We all want to look and feel our best, but wellness can feel overly complicated these days. Counting food macros, taking endless supplements, following 10-step skin-care routines, doing cold plunges. It can feel overwhelming. So clinical psychologist and world-renowned sleep expert Michael Breus, PhD, set out to find a simpler way to transform health and weight. He knew, “I can’t ask people to do anything they don’t already do.” So he focused on three simple “bio behaviors”—which he calls dominoes of health, things that are already part of our daily routines. The result is his new book, Sleep Drink Breathe, filled with loads of health tips. Keep reading to learn how making simple tweaks to the way you sleep, hydrate and breathe can radically transform your life and deliver optimal health.
Dr. Breus’ top 3 habits for health and weight loss
“You have to sleep, you have to hydrate and you have to breathe,” explains Dr. Breus. And if you line up those three dominoes correctly, they start a chain reaction that improves stubborn weight issues. Unfortunately, Dr. Breus finds, most people “are sleeping, hydrating and breathing wrong.” And women over 40 suffer most. In his latest book, he shares a three-week jump-start schedule to improve habits for the long-term. Let’s dive into his best tips…
#1. The power of hydration for weight loss
About 75 percent of us are chronically dehydrated, according to the National Institutes of Health. The color of your urine offers a clue to your hydration status: It should be clear or pale yellow, not dark. Hydration expert Dana Cohen, MD, co-author of Quench, also suggests trying the pinch test. “If skin ‘tents’—it doesn’t bounce back to its normal shape—especially on the tops of your hands, you are dehydrated.”
Why does water matter to our health? “Hydration is energy. If you’re dehydrated, nothing functions well,” including your metabolism, says Dr. Breus. Plus, it’s easy to mistake thirst for food cravings and overeat. Also, just a 2 percent decrease in hydration levels can negatively impact blood vessels the same way smoking a cigarette does, says a University of Arkansas study.
Try Dr. Breus’ top hydration tips to boost metabolism
• Use this hydration formula
Dr. Breus recommends the following equation to determine how much water you should drink each day in the fall and winter: Multiply your weight in pounds by 0.6, and add 12 oz. for every 30 minutes of exercise you do. So a 160-pound woman who works out for 30 minutes per day needs around 108 oz., or 13 glasses of water a day. Dr. Breus says, “If I can get you to drink enough water for 21 days, your life is going to change.” Increase that amount in warmer months.
• Don’t chug your water
Swallow 1 oz. of liquid at a time. Based on the absorption rate of water, if you drink too quickly you just pee it out, missing the benefits.
• Sip water before feasting
Data shows drinking a pint of water before breakfast helped older overweight adults to eat far fewer calories.
• Use water add-ins
Unless you sweat a lot, Dr. Breus doesn’t recommend store-bought electrolyte mixes, which tend to be high in sodium. Instead, flavor water to make it more tasty by adding mint, berries or melon. Good news: Dr. Breus says, “Up to two cups of coffee” is not as dehydrating as people say. It is a “net-zero” liquid, so we pee out the same amount sipped. Yet the third cup can trigger a dehyrating shift.
#2. The power of deep breathing for weight loss
Research finds that we take between 17,000 and 25,000 breaths per day. But our ability to take in air with each of those breaths declines with age. By 80, we’re getting 40 percent less air, says a 2016 report in the European Respiratory Journal. And proper breathing improves our weight-loss potential. A study conducted in India and published in the International Journal of Yoga confirmed people who practiced deep breathing sped up their metabolism and lost significant body weight, compared to regular breathers.
Try Dr. Breus’ top deep breathing tips to aid weight loss
• Get a breathing baseline
While seated, count how many times you breathe in 60 seconds. The goal is 12 or fewer. Dr. Breus says 13 to 20 is average. And more than 20 is a sign you are a shallow breather or have a condition such as asthma, anxiety or COPD limiting your breathing.
• Focus on the horizontal breathing technique
There are different breathing exercises and techniques to use for health. People often think of breathing as an up-and-down motion for the lungs. But Dr. Breus says optimal breathing is horizontal, filling up the sides of our lungs and letting the belly fully expand. To get the perks, try box breathing: Inhale for four counts, hold for four, exhale for four and hold for four.
• Try this type of breathing when stressed
It’s called 4-7-8 breathing. Inhale for a count of four, expanding your belly out. Hold for seven, then exhale slowly, drawing your belly in, for a count of eight. Dr. Breus says, “Your heart rate and blood pressure will decrease.” This approach can also reduce the stress hormones that fuel weight gain. Dr. Cohen adds, “Do it purposefully, and we can settle some of those pesky adrenal hormones that are on overdrive.”
#3. The power of sleep for weight loss
Around 75 percent of people get an unsatisfactory or failing “grade” when it comes to their sleep health, according to the 2023 National Sleep Foundation poll. And research proves that when we are sleep-deprived, levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin increase by 20 percent, while levels of the satiety hormone leptin plunge by 15 percent. Dr. Breus says, “If that is not a recipe for weight gain, I don’t know what is.” Worse still: When we’re tired, our brain is flooded with the stress hormone cortisol, which makes us crave sugary, fatty foods, leading to belly fat. So the goal here is weight loss through better sleep.
On the flip side: “Sleep is like free Ozempic,” says Dr. Breus. It combats all those negative changes. His advice? “Stop counting carbs and start counting sheep.” Proof of the slimming power of sleep: A University of Chicago study found that good sleepers shed 55 percent more fat and retained 60 percent more muscle than poor sleepers. The payoff is more energy and less brain fog.
Try Dr. Breus’ top sleep tips for weight loss and improved rest
• Utilize your nose
If you don’t have sleep apnea, consider wearing a small piece of sleep tape over your lips to keep your mouth closed and promote nasal breathing. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, breathing through your nose “plays an important role in the physiology of sleep.” It delivers extra oxygen, reduces stress and converts more healing nitric oxide in the body. Dr. Breus calls the metabolism-boosting gas an “endocrine signaler” that supports insulin to work better, noting, “Nitric oxide is pure magic for your health!”
• Keep your bedroom dark
Establish a “power-down hour” with no electronics before bedtime. A 2019 JAMA Internal Medicine study found that people exposed to incidental light from screens or alarm clocks while sleeping gained an average of 11 pounds over five years. One easy fix: Wear a sleep mask.
• Try safe supplements
Dr. Breus says, “Sleep-supporting melatonin and magnesium have no side effects if used correctly and help with sleep-onset and sleep-maintenance insomnia.” Try his melatonin sleep gummies or Rest Support magnesium capsules.
Ready to try Dr. Breus’ Sleep Drink Breathe Plan for yourself?
Give the plan a try for three weeks. You may feel so great that you’ll want to stick with these habits for life. “Once you strengthen all three of these dominoes, everything else gets easy,” says Dr. Breus. He advises tuning in to each of these three dominoes during five moments of each day (waking, mid-morning, lunch, before dinner and before bed) for a total of about 1 hour of effort daily. Set five alarms on your phone as reminders. During those times, pause to do three things: 1) Take deep breaths; 2) Drink more water; and 3) Do something that will support quality sleep later on, like walking outside in sunlight, eating satisfying whole foods or turning off screens.
Why these 3 habits work so well together to deliver results
The habits support one another for a synergistic effect. In fact, Dr. Breus adds, “Any diet or exercise program you try come January 1 won’t work without it.” Why? “This is the starting line for health and wellness!” That’s not all. “Once you strengthen all three of these dominoes, everything else gets easy,” assures Dr. Breus. “This approach will 100 percent help regulate your menopausal hormones, reduce fatigue and lower stress.”
The Sleep Drink Breathe approach worked for Linda Kilpatrick. “She was a horrible sleeper who had been taking sleep medications most of her life,” says Dr. Breus. “Within five or six weeks, I got her off everything, and it has changed her life.” Linda shares, “Dr. Breus absolutely cured my insomnia!” And as a bonus, Linda lost 2 pant sizes!
This content is not a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis. Always consult your physician before pursuing any treatment plan.
