SENERGY360 founder Brian Johnson began his career in the lumber industry as a certified lumber grader, where he discovered firsthand how conventional building materials could contribute to unhealthy living conditions through issues like mold growth. This early insight sparked his lifelong passion for healthier home construction and ultimately inspired the creation of SENERGY360, a company dedicated to building spaces that support both human and environmental wellness. Today, Brian stands as the only General Contractor in the country to hold triple certification from the Building Biology Institute—an achievement that underscores his expertise in integrating health science with construction. His holistic approach combines modern building technology with natural principles, incorporating circadian lighting, advanced air and water filtration, non-toxic materials, and low-EMF design to create homes that are not only sustainable but truly restorative for the body and mind.
SENERGY360 founder Brian Johnson began his career in the lumber industry as a certified lumber grader, where he discovered firsthand how conventional building materials could contribute to unhealthy living conditions through issues like mold growth. This early insight sparked his lifelong passion for healthier home construction and ultimately inspired the creation of SENERGY360, a company dedicated to building spaces that support both human and environmental wellness.
Today, Brian stands as the only General Contractor in the country to hold triple certification from the Building Biology Institute—an achievement that underscores his expertise in integrating health science with construction. His holistic approach combines modern building technology with natural principles, incorporating circadian lighting, advanced air and water filtration, non-toxic materials, and low-EMF design to create homes that are not only sustainable but truly restorative for the body and mind.
SHOWNOTES:
😴 How can your home become a sanctuary for sleep and deep restoration?
😴 How did Brian Johnson pioneer “healthy home” standards rooted in biology, not marketing?
😴 What does a truly mold-free, non-toxic, and circadian-aligned home look like?
😴 Why lighting design might be the biggest hidden factor sabotaging your sleep
😴 How the wrong dimmer switches create dirty electricity and stress your nervous system
😴 What’s the truth about LED lighting, friend or foe to your circadian rhythm?
😴 How low-voltage lighting and ethernet wiring can cut EMFs while enhancing sleep quality
😴 Inside Synergy 360: the 360-degree approach to designing for health and performance
😴 Why your bedroom wiring, lighting color, and air quality all affect melatonin production
😴 How Brian optimizes his own sleep routine through grounding and caffeine-free living
😴 What’s next: the Healthy Builders Academy and how Brian plans to train the next wave of wellness-focused builders
😴 And many more
SPONSORS:
🧠 If You “Can’t Turn Your Brain Off” At Night…try a quality magnesium supplement that addresses ALL the necessary forms of magnesium that you need to support calming your nervous system and sleeping deeply. https://magbreakthrough.com/sleepisaskill
GUEST LINKS:
Website: https://element.senergy360.com/
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DISCLAIMER:
The information contained in this podcast, our website, newsletter, and the resources available for download are not intended to be medical or health advice and shall not be understood or construed as such. The information contained on these platforms is not a substitute for medical or health advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation.
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 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.
Welcome to the Sleep As a Skill podcast. What if the very walls around you could impact your sleep, your energy, and even your longevity? Today's guest, Brian Johnson, is here to change the way we think about the spaces we live in. He's the founder of Synergy 360. The only general contractor in the US to hold a triple certification from the Building Biology Institute.
His work lives at the fascinating intersection of architecture, biology, and human performance. Brian's journey began in the lumber industry where he saw firsthand how building materials influence our health. That curiosity evolved into two decades of pioneering work in mass wall construction. Designing, mold resistant, breathable, and non-toxic homes that align with the body's natural rhythms.
And as an elite all world athlete, Brian brings a performance driven lens to home building, creating environments that don't just look beautiful, but actually help people sleep better, breathe easier, and live longer. His holistic approach integrates natural lighting, air quality, and water systems to craft homes that truly support wellbeing from the ground up.
In this conversation, we explore how your home can become a sanctuary from circadian lighting and clean air systems to EMF free bedrooms and mindful material choices. If you've ever wondered how your space could enhance your biology instead of working against it, this episode will open your eyes. We will also include in the show notes different.
Ways to connect with Brian, including his Instagram. Definitely check that out and see how Brian and his team are redefining what it means to build your health, longevity, and sleep. So we're gonna jump right into the episode, but first, a few words from our sponsors. If you're listening to this podcast, you're likely looking to improve your sleep, and one of the first questions people ask me about sleep is what supplement they can take.
One supplement I've consistently taken for ages is magnesium, specifically BiOptimizers, magnesium breakthrough. It's an all natural. Supplement that helps reduce fatigue, improve sleep quality, and promote peaceful rest. It also strengthens muscles and improves heart and brain function. Most magnesium supplements aren't full spectrum, but magnesium breakthrough contains an optimal ratio of all seven essential types of magnesium.
Now imagine having the strength and energy to get outta bed every morning, face the day boldly, and maintain that energy throughout the day and into the night. If you wanna give it a try, go to buy optimizers.com/sleep as a skill and use the code, sleep as a skill to get gifts with your purchase. And this is a limited time offer, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the results.
Welcome to the Sleep Is a Skill Podcast. Oh my goodness. Before even hitting record for our guest today, I discovered that a very close mutual friend is in common with this guest. So I'm even more excited to dive in, and I know that you're gonna be just blown away with some of the things that he's gonna share around how you can set your home up for success, for your health and your sleep.
So Brian Johnson, thank you for taking the time to be here.
Molly, such a pleasure to be here and share this wonderful message with your audience and educate everybody in the healthy home building industry for sure. So, thank you.
Hey. Oh, this is gonna be a great, and I know before we did hit record, you were already sharing some of the things that we can speak to, just the intricacies of the light environment and so many things we're gonna go into.
But before we get there, maybe you can share how you became such a leader in this space.
Yeah, thank you. So I started general contract. I got my general contractor's license in 2003, 2002, 2003. And I came from the lumber industry, so that was kind of my career right outta high school. And uh, so I was very versed in lumber and had a lot of connections into the building industry, which led me into, um, getting my contractor's license and just going right into home building.
Um, and, but I wanted to do something different. I was like tired with wood. I was outside of the box. I wanted to build concrete structures. That's exact the first home that I built, um, I shadowed under a general contractor that, you know, that helped get me started in, in Southern California. And we were building these concrete homes.
Um, and it was referred to as ICF Construction, insulated concrete form construction. And these homes were earthquake resistant, you know, fire resistant. Um. There was a huge thing on like mold resistant indoor air quality because there are definitely a very tight, sealed environment, but but a breathable one too as well.
So it was very high performance, advanced construction. And moving forward, uh, you know, when the boom kind of hit in, in 2007 and eight, uh, concrete had risen, steel had risen, and lumber had plummeted, um, at that point in time. So for me to continue building at that time didn't make sense because. People just at that time, really the offset didn't make sense to build these energy efficient homes that were gonna cost, you know, 10 times over what, you know, wood framing would cost, right?
Yeah. And so I shifted my focus more on concrete work. So I did a lot of concrete work and through the years, um, I did a lot of con, I still contracted, we did a lot of renovations through Southern California, all the way from Malibu. Pacific Palisades, you know, all the way to Palm Springs. So very extreme terrain, different environments and different exposures, you know, you know, being exposed to mold even in Palm Springs to, you know, Malibu.
Um, and, but through that journey, that's, I was always an athlete, so it was, you know, high performing mountain bike racing. You know, top, you know, elite, amateur, uh, exter, iron Man. And so, uh, you know, I'm burning it from both ends, right? So I'm. Contracting, running a couple companies and then a weekend warrior doing all this stuff.
Well, through this experience, um, I was getting into like chemical containment systems and waterproofing systems, and so I was exposed to like all of these heavy VOCs and chemicals and, um, started to develop brain fog, which led me into kinda like the alternative health and biohacking and fun, functional and integrative medicine.
Okay. And that's really what opened my eye. And it was great because here I'm kind of creating this roadmap that I knew that I had to address the brain fog, get to the, the, the underlying root issue. And then of course I had mold illness because I had all this mold exposure from all these renovations that we were doing.
Um, and, and in 2017 that was kind of like the paradigm shift for me to where. In this industry, you know, the biohacking, you know, just for, you know, simple term there. Um, you know, everyone's talking about red light, you know, light therapy, circadian rhythm, air filtration, UV systems, you know, you know, nontoxic this and EMF that, right?
And, um, and I thought, you know. I, I need to come back into the building industry. Into the home building industry.
Hmm.
I knew, and I'm like, what? So I, I searched high and low back in 2017 and there was this, like, there nothing existed. There was nothing like, you know, now you're hearing the term holistic home healthy homes.
You know, I did a lot of projects that were lead by the US Green Building Council lead these, these platinum jobs. And what it is, it's, it's more of like these certifications for eco-friendly green building systems. But to be honest with you, it was kind of a sham, uh, a little bit. There was just, there was huge markup, inflation on these materials.
And sometimes, half, half the time, materials weren't being used, but it had nothing to do with health. Nothing to do with health.
Yeah.
Okay. And so in, in 20 17, 18, I'm like, you know, I'm gonna recreate, I'm gonna create my own building council, and it, it, it's gonna be geared around health. Um, yep. And so, uh, just spent a lot of years just researching, had property in Arizona.
I was living in California at the time, and so I just sold everything out. Um, moved, moved, uh, you know, to Arizona, uh, to the southwest and had some properties and invested my own several million dollars into my own spec homes to where I basically put together all these methods, these specifications on how to build.
You know, mold free, how to use circadian lighting systems, you know, non-toxic building systems, advanced, uh, indoor air quality type systems, and, uh, air filtration. Uh, basically incorporating all this stuff that we were learning in this health industry of, well, that's, let's, let me just build my own spec home.
So if it doesn't quite turn out right, you know, I'm not like overspending someone else's money. Yeah. Or at the time too, when I started. People, you know, like, it, it, it wasn't really caught on yet, like. You're like, what? You're gonna do circadian lighting, that's gonna cost X amount and you're gonna do all this, you know, non-toxic or this advanced air filtration.
You know, like it was, I was speaking to that 0.01% of the audience at that time.
Yeah.
Now, fast forward to today, that audience has changed. I. I think we're in, I think we might be in the 10%. You know, the population, maybe even so.
Yes, yes. Times have changed. Look at you. What a leader. Okay. So now with all that, if people are coming to you and they're looking, so for instance, many of the listeners that are listening to this are dealing with sleep issues.
What would be some of the things that you and I should clarify? Are all of the projects that you're working on now from kind of the ground up or do you help support existing homes and kind of reshaping those? Maybe just a little bit of guidance how you would approach these things, and especially for the sleepy person.
Uh, you know, I, I love it. So, so to start off, you know, my goal to build or renovate. So we can, we can renovate existing homes too, as well. My goal originally when I started this, was to, I just wanted to do, 'cause I was gonna have my own healthy home certification and we're gonna build these healing sanctuaries, that, that was the goal.
Like optimal sleep, you know, optimal air quality, just like the perfect environment to heal in, right? Mm-hmm. And so. I wanted to build the structure. 'cause then I knew I could create that and I had control of this. The infrastructure of building. Right, right. And renovations. I was like. It's just hard. Like if I can't see mold behind a wall, if I'm not tearing everything down or if I'm trying to use an existing, like how do I work with that?
Right? And so that really forced me outside of the box to like look at ways to retrofit things too as well. So everything that we're gonna share here today, it's either, uh, it's, you know, came from new construction, but also too, we do a lot of renovations and, you know, hopefully. You know, we can give the quick, you know, quick tip, you know, type stuff that you do all the time for your audience.
Um, and from a sleep perspective, you know, it kind of takes me back to the whole sanctuary healthy living lifestyle. So, yeah. It's just not lighting, right. Um, it's just not supplementation. Um, it's, you know, going beyond, you know, what we're being, you know, diagnosed as, or treated for, you know, working and again, hopefully integrative or functional, you know, medicine approaches, right?
Hmm. Um, but then it's like looking at the hygiene. Of the home, like it's everything. That's what Synergy 360 is all about. It's a holistic approach. It's a 360 approach. It's just not light, right? It's, it's, it's everything. And so from indoor air quality to making sure that we're, you know, breathing optimal air and we're reducing the, you know, CO2 and moisture, you know, humidity levels in these environments that we're expelling as we sleep.
Um, it's, you know, making sure that all of the lighting systems throughout the homes are circadian, right? So it measure, it, you can adjust the lighting on temperature, right? Which is the Calvin, right, you know, down to, you know, 1800 k simulating sunset. So then you could control your lighting system throughout the house.
Um, you know, even getting into kind of like some of the technology as far as. Even OLED, TVDs or you know, that were minimizing the amount of blue light, right? That's your specialty. Um, you know, to, you know, of course we can control these things too. So minimize obviously the blue light before sleep, but the technology, the home itself, um, you know, a low EMF environment, right?
So we don't wanna be sleeping, um, next to, um. Routers, cell phones that are plugged in, that are, that are, you know, transmitting wirelessly. Um, we don't wanna be sleeping next to outlets, you know, courtesy outlets, you know, that we're plugging our laps into. Yes. Um, because you're, what you're doing is you're absorbing the electrical field.
And so, you know, we got air, air quality. We've got EMF, uh, sound is another big one too. You know, we're, we're really looking at, you know, building our buildings, you know, very, very well insulated, um, using. Whatever our air handling climate control systems are, that they're emitting the, the lowest decibel amount of noise and turbulence from air movement through duct work and things like that, right?
So how beautiful would that be to be able to sleep in your room knowing that you're in an MF free environment, that you have circadian light support, right? Um, that it's, it, it's highly insulated. And you have good indoor air quality through the night of your sleep. Right. You know, and depending on how much time we have, you know, like I, I, I like drowning.
I'm a big proponent of that too as well.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and there's a really important topic around that, that if we have time, we can discuss and it kind of gets into the EMF types of things, but you know, so that's definitely the goal of creating that hygiene within the home and even within that sleeping area.
So great. Okay. Maybe we could start with the lighting piece since, um, that's one of the things that so many people struggle with. Like, I just got off a client call right before this, and one of the, the client was saying, well, you know, I mean, I wanna do it, but like, the rest of the family is not interested and what have you.
So how do you approach this? Topic of hopefully making this not seem like a totally weird and makeshift kind of setup.
A hundred percent. Yeah. Like definitely my goal is to take all of the esoteric or kind of the woowoo out of a holistic home, you know, healthy home. Like, hey, what is that? Right? Like, what is this circadian lighting?
And oh, now we're talking melatonin and serotonin suppression and this and that and the other. Right? Like, look. You know, it, it's, this is all science. This is all science based, right? So there, there's nothing, uh, esoteric about this at all. This is mainstream science at its finest, right? And lighting is, is a big thing.
And so, um, just to kind of, kind of, just to kind of go back a little bit. So LED got a, got a really bad name for itself once LEDs, you know, came out, what, 20 plus years ago? Um, and then we're replacing concent, incandescent, lighting, slowly as as time went on, right? Well, when now in the commercial sector, so residential and commercial, they're kinda like two different things.
They're, they're, the worlds are starting to merge a little bit. So in commercial application, they were doing a lot of things for public health and safety and things like this versus residential didn't look at that. It was just all code for, for safety of liability basically. Right. Um. For the most part.
Yeah. Yeah. There was, you know, regions and territories, you know, for energy efficiencies and things like that to keep the contractors, you know, in line to what needed to be done in that region to make sure the home was efficient. Okay. But um, back to the lighting aspect of it, is. So when LED came out, the residential market, they just flooded the Home Depots and all these big retail stores with just, just random lights, right?
Like it was high temperature lights, you know, that were, you know, 4,000, 5,000 k, you know, that were putting out all kinds of blue light, you know, um, they're putting 'em on dimmers. 'cause what Demmer dimmers, what they do is they create dirty electricity. Um, it's basically line noise de is or micros surge electrical pollution or, uh, MEI, there's different terms for it, but basically there's nothing crazy about it.
All it is is putting harmonic line noise onto the electrical system. Mm-hmm. Um, and it, it's all studied in research that these harmonics actually. Create, um, uh, it, it affects the central nervous system and it, it stresses the central nervous system. Okay. Yeah. And we'll, we'll talk through that through the EMF, but dimers create dirty electricity, but they also create flicker.
Yeah. So now we're putting these blue lights, you know, these contractor grades, inexpensive, cheap homes. They're throwing these 5,000 K lights and then putting 'em on a dimmer, you know, and that was like, that's really, in my opinion. What kind of wrecked it for the LED in the residential sector because it just got a bad name and everyone's still, like, I, I, my and my, hopefully I can do some convincing here on your podcast.
Yeah.
Um, is people are like, Nope, LED no way. You know, it's, it's doing this, it's doing that, and all these radiation and whatnot. Um, and I'm here to tell you that's not at all the case.
Yeah.
Because in, in the commercial sector, they were looking at health and wellness applications already. So LED, it's just so funny because they were looking at circadian, you know, lights that were, proper temperatures that were all, they would go all the way from an 1800 Calvin, um, to, you know, say like a, you know, 5,000 Calvin for function.
Okay. Then if you look at it from interior design. Okay, so when interior designers would come in and design these, you know, very, you know, beautiful luxury homes or art galleries, you know, they needed very specific wavelengths and nanometers and temperatures of colors to highlight fabrics. Um, you know, artwork and things like that.
Okay.
Hmm.
And, or paint, you know, in a room. 'cause it can change everything. Yeah. So, you know, the technology existed, but they were, it was so focused more for like light quality. Um, there's another term about lighting. It's called CRI, uh, it's color rendering index. And so the higher percentage of your CRI.
Basically what that means. It's, it's mimicking natural light. Mm-hmm. And so when, when designers, again, are working, they're always looking for manufacturers that produce the highest percentage of CRI rated. Okay. So there, there's nothing crazy about that. Right? Yeah. So that, that already existed and so, yeah.
But it didn't exist in the residential sector. Now over the years, and, and it's great and, and I'm gonna talk about one company called Color Beam, and I'm just gonna go right to the top. Everybody, we can reverse engineer this if you're on a budget. But I'm just gonna go right to the top just to say, Hey, how far the technologies come.
Okay.
Yeah.
And for example, color beam, they actually hired, um, they actually hired a circadian biologist that actually helped them develop the chip set. So each diode, LED diode actually has a chip set that is custom tuned that brings very specific nanometers. So nanometer is the, the invisible, or, I mean, excuse me, is part of the electromagnetic spectrum of light, right?
Yeah. And so it's broken down into nanometers, you know, so low nanometers could be, it's gonna probably be like a cooler blue to the higher nanometers, getting into the orange, into the reds, and then, uh, getting into. You know, ultra, or excuse me, um, near infrared, right? Mm-hmm. And so it's all based upon nanometer.
So what Color Beam did is working with a, uh, the circadian biologist. They literally dialed every diode in. To specific nanometer wavelengths, but also too, to have control of the temperature. So you could, you could dim your light from zero to a hundred percent. So they, they, they call it just, you know, that's dimming, right?
But at say 1%, you know, to 99%. That color range will stay. So say for example, we want an 1800 k say, our clients are like, no, I just like that. It's soft, it's easy on my eyes. I, you know, I, I like it even during the day, you know? 'cause even during the day, you actually want a little bit of blue light, right? Um, you know, uh, for obvious reasons of, you know, I'm sure you explain all that and, and in your talks.
But, um, so when we adjust that light from 1800 at 1% to 99%, it stays at. At that temperature and it maintains those nanometer wavelengths of color.
Hmm.
So it's one of the highest CRI rated types of lighting systems out there. We can do with that lighting system, we can do circ circadian applications. Um, that again, so the, the study that they did, I think it was between two 2000 K and 5,000 k is kind of like where that optimal.
Light spectrum is okay. And so color beams, like they just, they did well, they once they wanted to jump on the board of the circadian bandwagon in the last four years, that's when they revamped the circadian line, because that's where the industry was going. Okay. Everyone, this is nothing new. Circadian lighting was in the commercial sector.
The residential hadn't got caught up. Residential was just looking at it from luxury quality light from a C high CRI rating that's changed. And so companies like Color Beam. Now what we're doing is we're bringing the circadian applications into the residential sector. Um, now another piece about. Well, we can talk about e Do you mind if I kind of share an EMF piece to this puzzle?
Yeah, please.
Uh, so, so, so keep in mind the thing about lighting. You have your standard line voltage. So you have your romex daisy chaining all of your recess lights or whatever you have in your house. Mm-hmm. And then it's going down to a switch. A lot of people are just guilty by putting that switch on a dimmer and just putting an inexpensive LED lighting in.
Yeah, it's you're, you're kind of creating kind of like the, just a real, not a favorable situation. Right, because now we're injecting the dirty electricity, like I talked about from the dimmer, and you also have all the can lights too that, you know, obviously if they're gen generalized, it puts off electrical fields.
It's not a real big concern. Um, where color beam, this is a really fascinating, so anybody that's interested in lighting and geeking out, um, color beam went 100% low voltage infrastructure, which means every one of their light engines plugs in with an ethernet cat cable.
Whoa,
that cool? Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah. And even the switch. Now the switch that you can control. So you know, you're obviously your, you know, the light controls on your, on your wall, that's a hundred percent low voltage as well.
Hmm.
So from an EMF perspective, like they nailed it. Matter of fact, I asked, I'm like, how did you guys like figure all this EMF stuff?
They're like, well we didn't, you know, we were just low voltage contractors and we knew that we could bring low voltage to a light. Still power it. And so it just made it easier for low voltage contractors. So basically companies like Color Beam, they're starting to merge the low voltage infrastructure of wiring, which is brilliant because anywhere we can hard wire using ethernet cables and, and again, we'll kind of get into infrastructure, you know, as far as hardwired communications with wireless, you know, to wired routers and cameras and securities and doorbells and things like that.
And going all hardwired. That was why they did that. But also too. They, they're power adapters, you know, so looking at everything from mechanical equipment that produces dirty electricity, their power adapters were the cleanest adapters. And, and then they, they're decoupled with this, these controller systems that they have throughout the, the infrastructure.
And I said, how did you guys figure that out? They're like, well, we work a lot in the audio visual industry. Mm-hmm. So we can't have any interference. So our power by default just has to be clean. And I'm like, well, do you realize that you just cleaned, you just created the lowest EMF environment.
Congratulations. They didn't even look at it from that. They had no idea.
My gosh. That's
amazing. Yeah. And, and, and, and also too, I know there's a lot here, but there's other lighting manufacturers, uh, some big names out there. I won't say them, but here we're, we're talking about advancements of technology, right?
Yes.
My goal is nature's the gold standard, hardwired the home, creating the home more kind of analog, but still adjoin the, you know, the modern amenities and technologies, if you will. Mm-hmm. So, so my goal is, um. Uh, oh, darn it. I just lost track on that. Um, bringing you back on that.
Yeah, no problem.
Lighting manufacturer, so Oh,
perfect.
Yeah. Yeah. So, so, um, they went, they're starting to go wireless. Yes,
yes, yes. Totally. Okay. What are your thoughts on all that?
Oh, no, no. Good. They're out.
I out, right? Because that's the things that I've said for, and it's, I've felt like a bit of a stuckness on some of the directives for people that are, especially in like.
Large homes, they wanted to make it seamless. They don't wanna just have these makeshift random red lights or incandescence or whatever. They wanna have a whole seamless thing. And yet my concern has been some of whatever the more well known, like the Phillips Hughes or what have you, introducing all this extra EMF on top of what we already got going on.
Yes. Yeah. And we're talking even in the big name. You know, like Phillips Hughes, and those are quick, you know, consumable, you know, consumer graded items that you can get, you know, to Best buys around Amazon or whatever.
Yes.
The fixtures I'm talking about would be kinda like on the high scale.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but you know, they have their, like their, they have their more inexpensive lines, but their, their controllers, the, like, they went all wireless and I'm like, guys, you're out.
No way. Like, I will not specify any. Let me be careful about this. If I specify a wireless commu transmitting device, it has to be, have the opportunity to be disabled. Okay. Big, big one, right. But they're relying, you know, some of these lights rely on that as the control, which blows me away. And they're using like different ZigBee or you know, different wavelengths or FM signals that are lower.
You know, everybody's kind of got their different thing and then you gotta do all this research to figure it out.
Yeah.
Guys. Let's just hardwire it. There's technology, there's systems out there. We're, we're beyond that. We're beyond that. We can hardwire these things and I'll, I'll throw a shout out to like blue blocker lights.
Um, you know, like, so if you're on a budget, little takeaway here. Um, if you're on a budget, what, what's really cool about what Blue Blocker did, um, is it has three light modes. Mm-hmm. And so it's three temperatures. It goes I think 1800, 2700. To 3,600 K. Mm-hmm. So the 1800 is like a true, there's like no, um.
There's no blue light in that, you know? And I think then on the 2,700 brings a little bit of blue nanometer. And then of course, you know, the 36 obviously you see that that blue spectrum pop up on the spectrum analyzer. Yes. Um, and then what it does, it's on a toggle switch. So they're recommending get rid of the dimmer, which means you're getting rid of the dirty electricity, the, you know, the EMF, and then you just toggle the switch to go 18, you know, 27, 36.
Okay. Um, it's a great solution, great alternative. They have, you know, the bulb, they have the flood lamp. So if you're doing, you know, your, you know, six inch flood ceiling floods, so that's if you're on a super budget. But if you really want the tunability, the full range, all the different spectrums. That's where we get into the manufacturers, you know, such as Color Beep.
And there's other ones that are cheaper too, but I just kind of wanted to go to the high end range to say what's possible.
Oh, so helpful. Okay. Amazing. I'm already getting the sense, it's like I feel like we're gonna need a part two for you. 'cause there's so much information. Right. Oh my goodness. Before we shift over to how you're managing your own sleep, and I know this is a huge topic.
What kind of closing thoughts might we have for this topic of huge topic of really creating this kind of sanctuary environment for people that are looking to optimize their sleep, other call outs.
Yeah. Like, so you mean as far as like design of like, do I offer like, or work with con architects or contractors on creating this?
Yeah. And other, yeah. Kind of like guidance on things to think about. 'cause I think for so many people, this is still kind of a new concept of how we can create our home environment to mm-hmm. Serve our biology. And so maybe potentially things that people are stepping over, maybe more on the EMF piece or beyond.
Yeah. No. So what I. You know, because I'm only one person, right? And so how. Especially if I'm building a home. If I'm building a home, I'm definitely not helping anyone other than maybe I'm posting some cool posts and you know, sharing. But my goal really is, is so much bigger. If I wanna do an outreach and I wanna help people is I work with design.
So I put together all of my own specifications and design like in a CSI formatted that architects and contractors work with all the time. Yes. Um, um, and, um. And then, so I work with architects. I work with the builders, I work with the trades, I work with the designers. And so it's really, oh, I wanted to bring in one piece.
It was the Building Biology Institute. Um. You know, I know it's a little, you know, late to, to bring that up, but I wanna bring it up 'cause it's really important. So there's a lot of building biologists out there, um, that are doing amazing things. Um, I think I'm like the only builder that's triple certified in, in the country.
You know, I'm, I'm looking to Yeah, I know. Yeah, right. It's, I, we need more builders. You know, if you're watching this and you're a builder, go through the Building Biology Institute, get certified at least, um, because you get to learn. It's pretty in depth science, you know, about like EMF and, you know, air quality and, um, you know, all, you know, community development, planning, building, things like that.
And, um, so when that's actually, I learned a lot through there. I was already building, building biology before I even found them. Um, but when I found them, it was a godsend, right? Because I could just geek out and go deep. Yes. Deep within all of these, like beyond, right? Um, and you will, anybody that signs up for that, you're, you're gonna learn a lot.
You know, they got, you know, 1 0 1 advocate type programs and then they have their adep certifications. Um, the building consultant is a good one. Because it's well-rounded, talks about, you know, indoor air quality building, science installation, you know, um, lighting, water filtration, all the different things.
It covers it pretty well-rounded. So through a lot of that, that's really kind of what. Took me down the rabbit hole to start putting together vetting, uh, manufacturers, you know, finding products that are, you know, non-toxic. Right. That are low VOC, no formaldehydes, right? Like it's everything. Right. You know, we're talking like 8,000.
You know, imagine that 8,000 materials and, and I, I, I'm trying to be a specialist in, in all of 'em. It's really challenging. I bet.
Oh my
gosh. And I don't claim to know everything, but I, I definitely do the research and through like the Building Biology Institute now I've, I have a team of colleagues and engineers that are at the top of their game.
So when working with like Synergy for 360, for example, it's not just working with me. You're working with the powerhouse of like building biologists and engineers behind,
like, if I don't have the answers, I'll find the answer. Right? Yeah.
Um, I think kind of, sorry if I get went off of your question here, but
No, it's great.
So my goal is, is through the years and what I've done and, and it's, it's pretty mastered and of course we're always evolving and adding to that spec list, but I have generalized spec sheets for electrical. For air conditioning, climate ventilation, filtration, uh, lighting systems like we just talked about, the lighting.
I think the lighting was a good topic 'cause it kind of just kind of gives you, imagine we just had that talk topic about light. Imagine if we would've had that topic on everything. We would be here on a long call, but. Just to kind of give that perspective of, you know, building systems. By the way, we, we didn't even get into what types of buildings that I build.
I build mass wall construction. Uh, mass wall is, well, I kind of talked about it in the beginning. I was gonna lead to this, but ICF, but ever since, um, I started ICF, now I've went into ICCF, which is insulated composite. Concrete form blocks, and it basically, it's a reclaimed, uh, materials. So it's a carbon, you know, has a carbon negative footprint to it.
Um, so it's a reprocessed material that's formed into a mold that creates these big blocks that you insulate and you fill full of concrete. Mm-hmm. So they're mold, they're mold resistant, they're fire resistant, they're ins, highly insulative, um, reducing load values, um, oh my God, the, you know, sound resistant.
The earth, the list goes, hurricane resistance, so on and so forth. Okay. Um, but there's other mass wall, the hempcrete, I know some of our audience here has heard of Hempcrete. Um, that's a great one. Um, my, my, if I was, if, if I had the time and there was a budget, uh, I would definitely go, um, rammed Earth construction.
We're talking two foot thick walls. So these walls also, they, they, so if we're in an area and we're exposed to external environments, like cellular towers, power lines, you know, sometimes you can't get away from that, right? Um, and this level of construction that I'm talking about, they block that, you know, and then we could, you know, shield certain areas of the home to create these different things.
So the electrical systems, everything that I put together. I have in specifications that I work in the early design phase. Now of course I talk about new construction in that, but if, say, say you're getting ready to do a renovation, um, and I, it's always nice to work with an architect. We don't have to have an architect or at least a designer, but I would work with them remotely.
Um, I do a lot of assessments, so I'll usually come out, do a site assessment, work with a client. Then I'll, I'll put together a report and then I'll give the good, better, or best recommendations for every category. Yeah. Of the house, of what we want to do, what the client's goals are, how we wanna optimize that, and then hopefully we're working with the designer or you know, then we'll bring in the general contractor.
Because if we bring in a general contractor, and by the way. The whole goal of this is to main, to make this very mainstream, right? Mm-hmm. We don't wanna, we don't wanna bring the contractor going in where, where am I gonna get this stuff? Like, I have even no idea where this is gonna come from. You know, like.
We're building this from Earth and we're ordering this from across the globe, you know that's not gonna fly. Right? We're the goal for Synergy 360 is to mainstream the process, to be able to work with the general contractors to where, oh, hey, okay. Yeah, I've heard about EMFs, didn't really understand it, but the way that you're wire in the home makes total sense.
Like, I get that. Okay, you want dedicated circuits. Okay, well, hey, it's gonna cost a little bit more money because it's gonna be a little bit more wiring. Yeah. We're always trying to save the client's money. It's like. No, this is a paradigm shift.
Hmm.
So once I explained to the con, and I'm talking again, non-toxic building materials, mass wall construction, electrical systems, plumbing systems, you know, HVAC systems, so on and so forth, um, we're, you know, hey, you know, contractor, you know, we're designing this because we're really focused on.
High level air quality and we're bringing in fresh air using technology such as ER vs. You know, we're saturating the internal air, we're pushing the old air out. We're getting this mix. Exchange. Contractors understand that. Yeah. They just don't know that. A lot do I, I'm not minimizing anyone here, but you know, a lot of people are starting now.
Contractors are like, oh yeah. You know,
I,
I, I've been working with HVAC contractors that are really geeking out and understanding
fresh air, strange air filtration, things like that. So all the specs that I put together. And all these departments are very kind of like generalized to where as long as a general contractor meets an equivalent, or the architect meets an equivalent of that, again, from that good, better, or best list.
Mm-hmm. Now we're being mindful of our client's budget, our client's goals, and we're really tailoring. Program, again, whether it's a renovation or a new build, and we're making this mainstream. And also too, I help manage the project. So if the contractor needs that on, on site support or on or offsite support, you know, I'm here to walk 'em through the specifications.
Um, provide only engineering, understanding the background, working with the trades, um, making sure that they're doing what they need to do and also being, yeah. Um, as kind of an auditor, auditor for the client, because if the client hires the contractor, Hey Brian, this is great. All these specs, but how do we know that he's even follow or she is following these specs?
We don't know that. And so what I do is I put together, this is where the certification program comes in because then I come in, we do the orig, the the upfront design specification. Mm-hmm. We embed that into the plans, into the construction contractor agrees. We move forward and then I'll do just kind of randomized inspections and you know, and at the end of the construction then we'll course we'll come in with all of the equipment and the pumps and the meters, and we'll do all of the collection sampling.
And to confirm, yes, you know, this is Bill Nontoxic non VOC. Good air airflow, no formaldehydes. Um, you know, measure all the lighting, you know, it's enough free. And of course we're tracking the process through the whole thing. So we're definitely ensuring that, you know, at the end we're obviously going to meet that certification.
Wow. So much to consider. Well. Clearly such an expert in this field. And like I said, if you're at all down for a part two, I feel like we're gonna have to go in more deeply 'cause there's so much to discuss. Yeah. But what we do do with every guest we bring on is ask four questions around how you're managing your own sleep.
Because on here has thought intimately about their health and, and their sleep. So what would we see from your nightly sleep routine and that we could learn from you right now?
Absolutely. You know, and I'm kind of like, you know, practice what you preach, right? Yeah. If, if you're, if you're building the sanctuaries.
You have to be living it. That's just my, that's just my opinion, right? Yeah. Like if I don't know anything about that or I don't have these practices, you know, I dunno, like, so that's just, I, I live it and so part of my regimen is. Obviously I know to minimize the blue light, you know. Um, so sundown, you know, I, I minimize the impact of any blue light, whether it's, you know, putting your screen on red or, you know, I have circadian lights, so I tune, tune all my lights down to like 1800 K.
Um, so the lighting's a big one. Um, yeah, for me, I mean, nutrition's different for everybody, but, you know, I always try to eat a little bit earlier, you know, and go for a walk so everything's digested. Um, yeah. Gosh, what else? Uh, you know, I, I have a very, uh, low MF environment, you know, so like, you know, all my circuits are pretty much killed at night.
Um, what I do, um, is I have like these little IR remotes on that go, like on lamps. Or that go on to plugin things around the whole room. Okay. And, you know, depending, you know, sometimes, you know, depending where I'm at at the time, but you can take these, so say for example, you have a lamp sitting on your, um, on your nightstand.
Mm-hmm.
Well, keep in mind that electrical field that's in that wire in the wall. Again, we want to distance ourself from these, from these EMFs, okay? Mm-hmm. Well, now that travels up through the cord to the lamp, whether the lamps on or off, right? It's going to the switch where you turn it off. So just imagine you have lamps on both sides and you're being exposed to these electrical fields all night.
Yeah. It's just, it's power. There's nothing crazy about it, right? Yeah. But what I, what I have is I have these little infrared remotes. So I just hit the remote, boom, kills all the power. So, uh, all the power stays in the wall. Or you could, you can go, you know, like on my hel sometimes I'll do like a kill switch.
It'll kill all the power in the room. So, sorry, long-winded. But basically I'm, I'm minimizing the impact of the EMF exposure. So we've got light, we've got minimal EMF exposure, we're cutting out the blue light. Um, and grounding is another one. It's a topic we didn't have a chance to get into today, but. Um, you know these, if you are grounding using sheets, pillow cases, these things, everyone, you gotta be really careful about this because yes, they give you the tool, you plug it in, you know, it shows that you have no wiring errors, right?
But then you're plugging in your grounding mat and you're getting a lot of interference in electrical fields that are feeding through the mechanical grounding system of the home. Back into that grounding mat for me. This a takeaway, you know, not that everybody has this luxury, but like, I'll take a wire and I'll run it out into the ground and then I'll drive a stake into the ground.
Yeah. I have a meter, um, a really sophisticated meter's. Awesome. And it measures, uh, electrical fields, magnetic fields, and it measures body voltage. So it goes from. Body voltage measuring in voltage, um, to millivolts, and that's what the meter does, and it has a probe and you hold onto the probe and so you can kind of walk around the room.
Again, I do this with inspections too, um, but just to measure the millivolts. And so when I naturally ground into the earth. These grounding sheets or whatever and I put my hand or I sit down on the sheets.
Mm-hmm.
I could go like, say for example, on 500 millivolts, which is a half, half a volt, volt of body voltage that we're just absorbing the energy.
Right. I can put my hand on that and drop to zero.
Wow.
And if, and if we have kind of nuisance dirty power coming through that, the mechanical ground that we're plugging that probe into the wall, into the ground.
Yeah.
I, I, I'll actually see it go up to like 2000 millivolts because you're feeding all that back into the house.
So something to kind of make note. So the grounding, the lighting, the, the minimal impact of the blue light, you know, nutrition, um, you know, walks at night, you know, things like that. So that's, that's. I can't think of anything else offhand. Supplementation, you know, so,
yeah. No, that's amazing. I love that.
Okay. And then what might we see in your morning sleep environment with the idea that how you start your day could impact your
sleep? Oh man. I am like so big on this one. I don't know, uh, if some people will agree with this, but, uh, it's so, it's, you know, waking up, you know, I wake up on my own biology, you know, it's kind of my, where my clock is and, um, yeah.
It's interesting. In the winter, it'll drop down to like seven people that know me be like, oh, we know he doesn't get up till seven 30. But in the, in the summertime it'll be six. But what I'll do is when I naturally wake up, you know, I obviously do my, I personally, me, I just have my quick prayer.
Mm.
And I, I do, I do Kundalini and stuff, but what I do is go outside.
This is ultimate. I go outside and all sun gaze. You know, at that sun rising to reset, you know, that, you know, or just to wake up or whatever it does.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Yeah. And are, have you played around with the methylene blue drops yet?
Yes, totally. I just had them today. Uh,
yeah. Did you do the, the blue eyes.
I have the blue eyes. I've been cautious on the blue eyes. I don't, are you a blue eye one?
Oh yeah. Yeah. You know. Yeah. 'cause it has, it has the gold, it has silver. Yeah. It has the Quentin, the Quentin, uh, Quinton or whatever. And then of course, you know, oh, a little bit of peppermint. Mm-hmm. You, because I was like, peppermint, you know, and I'm like, that's gonna hurt.
But I, I've turned it on to a lot of people. And everybody's swearing by it. A little bit clearer vision and the whole photobiomodulation of dropping it in, you know, staring at that sun early morning, you know, very safe. Uh, it's a game changer. It's impressive what it does. So that's, that's been my morning routine.
Um. You know, uh, caffeine, by the way. I, it, this took a lot of years. I was stuck on Bulletproof coffee for years and, you know, coffee, this, and, you know, all, all the good mushroom stuff Right. You know, mold free, all that kinda stuff. But I, it's been a year and a half since I've been off caffeine.
Wow.
Congratulations.
That was a tough one.
Ate it. Wow.
And it's interesting because you have to reset so many things. It took me like six months. Like it wasn't hard to quit it. But what was hard was the dip in the energy that was mind bending for me. Yeah.
Wild, right?
Yeah. And so what I do in the morning is E even then when I was still drinking it, I would, I wouldn't drink caffeine until, you know, nine because the cortisol response and then bringing in the natural salts.
I was doing Quinton first thing and waking, you know, just to stabilize everything, you know, all that science. But, um, I still, even when I drink my, like I still drink like. Ceremonial cacao with different things.
Yeah.
You know, but I still won't even bring that into like eight or nine because I'm kind of like an intermittent fasting person.
So I'm always like minimizing impact of like calories for like 16 hours. That's just what I've always done, you know? Totally. Part of, part of, part of the routine.
Love that. So good. And congrats on the caffeine free lifestyle. It's amazing. Yeah. Faint of heart. Absolutely. So good.
Oh my God. You, you'll find out how much you really mask.
You know, and I, you just, you want to think caffeine from coffee. Just, I don't know. Personally me, I didn't think it had that much of an impact and, and it took a year. A year. Like I, I think, I feel like I'm still kind of climbing out of it to finding my own natural energy levels for sure.
I get that. No, I did something similar where I stopped caffeine back in July of last year, and it has been this similar because I'd always like identified as like a coffee feed and I'd say, oh, well I don't really drink or don't have any of these other vices, so you know, that's my thing.
And it was just such a. A part of my day. And so yeah, it does take something definitely shifts things. And then the third question would be, what might we see on your nightstand or in your environment, which you might have already touched on with the lamp and, uh,
well, yeah, like, uh, I play around, so crystals, I have, crystals, you know, uh, yeah.
'cause I just like 'em. And, uh, and obviously the benefits for crystals and mitigating, you know, and harmonizing and whatnot. Um. I have a blue, I, I've been playing around with like different blue blocker lamps just for reading, you know, for practicality. And again, putting on that IR switch, right? So if I have my lamp again, that power's going there, boom.
I hit oh and then, oh, you're gonna love this. So on my bed in, in my current living situation, 'cause I just sold my last house and so I'm getting ready to rebuild and would love to talk about that real quick. But, so on my bed on the edge, I have these line of like these infrared remotes. So I have a very clean inverter.
Mini split system with an air, uh, purifier and all that kind of stuff, and where I'm at now, but I have the remote. I have all of the remotes for all the different lamps that I want to control. Of course, I have like, you know, salt lamps all over the place, right? So,
yes.
You know, so on the side of my bed you'll see like those little of remotes, and I go through and like boop, boop, boop, boop, and then I just hit, I just turn everything off as I'm starting to power down.
It's pretty cool. Cool. So that's what you'll see on the edge of my bed and my nightstand.
Literally no one has said that, and I love that. That's amazing. So great. Um, okay. And then the last question would be to date, what would you say has made the biggest change to the management of your sleep? Or maybe because aha moment in managing your sleep.
I really think it's just the whole circadian biology. You know, it, it's waking up, it's, you know, for me, getting off the caffeine.
Yes.
Right. Um, getting the natural light in the morning. Um, again, you know, just really. Clean nutrition, you know, cutting it out early, you know, in, in the evenings, going for the walks, you know, I really think, um, well stimulation from like.
Reading, um, on social media.
Yeah,
sure. Um, I, I think that that's a really hard one, right? Because that's when we're catching up on the thing. So it's like catching up on email, oh, I'm gonna catch up an email, I'm gonna jump to social media. I'm on here. That's to me, I think if I can cut that out, I think that'll be, uh, I think that'll be even better, you know?
A hundred percent. No, I mean, you're not alone. That's something all the time. So, but I love that so holistic and the fact that you're bringing this to people, to the masses and looking to make this something that we can all eventually, hopefully, have access to or more people have access to. This is very exciting.
So, so appreciate the work you're doing. Yeah. How many people follow you and work with you and get your brain on their, on their homes?
Absolutely. Thank you so much. Yeah, so it's Synergy. So it's Sergy source, so it's S-E-N-E-R-G-Y 3 6 0 dot com's, the website, and then you can find me at the same, same thing.
Synergy 360 on Instagram. We're on LinkedIn too as well. Synergy 360. Um, I'm really good about following through on the messages, so if somebody's on the show feel, out, feel, feel free to message me. Go to the site. You can message me through the site. You can contact me through the site. Um, yeah, website, um, Instagram, you know, LinkedIn, um, and also too.
I know we don't, we're at the top of the time here, but, um, I'm starting the next build here and I'm gonna bring in a project manager so I can continue to work across the country and the nation, just so everybody knows, you know, if you need help, you know, if I can't help you, I'll, I'll help find the help for you, but.
We're getting ready to build the, uh, what I call the, which we, it's a nonprofit. It's so, uh, we incorporated, it's called the Healthy Builders Academy, and I'm actually getting ready to build the headquarters right here in Tucson, Arizona. And so I will be posting the whole process, the whole construction process.
So I'm really excited about that. So soon people will be able to follow the architectural process. The design process, the building process and everything. There's so much we didn't get to talk about on the show today. And again, we'll talk about it soon. Yes. We call, but you'll, you'll be able to follow all those processes through this construction phase for sure.
Geez, so important. And you know, people listening, I can tell you like. Brian has worked with some of the biggest names that are looking to create, you know, really innovative, cutting edge spaces for their homes, and you're really listening to a top expert in this space and, and one of the only in certain areas of right, with the multiple reads, I guess you could say, or you know, bilities that you.
Present that not everyone has. So really, really incredible. Thank you so much for taking the time and for the work you do, and we are definitely gonna have to have you back if you're open to it.
Molly, you're so amazing and thank you for having me on the show, sharing me with your audience, and I'll look forward to returning.
Yes, absolutely. Thank you. You've been listening to The Sleep As A Skill Podcast. The top podcast for people who wanna 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. 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.
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