everything is a mystery. When you’re younger, you’re ashamed of the fact that you’re not accomplishing things. You’re ashamed of your confusion. Your body is embarrassing. Your urges are embarrassing. As a kid, you think your mindset is different. You have these forbidden thoughts. If you can focus on that…

I always wanted to be a big, powerful athlete, because my father was a giant. I thought that’s what a man must be. I wanted to be built like The Rock. I wished I had a little Samoan in me—still do [laughs]. It’s funny, to write from there. It’s funny to write from deep deficits. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have the ability to write stuff that everybody identifies with. Everybody has longings, fears, and disappointments. I love writing about where I thought I’d be versus where I really am. I’m 50. I don’t even know what the fuck that really means. But that’s old. It just is. I’m older than some fucking presidents… I mean, you know, not of this country.

Now I’m depressed. Thanks for depressing me with that question.

“We’re all afraid and we’re all ashamed. You come up as a child in this world and you don’t have the tools to navigate it. Everything is a mystery. When you’re younger, you’re ashamed of the fact that you’re not accomplishing things. You’re ashamed of your confusion.”

So does comedy exorcise demons for you?

Of course it does. That’s the whole point of self-expression. It should be all your demons. When you write a story, a film, a book, or a one-hour comedy special, the character always wants something—the money, the girl, a certain kind of freedom. If it’s a good story, movie, whatever, the character learns that what they want isn’t really what they need, and typically they give up on what they want but in the end they get what they need. Then all of us in the theater say, “Oh, man, I have to re-assess my life.”

Why was it a great movie? Because it made you laugh and cry. The reason why is because it tapped into an inner truth you share with everyone else. Story and art and comedy are the cornerstones of how a culture defines itself.

You grew up in a lot of different countries. How did that help you develop the different characters you’ve played, such as the Middle Eastern guy in The Hangover?

I lived in Lebanon and the guy in The Hangover was based on a Lebanese guy I knew. When he gets shot he says in Lebanese, “Your mother’s a whore.” The cast laughed so hard when I did that at the table read. The character was originally written as an Italian guy. So I grew up all over the world and was exposed to all different kinds of cultures. But I was also thrown into a whole new situation with new people all the time and the way you get accepted and get other guys to like you is through sports and making them laugh.

Is doing good impressions a matter of talent or practice?

It’s a matter of ear. [In Donald Trump’s voice:] “We’re going to make America great again. It’s in the nose. It’s nasal. I need to work on it but I could get it. I’ll grab you by your pussy if you disagree with me.”

That sounds a little more like Walken.

[In Christopher Walken’s voice:] Walken… is different… he’s got a deeper register. Krill oil is my secret; I’ll never die. Krill keeps me young.

Everybody seems to be starting podcasts these days. Do you have any advice?

I think you should have something to say. You have to be consistent, but also, why are you doing it? I don’t think what I have to say is that interesting but at least I can try to be funny, and I have a great symbiosis with [co-star] Brendan Schaub. Have a hook. Ask yourself why people should listen to you? It’s a pretty saturated market at this point. The Fighter and The Kid just got over eight million downloads last month—it’s all word of mouth and social media.

I think we’ve hit our stride because you’ve got a cage fighter and a dirty comedian. You’re talking about two people who are not only getting paid for what they used to get in trouble for, you’ve also got two guys who failed a lot. Most of our life we just missed every time. He wasn’t a [UFC] champion. I wasn’t a movie star. We spent way more time worrying and being out of work than we did working. People ask me how do you get so successful at 50? I failed for about 20 years. That’s how. For the most part you’re out of work, your show doesn’t take off, people don’t see what you do.

As a comedian, political correctness has to feel limiting at times. How do you fight political correctness without being accused of bigotry?

That’s a very good question. It starts by not allowing the politically correct to bully you with their tyranny, because they’re not being honest. I think the politically correct movement has a fundamental and inherent flaw. Most people who are politically correct have a general and fuzzy notion of what equality is. They want equality at all costs. But they don’t realize that when you work hard you don’t want to be equal, you want to be better.

Of course all of us want everybody to have equality of opportunity, and we don’t want anybody to be discriminated against over things that they have no control over. But you don’t make things equal by bringing down people that are good—productive, effective people who work hard and kick ass. Don’t try to make the strong weak. Stop labeling all of us in power as homophobic and sexist and racist. The problem is way more complicated. I am not as successful as I could be because of my own shortcomings. Because of things I wasn’t willing to do and still am not. I am responsible for the condition that I am in, and I better take on that responsibility.

Look at your culture. If you spend more money on your rims than on your education, your culture has a deficit. I know that’s politically incorrect, but it’s the truth. If you really care about people who are disenfranchised and held down, then start looking at the real causes and not the symptoms. So that’s how you beat the politically correct. You speak the truth and you back it up.

I guess someone else wore this dress but they didn’t tell me until I was right in front of the camera! Damn it! @thefighterandthekid new episode is up. Link in bio

A post shared by bryancallen (@bryancallen) on Nov 17, 2015 at 8:27am PST

You’re doing a Goldberg’s spin-off show now. What can we expect to see in that?

I hear the script is really good and ABC OK’d it, so I have my own show now. This is success, I guess. I made it, Ma! I made it! And I feel exactly the same. Only I have disposable income and I drive a Tesla.

You’re known to be well-read. What books do you recommend?

All of them. The classics. The great stories. I like Joseph Campbell for young men. You should understand the allegories of the Old and the New Testaments. Familiarize yourself with what Islam is about, Buddhism and Hinduism. Then get some philosophical underpinnings. Understand a little bit about Aristotle and Socrates.

Read the Federalist Papers and the Constitution, the Founding Fathers. These motherfuckers solved the political problem of the day. Alexander Hamilton was a fucking beast. John Jay, Thomas Jefferson—you should know their names. These were the great thinkers of the day and we benefit every day from their incredible work ethic. Don’t focus on the fact that they had slaves! Yes, I know history is full of injustices. Focus on the spirit that was in the air in 1776 and how it changed the history of the world.

“I think you should have something to say. You have to be consistent, but also, why are you doing it? I don’t think what I have to say is that interesting but at least I can try to be funny, and I have a great symbiosis with Brendan Schaub. Have a hook. Ask yourself why people should listen to you?”

How do we become more successful?

If you learn how to play 20 songs on the guitar, have a conversation in Spanish, and get your black belt in jiu-jitsu, I promise you your life would be immeasurably better. You’d have energy, you’d find a home with like-minded people, and you’d learn the art of learning. You learn how to learn other things and apply that to your life.

Lastly, are you glad Joe Rogan shaved his head so people don’t confuse you two anymore?

Yes, people have always said we look exactly alike. But he’s shorter and angrier and I’m more supple. Just think of me as a cheetah—graceful, beautiful. Joe is more of a badger.

Listen to Callen on The Fighter and The Kid at tfatk.com.

The post Bryan Callen Q&A appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Most personal development blogs will tell you that it absolutely should NOT be, but I am going to make the case that it doesn’t really matter if it is or not.

My case is attached to one major concept that could change your life forever.

This concept is that happiness is not a never ending state of being.

You are not living a happy life or an unhappy life.

You are having happy experiences and not so happy experiences.

If you are a big time achiever that is experiencing a ton of success in sports or your professional life, then go ahead and experience that happiness that comes along with those wins.

The key is to not fall into the trap of completely attaching your identity to these external events.

Why?

Because like I just said – those events are external.

Meaning – outside of you.

Meaning – oftentimes outside of your control.

If you are only attaching your current experience to things that are constantly outside of your control, then you will most likely begin to experience what many people refer to as an unhappy life.

How to Achieve Happiness

Want to find a way to turn the cheat codes on for life?

These two principles will help you do exactly that.

1) Understand the power of your blueprint

Your blueprint for your life is what ultimately decides how you feel about your life as a whole.

If your blueprint for a happy life includes a private jet, 10 figure income, 5 championship rings, a supermodel spouse and you don’t have any of that, then you’re not going to have many happy experiences.

Does that mean you should set super low standards for yourself?

No. What you do is create a blueprint that allows you to experience happiness in the present moment, but also leaves room for personal growth. Personal growth is a sneaky way of saying “pain”.

When you experience a ton of growth, it is oftentimes associated with a ton of pain.

Think about breaking down and building up a muscle. Though weight training can be very satisfying, it is also viewed by many as a painful experience.

Without that painful experience, you cannot grow.

Life is much of the same, which brings me back to your blueprint.

You want to live an epic life full of growth, but want to experience happiness for the majority of your life.

What Should You Do?

You create a blueprint with rules that gives you permission to embrace the present moment.

You can have a vision of what your ideal life will be like to keep you moving forward, but you also need to understand that your vision is temporary and will soon be replaced by a new vision once the old one is achieved.

So have that vision you are moving towards to trigger you to participate in activities that allow you to grow, but your all-encompassing blueprint for happy experiences should be much more simple.

Your blueprint can be as simple as when you are being who you say you want to be, you are going to experience happiness.

The beauty about this blueprint is that it is controlled from within.

As long as you have integrity with who you say you want to be, you have given yourself permission to be happy.

Sure, no one is perfect; so you may fall into the trap of confusing your vision with your blueprint at times, but that’s just part of the human condition.

That is why I think it’s so important to apply the second principle to your life as well. Here’s your 2nd principle:

2. Choose to live by the motto that everything is happening for your best interest.

This is very simple to say, but it can be difficult to implement.

Decide that everything that is in your world right now is there to position you to live the happiest life imaginable.

Given the pessimistic nature of modern society, this motto is going to take some serious work to buy into.

Most people would rather fall into victim mode. AKA “Why me?”

It’s much easier to say that you have been hit with some unfortunate circumstances that are working against you than to take ownership over what happened in your life and decide that this is the best thing that could have ever happened to you.

This motto is not for the weak-minded.

It’s only meant for someone who is ready to step up and start living like the courageous leader they truly are at their core.

Unlock Your Potential

You can be this leader. It all starts with the choice. The choice to see every obstacle as a stepping stone. The choice to see every seemingly unfortunate circumstance as an opportunity to grow.

The choice to know that no matter how bad the event is that just occurred in your life, it has occurred to help you experience something greater than you ever could have imagined in the future.

Some may view this outlook on life as idealistic, but in my opinion, that’s nothing more than a cop out.

Why can’t you decide to perceive everything as happening for you?

This CAN become your new default setting if you decide to condition your mind to think this way by reminding yourself of this truth on a daily basis.

We live in a world where being a victim is the default setting, which is exactly why we live in a world where most people don’t get to experience nearly as much happiness as they would like.

If you want to start to step into living a fulfilling life full of happy experiences, all you need to do is two things.

1. Make your blueprint for happiness something that you can internally control.

2. Decide that everything that happens is for your best interest.

Life is simple. Not necessarily easy, but simple.

Now ask yourself: “What have you experienced in your past that at first seemed to be catastrophic, but ultimately turned out to be one of your greatest areas of triumph and joy?”

Could you be living through one of those experiences right now?

If you want more tips on achieving happiness, check out the following Total Human Optimization podcast diving in a little deeper into the question…Can You Create Sustainable Happiness? https://www.onnit.com/total-human-optimization-podcast/

The post Can You Create Sustainable Happiness? appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Don’t drink coffee at this time, but drink coffee at this time, work out at this time, eat carbs at this time, and on down the line. This may be a great way to get clicks, but these generalizations are likely ineffective for any one individual, and perhaps even dangerous.

Many people know about cortisol which peaks in the morning to wake us and then dwindles as the day progresses. Melatonin on the other hand wanes in the morning and creeps back up to its peak in the evening allowing us to go to sleep. Both ideally and theoretically.

Melatonin and cortisol are not the only peaks and valleys in the system, but without getting them back in step you won’t be able to correct other hormonal imbalances.

Every hormone in the body is pulsatile and the brain is constantly collecting data and adapting to whatever situation we give it.

New Mood®  Has Been Shown To Help Battle Daily-Stress. Try It Free Now For A Limited Time Through This Offer.

Cortisol Dysregulation & Circadian Rhythms

Dr. Gottfried puts cortisol dysregulation at 92% of the population. We don’t live in a primal world. Some people never see the sun, let alone feel it on their skin. We can do anything we want whenever we want. We aren’t active throughout the day, but instead exercise in spurts.

90 cents of every dollar we spend on food is thrown away on processed garbage which dismantles our internal clocks through blood sugar spikes, insulin surges, and food sensitives/allergies.

Most of our lives are not ideal, and thus theoretically most Americans do not have intact circadian rhythms. I haven’t tested a single person with a normal cortisol rhythm on an Adrenal Stress Index (and I service a high end demographic in one of the healthiest cities in the United States).

In fact, I rarely ever run them because we can save money and work on lifestyle changes to actually fix the underlying problem instead. If they need buy in, I’ll order the panel and explain to them that their HPA axis is struggling and/or dysregulated.

Sometimes people need to see numbers, sometimes they don’t. You have to decide how long of a lever you need to move the client to the correct actions for them.

Hans Seyle founded various stages of “Adrenal Fatigue”, however, I don’t believe in the linearity of those stages. For most people, adrenal burnout or fatigue is likely brain based (only a very small portion of the population has actual Addison’s disease or the destruction of adrenal tissue).

As Nora Gedgaudas puts it, the adrenal glands are just hormone factories doing what they are told to do. To fix the problem you have to change the message to and from the brain, and this is why adrenal fatigue supplement protocols are a waste of money without appropriate lifestyle change.

You can’t out supplement lifestyle, no matter how much vitamin C and adrenal glandulars you are inhaling. Sometimes you may need supplements to correct certain issues you can’t fix with lifestyle alone, but ultimately you have to change the message to the brain by breaking the stress response and telling the body there is not a charging bison and a five alarm fire around every street corner.

This again is highly individual and you have to figure out what their stressors are: environmental, over-exercising, under-exercising, emotional stories they replay again and again in their heads, underlying infections, blood sugar swings, food intolerances, and/or a combination of the above.

The Most Common Example of Cortisol Dysregulation

Now say you have a client who comes to you and claims to be an Owl. They are most productive in the evening and wouldn’t dream of going to bed before midnight. They “feel” fine, but crave sugar, and get irritable between meals. They also wouldn’t dream of eating a big breakfast.

The first and most common form of cortisol dysregulation is an inverted rhythm. Meaning cortisol is higher at night than in the morning. Due to this rhythm, this person feels dog tired in the morning and progressively gets more energy as the day goes on.

They may still get really tired in the afternoon if this has been going on for a long time, but then they catch a second wind and perk back up in the evening. Due to cortisol being high in the evening, they aren’t going to be able to get a good night’s rest and the horrific cycle continues.

Now say a trainer has read some chronobiology texts and believes in the Owl vs. Lark philosophy. Great, no problem, but you better damn well know that your client is in an ideal state before you go justifying having them work out at 6pm, which will likely push their circadian rhythm back even farther and feed the underlying problem.

This is because if they are in the above pattern of cortisol dysregulation what they need to do is exactly the opposite of what they will want to do.

They first need to reestablish their cortisol awakening response which can be done with a very short bout of exercise upon waking (talking 5-10 min), they have to eat something for breakfast that has protein and fat, and they have to control their blood sugar throughout the day.

They then need to do cover all the other aspects involved in building health: investigate underlying and unseen causes of stress, limit work and emotional stress whenever possible, move every day, get sunlight especially in the morning, and unplug at night.

But none of those other strategies will work if you just let them do what they want.

They may hate you for a time, but in two months when they feel better than they ever have and are sleeping like a baby from 10pm to 6am, you will be the hero.

And if they are in fact an Owl and have given it their best shot, done some serious healing, and you retest their rhythm and it is normal, then you can play with pushing some things back.

Hack Your Sleep Hormones & Optimize Your Sleep

We are animals and we live with the sun, the moon, and also with the seasons. We have daily, monthly, and seasonal rhythms. Our culture has thrown away these ebbs and flows and replaced them with 24 hour grocery stores with every color food you could dream of.

This is only bad if you let it be, but making the assumption that we can construct and popularize rash generalizations on what rhythm every person should have is asinine and dangerous.

Biological rhythms live with the individual and should be treated as such. We must look objectively at the situation and collect data whether it is in the form of an ASI, blood work, and/or questionnaires.

Then we must further individualize the recommendations to maximize adherence because that ultimately is all that matters.

Are you an insightful enough professional to ask the hard questions and to figure out how to get the results very few can?
Are you a coach who is athlete centered and not tied to what you think should happen or what worked for you?
Are you a client who is receptive and confident enough to live outside the norms of a society that is smothering the essence of what it means to be human with concrete, anti-depressants, and flashing lights?

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