Insights from a Performance Sleep Coach

My name is Patrick DeNicola, and for the last few years I’ve been coaching individuals as a performance sleep coach. I help people find greater levels of performance and productivity through sleep mastery. I have been asked to share some of my experiences with you and I have one particular sleep tip I wish to give you today. Before I disclose this secret, I wish to share with you the necessary background information.

Over the years, I have come across a specific problem when it comes to sleep that can become infuriating and exhausting. I have developed a system that is designed to serve as a guide to maximise recovery and enhance their overall energy levels. This system is built on a few foundational principles that apply not only to improving sleep, but to the whole individual. For example, nutrition is a vital part of my program, detoxifying the body of harmful toxins and chemicals is a huge step towards increased performance, improved recovery and thus sleep.

As I was building these wellness systems and working with individuals, I found that there was a big missing piece to this sleep pizza pie. As a performance coach, I have found myself working with mostly entrepreneur types. I had one client who was communicating some tactics he had tried to quiet the mind before bed, to no avail. He explained it like this, “it’s like I spend my whole day working on my business, working towards my goals, checking things off of lists one after the other and accomplishing a whole lot in my day. But then I go to wind down to reflect on the day, meditate, eat etc etc, and my mind becomes a beacon of creativity and three or fours hours later I’m finally able to let it all go fall asleep and repeat the next day, and I know I’m not getting the rest I need. What else can I do?” A flush of insight overcame me, I said, “our bodies are energetic in nature, meaning that the entirety of our being is a bio-energetic being, when we look at the body on the quantum subatomic level we see mostly nothingness, that is empty space between the atoms, this empty space is not actually empty but a container of pure potential energy, taking this equation from the small and applying it to the big allows for us to begin to understand the body is one of energy and electricity. We also have centers in the body that help move our bodies energy into the proper places at the proper times to perform our necessary functions, and each energy center has a specific purpose, the centers are known as chakras in the east and have been detected by modern science.”  What does the fact that we are energy with energy centers have to do with sleep? I continued with my client, “so what I think is happening to your energy, and why you are having this rush of late night insight and energy when you want to find time for sleep and rest, is that your energy is getting stuck in the higher centers, the energy is getting stuck in the more active regions of your consciousness and thus because you haven’t learned how to bring these energies down through the body out of the mind you stay alert and shift into this creative mode of thinking. So, what it is that is needed for you to learn is how to do this, to shift your energies down into the more physical centers thus freeing the burden on your mind to stay active.”

At this point, I realised the importance of an ancient practice, one that humans have been knowingly and unknowingly practicing for thousands of years. The practice of grounding the body. It’s amazing what grounding can do for issues of neural activity late at night. Grounding (also known as earthing), that is touching your bare feet to the earth, has been rediscovered in the last 20 years and has a significant impact on an individuals health and wellness. When you ground before bedtime the body intuitively knows it’s time to relax. Spending just five minutes with this practice will signal to your body the necessity of letting the energy drop and center itself within the body. This practice centers your energy in response to the connection with the earth, it is useful as a wind down tool an hour or so before your intended bed time. Amazingly, it has almost the exact opposite effect in the morning, and acts as an energiser.

Grounding has so many health benefits, and it’s free, natural and safe. I implore you to try it out, see if this simple practice has the same effect it has had on myself and the countless others I have shared this technique with. You have nothing to lose!

For a great (but short) evening and morning routine that includes grounding – Check out this sleep tips article and video from Sveti Williams.