Health is based on three pillars: sleep, nutrition and fitness. I chat with some of the most interesting people I know to discover more about their Health Stacks: the behaviors and products they use to stay healthy and fit.
Olympic hopefuls around the world are currently training for a place at the Summer Olympics finally happening in Tokyo, and we are so excited to celebrate their breakthroughs in mind, body, and spirit. Sleep fitness has always been a foundation of Eight Sleep, as we believe—and know, thanks to scientific research—that your body’s performance can be maximized with the daily (and nightly) practice of optimized sleep. That’s why we’re so excited to be in conversation with one of the most legendary athletes of our time, Apolo Ohno, the speed skater and Eight Sleep member who pioneered the usage of high-performance biohacking to win eight Olympic medals. Since officially retiring in 2010, Apolo has been championing the Olympic mindset as an entrepreneur, speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Read on to find out why it’s not always about speed—it’s about consistency and endurance, too.
Highlights
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Apolo discovered at an early age that he was a natural at speed skating—but also realized that it takes more than talent to become a world champion, year after year.
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Apolo went against the grain—literally, he was keto—in his nutrition and training style in order to adapt to new trends in short track speed skating.
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Apolo replicated his bedroom at the Olympic Village in order to optimize his flow state before competing.
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Apolo practices mindfulness and meditation in the sauna every day—followed by a cold shower to optimize his bedtime routine.
How did you get into speed skating in the first place?
Short track speed skating is a sport that most Americans didn’t even know about back in the late ‘90s, which is when I began. I had seen the sport while watching the Winter Olympics at age 12 with my father. I had played all of the traditional American stick-and-ball sports like basketball, baseball, and football, but there was something special about short track speed skating—it look