08: Simple Biohacks for Perimenopause Relief (No Expensive Tools)

Feeling tired, foggy, or off in midlife? This episode breaks down biohacking for women in perimenopause—no complicated routines, no fancy gadgets, and definitely no gatekeeping. Alicia and Nicole share everyday ways to support your hormones, energy, sleep, and skin with practical, science-backed tools you already have access to.

✨ Think of it as your starter kit for feeling better, naturally.

00:00 Welcome to Midlife and Glowing
00:31 Introduction to Biohacking
01:06 Biohacking Basics
02:23 The Importance of Foundations
06:43 Biohacking in Midlife
07:19 Common Biohacking Questions
11:06 Practical Biohacking Tips
13:48 Starting Your Biohacking Journey
15:20 Morning and Evening Biohacks
17:02 Nutrition and Hydration Hacks
26:23 Stress and Nervous System Support
31:03 Sleep Optimization
37:08 Conclusion and Next Steps

📌 Resources Mentioned:
🔉 Brown Noise for Sleep → https://youtu.be/uGMvWDRv-lg
🪥 Dry Skin Brushing Routine for Lymph & Glow → https://youtu.be/nRxFNrNgmWY
📥 Download our Free Daily Glow Rituals Guide → https://stan.store/thedailyglowlife/p/daily-glow-rituals-guide
🧘‍♀️ Radiant Rest Yoga Nidra Sessions → https://stan.store/thedailyglowlife/p/radiant-rest-yoga-nidra-sessions

🧰 Our Favorite Biohacking Tools & Resources → https://dailyglowlife.com/simple-biohacks-for-perimenopause-relief-no-expensive-tools-required/

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to Midlife and Glowing, where we're all about glowing through midlife with more energy, confidence, and joy. We're sisters, Alicia and Nicole, wellness lovers, beauty enthusiasts, and your new midlife Hype squad. Here we talk about the real stuff, wellness, rituals, hormone health, self-care, beauty style, and everything that helps you feel like yourself again, because midlife doesn't have to be a downward spiral. It could be your best era yet, let's glow through it together.

Alicia : 0:28

Hey there. Welcome back to Midlife and Glowing. I'm Alicia.

Nicole: 0:31

And I am Nicole, and today we're talking about a hot topic that's gained a lot of popularity in recent years, biohacking, what it actually is and how we're using it to feel better in this midlife season.

Alicia : 0:44

And don't worry, we're keeping it practical, approachable, and totally doable because cryo chambers or expensive gadgets are not the only ways to biohack.

Nicole: 0:53

This is actually a really broad topic, so this week we're gonna talk about the basics, and then next week we'll dive into biohacking tools and technology.

Alicia : 1:02

I love this topic. Okay, so let's get right into the basics. What is biohacking?

Nicole: 1:08

Biohacking is actually just a fancy word for making intentional changes to improve your body's biology. It's basically self experimenting with changes that optimize your health and wellbeing. Often using data, technology and behavior changes to improve how the body feels and functions. It can be as simple as getting out in the morning sunlight and getting to sleep at a consistent time every night, or as advanced as experimenting with cutting edge wellness tools like, data tracking tools or hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or even targeted supplements. At its core, biohacking is about becoming more in tune with your body and using data or strategies, whether they're technological or behavioral, to support better energy, hormone balance, brain function, and overall wellbeing. It's kind of about getting geeky, about figuring out what lifestyle, tools, and technology helps you support your best health. So for those of us in the perimenopause phase of life, that means figuring out how to best support our hormones, nervous system, metabolism, sleep, and recovery, because all of those are shifting in midlife. So, I will also say that biohacking has definitely been sensationalized a bit. I do think it's kind of funny how we have to have a term for just basic things that, you know, like our ancestors used to do every day anyway. Like getting out in the sunlight in the morning is considered biohacking, or, you know, making sure that you're well hydrated is considered biohacking. We've kind of gotten a little bit away from just the basics in our everyday life of like. is, what our foundational health principles are, right? I was on somebody's Instagram account the other day and he was talking about, drinking your water out of a copper cup. And while that's not complicated. That's a simple thing to do. I just kind of had to chuckle to myself because like we wanna make things complicated. Most people aren't drinking enough water anyway, so like let's dial in the basics first before we get fancy and drink outta copper cups again. Not that that's difficult to do, but let's focus on the basics. First, make sure you're getting enough water in a day. Let's start there and then we can get, you know, complicated if we want

Alicia : 3:31

Hey, I mean, a Moscow mule is nice in a copper cup, but

Nicole: 3:34

True,

Alicia : 3:35

I've never tried water in a copper cup first time for everything. Yeah, I've seen some videos too, of like people. Un shedding after, you know, a night of sleep and, you know, biohacking things. And I, I cannot even fathom how they could possibly sleep with all of the things they have attached and hooked up and done to their body. Like how? How could that not disrupt your sleep? You have like some thing attached to your torso and I don't know, I'm sorry. You know, I like my mouth tape and I like, you know, some of the more basic things, but I can't imagine doing some of that stuff like if I can actually get some sleep, I am not gonna have some of these crazy tools or whatever get in the way of my sleep. So, no, I think I'll pass on some of those crazy complicated things and just stick to, uh, the basics.

Nicole: 4:32

Totally. Yeah, I mean. We do have this tendency to want to complicate things or like, maybe it's just that we want there to be a magic pill or something like really amazing, you know, doing one thing is gonna just, you know, totally revolutionize our life but we really need to get back to the foundations. So according to the World Health Organization, at least 80% of premature heart disease, stroke, and type two diabetes and 40% of cancer cases are attributed to modifiable lifestyle risk factors. So things like poor diet, physical inactivity, using tobacco, excessive alcohol consumption. So a lot of the things that we're struggling with in terms of chronic diseases are due to our lifestyle. So again, if we just get back to the foundations, a lot of things that we're struggling with get better. And in today's conversation, we definitely are focusing on biohacks that are simple. They're easy, and they're just supportive of those foundations.

Alicia : 5:36

Right. You know, I think when you have issues that you're dealing with, like sleep or weight gain, so many of us are like, what's the magic pill? Like we're guilty of that. Like, oh, if I'm not sleeping, like gimme a pill for that. If I'm gaining weight, I must need a pill. And really, if you focus on these basic things and you modify your lifestyle, a lot of these issues get better or go away.

Nicole: 6:00

Absolutely. Yeah. We've veered off course in terms of the basics for our wellbeing. We know the things. Most people, almost everybody knows what they need to do for wellness, right? It's just a matter of getting back to actually doing them. And I'm, I'm not judging, I'm also guilty of like, I would love there to be magic pills for a lot of these things too. But the reality is that if you don't fix the foundation, whatever magic pill you think you're taking isn't gonna work at some point, it's gonna fail if you don't fix that foundation first, so.

Alicia : 6:36

It's just a bandaid and not actually getting down to the root cause

Nicole: 6:41

Totally.

Alicia : 6:41

issue. Yeah. Right. So, why is biohacking especially helpful at this stage of our life In midlife?

Nicole: 6:49

Well, because in midlife your baseline changes, right? Hormones are fluctuating, sleep is disrupted. Stress hits harder. And your recovery slows down. So biohacking helps you optimize what's working and gives more attention to what needs more support, right? Like your cortisol levels, your nervous system regulation, circadian rhythm, your energy, and even your digestion.

Alicia : 7:15

Okay, so let's cover some common questions that women often have on this topic. Do I need expensive tech to start biohacking?

Nicole: 7:22

Not at all. So walking barefoot on the grass. Adding minerals to your water, getting natural sunlight in the morning. Those are all free biohacks that have a powerful impact on your nervous system and your hormones and your circadian rhythm. So switching your phone to night shift mode, that's another one. Turning down the lights in your home at night to reduce blue light exposure, and optimize melatonin production. There are a ton of free ways that we can implement biohacking to start feeling better. So no, you don't need expensive tech to get started.

Alicia : 7:54

Okay, so given all of the hormone shifts that are already throwing our bodies off. Is biohacking safe during perimenopause?

Nicole: 8:02

Hmm. Right, so like could it make things worse given all the changes that are already happening? Like is it safe and a good idea given the shifts that are already in motion at this stage of life? Well, yes, biohacking is safe and effective during perimenopause when you're tuning into your body and not forcing it, right? We're not talking about extreme things like doing high intensity workouts while you're doing a 24 hour fast. We're talking about tools that support regulation. So, and again, biohacking is self experimenting with lifestyle changes, data, technology, and tools that help you optimize your biology. If they aren't feeling supportive or helpful, or aren't fitting into your life in a way that feels good, scrap'em, swap'em out for something that feels more supportive and more aligned with what your goals are.

Alicia : 8:51

But after what point of you trying them? Because I know some of these biohacks, it's not like you're gonna see results right away. It would take, you know, a little bit of consistency so how do I know if a biohack is actually working for me?

Nicole: 9:07

Well, here's the thing, these aren't magic pills. These are strategies that take time to improve your health, and that means you're gonna need to give it time. We can't begin these things and expect that in a day it's just gonna be some miracle that were completely changed. It's gonna take time, and I like a three to four week window of trying a tool, a strategy, a change to see if it's helpful, see if it feels supportive, and if it's not, then move on, scrap it, move on to something else. But it's gonna take at least three to four weeks for you to determine if it's helpful for you. You also will need to develop an awareness around your symptoms and how you're feeling, right? So journaling can be really helpful or just getting in tune with how your body is feeling. Are you sleeping better? Is your energy better? Is whatever symptom we're talking about, less intense, So getting in tune with that is important. And then the other way that you can determine if something is actually working for you is with technology and data. So we'll get into data tracking tools in more detail in the next week's episode where we talk about technology and tools. But if you have data that allows you to track your biology and see if the things that you're doing are actually effective and helpful, and by data tracking, I'm talking about wearables, like, the Oura rings or the Apple watches or things that track like your heart rate, your heart rate variability, your sleep. So you can use that data to determine if the lifestyle changes that you're making are impacting your biology in a positive way. But like I said, you can also just use how you're feeling as a gauge for whether or not you're feeling improvements with that. And if you're not feeling like it's helpful and you're feeling like you know, it's just not fitting in, scrap it and try something else.

Alicia : 11:06

Can biohacking really help with symptoms like sleep, weight gain, or brain fog?

Nicole: 11:12

Yeah. So when done intentionally and consistently, so, as I said, these are not magic pills that are gonna work overnight, so we have to be consistent with them. And using intention to figure out what changes might be most needed for you. Biohacking can absolutely support those symptoms, especially during perimenopause, because here's the thing, sleep struggles, weight shifts, and brain fog aren't just random. They're signs that your body is under stress, out of rhythm, maybe lacking key support or even just undergoing change. So biohacking gives you tools to gently realign your biology and we'll get more into these tools in this episode and the next, but it can help you get better sleep through nervous system regulation things like mouth taping, yoga nidra, magnesium, balancing your blood sugar, those types of things. Biohacking, can help improve metabolism and weight by reducing cortisol, improving insulin sensitivity, and preserving muscle mass with tools like strength training, red light or intermittent fasting when appropriate, and then it can help reduce brain fog by supporting oxygenation, mitochondrial health and inflammation through hydration, breathing, grounding, and then tools like hydrogen water or red light therapy. So it's not a magic pill, but it is a way to give your body the environment it needs to heal and thrive.

Alicia : 12:36

So how do I fit this into my already busy, overloaded life?

Nicole: 12:40

Right. Nobody wants a super complicated thing, right? Like you and I are not interested in making our lives super complicated. We like simplicity, something that's gonna be effective and easy. So basically the way that you fit it in is to use habit stacking to fold these simple hacks into your routine. And if you wanna get complicated, you can do that. But, using habit stacking is a really great way to just layer them into your current routine, and we'll give you examples of what that could look like in our glow bite this week. So make sure to stay tuned for that.

Alicia : 13:15

Yeah, I could see how some things, you know, if you're making it complicated, you could spend hours, hours doing some of this stuff, but you don't need to. You really don't. And if you stack it into your day, you can make it fit seamlessly.

Nicole: 13:30

Totally. I mean, you know, if you have the time and you want to do all of the things, and you can go for it. If it's feeling good to you and you want to, you know, like, that's great. But I think, a lot of people are just wanting simple, look, give me the simple thing that's gonna be effective. Right? Like, that's, that's where I'm at.

Alicia : 13:46

Yep. Absolutely. Okay, so where do I start?

Nicole: 13:50

So start with one behavior that feels good. Maybe it's stepping into the sunlight in the morning while you drink your coffee. Maybe it's cutting caffeine afternoon. And then build from there. We're not aiming for perfection, just progress. So start with what feels good and doable, and then we'll walk you through some of our favorite entry points that don't require a high tech lab or a cold plunge. But also when you think about where to start. You all know where in your life you might need the most support, right? Like maybe you already know. Yeah, my sleep routine is not where I'd like it to be or, maybe you know that you're not getting enough physical activity or maybe you've been thinking, yeah, I probably need to be doing some resistance training at this stage of my life, and you just haven't gotten there yet. So you probably know where you need to start, and the the trick is starting with something that's small and doable. Start with one thing that you know that you can do on a consistent basis. Because again, these aren't magic pills. These are tools that require consistency. Doing them every day. Your health is a result of what you do daily, not what you do occasionally. So choose the small thing that you will be able to do on a consistent basis. Foundational lifestyle hacks that require almost no tools are the things that we're gonna talk about. So we're gonna walk you through some of these lifestyle based biohacks that we use and are simple, yet yield powerful results. So let's just get started with what happens first thing in the morning. Get sunlight, if you can get sunlight first thing in the morning, it really supports a healthy circadian rhythm. And then blocking blue light at night. So essentially mimicking what the Earth's light and dark cycles are is really helpful for supporting your circadian rhythm. Getting outside and getting that natural sunlight is really fantastic. And then at night we all have so many lights around us and blue light actually inhibits melatonin production. Melatonin is one of your sleep hormones, so if you can block out blue light at night, that will allow your body to produce melatonin and it will support your sleep. So getting sunlight first thing in the morning and then blocking blue light at night are really gonna support your circadian rhythm and help improve your sleep too. The way that you can block blue light at night, you can do a couple of different things. You can put your phone on night shift mode, so that will block out the blue and put more orange tones on your phone. I'm also a big fan of using blue light blocking glasses, because you might be getting blue light exposure from other things like lights in your home. So I like wearing blue light blocking glasses at night in addition to putting my phone on a night mode. I find that really helpful.

Alicia : 16:41

And at what point in the night would you suggest putting your phone on that night shift mode or putting on the super cute flu light blocking glasses?

Nicole: 16:50

So I would say if you can do one to two hours before bed, that's ideal. To implement those changes to allow your brain to produce melatonin effectively. So next, nutrition timing, and quality. Again, these are sort of foundational things in that getting enough quality protein in your diet is a super effective way to support your body's biology. So eating protein forward, blood sugar balanced meals is a really great way to support yourself. Avoiding late night snacking to support insulin sensitivity and hormone health is another way. Avoiding caffeine afternoon, and then also avoiding alcohol very close to bedtime. I know a lot of people like to use alcohol as sort of like a night cap to wind down in the evening, but it definitely impacts sleep. So avoiding alcohol is a really great way to support getting better sleep. Another nutrition biohack, if you will, is eating bitter foods. Bitter foods are really great for detoxification, support, digestion, and even stimulating parasympathetic activity. So bitter foods would be things like arugula, lemon, ginger, radicchio

Alicia : 18:06

i've never heard of that. What's that?

Nicole: 18:08

Radicchio?. It's a, um, I don't really know how to explain it. It's like a,

Alicia : 18:13

something that maybe would be in a salad.

Nicole: 18:15

Yeah, maybe.

Alicia : 18:16

Okay.

Nicole: 18:16

A

Alicia : 18:16

Okay.

Nicole: 18:17

salad.

Alicia : 18:17

Okay. I've never, I guess I've never had a fancy salad before. I don't think I want it either.

Nicole: 18:25

Um, but yeah, those are ideas. Uh,

Alicia : 18:27

and there's also like a, a bitter spray or something you can use Right.

Nicole: 18:32

Totally. Yes. Yeah, if you wanna go again, get a little bit fancy you can get the Digestive Bitters. So Bitters are in a spray form. I like the Bitter Bitters from Herb Farm. We have'em in our online dispensary. And those are what I use to stimulate digestion. So like, if I feel like my meal is just kind of sitting in my stomach, I will do a couple sprays of digestive bitters. But also it supports parasympathetic activity too, and detoxification. So they're really great way to, whether you're eating bitter foods or using bitter spray, or some of them come in tinctures too, that you can like pop into your water or something like that. But whatever method that bitter taste is what stimulates these actions in your body.

Alicia : 19:15

I have tried it and yeah, it's definitely not amazing tasting, but it's not like it lingers in your mouth or anything. It's just like you swallow it and like it, there's no lingering effects of that. Only good effects, I would say.

Nicole: 19:31

Yeah.

Alicia : 19:32

another question. Maybe you answered this and I missed it, but at what point should you stop eating before bedtime? Like, I know for me that is a very, uh, that is something I struggle with. Like, you know, when you're in the evening, like, oh, the kitchen's a little too close for me. Um, and I find myself in there wanting to have a little snack and, you know, I don't wind up feeling great after, you know, like when I can avoid the late night snacking or, you know, just stay away from the kitchen. You don't need anything. You already had dinner. I definitely feel much better and I don't feel as, you know, like I wake up and I don't feel as bloated. Like can the late night snacking even affect you into the next day where you wake up feeling bloated or is that something else I'm dealing with?

Nicole: 20:19

No. Yeah, it can, it can actually. So first question, when should you stop the snacking? Ideally, you wanna have three hours before you are going to sleep without food. So I like to stop eating three hours before my bedtime. And yes, late night snacking. Um, so the interesting thing is that in the evening our bodies are actually more insulin resistant. So those late night snacks, especially if they are carb heavy, your body is not utilizing that glucose as efficiently. So you are likely storing more of that as fat. In the form of triglycerides so your body can't process or use carbohydrates as effectively at night because of that increase in insulin resistance at night. The other part of that that I find really fascinating is that they've actually done studies and shown that people that eat late in the evening, the next morning, they have higher blood sugar after their breakfast. And then late night eating can also affect the gut microbiome, which might be why you're experiencing bloating. So that late night eating can affect you into the next day. Definitely. That's interesting that you've noticed that.

Alicia : 21:33

Yeah.

Nicole: 21:34

So hydration and minerals, this is really fantastic. Just adding minerals to your water improves how it hydrates you. The way that you can add minerals to your water is by adding a good quality sea salt or trace minerals. So a good quality sea salt would be something like the Baja gold salt or Celtic salt, pink Himalayan salt, the Redmond's brand Real Salt, that's another one. So good quality salt into your water is a good way to add more minerals and improve cellular hydration and energy too. You can also use high quality electrolyte powders if you'd like. I would say, if you're gonna use a high quality electrolyte packet, then you would do like one of those per day. If you're sweating a ton, maybe you could use two. So you can use electrolyte products, but you don't need to, you can just use salt. And if you do use those electrolyte products, sometimes people like to like, you know, oh, if a little is good, a lot is better. And that's not always the case. So with those electrolyte packets, they are super tasty. So you might be tempted to just like, you know, always be thrown that in there. But I would say stick to one, maybe two if you're sweating a lot. Just because if you add too much solute to your water, you can end up dehydrating yourself. If you aren't drinking enough water then. So that's one key. And then also on, in that same light, make sure you are drinking enough water. What is adequate hydration? Half of your body weight in ounces of filtered water each day is what we should all be aiming for. So a 150 pound person should aim for about 75 ounces of filtered water each day.

Alicia : 23:13

Yeah, I would say. I've been making myself my mineral drink every morning, with my sea salt and my lemon. And I add, you know, a couple other things in there. And I was talking to my sons and I'm like, you know, this Gatorade that you guys think you need to be drinking, because they play college hockey. They're very active. They always have been. They are working outside this summer in construction, so they're sweating a lot and you know, they were talking about packing their lunches and, oh, we need to go and get some Gatorades or Powerades or whatever. I'm like, you guys, you don't need those drinks. Those aren't actually good for you. They're not actually hydrating you. They're full of sugar and other things that you don't need. And I said, why don't you guys make yourselves this mineral drink? And sometimes they look at me and they're like, okay, what kind of weird idea do you have going on now? But I told them how to make it, and I noticed that. My one son has been making them and he actually likes it. It's not bad tasting at all. It's, I mean, really all you're tasting is the lemon water. Yeah, there's salt in there, but you can't really taste it. It's drowned out by the lemon and it's so much better than drinking the Gatorades, the Powerades, those type of drinks that are packed full of that other garbage. Um, really all you need is just a jug of your hydration mineral water.

Nicole: 24:38

Totally. I love that they're doing that. That's awesome. Um, and

Alicia : 24:42

The one thing now that I have to constantly have in my fridge is organic lemons because everybody's making them. And I'm happy. I'm totally happy. I'd rather have them drinking that than that other garbage.

Nicole: 24:54

Yeah. That other stuff, all the dyes and artificial sweeteners and just junk, we don't need that stuff. I mean, when we have something as simple, again, talk about like simplifying. Most people have salt in their home already, right? And then just having lemons around all the time. I love that. That's awesome.

25:10

Okay, quick pause because we have to share one of our secret weapons for nervous system support, better sleep, and just feeling human again in midlife. It's called Radiant Rest. Our Yoga Nidra audio series designed to help you reset, restore, and actually feel rested. If you've been wired but tired, waking up in the middle of the night or riding an emotional rollercoaster, this is for you. Yoga Nidra is a guided rest practice that helps regulate your nervous system, balance hormones, and shift you into deep healing relaxation. This technique is especially great during perimenopause because it supports your hypothalamus, which is the hormone control center of your brain, which needs a little extra love during this time of life. And because we're in midlife too, we made sure these sessions are approachable and supportive. You'll get a quick intro, help crafting a sankalpa, your personal intention, and four different yoga nidra audios to fit your needs. It's one of our favorite ways to wind down at night or even midday when the stress hits hard. Seriously, try lying down with an eye mask, hitting play, and letting your body do nothing but receive. You can grab Radiant Rest in our Stan store. Link is in the show notes. Now back to the episode.

Nicole: 26:23

Stress and nervous system support is huge, especially in perimenopause. So this category, I feel like a lot of people like to breeze over, but we really need to like hone in on this category. Things like yoga nidra, meditation breathing practices. In our GB three episode, our third glow bite, we walked through a really wonderful breathing practice. If you're needing some tools or ideas, slow walks, reflection, journaling, talk therapy. These are all ways that we can support our nervous system. Just slow down, take some deep breaths, pause, so that we can support a healthier nervous system and stress response. Again, in perimenopause, our stress system is more reactive. So the more that we can do for supporting our nervous system, the better Things like laughing even, watching. Getting together with friends community is really important for nervous system support. So, you know, kind of tuning into what you need from a stress standpoint is really one of the best ways to focus on this area.

Alicia : 27:40

Yeah, I would say that as someone that needs to focus in more on this. And I have a very hard time with this'cause I don't relax well, I have a hard time turning off or turning down. So for me, you know, all of this feels like, you know, it, it has felt a little overwhelming and like, oh my gosh, where do I start? You know, like, I can't meditate. That's kinda what my mindset was like. I don't have time for that. Like, you know, I just had a very negative thought process around, the meditation, the journaling, the yoga nidra. But I have tried the yoga nidra and it actually worked really well for someone that has a hard time kind of focusing in and turning down because my brain is always going. So when you're doing the yoga nidra, it's so nice because you're guided through steps, so you're constantly thinking about the next steps and it's not just like laying there and letting your thoughts just run wild like they normally would. So you're like then able to shift your focus to the next step. And really during that process you're relaxing. Like that's the whole point of it. So I actually, as a former non-believer, I am now a believer. The yoga nidra was great. And I also have been able to incorporate the breathing practices. And we shared that on a previous glow bite. And I like to do that before bed to kind of get myself more to that rest mode, that parasympathetic mode. And I will say that that has helped, that really has when I remember to do it. So I need to definitely work on consistency with that. But I do notice that when I do do it, it really does help. So, again, as a former non-believer, I am now a believer and it's something that I would really like to dive deeper in and really, explore more.

Nicole: 29:38

Yeah, that's awesome. I love that. And, you know, another thing that, uh, so when it comes to those things that you're like, Hmm, I don't know. Is this doing anything for me? You know, I feel like a lot of people feel that way with the breathing and the meditation sometimes difficult too, because, you know, if you're, you're just sitting there with your thoughts, right? And so. If your thoughts are going all the time, I used to think this way, like, oh gosh, that session was worthless because I was just sitting here thinking about all the different things and like not, tuning in, but even if it doesn't feel like it, just getting into that habit and training your brain how to come back and how to focus is really helpful. But what I wanted to say is that. So I have a health tracker. I used to have the Oura ring, but now I have a ring called RingConn and it tracks heart rate and heart rate variability and other things as well, sleep and all of that. But in the evenings, I like to see what my heart rate and my heart rate variability is, and I'll do those breathing practices and yoga nidra and I will literally watch my heart rate drop and my heart rate variability increase as I'm doing these things. So if you have those trackers and you can look at your data while you're doing them, um, it's kind of fun to see. But just know that even if you don't have those tools, you don't need them. You can, take it from somebody who has the data and can, is literally watching it happen as I'm doing it, you know, you can see it happen, which is pretty cool. So sleep optimization, you can use biohacks to optimize your sleep by having the same wake and sleep time daily. So go to bed at the same time every night. Wake up at the same time every day. Try to keep it consistent between the week and the weekend too, if you can. that will really help your circadian rhythm and improve your sleep. Having a cool room. Noise control. So an interesting thing here is, everybody probably knows that white noise is good to support better sleep at night. So I've been using a white noise quote unquote white noise machine because we just use an air purifier in our room as our white noise. Or we've used a fan in the past. Recently I was visiting mom and she didn't have anything in that room that I could use for white noise. So I used my phone and I used an app that has different white noise options, and one of the options was brown noise, and I've used it before, but I wasn't paying attention before to what it was doing to my biology. And again, I have this tracker. And so I noticed on those couple nights that I was home at mom's and I was using the brown noise, I noticed that my deep and REM sleep were like, amazing. I was like, oh my gosh. I've been like, I had been kind of in a, a rut with my REM sleep. But just switching to brown noise made a huge difference. So now at home we still have our air purifier going at night, but I also put the brown noise on and that does actually improve my deep and REM sleep. Interestingly enough, I was interested in that, so I was looking to see like what kind of research is there on brown noise, and there's some evidence to show that brown noise does you know, improve sleep. There's not a ton though. There's no huge studies for example, there's a little bit more research on pink noise, which I haven't tried yet. But I just thought that was interesting. If you're struggling with sleep or maybe you're using a tracker and you, are struggling with deep or REM sleep, try brown noise. See if it helps.

Alicia : 33:07

you know, I noticed that I used to travel a lot for work and you know, I was in hotels a lot and even with my son's hockey I was in hotels quite a bit and I have to have white noise as well when I sleep. And I would use the brown noise as well and I'd wake up and I'm like, how in the world did I sleep through the night? Like normally you don't sleep as well in hotels, but I really was finding that using that did help make my sleep much better. I'd wake up and I'm like, wow, I didn't have any right to sleep that well in a hotel where, you know, you're often like uncomfortable or hot or you know, there's other noises. It's unfamiliar. And I was actually sleeping pretty good when I would keep that brown noise on.

Nicole: 33:52

That's awesome. I love it. And yeah, you know, it doesn't require fancy tools. I used an app on my phone, right? Like, you

Alicia : 33:59

Yep.

Nicole: 33:59

get anything fancy, to optimize your sleep, to quote unquote biohack. So in that light, we've actually created a YouTube video for you. If you're wanting to try Brown noise and see if it's helpful, you can head over to our YouTube channel and throw that YouTube video on at night and see if brown noise is helpful for you for improving your sleep. Another thing that is helpful is having an early dinner. So as I mentioned earlier, making sure that you're eating at least three hours before your bedtime is a good way to optimize your nutrition, but it also optimizes your sleep. So you wanna give your body enough time to digest your meal and your food before you go to bed so that you're not going to sleep. And maybe, you know, some people struggle with reflux or you're just feeling like heavy, like you're digesting, and that's gonna impact your sleep. So eating at least three hours before bed is a really great way to support better sleep. Not having alcohol. Again, we talked about this earlier with nutrition, alcohol can impact sleep, so if you can avoid it, it's best from a sleep optimization standpoint. Avoiding screen stimulation at night, avoiding that blue light exposure. So putting on those blue light blocking glasses or just putting your phone on night shift mode or turning down the lights in the evening and reducing that blue light exposure is gonna be a really great way to support better sleep. Mouth taping at night is another really great way to encourage deeper, higher quality sleep and better oxygenation. Dry brushing. So this is another really great biohacking tool, and you don't actually even need a dry brush to do it. You can use a washcloth. If you have one of those exfoliation mitts, you could use one of those, but you don't need any tools. You can just use the washcloth that you have in your cupboard already, and it's a really great way to support lymph flow, improved circulation, detoxification, immunity and can improve energy and exfoliates dead skin for a smoother, brighter glow. And we did do a YouTube video on how to dry skin brush. So we'll make sure to link the YouTube video in the show notes. So as you can see, all of the things that we've mentioned today are simple. There's very little tools required, and you can start with things that are gonna fit easily into your day. Most of these things are foundational, they're supporting the foundations of your health. And I think that's what we need to focus on when you start with biohacking, if you're wanting to just get started.

Alicia : 36:22

Yeah, I started small with just, um, malt taping, making my mineral water in the morning and trying that breathing technique before bed. And it doesn't need to be complicated or, you know, take much time. Like that is small and it's very easy to fit in my day. I also like to turn on my essential oil diffuser in the morning, exercise, eat healthy. It sets the tone for my day, and my body definitely feels that as well as my mood.

Nicole: 36:51

yeah, that's amazing. I love it. It's just these little shifts and it's finding those things that you align with, that are gonna fit into your life that you can be consistent with. Again it doesn't have to be complicated. The simplest changes often make the biggest difference when they're done consistently.

Alicia : 37:08

If you're curious where to start, download our free daily glow rituals guide. We have it packed with practices to support your hormones and help you feel more grounded and energized.

Nicole: 37:18

If you're looking for additional tools to support these lifestyle based biohacks, check out the show notes and we'll share our favorites. Don't forget to tune in next week when we talk about our favorite biohacking, tech and tools.

37:29

Thanks for hanging out with us on Midlife and Glowing. If you love this episode, it would mean the world to us. If you'd follow the show, leave us a review or share it with a friend who's glowing through midlife right alongside you. Let's make it our best era yet. We'll see you next time.