184: Rachel Varga BScN, RN, CANS, The School of Radiance: Beauty Sleep Unlocked: Secrets to Radiance, Rejuvenation, and Rest

Welcome to the sleep as a skill podcast. My name is Mollie Eastman. I am the founder of sleep as a skill, a company that optimizes sleep through technology, accountability and behavioral change. As an ex sleep sufferer turned sleep course creator. I am on a mission to transform the way the world thinks about sleep.

Each week I'll be interviewing world class experts ranging from researchers, doctors, innovators, and thought leaders to give actionable tips and strategies that you can implement to become a more skillful sleeper. Ultimately, I believe that living a circadian aligned lifestyle is critical. going to be one of the biggest trends in wellness and I'm committed to keeping you up to date on all the things that you can do today to transform your circadian health and by extension allowing you to sleep and live better than ever before.

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Welcome to today's episode of the sleep is a skill podcast. I'm thrilled to have Rachel Varga with us. Rachel is a double board certified aesthetic nurse specialist with over a decade of experience in medical aesthetics, specializing in natural, healthy looking transformations. Today, she'll share her insights on the effects of blue light on sleep.

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sleep and how you can enhance your beauty sleep routine for radiant skin and graceful aging. With over 20, 000 rejuvenation procedures performed in a blend of functional and biohacking strategies, Rachel is here to guide you towards healthier skin and optimal vibrancy. So let's dive in. But first, a few words from our sponsors.

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You're investing in your health, wellbeing, and quality of life. So again, go to you block out spelled the letter U block out. And use code sleep as a skill for a discount  and welcome to the sleep is a skill podcast. I am very excited for this conversation. So for quite some time, I have been a fan of Rachel Varga and her really what I am struck by is her ability to walk her talk.

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And so when you see her, when you hear her, You will, I think, be in total agreement with what I mean by that, so stay tuned. But Rachel, thank you so much for taking the time to be here. Thank you so much for having me today, Molly. And the feeling is mutual. I've been following your work for a number of years, and sleep optimization is a huge part of being our most beautiful, radiant, high vibed selves.

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Ah, could not agree more. And I know you again with being in alignment with this, I know it can be a nice idea to prioritize sleep and to, and know some of the facts and the figures around beauty sleep, but then often people might have that, those lofty goals or what have you, but then don't actually take those areas on.

And I know you actually mindfully take this area on and have for a very long time. So grateful and excited to hear some of the ways that you're managing your own sleep. So we'll get to that shortly. But first, how did you become such an expert in your area? And how can that relate to sleep? Yeah, that's a great question.

I started in the medical aesthetics industry in 2011. And And then she met my good friend, Dave Astrey, a number of listeners probably know who he is. He's the father of biohacking. And I clued into this subset of clients that I work with that were actually typically even older, 60 to 90. And they would present and they sure had some signs of aging, but there was something about them and I started to go deeper.

What was their lifestyle? What were their body, mind, spirit, energy practices? And then, of course, a number of my clients were also biohackers.  And I recognize that these individuals, they simply needed less rejuvenation, and they also recovered in a record time, about half the time, say, after a laser skin resurfacing session where people would be red for five to seven days.

They would be red for maybe one, two, three days, or in one instance, the next day on Access Hollywood doing an interview. So that really switched the way that I looked at skin and rejuvenation and then actually implemented a number of these biohacking strategies myself. And notice massive shifts in my skin.

I would get breakouts once a month, especially around menstruation. And those breakouts would last a long time and the redness, the post inflammatory hyperpigmentation, the inflammation after a breakout. They wouldn't really go away. So I'd have to laser my skin once a month and then implementing all the strategies to reduce oxidative stress.

I now, if I have a breakout, I have it for about two, three days. And then that pigmentation is gone a few days later. So I was able to myself switch and I have access to anything and everything in the medical aesthetics, rejuvenation space to about 60 percent in clinic, 40 percent home care. Is what I previously experienced and now I'm about 90 percent home care and over 10, only 10 percent in clinic.

So I'm honestly quite amazed at the impacts that I've seen on my skin personally. But then I noticed other things that my hair was coming in fuller after doing parasite detoxing. My nails grow like weeds and they never break and my body composition shifted and my mental clarity also significantly improved and pain from car crashes and all those things.

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So it's been interesting to witness this transformation myself and then blend really the beauty and the biohacking. I was considered one of the first to do it. And recently we were at an event, Biohack Your Beauty, and I'm excited to see this becoming a little bit more mainstream because when you blend sleeping well, reducing oxidative stress, which I wrote a paper on, we can share that, publish academic research, it's just great to see this.

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Because people see signs of aging and shifts in their skin and the way that they look. Aging physically isn't the most fun thing to experience. And we really can thrive and be in our prime at any age. Preach! Mic drop with that. I love it. Uh, and just blending these things together. Starting to, to your point, to see more and more people come into this conversation and not have it be quite so formal.

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fringe and then that feels very empowering what you're sharing about the shift from what I'm hearing doesn't have to quite be something where you're finding yourself in the kind of medical leaning side of things as much there's a lot of things we can do right at home from what I'm gathering from you and I'm excited to hear more about those things and I know you and I are gonna kind of chat more offline about some of these interventions so I'm excited about that I'll definitely be sharing the things that I learned from you.

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So maybe we can begin there even with that. I loved how you broke it down to that 90 percent at home. So if we're talking about even, I know there's a lot of directions we could go, but sleep and skin health, when we think about that, I'm the beauty advisor and sleep advisor at Nobel panacea. And so I've done a lot of kind of publications around what sleep can do for our skin health and the kind of chronobiology of our skin and the rejuvenation processes throughout different parts of the day and night.

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So it can get very much in the weeds, but I'm very curious, one, to hear kind of your thoughts on why we should be prioritizing sleep for skin health at its bare minimum, among other things. And then maybe, I know I'm asking like 12 questions in one thing, but then also looking at that 90 percent breakdown of the things that people can start doing at home to then further prioritize their skin health and sleep health.

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Well, you're not going to have great skin if you're not sleeping well. Hallelujah. Thank you.  That's the clip.  It should be quite obvious. and they don't call it beauty sleep for nothing. Thank you. Exactly. The wisdom of the ages. Yes. Sleep really is when the body rejuvenates. That's actually the only opportunity in the day that your brain actually has the opportunity to regenerate itself.

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And what's interesting with the brain and the skin is that in embryonic development,  the skin and brain actually share the same cell line. So if the brain is off, if there's inflammation in the brain, toxins accumulate throughout the day. And so when we sleep, you know, this brain actually shrinks a little bit.

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And then all those toxins that can accumulate in our skull, they actually have the opportunity when we're laying flat to then be essentially cleaned out through the rest of the body and lymphatics. So when we sleep, this is when we clean our brain. And if the brain is off, I was in two pretty rough car crashes.

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None were my fault within a year of one another. One was a really bad rear ender. And the second one was actually on my way to the beach to do cold plunging, and I got T boned in my girlfriend's Camaro and after that second one, I, I'm, I am quite sure I had a concussion from the first one,  so I experienced nausea and balance issues and from the first one I had significant breakouts, really different breakouts actually on my neck and what the body and the skin can tell us when you start to listen to your body.

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And quiet your mind so that you can actually take note of the cues that your skin is telling you. So the skin was very obviously telling me after that first car crash with really odd breakouts on my neck, that the body was under stress. There was inflammation. And so that's when I really slowed right down.

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And actually before that first car crash. I was living a very jet set lifestyle with going and speaking at various medical aesthetics conferences across North America, almost every weekend going to conferences. And essentially at that stage, I was learning as much as I possibly could to become an expert in the space.

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And now I'm a teacher, trainer, published researcher, and all of that,  but it really bumped me off that track to then live a more slower, more peaceful life. And a lot of times, especially in modern times, we put this on a pedestal of living that jet set life. That's when you know that you've made it. But really, I think we've made it when we can set our routines up for success.

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When we are in a more stable environment, we're not constantly traveling and different time zones and things like that. That's going to be more conducive to having better sleep with having a more routine am and  pm night time and am rising time also and Getting back to the  90 percent breakdown of what I do at home,  this was really interesting to notice that once I included all the biohacking and really actually ramped up what I do at home, there was something that I started to notice with some of my clients that when I started the industry.

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We're doing things like dermal rolling and at home microneedling in their PM routine before going to sleep,  they have the best skin and these were men and women in their 60s to 90s, often retirees, they didn't have a lot of money to do various rejuvenation, but they were really consistent with doing their dermal rolling.

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And then I started to integrate that into my routine and previously would have to do neuromodulator injectables every three to six months fillers every year. And now that's, you know, very infrequent for me. And one neat thing that actually came out of the pandemic was the  ability for companies to actually make at home peels available.

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You don't have to go into the clinic anymore once a month to get a facial or a peel. You can actually do this at home. And the reason I like this is there are a number of peels I work with. That have  five ingredients that are fruit acid peels and are actually a lot less toxic. And more cost effective and also time, time saving too, that we can do at home.

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And then also one of the things that I noticed about taking skin nutraceuticals backed by 18 plus years of research from different companies that I, I sell their products of.  I take them before bed. And then I also sleep better. So that's another really interesting thing that I do is I take a majority of my supplements before going to bed, because sometimes when you take certain supplements, they can upset your stomach.

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If you take them in the am on an empty stomach. And that was something I sort of stumbled upon adding into my PM routine and my home care for having better skin was that some of those skin supplements and nutrients I was taking was actually improving my sleep. Ah, I love that. And you're really hitting on something that we look at in our Programs, chronopharmacology, so the timing of our drugs, which could be as kind of relatable as the timing of things like coffee, alcohol, THC, all these things, and I'm sure that could be a whole other probably episode as far as what those might be doing to our skin, but then it also extends to things like supplements, prescriptions, and how there can be some optimal times that we might want to take some of these things and less optimal times.

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So love that you've thought deeply about that. And for that 90 percent kind of breakdown, are there any kind of key things that you would ensure that people, you know, kind of, I'm sure that this is hard to answer a blanket. question like this, but are there certain things that you like to see, like all the people you work with, including in their protocols, or is it much more bespoke?

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Actually, everyone does have different needs, so that's where we switch out a different cleanser or moisturizer. Or retinols or different peels and even supplements and different rejuvenation strategies. So different lasers, say for example, the laser that I would do would be an intense pulse light. It's not technically a laser.

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It's, it's light therapy that breaks down reds and browns in the skin, broken capillaries. Then there's other lasers as well that do some resurfacing. So it does depend on what is important to tackle. What's the main goal of the clients that I work with? But also other things like their values, their budget, their lifestyle.

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Not everybody wants to do injectables. And I would say in about 2019, 2018, I started to see a big shift with people wanting to look more at skin health and that warmed my heart because people who just show up once a month or once every three months in the clinic. To have their face done. They weren't doing things to improve their skin at home.

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They weren't consistent with their AM and PM skincare routine. They didn't have a dialed in basic approach. They weren't exfoliating, not wearing mineral sunscreen every single day. And I am a huge fan of. Uh, 20 percent zinc sunscreen every single day on the high real estate areas, face neck, chest, hands.

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And I'm also a huge fan of full body sun exposure every single day too. But the interesting thing is getting back to the concept of different supplements. There's really a couple of key ones that I find can support the skin. And then when I take them before bed, I also sleep better. And that's antioxidants, omega and collagen.

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And then there's some other enzymes too. So say for example, someone is dealing with hyperpigmentation or melasma. There's actually, um, some excellent research. I've done research on some of these products as well on a tomato extract.  That really helps to reduce that overaccumulation of melanin in the skin, which manifests as age spots and, and melasma.

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But then when I started to integrate again, the interesting things that I noticed myself with the biohacking and the skin supplements and reducing inflammation. I can actually be out in the sun for much longer too.  So what everyone can do if I'm going to make a blanket statement of what everyone should be doing for their skin is cleansing twice a day.

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So in your p. m. routine, when you're getting ready for bed to take a bath, take a bath, take a shower, rinse the energy off of the day. You've probably all heard that saying. I'm going to take And that can also relate to the esoteric and energetic side of things, too, which is a huge part of what I study on the topic of radiance.

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And when you cleanse your face and your body in the bath or shower, you're going to be doing a better job than over the sink and properly cleanse, rinsing that cleanser off. And then, of course, moisturizing. With a blend of humectants, antioxidants, peptides, peptides are not new in the skin and rejuvenation space and working with copper peptides, metrixyl 3000 or jerylene, lots of other peptides  and the skin space.

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And a couple of years ago, they started to get really popular in the biohacking space. And I kind of sat back and this is not new, but it was just becoming, uh, less, less fringe, like you said. And the sunscreen every day, exfoliating two to five times a week is really key. Most people aren't exfoliating enough.

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And when people are often experiencing things like skin redness or dryness, which happens of course, as we age, especially. Perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause,  once you start to look at the key basics and foundations for looking after your skin, typically in about two weeks, and I observed this clinically with before and afters, a new patient would come see me.

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Get their photos, get them on a basic routine, cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen, scrub. See them a month later for something or two weeks later for something like a facial. And their skin redness, the skin dullness, the skin dryness. Would significantly shift so we can see these changes really quick and I do actually want to jump on something you mentioned about THC Definitely, I will notice that that can impact the skin and the sleep So I do want to highlight that.

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Please.  Well, I'm so glad that you pointed to this topic because this is one that we see far and wide and actually a lot of people in the wellness space really routinely taking THC to sleep and being of the mindset that this is a healthy, natural approach. What do you say to that? so much. Well, I have grown up in beautiful British Columbia, and if you know anything about B.

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C., British Columbia is well known for its supply of the green, and  I'm just going to be honest with you all here,  and so it's a big part of the culture here, and when I basically cut that out, I, whether it's, you know, some type of oil or a capsule or something like that, I notice huge shifts in sleep quality,  huge shifts.

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And if you look at some of the research on THC, there's actually brain shrinking that can happen from that. And I actually don't integrate that into my routine at all. Also from a drug and psychedelic standpoint.  Because I focus on something called radiance.  My angle for lasting beauty and cultivating something called radiance actually comes from purification.

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So I actually, when I go deeper than just talking about a basic skincare routine, hair, skin, nail supplements, all of that rejuvenation, there's another layer that I like to basically take people on the journey on and mentor on, which is looking at purification of the body, mind, spirit, and energy.  And I took this approach and take this approach now because this is what I saw my clients that were so beautiful in their 60s and 90s that barely needed anything.

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And if I did do something for them, they would show power, more powerful rejuvenation outcomes with rejuvenation. And so I do actually take a priestess style  Approach to beauty and radiance. And if you listen to, I've been following actually the work of Dr. Terrence Palmer, he's a, he passed away not too long ago, but he was one of the first  practitioners in the UK to actually blend science and spirituality.

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And one of the things that psychedelics can do is actually, it can make us more permeable to other things and other energies. And so that's not something that I like to expose my field to. And I know you're in Austin and the saying there is keep Austin weird. Yeah, totally.  And I know it's a big part of different cultures where, and sometimes, you know, I've had a number of clients that have done ayahuasca journeys and then I saw them and they were transformed in a positive way.

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But I do have a concern about Opening  the field up when you're in a space with lots of other people opening their fields to and not having that protection in place so that you don't get negatively impacted. So that's basically the spiritual and energetic side of things. So it is a good idea to be as pure as possible.

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And when you are  taking things like THC or psychedelics, they can open you up. A little bit more insane with alcohol and so it's just something to be aware of that you might not have thought of before and you know, there's also lots of information out there that even THC can affect people's moods. So sometimes people will, if they're dealing with things emotionally, they'll go to things like drugs and alcohol  or other forms of addiction, like using a lot of nicotine, for example, has become really popular in the biohacking space as well.

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Look at.  Why you might be wanting to numb out  really important and this ties into sleep as well. And before starting to record, I thought it would be valuable to share with your audience the emotional  routine for clearing things out and calming the mind alongside your beauty routine, which inevitably is also my sleep routine too.

Oh, I love that. If you've tuned into the show or followed any of our content here at Sleep is a Skill, you may have heard that everyone that we work with wears the Oura Ring. And as a result, we have amassed a very large database of Oura Ring users and get to see what really moves the needle for people when it comes to their sleep measurably.

Now, because we have so much data around sleep optimization, many ask what they can do to improve their sleep quality. And for years, my answer has been that one of the few things I've seen makes such an overnight difference is the use of a quality cooling mattress topper. Not just any ordinary topper that claims to be cooling with like gels or what have you, but an actual cooling topper that uses water and can be dynamically adjusted to suit your unique needs and preferences.

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So if you're ready to take your sleep to the next level, head on over to eight sleep and use the code sleep as a skill, all one word at checkout for a discount.  Today, I want to talk to you about something that often flies under the radar, but is absolutely crucial for great sleep minerals. Now you've heard me talk about circadian rhythms, light exposure, temperature control, and more, but let's dive into the foundational elements that fuel our body's ability to sleep deeply and restoratively specifically minerals, our modern lifestyle with its processed foods and environmental stressors.

Transcribed can leave us depleted of essential minerals. This depletion can mess with our sleep quality, leading to issues like restless legs, poor sleep initiation, and waking up in the middle of the night. Enter beam minerals. Beam minerals are designed to replenish your body's essential mineral levels.

Providing the building blocks your body needs for optimal health. And this includes better sleep. What I love about beam is that they use a hundred percent bio available liquid minerals, which means your body can actually absorb and utilize them instantly without any fillers or additives. Magnesium for example, is known as nature's relaxant helping to calm the nervous system, support muscle relaxation.

And some argue by extension can promote deep restful sleep. Beam's magnesium is sourced in a way that ensures maximum absorption and effectiveness, making it a key part of my sleep routine. But Beam doesn't stop there. They've created a comprehensive blend that includes other vital minerals like potassium, calcium, and trace minerals that work synergistically to support your overall health.

And of course your sleep. The result, you wake up feeling more refreshed, more balanced and ready to take on the day. So if you've been struggling with sleep and feel like you've tried everything, it might be time to look at what's happening on a cellular level. B minerals can help fill in those gaps. and give your body the support it needs for truly restorative sleep.

So head on over to beam minerals spelled B E a M today and use the code sleep as a skill, all one word at checkout to get a special discount on your order, your body and your sleep will thank you.  One of the things we often point to, and I'll get a lot of flack on this one, is how so often after with such a huge data set of users of the Oura Ring, so we have a lot of information around what really can move the needle, and this is outside of our research, so this is from a on the ground sleep optimization perspective, and often what we find is that it's more subtractive versus additive in the things that we find that really can show up in your sleep results measurably.

And so what does that look like? It's often the cutting back or eliminating, which people don't love, of alcohol, THC, some of these things that a lot of people want to bargain with. And how can we still have it all? And unfortunately, some of those things just, they really not only show up in the night that you consume these things, but often will stick around for subsequent days.

We've seen with, um, WHOOPS, some of their data that they've pointed to, on average can stick around, so say if you, if you go out drinking on a certain night, They might find kind of a stickiness residue, if you will, of the impact on our body and our sleep and our nervous system for days thereafter. They pointed to around four days in some of the timeline we've heard from them from their user base.

But I'm so glad you're pointing to this and how the beauty and sleep aspect is a  multifaceted conversation. So before we shift over to how you're managing your own sleep routines, which I'm, cannot wait to get to because I'm sure there's going to be so much gold there. Is there anything else that you want to make sure we hit on before we transition to that topic?

Absolutely. The alcohol component on sleep,  when I would be measuring my sleep and I was really consistent with doing this with the eight sleep and the aura ring, obviously the eight sleep. Uh, it kicks off Bluetooth. So we'll talk about some things that I do to mitigate that. And then with the aura ring, always having it on airplane mode so that you're the smartwatches, oh my gosh, nervous system dysregulation and people I see wearing those is pretty, um, it's, it's obvious to me.

how someone's nervous system is disrupted when they wear wearable technology. But when I started to significantly reduce alcohol and the alcohol that I do have, if I do have it is going to be a Guinness. So that comes from Europe where they don't have as much glyphosate in their agriculture or champagne, which comes from a specific region in France.

Again, better farming practices. I will not drink commercial wine. Yeah, it has so many additives in it. If I even have one glass, I'll get an instant headache and it will take my sleep.  But even one glass of champagne, I was out the other night and had it at about nine o'clock and my sleep was just wrecked that night.

Yes. And I maybe have a handful of beverages once a month.  I maybe have about two or three  forms of alcohol a month. So not very much.  And just to kind of speak to this approach, you know, the 90 percent home care, but I do live about 90 to 99 percent of my life on point. But I still live a little, right? I don't deprive myself.

If I want to have a treat, I'll just find a healthier version of it or go out and have a meal at a restaurant, knowing that there's probably canola oil in it. So that living really well 90 to 99 percent of the time, I think is a great approach so that you still can live in moderation. Also wanted to mention a number of years ago, I saw THC start to show up in skincare and we're not seeing that anymore.

That was definitely a gimmick. And I love, I get such a kick out of when my clients ask me, Oh, have you heard about, you know, this ingredient and skincare that if I don't see it make its way into the practitioner grade product side of things, I always am quite skeptical. And so when you see these ads for these new revolutionary products, those companies are often putting a lot of money.

Into their media and marketing as opposed to product research development and education. So well said love that Okay. Well clearly we could have a multi part series on all of these topics, but I think One of the things that I know I'm curious to hear about, and I'd imagine the listener is too, is how are you managing your own sleep and how might we fit in some of these skincare practices into this conversation?

So our first question, which I think you already alluded to with the bath piece, I'm just curious, like the frequency on, on that and anything else you want to talk about for your nightly sleep routine right now? What I like to do. Well, first of all, I say, for example, last night on my dinner at about 630 or seven having  honestly about 100 to 120  grams of protein a day.

Keeping that protein really high is super key for me to feel and look my best. And so not eating too close before bed is really key. Keeping that sugar down. One really funny thing that I do before bed is I actually drink about a liter of water. And of course, reverse  osmosis, uh, structured remineralized, all that.

I drink a lot of water before bed. And what I think that does is it helps to actually keep my brain hydrated so that I don't wake up with a headache. And most people are probably thinking, How can you drink that much before going to bed? Don't you have to get up and go to the restroom? And I don't, I actually drink about four liters of water a day.

A lot. I'll start my day off with a liter and then have, you know, one or two liters throughout the day and then a liter right before bed and I always sleep better. So I'll drink water while I'm in the bath, get some Epsom salts in there, baking soda, sometimes a little borax as well, and I'll light some candles, maybe some Palo Santos, do my cleansing, and actually while I'm in the bath, While my skin is still a little bit moistened from washing, I'll actually put my eye cream on, my moisturizer, and then pretty much go straight from the bath, dry off, into my EMF space suit.

I'm actually wearing EMF pants right now. They're silver threaded pants. Amazing.  How do you turn on my red lights for that? I really like no choice. I've tested a number of the different articles of clothing out there. No choice is a little bit more expensive, but it does block really well. And then lambs is a bit more affordable, a bit more wearable.

But one thing I do want to mention about these grounding sheets is when I tested plugging in the grounding sheet to even a grounded outlet, my sleep was not very good. So I don't recommend that. Don't plug in. Your grounding sheets or mattress to the outlet because your body will get exposure to the fluctuations in power grid.

Frequencies. So what's better is to actually take that cord and run it outside a couple feet away from the foundation. But I sleep really well, shrouded basically in my own little Faraday cage, either with silver sheets or a silver outfit. And I also do something really fun. I do overnight heatless hair curls, and then I take my EMF hoodie, slip it over my head.

Zip it up so that my thyroid's actually protected while I sleep too and then even take that hoodie over my eyes and then put my sleep mask on and ear plugs. So my eye mask and my ear plugs are always on my nightstand as well as some lip balm and lots of water and I actually keep my magnesium and other supplements that I like to take before bed in my nightstand drawer.

And basically just take them right before I go to sleep, kick on my red light while I'm brushing my hair and doing my heatless hair curls. And I find that really sets me up for sleep. I don't recommend sleeping on a PEMF mat. While you sleep. I did that the other night. I was trying out a new product and the frequency that I had on.

I think it just kept me really wired. But the other thing that I want to mention before going to bed is to not watch anything that's overly stimulating. Or violence or negative in any way, you don't want to be going to bed with those types of energies and frequencies in your field. You want to keep it light, maybe play some music.

And if you're going to watch something, watch it. If you're watching a movie or a show with your partner or by yourself, take your bath, then go to bed. Oh, I love it. So good. And you're the first person to mention a EMF hoodie and the thinking on the thyroid and the whole thing. Really? I'm surprised about that.

Yep. First person. So we need to spread the word far and wide. I know we've got all kinds of crazy stuff going on over here. We've got a Faraday cage for around our bed and Oh, my gosh. Yes. So, we do all the wackiness here and absolutely encourage it. So, love hearing that. And I also love your fallout, too, around the evening bath.

Is that something that you largely do every night? Every single night. Yeah, I just noticed I sleep better. So, I actually bathe twice a day. I'll bathe in the a. m. and the p. m. And I just, I prefer to do that. It just makes my skin feel really good. I see particulates from the air, heavy metals, dust, pollution, mold, when they rest on the skin, they actually, in my research article I just wrote on oxidative stress status and its impacts on skin aging, I learned that debris from the air when it's on the skin actually tells your keratinocyte stem cells to die faster.

It causes skin cell apoptosis, early cell death. So that's why I'm such a huge fan of rinsing off twice a day. And then one of the other things I do in the PM routine is to moisturize my body with different brightening agents. I love a lactic acid, a body peel before going to bed, just to not only look after the face, but the whole body too.

The other thing that's really key before bed that  I play around with different meditations and different types of prayers before bed and one that I did last night was really profound because I'm overcoming an ear infection right now. You can probably hear it in my voice. So my sleep was a little bit disturbed the last few nights, but last night I did a different prayer and meditation for protection while I slept.

And I noticed a big difference with that too. So again, looking at the emotional, the spiritual, the energetic side of things, so that you're also going to sleep, not only protected from EMS, but other things as well, and quietening the mind. So many of us are living, you know, on autopilot. And we actually don't take the time to clear our fields and  the human biofield is actually an emerging body of science with the researcher, Dr.

Beverly Rubick, actually looking at EMFs and the quality of our human biofield. And there's a lot of technologies that can actually quantify this as well. So I actually take all of that into consideration. Because for our cells to operate at their finest capacity, we also need to make sure that that space between is addressed as well, because actually most of our physical form is space.

About 80 percent of our universe is dark matter or the fifth element. And in the biohacking space, we tend to forget about this or lean into things like THC and psychedelics. To provide a healing experience when really it's actually all within yourself. You just have to ask for that clearing and then cultivate some of those practices into your routines.

I love it. So thoughtful. Uh, I think that's so important. Some of the multi faceted approaches that you've brought in and can speak to on how that will show up not only just in how you're feeling, but actually your beauty and how you age and the way that we look. Yeah. If you engage with someone whose nervous system is shot.

Yeah. And they haven't cleared things out like yeast, fungi, mold, heavy metals, and parasites.  Or emotionally their eyes.  circle compared to someone who does have these very dialed in body, mind, spirit, energy practices, you actually can't show up to a practitioner to rejuvenate something called radiance.

It's, it's cultivated and it's basically an expression of how well your physical form and other aspects of yourself are operating.  Mm. Couldn't agree more. So, so wise. So, our second question is, what would you say currently is your morning sleep routine with the concept that how you start your day could impact your sleep?

Let's provide some contrast here. I used to start my day with sleeping in too long, you know, making love with the partner, running a little bit late, all that stuff. And just start the day with my feet hitting the ground and running and rushed and all of that. And actually after the two car crashes, what I had to do to keep stress down in every layer of my life was slow right down.

And actually, Today, I woke up about 30 minutes before my alarm and I love to have a natural rising. I don't like to say morning because why do we want to mourn the morning? I love saying linguistics  to allow myself to be a better educator and speaker too. And so I call the AM more like rising. And starting the day and things like that.

I'm just really picky about these things. No, I love it. Long term. So my am granderizing routine  is I do send an alarm, but traditionally, typically I do actually get up on my own. And what I do is I'll have a drink of water and I'll actually go right into prayer and meditation for the day and get into my gratitudes.

Um, Basically ask for support for different things and tasks that I need to do for the day, get clarity of what the day is. And then I slip on my slippers and turn on the bath, go downstairs. And boils water in a glass kettle and make my coffee in a French press, hot water, and lemon, organic lemons, local honey, and some really good salt from Utah to remineralize that.

And then in my coffee, I'll actually put a scoop of the paleo valley chocolate protein powder. And then, uh, the organified collagen. And.  One of the other things I've been doing is actually having breakfast because for a long time there I was doing too much intermittent fasting and I was noticing some bitterness.

And so I've actually been having and enjoying the magic spoon cereal, which actually has an equal ratio to protein and carbohydrates. And then what I also do is get my NAD for the day and my different mind brain supplements, my bioenergetic droplets that were actually made just for me using the quest for technology  and take the vitamin D.

What else did I take today? I took, um, A rising CBD formula. I'm just playing around with that and  Obviously a little decongestant too, because  of the ear infection I'm dealing with and I actually feel great. My energy is on point. So when I start the day off with a little bit of carbohydrate, a little bit of protein and lots of fluids,  take that upstairs, hop in the bath, do my skincare routine, get ready, listen to some type of meditation while I'm actually getting ready as well.

Take out my heatless hair curlers. So. My hair is actually perfect when I wake up. And I take things slower. And really take that time for myself. If you have kids do this before the kids get up, right? So that you have that time for yourself. And then I usually get pretty much right into my day with a break midday of some stretching and yoga walking at the end of the day or exercising at the gym at the end of the day as well.

So that's really what my AM routine looks like. I don't jump straight onto Instagram or the phone because I've just woken up in this beautiful state.  Having had a great sleep. So I'm just really aware of what I allow into my consciousness, especially at that am time and just keep things slow, focus on self care, beauty, do my makeup, all that, but on my blue light blocking glasses, what I'm wearing now, and I start my day.

I love it. Amazing. And Annie, call out some of your favorite heatless hair rollers. I'm actually very interested. I've been testing a few different ones, but curious if you have your favorites. I do have one that I like, and I'm actually thinking about bringing it to market myself too. A version of it.

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Because there's some that I've tried that or trialed that have like a pin in the bottom, but then those tend to unravel or the foam just starts to break down. But I actually teach all these tutorials. I take everyone into my restroom for my AM routine and lots of other things. And, uh, my tutorials, my expert tutorials, which is.

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A lot of fun, really off the cuff, no holds barred, like what you see is what you get. I'm going to give it to you straight and, uh, an expert format. And there, there are a lot of fun too, but the heatless hair curlers have been such a game changer for me as opposed to, especially as a blonde, like you, heat styling is just brutal for your hair, but it also takes time.

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So from skincare, makeup to doing my hair,  it's about 10 or 15 minutes. It's actually pretty quick to being camera ready, actually, when you just have a simplified routine. Yeah. And have you found ones that feel very sleep friendly? Because that's been one of the ones that I've been struggling with is like some of the ones that I like the results better.

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I don't love how it feels for sleep. Do you have you found ones that you really like? Do you sleep on your back? What do you see there? Yeah. I definitely sleep on my back. So with that, it allows for the heatless hair curlers to not, you know, get in the way on your ears and things like that. I love sleeping on my back.

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There's actually a pillow that I've been using for about 12 years now. That is excellent for cervical spine alignment. I always sleep better on my back. If I am going to curl up in that fetal cozy position, which I do sometimes, the pillow that I use doesn't squish my face and create vertical. Lines and volume loss.

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So if we side sleep or stomach sleep. You're typically not going to get a great sleep score, and it's also going to be breaking down the fat and bone in your face faster, simply through the mechanical aspect of compression on, say, your cheeks, and vertical lines, the sides of the mouth, um, also drooping to the eyelids, lines between the brows.

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Those are very characteristic of individuals whose stomach or sides sleep. So huge fan of sleeping on your back if you do need to. On your sides, on your right, so that your liver is on your right side, your heart's on your left. There's going to be less compression on your organs that way too. Yes, yes.

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And for call outs on, um, for those who are dealing with sleep apnea or undiagnosed sleep apnea, which we see so commonly being aware that we want to make sure we're treating that when we are sleeping on our back, just because for those people, they can super flare up on their back. So that's what goes back to my forever milk box or milk box soap box of how can we get everyone to test for sleep disorders.

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There are. A number of sleep disorders and so, so that we can deal with that so that you can have the option to sleep on your back without then having your tongue fall back and then mouth breathing and all the things be on a plane and all you've got to do is walk to the bathroom and see how many people mouth breathe when they're just Sleeping.

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So crucial. And then you can have that option. So good. Okay. And then what might we visually see in your space on your nightstand or,  you know, maybe proverbial nightstand if you are traveling or, and, or in your kind of space in general, the ambiance? It's very clean. It's very tidy. And black. Very dark. Love it.

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Yes. So important.  So if I'm with my partner, you know, they don't see how ridiculous I look with my heatless hair curlers, my head, my eye mask. I mean, I'm quite a sight when I'm sleeping. Yep. Uh huh. Similar. Yep.  So oftentimes if I'm traveling, what I'll have nearby is I'll travel with an air purifier. But I definitely have my air purifier pretty close to me as well as my red light therapy because I do like to use that right before bed, but 20 minutes, I always notice that I sleep better when I do that.

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And I mentioned earlier what's on my nightstand is it's actually very Clean. You know, I, right now I have a Dolores Cannon book as well as my Bible from high school. Oh, amazing. Love it. My earplugs, my eye mask, and in my drawer, my different supplements that I like to take before bed and lots of water. So say for example,  like a glass, big glass jar or a A glass bottle filled with, uh, like a Pellegrino bottle, for example, is one that I'm reusing right now.

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And I'll literally drink pretty much most of that right before going to bed. So I do actually like to keep my nightstands cleared off. And I also don't have my phone on my nightstand. I'll have it much further away from me, sometimes plugged in on like the opposite end of the room. I'm not one of those people that  plugs it in and has it outside the bedroom because I do use it for my alarm, but I am still.

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Just honestly, but I am sleeping in that EMF spacesuit or sheets and yeah, that's, that's my bed. Keep it, keep it clean. I don't have my laptop on my bed. If I fall asleep with my laptop on my bed, I don't sleep as well. Oh, yeah, totally. So appreciate to the uh, the thoughtfulness of your space and the call it of it being dark being so crucial So important and the temperature as well.

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I do want to mention temperature. Yeah, i'll crunch that down to about 62 to 67  degrees Yeah, and I actually sleep better with the duvet. So I have a little bit more weight on me. Yeah. But I don't tend to sleep as well with the weighted blanket. I have that. I know. I'm like that too. I've got some people that love it.

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I've found it to be very binary people, either huge fans obsessed with it or not for them. And I happen to be More of the not for me, at least for sleep, like for a full night of sleep. I can really enjoy them just for maybe a quick nap or something or just to kind of relax throughout the day. That can be a nice, you know, kind of grounding option.

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But for a whole night and just, you know, The weight of that for me is not great. So I, I totally hear you on that. Great call outs. And finally, the last question is, what would you say to date has made the biggest change to the management of your sleep or maybe said another way, biggest aha moment in managing your sleep?

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Definitely sleeping in EMF clothing. I was doing a lot of things a number of years ago to get my sleep scores into the high 80s, 90s, and was even going to upgrade labs, doing the atmospheric cell trainer, all that stuff. Cold therapy in the AM. Mhm. Heat therapy in the p. m. So if you're a cold plunger, do it in the a.m.

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If you sauna, do it in the p. m. or take your hot bath and sweat it out that way. And then your body will be naturally cooling. Sleeping in emf clothes is the one thing that got me to rock 100 percent sleep scores consistently on the eight sleep and or ring. If you do sleep with an eight sleep, you definitely want to make sure you are using those silver threaded sheets.

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But I like the idea of the hoodie, the silver hoodies. My head is also protected.  So sleeping in EMF clothing, but also doing my nightly prayers for protection and energetically setting things up for success. There's also some great technology in the biohacking space for improving energy coherence.  Which actually research has shown on that through live blood cell analysis allows your red blood cells to return to their natural state.

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And so you get better blood flow and detoxing. Compared to, you know, five minutes on your phone will show changes on in your red blood cells under the microscope through radiation, and then you'll have more blood clotting factors and not really good blood flow. And of course, for the skin, you're not going to have great skin or you could have more redness, dryness, irritation to your skin and also to your eyes.

If you aren't grounded,  I do like to also use the PMF mat before going to bed. So say for example, if I'm watching a show in bed or something like that, I will be on the PMF mat on different settings. There's lots of different settings for PMF. So finding one that's more for restoration while you sleep is great, but I won't sleep with it.

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Uh, I just think it's a little too much if I slept with it. I love it. These are such thoughtful answers. And I'm sure for anyone listening, they are now going to want to know, how can they follow you? Check out those master classes and be a part of your sphere and all the options, the one on ones. So what are exactly those ways that they can work with you?

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And where do they go to be a part of your world? Thank you. I have a lot of great free resources over at the school of radiance. com. That's where you can sort of start to check me out a little bit, taking advantage of the free 30 minute biohacking lesson that I have. That is actually a crash course on my research paper that I wrote on oxidative stress status and its impacts on skin aging.

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I also have a free skincare checklist as well that you can download and get started right away over at the school of radiance. com.  Check out the school of radiance podcast. I share lots of great free information. I do live free masterclasses about once a week. For the community. So I love to check in, see what your questions are, answer some things.

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So register for those master classes to join live. And then to go a little bit deeper, because obviously online for free, I can only really do like a macro approach to information. So to go deeper, book a one on one with me. Absolutely. So that I can get you dialed in with your skincare rejuvenation plan with ongoing support.

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Okay. You set up the right products. I sell about 250 products on my skin shop that are all pre vetted by me and use promo code Molly 15 for 15 percent off of your one on one. Join my seasonal skincare tutorials. In seven weeks, I teach you to become your own expert through basic skincare and routine, haircare, hair growth, stimulation, biohacking, pre post recovery.

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Then I take you to understand more about integrating retinols, peels, serums, and of course, dermal rolling and other technologies. So my skincare tutorials are worth their weight in gold to really show you actually how to use your products, which is Way better than trying to piecemeal this through pretty subpar tutorials I find on YouTube, especially with Dremel rolling.

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I love that. And then for the deeper dive where I really share the deeper elements to cultivating lasting beauty and radiance. That is my membership and so this is a closed container where I'm, I feel safe to be a little bit more transparent with what this Radiant stuff is all about. So custom cake recipe, book your one on one, how to put the icing on the cake, my seasonal skin tutorials, and then the cherry on top, how to present yourself  in a very poised feminine way, communication insights, and just ways to present beautifully.

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You can do the superficial things and look great, but then it's also how you engage with yourself in the world. And etiquette is a big part of that and communication and our body language, what we do with our hands and feet when we're talking, what we do with our eyes so that we can communicate more effectively, both personally and professionally and have beautiful opportunities present themselves because you got your radiance on point.

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and simply have better relationships as well. So the more of us who are operating radiantly,  other people are going to start to notice and they'll ask you, wow, you look really good. What are you doing lately? Maybe just share one thing. Don't give them the biohacking fire hose situation. But people will start to notice.

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And then it's all about us leading by example, caring for ourselves. then caring for our families and having other people we engage with notice that there's something a little different about us. What is that? And then hopefully they'll start to integrate some of these beautiful practices as well to be good humans.

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Ah, love it. Well, thank you so much for taking the time. I so appreciate it and more to come. I am sure. Thanks for having me.  You've been listening to the sleep as a skill podcast, the top podcast for people who want to take their sleep skills to the next level. Every Monday I send out the sleep obsessions newsletter, which aims to be one of the most obsessive newsletters on the planet.

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Fun fact, I've never missed a Monday for over five years and counting. And it contains everything that you need to know in the fascinating world of sleep. Head on over to sleep as a skill. com forward slash  newsletter to sign up.