Sleep: Clifton Flack of CiiTECH On Why You Should Make Getting A Good Night’s Sleep A Major Priority In Your Life, And How You Can Make That Happen

Go to sleep at the same time. Aiming to go to sleep at the same time every night will create a routine and help set your body’s biological clock. Eventually, your body will tell you that it is time to sleep, and in some cases, it will naturally wake you up when it has had enough.

Getting a good night’s sleep has so many physical, emotional, and mental benefits. Yet with all of the distractions that demand our attention, going to sleep on time and getting enough rest has become extremely elusive to many of us. Why is sleep so important and how can we make it a priority?

In this interview series called “Sleep: Why You Should Make Getting A Good Night’s Sleep A Major Priority In Your Life, And How You Can Make That Happen” we are talking to medical and wellness professionals, sleep specialists, and business leaders who sell sleep accessories to share insights from their knowledge and experience about how to make getting a good night’s sleep a priority in your life.

As part of this interview series, we had the pleasure to interview Clifton Flack.

Clifton is the CEO and Founder of UK registered cannabis healthcare company CiiTECH Ltd, and flagship CBD brand Provacan.co.uk, established after several years building and working within the medical cannabis community in Israel and the UK.

Clifton was born in the UK and has over 25 years experience in consumer and corporate marketing, always driven by data insights and customer satisfaction built on top of the best product possible.

If you’ve ever heard Clifton speaking publicly, you would see a thought leader with an immense amount of passion that truly believes in what he does. You would never guess that off-stage he’s a very private and quiet person.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to ‘get to know you’. Can you tell us a bit about your background and your backstory?

I’m a father to four boys so I know a thing or two about how important sleep is! My background is in corporate and digital marketing in which I have over 25 years of experience. I was born in the UK but now live in Israel where I spend most of my time immersing myself in the medical cannabis, CBD and wellness industries.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this particular career path?

Entering the emerging medical cannabis industry in late 2014, I co-founded iCAN Israel-Cannabis and CannaTech, the International Conference on Medical Cannabis Innovation & Investment. This cannabis innovation summit brought the global industry to Israel to discover and uncover the latest scientific knowledge together with Agrotech and Medical Cannabis innovations.

With Israel quickly rising to the forefront of the cannabis sector and after a number of years building and working within the cannabis community, I saw the opportunity to stop talking and start doing.

Today I am the founder and CEO of CiiTECH including our flagship cannabidiol (CBD) brand Provacan.

Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the sleep and wellness fields? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?

I had struggled with sleep for a number of years due to stress, anxiety, aches here and there and being a father of four. Being a new immigrant in a new country also came with its own set of hurdles. I had heard about CBD, which was still taboo at this point, but after my own research, I decided to try it for myself had quickly became a regular user.

As part of my job I spent many hours talking with some of the best cannabis researchers in the world and developed a passion for natural wellness solutions.

As an expert, I understand how CBD interacts with the endocannabinoid system and plays a role in a number of processes, including promoting sleep. The team has worked closely with professional athletes in order to better understand the impact of CBD on sleep and recovery. We learned here that sleep is one of the most important factors in recovery for athletes.

As a result of our ongoing research into CBD, wellness, and more recently sleep, we’ve helped shape the CBD industry, bringing CBD supplements to a level comparable to your daily vitamins and supplements.

CiiTECH’s flagship brand Provacan, and sports wellness brand IMPACT, make high-quality and well-researched CBD products, available for purchase in the UK, and globally, via our online store. Our customers come to us because they trust our knowledge and quality as Provacan has proven itself to be at the top year after year.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Well, it would have to be Cannabinoids as Therapeutics (Milestones in Drug Therapy) by Professor Raphael Mechulam. It was my first real introduction to cannabis therapeutics on a professional level and was one of the reasons why I decided to create CiiTECH in the first place.

Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?

“If at first you don’t succeed, try try again”. As kids we’re told, but with youth we don’t always understand, that life can be hard and decisions don’t always go your way. I’ve always tried to live by this motto. I think there are a lot of lessons here, but the key for me is to never lose belief in yourself, no matter how hard things get or how many times you need to try before striking your gold.

Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Let’s start with the basics. How much sleep should an adult get? Is there a difference between people who are young, middle-aged, or elderly?

The importance of a good night’s sleep cannot be overstated. When someone is tossing and turning for hours, the quality of sleep drastically decreases, and our entire body suffers the next day.

The endocannabinoid system has taught me that each body is unique. The quality of sleep is more important than the quantity of sleep, so everyone’s sleep is unique and the most important thing is to listen to your body.

For example, if there was a hypothetical choice between getting to bed at 10PM and getting up at 4AM, for a total of 6 hours, or going to bed at 2AM and getting up at 10AM for a total of 8 hours, is one a better choice for your health? Can you explain?

I think we are creatures of habit. Creating a system and environment in which our body can properly function involves going to sleep at a certain hour and getting enough of those zzz’s to help you function optimally. Early to bed, early to rise is best.

This is why CBD is so good for sleep. It doesn’t induce sleep, it just helps you sleep better. Getting 8 hours of sleep is the standard, but life is busy and stressful. I don’t know many people other than pensioners who consistently get that much sleep every night.

As an expert, this might be obvious to you, but I think it would be instructive to articulate this for our readers. Let’s imagine a hypothetical 35-year-old adult who was not getting enough sleep. After working diligently at it for 6 months he or she began to sleep well and got the requisite hours of sleep. How will this person’s life improve? Can you help articulate some of the benefits this person will see after starting to get enough sleep? Can you explain?

Sleep is everything! During sleep, the body rests and recovers. It happens every single day, night after night. Skin cells regenerate, nails grow, muscles revive, bones strengthen, and the mind recharges. This affects how you feel about yourself, your cognitive abilities, mood, appetite and growth. If you get a good quality of sleep, all these things will improve. One of the core issues we see from our customers is that they are getting enough sleep but they are restless during the night and don’t wake up feeling refreshed. Our CBD users say they toss and turn less, even if they are using the CBD for other things.

Many things provide benefits but they aren’t necessarily a priority. Should we make getting a good night’s sleep a major priority in our life? Can you explain what you mean?

We are conditioned to believe that exercise and diet are key to our health and wellbeing. Sleep is just as important and needs to be added in here so it’s front of mind. As you sleep, your body and mind regenerate, allowing you to wake up feeling fresh and alert. Sleeping well also helps the body stay healthy and prevent diseases. It is impossible for the brain to function properly without enough sleep.

So yes, getting a good night’s sleep and doing everything you can to reach that optimal level of sleep quality should be a priority for you.

The truth is that most of us know that it’s important to get better sleep. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives? How should we remove those obstacles?

Today’s environment is filled with distractions and is extremely fast-paced. Finding the balance is nice in thought but hard in reality. This is one of the reasons why I chose to advocate for CBD. This supplement has the power to help you find that balance, and to support your general wellness by promoting better sleep which is the key to everything else.

I would say smartphones are the number one key blockage we face. Unless you turn it off you are never truly disconnected, whether it’s late-night online shopping, answering emails in bed, gaming, social media or the simple ping or alert that you hear from it.

Stress is also a blockage. If your mind can’t rest because of anxiety or pain then you’ll find it hard to get a good night’s sleep. Take care of your well-being during the day, which will help you sleep at night.

The last blockage is routine, life is busy and there’s always one last thing to do or one last episode to watch before bed. Set a time to switch off and keep to it.

Do you think getting “good sleep” is more difficult today than it was in the past?

Yes, absolutely. There is no denying that we live in an environment that has become so fast-paced, people are working long, gruelling hours, environmental conditions are becoming more polluted, weather changes are becoming more dramatic while stress levels, depression, and suicides are on the rise. A severe recession and the COVID-19 pandemic have caused a massive financial burden to people, resulting in sleepless nights and increased health risks.

Ok. Here is the main question of our discussion. Can you please share “5 things you need to know to get the sleep you need and wake up refreshed and energized”? If you can, kindly share a story or example for each.

1. Go to sleep at the same time. Aiming to go to sleep at the same time every night will create a routine and help set your body’s biological clock. Eventually, your body will tell you that it is time to sleep, and in some cases, it will naturally wake you up when it has had enough.
2. Eat a healthy, wholesome diet. Another key to our wellness and sleep is a healthy, nutritious diet filled with all the nutrients that help our body stay strong. Another problem with our fast-paced environment is that it is much easier to order your meals rather than shopping and preparing your own. The problem here is that many of these meals end up being overly processed and in turn lacking the nutrients that we so desperately need to sleep and function properly.
3. Create a restful environment. Your bedroom is your sanctuary and it should be kept that way. Removing distractions such as TVs, laptops, and iPads will help your brain understand that this is a place to shut off. If the light bothers you get black-out curtains, create a low-light environment, and find the right pillow, mattress and comforter. You sleep for almost half your life, make it count.
4. Sleep in separate bedrooms. When you sleep at night all you do is sleep. This means it is time to be selfish. We are culturally accustomed to believing that we need to sleep in the same bed and under the same covers as our partners. However, some researchers are finding that sleeping under your own covers or even alone results in fewer sleep interruptions and a better quality of sleep.
5. Take supplements such as CBD that can support your wellness and sleep. We all need a little supporting hand sometimes. CBD does not cause recovery and it is not a cure for pain. However, it can help your body manage the process of sleep and recovery better by giving it a little helping hand.

What would you advise someone who wakes up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back to sleep?

I will be completely biased here because I truly believe in the power of CBD. I myself take CBD every night before bed so I would recommend either start taking a low dose if you are new to CBD every night and work your way up until you find that sweet spot. If you are already taking CBD then changing your dosage or time may also work better.

What are your thoughts about taking a nap during the day? Is that a good idea, or can it affect the ability to sleep well at night?

If your body is telling you to sleep and you can afford yourself a nap then by all means take it!

Wonderful. We are nearly done. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

I’ll have to say Queen Elizabeth II. Having recently celebrated 75 years on the throne, she’s lived through so many global events and worked with so many world leaders. With access to some of the worlds best kept secrets and having been consulted on global geo-political changing strategies, her perspective on some of the toughest political and nationalistic issues would be a discourse to remember.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

www.provacan.co.uk

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!