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Mike: Welcome everybody to Avoiding the Addiction Affliction, brought to you by Westwords Consulting and the Kenosha County Substance Use Disorder Coalition. I'm Mike McGowan.

Mike: We all wanna be the best we can be, and many times we're seduced by shortcuts. Go to the local convenience store and you can see rows upon rows of energy drinks.

Mike: Check out behind the counter, and you'll see rows upon rows of products with nicotine and who knows what else is in 'em.

Mike: Online we can order supplements, but do we really know what's even in them? You are what you eat is more than just an old adage. We're gonna talk about what we put into our body, how we can literally be the best we can be with our guests today Sean Casey.

Mike: Sean Casey is a registered dietician and physical preparation coach who works with everyone from weekend warriors, (clears throat) that would be me, looking to live healthier to middle and high school athletes, college athletes and elite professionals, including an Olympic gold medalist. His expertise is sought out on the international level where he has traveled to 15 countries helping clients reach their athletic potential.

Mike: Welcome, Sean.

Sean: Hey, well, thank you for having me on today. It's an absolute pleasure, Mike.

Mike: Well, I'm so glad you could join me. I've really been looking forward to this. When I first contacted you, Sean, for the podcast, you were in Singapore.

Mike: That's not your base of operations. What were you doing there?

Sean: So, I was working with a client in Singapore. He specifically played played played badminton himself. And he wanted to kind of really fine tune, hone things in, you know, before he goes into his main stretch with, you know, tournaments, things of that nature.

Sean: So but it was a great experience. I was there for about three weeks. You know, Singapore is so cool. I always encourage people if you have a chance to travel, travel. 'Cause you learn so much about the culture, the people along the way. And the one unique thing about Singapore, it's known as the Garden City.

Sean: So you have millions of people live there. But their founders were, you know, gardens, they're beautiful. I've never seen so much green in a major city in my life. It's I can give you a couple examples. Is no one really driving down the road, you know, in a city and you see like the median, you have maybe a metal sidebar like separating or something.

Sean: They've planted shrubs, so you still have those separators, but you don't see them at all. It's all green across. And even too, if you have like going over cross, let's say if there's a bridge or something that's over crossing a road, it's like they have like vines or whatever that are kind of growing on it.

Sean: So like, and you have massive trees just lining the entire city. Like, it's, it's very, very cool the setup. And, you know, it almost kind of segues a little bit into our conversation today on, you know, things you can do to support mental health and wellness, you know, other things beyond there. And it just blew my mind the impact of just seeing nature all around you despite being in a big city like that.

Mike: I love that idea. I've often wondered when I drive down the freeway or any place why they don't do that 'cause it would certainly be more aesthetically pleasing.

Sean: Yeah.

Mike: And for those of you listening, little known fact as long as you brought it up.

Mike: I believe I'm right. And you can Google it if you'd like to, but the badminton shuttlecock is the fastest moving object in all of sports.

Sean: It's wild when, when they're doing the overhand smash, like you'll get 250 miles per hour, like off the rack. It's, I mean, it's ridiculous the speed. I mean, you know, it's kinda interesting how I originally got into badminton was.

Mike: Oh, you play?

Sean: No, no. I've, I'll be honest with you, I have the hand-eye coordination of a three-year-old. (laughs) Pathetically bad. I'm good at like, the running, the jumping, kinda like the more, the gross motor skills, fine motor skills are not my strong suit. (laughs) And it, you know, it was really interesting when I first originally got in Badminton, it was probably, I think 20, it would've been 2014.

Sean: And at that point, you know, I, I just received a message from an individual, who he is. Like, Hey, my name is, and he's, he's made this public. So I'm, I'm comfortable sharing his name, but his name is Victor Axelson, who I worked with for, you know, 10 years in total. And he's like, hi. And at that time in the world, I, you know, I don't know if he's in his maybe like ranked in the thirties or something, and he's like, hi, you know, I'm Victor Axelson.

Sean: I live in Denmark. I'm a badminton player, men's single. Would you be interested working with me? You know, and I remember getting that message. I'm like, badminton. Like that's. You know, interesting. 'cause you know, here in the US it's not necessarily a huge sport and you know, I'm sure most people in the US and.

Sean: May have a stereotype when they hear badminton, what they think it looks like. You know, kinda like this very soft, easy thing. And you know, I, so I started working with him and he, you know, quickly rose into the top five 10. He's an, except he exceptionally hard worker, so he is achieved a lot of success in the sport.

Sean: To his credit, I. But it was interesting. I started watching badminton and it's crazy athleticism, especially. You know, in singles, the amount of distance that they cover, the jumps, the, this and that. And to give you know, listeners an idea of like how hard the training is. For a lot of badminton players, if they're not getting in say, 5,000 calories a day, they won't be able to keep up with the training demands.

Sean: Like it's very intense training, things of that nature. And I'm like, man, like when you start thinking about 5,000 calories, like that's not a small amount there. So I mean, it's a very cool sport. I've been fortunate to work with a lot of different sports and every sport I work with has its own uniqueness, its own beauty.

Sean: And I always tell people the uniqueness with badminton is you can do something that is like an all out powerful smash, as you mentioned, where you have, it's flying at, you know, 200 plus miles per hour. And then your next shot might be the most delicate shot ever. And the birdie, the shuttle cock is so light depending on how the wind draft is in the stadium.

Sean: If there's any sort of draft in the air, the shuttle, instead of landing inbounds, it may land, say a yard or a meter out of bounds just based off how people are walking around in the stadium. It's so unique in so many different ways to make this, makes it special.

Mike: Well, when you mentioned what his caloric needs were.

Mike: You can't cookie cutter. This is the sort of stuff you can't get out of just a book. You have to tailor your program and what you're telling people to what it is they're looking for, what it is they do, what it is they look like, what do they hope to accomplish, right?

Sean: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It's the, the more that you can do to, in individualize things to support the performance is huge.

Sean: And whenever I'm working with someone, be it. The weekend warrior, someone who's just looking live healthier to, you know, at your high level competitors. I always look at, you know, what's happening from a food standpoint, what's happening from a movement standpoint? What's sleep looking like?

Sean: What is overall stress management strategies do they have in place to allow for that performance, you know, to build. Being supportive.

Mike: Let's go from there. 'cause I, this is where I, I first was talking to you a while back. Because I get asked these questions too. Especially with young people.

Mike: Well, what can I take? Right. And you just mentioned food. You mentioned sleep, you mentioned rest movement, right?

Sean: Yeah.

Mike: So there's a lot of things we can put into our body that aren't good for us, and some things that are. Go.

Sean: No, it's absolutely, one of the number one questions I get is, Sean, what supplements should I be taking?

Mike: Mm-hmm.

Sean: And I always tell people, it's not like you can only, you should only be taking food or no, you can get everything from supplements. There's, there's a happy blend in between. But I think most people have a false idea of, especially in the athletic world, what taking a given dietary supplement will do for their body.

Sean: And what I mean by that is a dietary supplement, you know. It may increase performance, but it might only increase performance by two or 3%. You know, in the world that I work in, two to 3% is a huge difference. If that's how you're making your li livelihood for someone who is just, you know, recreational, the do this or myself, for instance, you know, if I increase my performance 2% on a, you know, a bench press or whatever, it doesn't mean a whole lot.

Sean: Where I really, if I'm looking at dietary supplements, I always have what I call my foundationals. And these are ones in which ideally we'd be getting from food, but can be really challenging at times. So I do like, you know, a quality multivitamin, vitamin D. We know that most people here in Wisconsin, the northern states.

Sean: I find are deficient even during the summer months, just 'cause they're inside all day and it's, it's hard to get vitamin D from food. Magnesium is one that if you look at any sort of studies, roughly about two thirds of the adult population is deficient in there or like in omega threes or which can be found in fish oils.

Sean: And again, you can get all those in food and like I said, I always go with a food first approach. And but like I said, those are just ones that can be really challenging. So. If I am doing any dietary supplement recommendations, usually I start with a core base. What I find is everyone wants to go to the highest leaf on the tree thinking that's gonna be the magic bullet for their support.

Sean: And what I always tell people, especially pre-workouts, you know, in my world, the, the energy drinks, the pre-workouts are a very big thing. And I'm like, you know what? If you got eight hours of sleep, that'd give you probably 10X. The performance benefit of taking, you know, a shot of, you know, caffeine plus mystery ingredients, X, Y, Z.

Mike: So rest is really important?

Sean: It's absolutely massive and, you know, it impacts so many different aspects of not only physical performance where there's a bazillion research studies, but just overall health and wellness. And one thing I know that's really big right now or I shouldn't say just big right now, it's, it's been an issue, but it is like ADHD, ADD, we know that that is a really large issue.

Sean: And for someone who's on those medications. They do have side effects. It can be, it can really suppress your appetite. So if you're trying to exercise a lot, it can be almost counterproductive. And two, and I say this with zero judgment, so I want to preface by saying this is when you're on those be it Ritalin, Adderall, whatever it is, when you're kind of cycling off that medication, maybe you miss a dose or maybe you're at the tail end of your dose, that can really impact your mood levels.

Sean: And behavior. And so and so, again, kind of tying us back into sleep, you know what's really fascinating is if you look at the symptoms of sleep deprivation, they almost align a hundred percent with the same symptoms of ADHD. And so I find a lot of people by just helping them on the sleep aspect of things, they're either a, either able to A, reduce the dose of their medication.

Sean: Or B, they're able to, you know, some of 'em have been able to get off their medication and I wanna, you know, throw a disclaimer, make sure you don't just cut anything cold turkey, work with a healthcare practitioner to achieve it. But I've had different people who have been able to help them reduce the need for the medications just through sleep.

Sean: I mean, it's, it's pretty wild how impactful sleep is on health, wellness, and performance.

Mike: You know, Sean, self-disclosure, about a year and a half ago I ended up having an allergic reaction to some medication. So I had a bad cough and it was, the doctor was great. She said, oh, it'll go away in about six to seven weeks.

Mike: I went, what? What? I mean, I've never heard that before. And I'm like, you must be getting, I speak for a living. And then she said, to stay away from bing, bing, bing, caffeine being one of them. And I drank, I cut out all of that, drank a ton of water, and I gotta tell you, I feel like such a fool. I felt so much better.

Mike: My inflammation was better. Some of the, what we started this by talking about I supplements. You can buy all of these energy supplements, the stuff you can buy. There used to be soda pop was in the front counter.

Sean: Yeah.

Mike: Now it's, I can't even, you know. People will wanna say Red Bull, but there's so many variations.

Mike: Oh. What do they do to you? What do they do?

Sean: It's they, you know, a few different things. And you know, one thing you kind of jarred a memory in mind. So I remember when I was younger, when I was in high school, you know they was like, I went, if, if I was gonna get, like the caffeine drinks was like, Hey, you grabbed a Mountain Dew, which had maybe 75 milligrams of caffeine. It's like, whoa, like that's like the high caffeine. Now you can go into these stores and some of these energy drinks have 300 milligrams of caffeine in it. And to put that in perspective, that's like three and a half cups of coffee. And so tying this back into health and wellness, we just got done talking about how sleep is so essential for health wellness performance.

Sean: Well, caffeine has a half life on average of six hours, plus or minus a little bit. And what half life means is. The amount of time it takes for your body to eliminate half of whatever that substance is. So let's go back to this energy drink that, well, lemme say it has 200 milligrams, which is a standard, like I said, somewhere 300.

Sean: But let's just even say it has 200 milligrams on it. Let's say if you're an adult, an adolescent, whoever it is, and you have that energy drink at four o'clock in the afternoon, maybe before your sport practice or before your shift or your whatever it may be. Well, what that means is if that has 200 milligrams of caffeine in it, that means when you try to go to bed at 10 o'clock at night, you still have a hundred milligrams of caffeine in your system.

Sean: That'd be the equivalent of drinking a cup and a half of coffee.

Mike: Just before bedtime.

Sean: Yeah, as your bedtime wind down. (laughs) And so then we know again, so now you're altering your sleep patterns, the depth of your sleep, the quality of your sleep. And as a result, your immune system starts, you know, suffering your energy levels.

Sean: It, it creates this nasty feedback loop where then people are like, oh man, now I'm tired at, you know, 11 o'clock in the morning, so I need to take a cup there. Now they're taking a cup at, you know, it, and it just creates this nasty system. So I always look at how can we reverse this through life and wellness, and I love the fact that you brought up water.

Sean: Here's one of the easiest things I tell people that you can apply today and will have profound impacts for you. A lot of individuals who I work with do not drink enough water throughout the day, or I say water but just about liquids and the easy, and most of 'em are like, and again, going back to caffeine now is like, oh man, I get to two o'clock, three o'clock and I just can't concentrate at all.

Sean: My mind's all over the place. I need to, you know, take a medication, you know, or caffeine, whatever it may be. I find if people drink enough water or fluid such that they have to go to the bathroom every two hours. That, again, I'm not gonna say make promises, is gonna eliminate everything, but for a majority of the clients I work with, that significantly impacts their energy levels during the day where now they don't have to reach for the caffeine.

Sean: They feel like they're more dialed in. And like I said, the easy rule of thumb is if you're going longer than two hours without going the bathroom it's a good time to start drinking more water.

Mike: And when you go to the bathroom, you shouldn't be able to turn out the lights and read by it, right?

Sean: (laughs) Yeah.

Mike: Should, it should be clear.

Sean: Yeah. It, it should be relatively clear on there. On anything. The only time where it might be a little bit of a color is if you have a multivitamin with some B vitamins in it. 'cause B vitamins will turn it into like kind of an neon color.

Sean: But I always tell people, like, some people are like, oh yeah, it's you know, it, it's like a, a darkish color. I'm like, that's probably not, you know, where we need to be at and you know. It, it's always kinda interesting now that we're talking about, you know, just bathroom habits too. One of the other things that can profoundly impact mood wellness, things of these natures is your gut health.

Sean: Your gut, 70 to 80% of your immune system is in your gut. Your gut is directly connected to the brain, what's called the vagal nerve, and they constantly crosstalk all the time so that your gut's being referred to as your second brain now. And a lot of people, I always tell them, I'm like, you know.

Sean: Without getting too graphic here, but I'm like, you should have a bowel movement, you know, once a day. You know, I have clients who might go, you know, two days, three days before they have their normal thing, and that just tells me they're probably not getting enough fiber in their diet. You know, the fruits and vegetables.

Sean: Again, low hanging fruit, no pun intended. Actually, that was a pun intended. But you know (laughs), the, I always tell people, if you think about your fist as it's serving your fruits and vegetables. I want you to eat whatever number you're at today. I mean, in a perfect world that you're getting six to eight servings a day, but if someone's only eating one serving, it's hard to go from one serving to, you know, six or eight.

Sean: So I always tell people, wherever you're starting at today, just increase two servings of fruits or vegetables in a day. And that's, you know, I, I always like to look back. Success leaves clues, you know, it's the popular saying. And so I always like to look back at clients I've worked with over the years and see what was the most successful for them.

Sean: And early in my career I, I would think it'd be like maybe this very elaborate meal thing I did or this very elaborate protocol or whatever it is. But time and time again, the most successful thing is simply increasing fruits and vegetables in, in the diet. Like, it's just kind of fascinating how that all ties together.

Mike: Well, it's funny 'cause I'm older than you and we went from when I was a kid, you could watch players smoking cigarettes in the dugout in a baseball game. Major league players to, to now rumors. And I suppose there's some fact that athletes like LeBron and the rest of them spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their own chef's, nutritionists just to be able to keep their body where it needs to be to make as much money as long as come possible.

Sean: No. It is so profound. I think LeBron James is a good example in terms of career longevity, and that's what I find I have found working with clients as well is, you know, when, whenever I'm working with a client, be it an athlete or non-athlete, but let's just say, say I'm working with an athlete.

Sean: My goal with any athlete that I work with is that 20 years after their athletic career is over, they're able to live the life that they want to live. And what I mean by that is. Let's say you make, I'm just going, you make 10 million during a career or whatever it is, you know, insert whatever dollar amount.

Sean: I'm like, that's great, but I guarantee you if you're 45 or 50 and you can't bend over to play with your kids, or maybe you're 60. And you can't hold your grandkids 'cause your body's so broken down, I'm like, that's gonna make life hard. So that's what I always think about is what we do today.

Sean: And two, I'm like, I want you to perform at your best today. So that way. That allows you to, you know, whatever your earning potential is today to maximize it. So I always look at that thing as what can we do today to make sure that 20 years down the road someone is able to have their best life.

Mike: You mentioned some of the stuff you can add to your bodies and this goes to some of it parallels what I do for a living. You buy a drug on the street, you have no idea what's in it. You buy a supplement online, Sean. They're not regulated. Am I right about that?

Sean: The issue with dietary supplements is there's regulations in place, but the FDA is who enforces them, and the FDA is so understaffed right now.

Sean: Basically the only time the FDA will step in is if there's some sort of outbreak of, you know, or something that's found that's being tainted.

Mike: Salmonella or something.

Sean: Yeah, it's something while like they're all of a sudden, Hey, there's eight deaths because somebody took supplement X, Y, Z. That's when they step in, but they don't get everything there.

Sean: And here's what I can share with you, full disclosure. I've worked in the supplement industry. I've launched multiple brands in the supplement industry, so I know the, the both ends of it. And I remember, one of the contract manufacturers I work with. So what I will do is like, okay, I want the ingredients A, B, C, D in it.

Sean: And I all have a contract manufacturer who has all their licensure mass produce it. Apparently the FDA frowns upon me mixing things in my bathtub, puts them in a glass jar and not a shelf. For some reason, that's not allowed. I don't know why, but it's not allowed. But jokes aside, so I'm working with one of the manufacturers I've worked with before.

Sean: It's a very large one on the east coast. They very big players in the industry to mass produce the formulas that I work on. And so I was talking with this one. I'm like, how many individuals will third party tests their supplements to make sure what's on the labels actually in there? And what this individual said was Sean, he's like, less than 10% do any sort of third party testing on them. And I'm like, do you mean to tell me that 90% of the supplements I see on shelves have never been tested?

Mike: Right.

Sean: To make sure they're accurate. He's like, it's actually worse than that. He's like, how you guys do is probably than 5%. I'm like, well, what do you mean?

Sean: He's like, what most companies do is, let's say if there's 10 ingredients in a formula, they may test ingredients. Two of those ingredients be like, oh, well if those two are in line, everything else should be in line too. Or they'll say, well let's test the batch we produce. Maybe they test the batch they produce in say, January of 2025, but they don't test the batch that's produced in June of 2025, so they don't test every batch.

Sean: And so that's where people run into issues and two. You have a lot of issues of supplements that are being spiked. The three main classes that people have to be extremely, extremely cautious with is one, anything that's like a sexual performance enhancement supplement. If you're getting sexual enhancement performance supplements from your gas station. I guarantee there's that's a high, that's a high risk. High risk right there. (laughs) So that is one. The other big one is energy powders, pre-workouts. Those are notorious for being spiked with illegal ingredients, just so the effects are, you know, feel larger for the user. And the third category, oh gosh.

Sean: Don't quote me on this, but I wanna say the third category may be anti-aging supplements.

Mike: Mm-hmm. That makes sense.

Sean: But that's, yeah. But that is the thing. And you know, and again, you're buying things online, you don't know where they're coming from, the quality of testing. And it's, and I always tell people like, if you're gonna do it, make sure you're buying it, you know, from a trusted resource, you know, healthcare, whatever it may be, or there, but I'm like, I always tell people, again, back to our original point, is.

Sean: Unless you're deficient in an essential nutrient, be it vitamin D, magnesium, like if you're deficient in those nutrients and you get those levels, you'll feel significantly better. But like all these other like flash, bang, pow things, like you're really playing with fire based on how the market is, and the effect may not be nearly as what you're expecting.

Mike: You know, that's really an important message for young people who are all looking because they hear it, right?

Sean: Yeah.

Mike: And when you see a pro athlete, which happens routinely, get in trouble for a supplement they've been taking, and then they do the mea culpa, right? Oh, I didn't know that this was in it.

Mike: It's like, well, there's a reason why their governing body made certain substances illegal.

Sean: Yeah.

Mike: 'Cause one, they're bad for your health and bad for your body.

Sean: Yeah. You know, it's one of the things I always tell people if, if you're taking a dietary supplement, especially if you're being tested with them, like make sure that on the label they say informed choice for sport or NSF certified for sport, and that guarantees that they've been tested for all these band substances.

Mike: Say that again.

Sean: NSF certified for sport. Or informed choice certified for sports. So any athlete that I'm working with is any supplement that's being recommended. I make sure that they have those on them 'cause it guarantees that they've been tested for these banned substances.

Mike: You mentioned what they're looking for and it, and I was at a high school baseball game a couple weeks ago. Heard a pitcher who wasn't doing particularly well. Talking to his teammates, not his coaches. But he, you know, I'm, I'm just part of the fence at that point. Say that he had taken five of those ZYN pouches.

Sean: Ooh, yeah.

Mike: So that he could boost his pitching performance that day.

Sean: Yeah.

Mike: Talk about that a little bit.

Sean: Yeah, the pouches are so big. So that's kinda like the new thing right now is taking nicotine for, to help with focus, concentration, things of that nature. And, you know, at the end of the day, that is still gonna affect the receptors in your brain.

Sean: That is, you know, you might get that a little boost, but that also can get pretty addictive, pretty in a hurry. And I think long term wise, I see that adding a lot of, long term wise, I'm concerned about the effect that's gonna have on people's brains, especially youth individuals where the brain is still developing so much.

Mike: And how much nicotine is good for the body.

Sean: Yeah. I want as little as possible in the right, in the body. (laughs)

Mike: Yeah. Yeah,

Mike: You're right.

Mike: People don't know this, Sean but I think folks like you and I do if I ask people, you go to your local gas station, what's behind the counter?

Mike: They'll say, cigarettes. I'm like, look, the next time, cigarettes were taken over by vaping products, and now all you see are the pouches. That's the first row. That's the first row now, and it's all being advertised to young people.

Sean: Yeah. And the market is huge. And you know, you're talking about the vapes.

Sean: Like there was a study that was in the military. Don't quote me these exact numbers, but they look at like your traditional testing for people who are vaping versus non-vaping of their recruits. And it was like people who, the sit up scores was significantly lower. The pushup scores were significantly lower.

Sean: The two mile to rest time was significantly lower in those who are vaping.

Mike: Makes sense.

Sean: On there. And you got, there's a lot of factors that go into it, but I'm like. This is pretty consistent. Like yeah, you kinda feel more focus there, but I'm like, long term wise, it, it can cause issues. And again, going back to the sleep aspect and, and the hard thing now is there's so much on TikTok influence that's coming down by influencers who don't have necessarily background for this.

Sean: And one story that I can share with you, I actually have two stories I can share with you, but. One story was, I was working with a high school, this individual's a, a football player, and he came up to me after hearing me talk, he's like, Hey, Sean. He's like, I'm looking to purchase Ashwagandha. You know, what do you, you think about it?

Sean: I'm thinking like, Ashwagandha's kind of known for like relaxation a little bit, sleep stuff. So I'm like, I'm like, oh, you having sleep issues? Or he is like, oh, not really. I'm like, well, what are you taking for? He is like, well, Sean, everyone knows that that ashwagandha is gonna jack your testosterone levels through the roof.

Sean: I am like, what? He's like, oh yeah, it's all over TikTok. And in my mind it's like, if you look at the research, it increases by like a small percentage, which is the equivalent of taking like a cup of water and dumping into the ocean, expecting to see a water level rise. Like it's so insignificant. But like, you know, I was kinda sharing with him, I'm, you know, I'm thinking in my head too, and I'm talking, you know, the parents and everything.

Sean: I'm like, if this individual, if your son who's clearly going through the middle of puberty right now, I'm like, if he has testosterone issues, I'm like, that's a serious medical condition. I guarantee you this root powder is not gonna solve it for him. Like, and you hear so many things like there or the other, I can tell you horror, horror stories on individuals who will say the ZYN pouches for instance, or caffeine.

Sean: We were talking about energy drinks earlier, who they try that for the first time before an important event. They have no idea how their body's gonna respond. They've never tried before a practice or whatever it is. I remember one swimmer in particular she was expected to, you know, set the state record.

Sean: She was like division one caliber swimmer at the collegiate level and her high school race, like where they thought she was gonna win this. She took caffeine for the first time ever before the race she was an endurance swimmer, the first half of the race, she was absolutely flying. I mean, it was like Olympic pace.

Sean: It was wild. Second half of the race, she hit the wall. Finish dead last. So her high school career ended where they felt like, hey, this could be a state record before you go off to your division one career. It ended with a last place finish. Like, and so that's why I always tell people I'm like, you, you're, you know, it sounds sexy on the front end side, but like there's a lot of things you have to consider as you're doing this and thinking, bing, going back there is, how's this gonna affect your brain and what, you know, behaviors could this lead to, you know, especially if you're doing it long term.

Mike: And I'm also guessing that as part of your regimen that marijuana is not a performance enhancing drug.

Sean: (laughs) No. I have yet to write a plan with supplements for athletes on it where marijuana is high on the list again.

Mike: Yeah.

Sean: That affects brain behavior. I know a lot of individuals who yeah, I know sometimes it's kind of marketed as, Hey, there's no side effects.

Sean: It's. Here and there. You know, anecdotally, I know, you know, it affects different regions of the brain. I know individuals who have done it long period, and if they're being really honest with me, they'd be like, yeah, I know my memory's not what it should be. And these are individuals who are my age who are doing it, you know, 20 years ago when they were in college.

Sean: And, you know, throughout, and like I said, I can't say everyone, but a fair amount have told me like, yeah, my mind just is not as sharp as what it was. So, I mean, it's definitely plain.

Mike: Well, you know, there's so much misinformation. Sometimes we just like to convince ourselves. I had a coach one time tell me when I was much, much younger, that just before a game night, before a game, have a couple of beers to relax and hydrate.

Sean: (laughs)

Mike: I'm like, I don't believe alcohol hydrates you. I think it's the opposite, right?

Sean: Yeah, (laughs) it's a dehydration. You're gonna be in worse shape for there. And you know, it's interesting you're talking about like drinking how things have changed. So drinking, you know, before you're going into bed, and this is something I see with a lot of people as we're talking about addiction or things, they always think like, Hey, I'm gonna have a few drinks to help me unwind at the end of the day. What most people don't realize is alcohol, it, and they're like, oh, I, I sleep better when I'm drinking, you know, type thing. And like alcohol is like a sedative. It's like if you're taking anesthesia, it's not like you go into surgery, you have anesthesia, you wake up, you're like, oh, I feel so refreshed after the anesthesia.

Sean: It literally knocks you out. And that's the same way that alcohol works. Like it really jacks up your sleep cycles. Like if you look at somebody, if you measure like their sleep cycles for someone who's drinking, and then if you have them drink and go before going to bed, you'll see their sleep is significantly affected.

Sean: And so that's what I always telling people again, as we're looking for this holistic, health and performance on someone's performance journey. I'm like, that is something, again, I'm not saying that alcohol is, you know, everyone can make their own decision there, but like here are the facts that you need to know as you're making your decisions.

Mike: I'll let you wrap this in a bow. If I wanted to be the best I could be, I should...

Sean: If you wanted to be the best that you could be. I'd really focus on increasing food. Again, too easy take home tips someone can implement right away is drink enough water, especially you're gonna the bathroom every two hours.

Sean: If you think about your fist of fruits as it being a fruit or vegetable, increase the number of eating by two per day. So that's on the food side.

Sean: On the sleep side. One, try to detach from electronics or blue screens. There actually the best thing you can do for sleep, this may sound counterintuitive, but get outside for an early morning walk when you get sunlight in your eyes early in the morning, that it will actually help you sleep a lot deeper at night.

Sean: So that's an easy take home thing. And then on a movement standpoint. Just try to move throughout the day. Don't do a lot of exercise say first thing in the morning and then sit at a computer for the next 15 hours a day, which full disclosure, I'm guilty of doing that at time, but try to get up during the day to move around more.

Mike: Sounds great. As you can imagine, those of you who are listening, I've heard Sean talk in front of groups and he's just terrific. So if you're, a high school or a college, and you can just imagine the attention younger people give to him and the questions that they will have for him. So clearly, you know, the links to Sean's contact information is at the bottom of this podcast.

Mike: Sean, you know so much more than me about so many things thanks to your expertise and perspective.

Sean: Hey, well, it was an absolute pleasure being on. I preach to the host and I love the work that you're doing to help people live healthier, active lives.

Mike: Oh, thanks. That's really nice. For those of you listening, watching, I hope you find health and wellness wherever you are.

Mike: As always, thanks for listening. Be safe. Take care. And remember, there are no shortcuts.