Foundational Health Pillar #4
Heal Better With Sleep and Recovery
Our body is naturally designed as an incredible healing machine—capable of recovering from all manner of stresses we put it through daily. But we often don’t give our body what it needs to heal and recover properly. At Foundational Health, we focus on supporting your body’s healing process naturally by improving sleep and implementing powerful recovery practices.
Naturally Boost Your Healing and Recovery
Your body is an incredible self-healing, self-regulating machine—as long as you give it the tools it needs to operate as it’s designed. The deep stages of sleep is where your body does the bulk of it's healing, so a cornerstone of proper recovery is protecting and enhancing your body’s natural sleep process.
Key Foundational Health Recovery Principles
Follow the 10-3-2-1-0 Sleep Rule. This rule is an easy-to-follow guide for how you can reach and protect your body’s deep stages of sleep:
10: Avoid caffeine for 10 hours before sleep
3: Avoid food and alcohol for 3 hours before sleep
2: Avoid stressful work and discussions 2 hours before sleep
1: Reduce blue light from electronics, screens and bulbs 1 hour before sleep
0: Avoid hitting the snooze button in the morning.
Start Your Day Right. When possible, begin your day with grounding, getting direct sunlight exposure, and breath work to regulate your body’s circadian rhythm and start the foundation for proper bodily healing.
Daily Movement. Incorporate movement such as stretching, walking, and exercise in the morning and throughout the day to improve your quality of sleep at night.
Use Sunlight Effectively. Aim for at least 30 minutes of sunlight exposure daily, ideally with 10 minutes of direct sunlight in the first hour of waking to regulate your circadian rhythm. In the evening, avoid bright lights and blue light as much as possible.
Get Started With Recovery
Resources to Help You Make Recovery an Everyday Healthy Hobby!
Learn
Learn to boost your body’s natural healing process through sleep and other recovery methods on our podcast!
Take Action
Find step-by-step guides and protocols for healing and recovering from a variety of health challenges on our health programs page.
Shop
Find exclusive deals on recovery brands and products that we trust in the recovery section of our One Stop Health Shop!
Lab Testing & Interpretation
Other than through symptoms, how do you know if your body is healing properly? How do you know where to focus your recovery efforts? Lab testing can be a powerful informational tool to see where your body’s healing biomarkers stand, and where you may need to make improvements. Check out our Foundational Health lab to learn more about our at-home lab testing services!
Download Our 60-Day Female Hormone Balancing Protocol!
This 60-day protocol walks women through a common recovery challenge: balancing hormones and improving hormonal health.
Recovery Podcast Episodes
The Most Recent Recovery-Focused Episodes of the Foundational Health Podcast
Not Finding What You’re Looking For?
Search for the topic you’re looking for or browse our full catalogue of Foundational Health podcast episodes!
Recovery FAQs
Have questions about how you can heal better with sleep and recovery strategies? Check out our Recovery frequently asked questions:
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Most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per night for proper healing, energy, and recovery. It’s important to note that quality‍ of sleep is just as important as quantity. The majority of your body’s healing takes place in the deepest stages of sleep.
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The 10-3-2-1-0 sleep rule is designed to help you fall asleep and stay asleep easier:
10: Avoid caffeine for 10 hours before sleep
3: Avoid food and alcohol for 3 hours before sleep
2: Avoid stressful work and discussions 2 hours before sleep
1: Reduce blue light from electronics, screens and bulbs 1 hour before sleep
0: Avoid hitting the snooze button in the morning.
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Use a sound machine to create a calming, noise-controlled environment
Use a sleep mask to block out unwanted light
Try mouth taping to promote nasal breathing
Adjust household lighting to have a warmer, orange hue in the evening
Diffuse calming essential oils such as lavender in your room
Adjust room temperature to around 67 degree Fahrenheit—the temperature that is ideal for sleep
Keep a consistent sleep schedule
Incorporate healthy habits in your daily routine of nutrition, hydration, and motion.
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The half-life of caffeine in the body is ~5 hours, meaning it takes your body 5 hours to eliminate half the caffeine you consume. Even if you feel like you can fall asleep easily after having caffeine in the afternoon or evening, its stimulant effects are still active in your body and limit your body’s ability to reach the healing, deep stages of sleep.
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After you have mastered sleep, sunlight, grounding, and breathwork, things like sauna and red light panels are excellent recovery tools to help enhance your body’s healing.
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Eliminating evening screen time completely is the best way to reduce blue light. At the very least, turning on your device’s “night mode” or orange-tinting mode can help. If this isn’t an option, wearing orange-tinted, blue-light blocking glasses can limit the blue light that reaches your eyes.
Turning off strong, blue lights in your home (cool-tinted lights) in favor of dim, warmer lighting (with orange-tinted bulbs) can also make a significant impact on your quality of sleep.
Many of these products can be found through our partner, Hooga.
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Check out the recovery episode of the Foundational Health podcast:
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Breathwork refers to specific breathing patterns that can influence physical and emotional well-being. Two simple breathwork techniques are:
The Physiological Sigh. Calms the nervous system quickly. Take a deep nasal inhale followed by an additional short inhale before a long exhale through the mouth.
Cyclic Hyperventilation. Energizing form of breathwork that helps boost focus, mood, and energy. Take repeated rounds of deep, fast breaths (usually 20–30), then fully exhale and hold the breath briefly before starting the next round.
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