Participants: Margot Marshall (Host), Dr. Eddie Ramirez
Series Code: HL
Program Code: HL000018A
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00:15 Welcome to "Healthy Living!"
00:16 I'm your host Margot Marshall. 00:18 What is the price of a good night's sleep? 00:22 A marketing analytics firm projects the sleep industry 00:26 could reach an astounding 32 billion dollars this year 00:30 in the United States alone but that's just the dollar figure 00:35 not the cost to our health. 00:36 Dr. Eddie Ramirez has many proven sleep solutions 00:40 including a surprising one from a recent research paper. 00:44 Stay tuned! 01:22 Here to talk to us about sleep solutions is Dr. Eddie Ramirez 01:27 who travels a lot going through many time zones. 01:30 In fact last year, he visited 25 countries, yet managed to 01:35 avoid jetlag. 01:37 Welcome Eddie! Thank you very much. 01:39 You have our full attention. 01:41 Yes, this is a big, hot problem today. 01:45 In the clinical consultation, I see many patients 01:49 that complain that they have issues with their sleep. 01:54 So if you're one of those, I invite you to go and get a 01:58 piece of paper and a pen as you will be getting 02:01 some very important information today. 02:04 In fact, I have even had people in the airline industry 02:09 like air attendants come to me and say, "You know, what's 02:11 your secret, you know, can I do what you are doing?" 02:15 I mean, just recently I had a television interview in Norway, 02:21 flying from America and, I mean, I flew coach and got off 02:28 the plane and went to the studio 02:30 and recorded a few programs there, you know. 02:32 So I know that if you understand the principles, you can 02:37 also be able to implement this in your own life. 02:41 Even if you're traveling through different time zones 02:45 and your body clock - I mean that's major! 02:49 I mean, a lot of people have sleep problems when they 02:51 don't do that - just ordinarily they have sleep 02:54 problems functioning (That's right) but you even 02:56 managed to get good sleep when your body clock 03:00 should be telling you something else - so very, very 03:03 interested to see what you have to say about this. 03:06 So the key here - it's going to be a very important substance 03:10 that your body secretes that is called "melatonin." Okay. 03:16 So the melatonin is going to be the important substance. 03:19 And see, we know by research papers that melatonin is 03:24 so important for healthy living. 03:28 In fact, it has been called the most powerful antioxidant. 03:34 That's impressive! We hear a lot about antioxidants. 03:37 Yes, people pay a lot of money for this antioxidant, 03:40 and this other one and they neglect their own melatonin. 03:44 So we're going to learn today how we can 03:47 optimize that melatonin. 03:49 Melatonin also helps decrease ageing because melatonin 03:55 plays a special role during the night 03:57 to repair your organism. 04:00 So every night that you are sleeping, that melatonin 04:04 has been acting repairing your body and so forth. 04:09 Also, there is some interesting research that suggests 04:12 that melatonin may help us fight certain cancers as it has that 04:18 antioxidant activity in the body. 04:22 Well that makes sense because that's what antioxidants do, 04:25 so, yes, this is sounding better and better! 04:28 And also we know that it may help decrease blood pressure 04:34 and also may improve immunity. 04:38 That's why every person needs to learn to have optimum levels of 04:45 melatonin so that their health can be improved. Excellent! 04:51 I used to be in the hospital and doing rotations and so forth 04:56 when I was in medical school and I remember I would get 04:59 in the conversation with some of my attending physicians 05:02 and I would tell them, "Look, what kind of 05:04 hypocrites are we, you know?" 05:05 I would be doing this 36 hour long hospital duty, 05:11 and I would tell them, "Here we are trying to help people 05:15 and here we are killing ourselves, you know, 05:18 in the process." 05:21 I had that knowledge when I was in medical school and that's 05:26 the reason why there was not a 05:28 single night I spent the whole night studying. 05:31 See, melatonin will also help you retain information, 05:36 so if you have a lot to do, if you are a student 05:40 or you have that type of work that is labor-intensive, 05:44 instead of cutting corners and staying in late, 05:48 what you need to do is you need to go to bed early 05:51 and wake up early, and in that way you get 05:54 that amount of melatonin. 05:57 Okay, so you're saying that melatonin is produced more 06:02 in the pre-midnight hours. 06:05 In the early hours exactly! 06:07 In fact, research showed that before midnight you're 06:12 going to get one of the highest amounts of melatonin. 06:17 That's the reason why if you go to bed at 10:00 or 9:00 06:22 and wake up early or if you go to bed at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. 06:27 and you still sleep your 8 hours, you still don't feel the 06:31 same because you have lost most of the melatonin of the night. 06:35 And this is a fascinating quotation that was written 06:39 more than 100 years ago, we can see that quotation 06:42 on the screen and it says: 07:00 So as you can see, there is an important timing issue here. 07:08 So you need to learn to go to bed early, maximum 10:00 p.m., 07:13 9:30 wonderful, 9:00 fantastic! 07:16 And what about if you went before that or is that? 07:20 That's right, those days that you feel very tired and that 07:25 you feel that you need more rest, what you should do 07:31 instead of staying late, in the morning sleeping you're 07:35 literally wasting your time, I'll tell you why in a minute, 07:38 you need to go to bed early and in that way, you will get 07:44 more amount of melatonin so that your body can be 07:49 repaired adequately and you can function correctly. 07:52 I know, as I talk to patients, some of these patients like to 07:58 go to church and so forth, and if you are staying in bed 08:04 late and cutting corners, you're actually not 08:07 getting that benefit. 08:09 You're tired - go to bed that that weekend a little bit 08:13 earlier and in that way, you will get your 08:15 proper amount of melatonin. 08:17 Right, so the hours before midnight are the 08:21 important ones. Those are the important ones! 08:23 It's not enough just to have the 8 hours but when you do it. 08:28 So let us examine a little bit of how this melatonin 08:32 is produced so that we can understand how to 08:36 optimize this melatonin. 08:38 Yes, this is something we need to know. 08:40 The first step that we need to learn is a key word 08:45 called, "tryptophan." 08:47 There are many amino acids form the protein - think 08:53 about them as the Legos. 08:55 You know how there are Legos that are square, circle, long, 08:58 so forth, in the same way there are different amino acids - the 09:03 combination of amino acids compose protein. 09:06 Well, one of those amino acids is called "tryptophan," 09:10 and tryptophan is essential for you to have good melatonin 09:16 in your body - let me tell you why. 09:18 Tryptophan, when you eat the tryptophan, combined with 09:24 bright light generates something that is called "serotonin." 09:29 If you are that type of person, and I know there are many 09:34 because depression is a huge problem here in Australia. 09:38 If you're listening to me and you're that type of person 09:40 that goes to bed and then wakes up at 2:00-3:00 in the 09:45 morning and you cannot go back to sleep, I can tell you 09:51 you probably have a deficiency of melatonin 09:54 secondary to low serotonin in your brain. 09:58 So let us understand how we can optimize that. 10:02 See, tryptophan is not just because you read in the 10:06 ingredients, nutritional facts, that this food has tryptophan, 10:12 that is not enough. 10:14 You need to get your tryptophan from a plant source. 10:20 See, animal products are rich in other amino acids 10:26 that look like tryptophan - they are not tryptophan, they are 10:31 an amino acid but chemically speaking they are similar 10:36 to tryptophan. 10:37 So the issue is this - in your brain very little tryptophan 10:43 actually can make it through. 10:45 So if you are eating your tryptophan of animal 10:50 product sources, you're sending all these competing 10:54 amino acids and very little tryptophan in the first place 11:00 was coming in, but now these competing amino acids 11:02 try to also go in there - so they end up going in the brain 11:06 instead of the tryptophan as they need to pass 11:09 through the blood-brain barrier. 11:12 Also, that little door that you have to put that tryptophan 11:17 inside your brain is dependent on insulin. 11:23 There needs to be a little bit of insulin spike in 11:26 order for that little door to function. 11:28 Animal products don't give you that insulin spike while 11:33 plant-based foods give you that insulin spike 11:40 that will help that tryptophan go inside the brain. 11:44 That's the reason why in our very successful depression 11:48 program, you actually can increase that tryptophan amount 11:55 to the brain because we switch all of our patients 11:59 to a full plant vegetarian diet. 12:02 If you're interested in the topic, just Google the word 12:05 "Nedley and hypothesis," this is a whole paper 12:10 that I wrote about explaining our hypothesis. 12:13 Okay, that's very good. 12:15 This is one more reason - you know you've done a number of 12:17 programs with us and all kinds of reasons why a 12:20 plant-based diet is helpful and now we're finding 12:23 it's helpful for sleep - so that's another reason 12:27 to go for the plant foods, excellent! 12:29 So people are asking, "Okay, so which plant foods have some 12:35 good sources of that." Tryptophan, yes. 12:37 Among the foods that you can easily acquire, the king of the 12:43 tryptophan is actually "tofu," very high in tryptophan. 12:48 If you don't know how to use tofu, just go to the internet. 12:51 There are so many recipes there - tofu has that 12:55 characteristic that it can acquire sweet, it can acquire 12:58 a salty taste - it can acquire different tastes 13:03 depending on what you put on. 13:04 So tofu, things like pumpkin seeds; things like beans, 13:12 wheat flour, walnuts; things like linseed - these types of 13:20 foods are nice and rich in this tryptophan so make sure 13:24 that you're eating them especially if you are 13:27 having problems sleeping. 13:29 So we said we need two things: 13:31 #1. You need that tryptophan inside your brain. 13:33 #2. You need bright light. 13:35 So what I want you to do, if you are having trouble 13:39 sleeping, I want you to wake up at the time that the sun 13:43 is coming up and you go outside and expose yourself 13:48 to sunlight between 30 to 45 minutes. 13:52 So what I suggest to you is, why don't you go for a walk? 13:56 See, it may sound mean but in our depression program, 13:58 we have the key of every single one of our patients, 14:02 and when the morning comes, if they didn't sleep enough, 14:05 they may say, "Oh, I want to stay longer in bed." 14:08 No! that's not an option. 14:10 We go, open those doors and we put our patients to expose 14:15 themselves to bright light, 14:17 and in that way, they get that benefit. 14:19 There was an interesting study that showed that those people 14:22 that say that they're "night owls," they put them 14:26 in a tent far from a city and suddenly every single 14:32 one of them became a morning person. Is that right? 14:36 So that is actually not an excuse. That's interesting! 14:39 That's fascinating, isn't it? 14:41 So they changed from owls to fowls. That's right! 14:46 So especially older people, yes. 14:49 So how long would that take? 14:51 In a matter of a couple of days, 14:53 the person becomes a morning person and I can 14:55 tell you from our patients that come to 14:57 our depression program... 15:00 You put them in a tent outside. Laughter. 15:02 What we do also, if you don't have access to the bright 15:05 sunlight of the sun because of work and so forth, 15:09 I would encourage you to get a medical grade bright light 15:13 which you can expose yourself from 30-45 minutes 15:17 early in the morning and in that way, 15:19 you can accomplish that. 15:20 If you still are having trouble after doing that, 15:23 get yourself a second dosage around 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. 15:28 another 30 minutes and this is something you can take it 15:30 to your job and put it there as you are working 15:33 and so forth, and expose yourself to that bright light. 15:37 So, step #1. Tryptophan plus bright light. 15:40 That will increase the serotonin that will make you 15:43 feel good throughout the day. 15:45 Now, melatonin - I need the other opposite which is 15:50 darkness - melatonin is only secreted when we 15:55 have complete darkness. 15:58 So make sure your room is completely dark. 16:03 That's going to be the key to generating enough melatonin. 16:08 So you're really resetting the body clock by 16:11 getting up at the right time and then going to bed 16:14 at the right time and the tryptophan and the bright light 16:18 are actually helping to reset the body clock. That's right! 16:19 And make sure also you have enough vitamin B6 and in 16:24 things like, we call it in America "peppers," 16:29 you guys call them "capsicum" here in Australia. 16:33 Okay, that's a very nice rich source of vitamin B6, 16:36 and veggies in general are good sources. 16:40 And also make sure that you're eating enough calcium, okay? 16:45 Many of the modern substitutes for milk - 16:48 soy milk, oat milk - many of them have enough calcium 16:53 there, so make sure you are drinking some of these, 16:56 that's part of the equation. 16:57 So you need to have that darkness and you need to have 17:01 regularity. 17:03 That's the key - every night at the same time, 17:06 you need to go to bed including the weekend. 17:09 Many people unfortunately on the weekend, 17:12 they move that program and no wonder on Monday 17:15 they feel horribly terrible. 17:18 We have a term for that, it's called, "Mondayitis." 17:21 Okay, Mondayitis or blue Monday we call it, that's right, 17:24 in America, yes. Yes, probably the same thing. 17:26 So it's really caused by interrupting that regularity. 17:31 In fact, I published a research paper and it's going to 17:36 be coming out in the Journal - "Obesity Review," 17:39 and we can see it on the screen. 17:41 In this paper, we were showing how regularity in eating 17:46 and sleeping improves the mood, and not only that, 17:50 it has a positive effect on the weight of the person. 17:56 So this actually helps to lose weight, makes you feel better, 18:01 and your depression actually decreases dramatically 18:05 once you get into a regular program the whole week 18:08 including the weekend. 18:11 Also, there are many... 18:13 Can I say something? Yes, go ahead. 18:14 That's such a big thing as depression is the single 18:19 greatest cause of disability worldwide. That's right. 18:22 Also, the case in Australia, just to be able 18:27 to get your sleep sorted out is tremendous. That's right. 18:32 So this is really, really important. 18:35 And again, if you're interested in the topic, go on Google, 18:37 those key words, you know: "Nedley depression Ramirez," 18:42 and you will get that paper that we published. 18:45 It's open - anybody can read it on the internet. Yes. 18:48 Also, there are some melatonin killers - please avoid 18:54 these things if you want to have enough melatonin. 18:58 And we can see those factors that interfere with melatonin 19:04 on the screen. 19:05 Stress - that's why you don't sleep good 19:07 when you're stressed. 19:09 Caffeine - horrible habit for melatonin and longevity. 19:13 Alcohol - also and Tobacco. 19:17 You're saying there that alcohol can cut it back by 41%. 19:21 That's right! That's massive. 19:23 Many people, they say, "I need a little drink so that I 19:26 can relax and I can sleep." Mistake of mistakes! 19:31 Please don't do that. 19:33 When you do that - yes, you may sleep, but you cut down 19:37 your melatonin and don't repair the body properly. 19:41 So you need to remove those factors from your lifestyle. 19:46 That's why before going to sleep, it's better to change 19:50 your thinking and so forth into 19:52 a more positive type of direction or read the Bible, 19:58 do something peaceful - turn on to your 3ABN. 20:01 On the air, that's good, say that again. Laughter. 20:04 So you can get something wholesome that would put your 20:08 thinking in the right direction. 20:10 And be careful also with bright light in the night. 20:15 We said, you need bright light early in the morning, 20:18 but not at night! 20:19 Cell phones, computers and many other big sources of light, 20:24 they need to be decreased or eliminated ideally 20:28 before you go to bed. 20:30 If you are that type of person that needs to use a computer 20:34 before going to bed or your cell phone, you need to 20:38 install a filter program. 20:41 The one I usually like is called, "FLUX." 20:48 It's free, you can install it; the computer will know when 20:52 the sunset occurs and it will block the blue light 20:56 which is what blocks the melatonin in the night. 21:00 So hours before going to sleep, that program needs to kick in. 21:06 It is a huge mistake to wake up in the night and read 21:09 your messages - you're just shooting all these lights 21:12 to your eyes and the body says, "Oh, it's time to 21:15 wake up, let's wake up!" 21:16 And no, you know you want to sleep, don't do that. 21:19 That's actually one of my secrets 21:21 as I travel across zones. 21:23 You need to be disciplined, so when it's night 21:27 as you're going to be crossing night, you need to 21:29 put something in your eyes, block your eyes. 21:32 Even if you are not sleeping, the fact that you are 21:37 blocking your eyes, it's doing some melatonin in your system, 21:41 and you need to be disciplined. 21:43 Don't take it off when they offer the food and so forth. 21:46 Do you eat in the middle of the night? 21:48 No, so why are you eating in the middle of the night 21:51 when you're in a plane ride? 21:52 So if it's night, the food passes by - you ignore that. 21:57 And that's one of your secrets from the jetlag. 22:00 No caffeine and no alcohol, those things will block 22:05 my melatonin and will make me feel horrible the next day. 22:09 I don't think you have alcohol any day, do you? 22:11 That's right! Laughter. 22:13 As I understand the physiology of this, I avoid alcohol 22:17 like leprosy, myself. 22:18 And I always sit on the window seat - the reason why 22:24 is because as the day comes, you know if you sleep enough 22:28 you make your calculation that you get a good 6-7 hours 22:32 in the plane - the first thing I do is I open my shade 22:37 and get myself that bright light that will help shift my 22:43 time zone to the new zone. 22:45 So those three things you do when you're traveling - 22:49 When you're coming into a country and it's night in the 22:53 country, you cover your eyes so you're basically getting the 22:55 darkness (That's right), you don't eat because it's not 22:59 the time to eat (That's right) in that country. 23:00 Eating will block melatonin, that's right. 23:02 Oh, okay, eating and, okay. That's right. 23:07 So that's why 3 hours before going to bed, 23:09 you need to have your last meal. 23:11 So you cover your eyes for darkness. That's right. 23:13 Then you don't eat or drink anything. That's right. 23:15 And you sit by the window so that when the sun 23:19 is coming up, (That's right), you have control 23:20 of the shade and you can change it. 23:21 You may drink water, it's fine, but don't drink anything else. 23:25 That will cause digestion that will block melatonin and also - 23:29 I was just going to say, if you're a pilot or a flight 23:34 attendant, that's something that maybe you do have to be 23:39 doing things through that time, but some of it 23:41 maybe you could work. Yes. 23:43 And if you are taking blood pressure medication 23:47 like beta blockers, make sure you talk to your doctor 23:52 about melatonin. 23:54 Beta blockers - those medications that end in "lol," 23:57 "metoprolol, atenolol, and these type of medications 24:02 block 99% of your melatonin. 24:06 So a wise physician that prescribes this medication 24:11 will also give some melatonin for the melatonin 24:15 you're going to be blocking. 24:16 I don't advise taking melatonin just by itself unless you 24:20 really need it - I'd rather encourage you to optimize 24:24 the level of your melatonin so that you can sleep better. 24:28 Also, if you're taking more than 3,000 micrograms of B12, 24:35 that also can block your melatonin. 24:38 Be careful not to take too much vitamin B12, and also 24:42 medications that are long-lasting like pain 24:49 medication long-lasting - we don't like to use those ones. 24:52 Medications for pain that 24:56 release in long-time, they also will block that. 25:00 Okay, slow release medications for pain. 25:03 There's another published paper I recently presented in 25:07 a conference; in fact, I got an award to one of the 25:10 best studies presented there. 25:12 Why don't I get you to say that to us? 25:15 And this one had to do with lavender oil and sleep. Okay. 25:20 So lavender oil orally in capsules, we found out that it 25:26 helped not only with anxiety but also with sleep. 25:29 A little side effect that we found was that if you take 25:32 too much, you may get a little bit of heartburn and so forth, 25:35 but just to be aware of that. 25:38 How much is the right amount? 25:40 Yes, you would want to take 2 or 3 of those capsules 25:44 about 3 hours before going to bed and it may 25:48 have that beneficial effect. 25:49 We also have some herbs that can help - we can see those 25:52 on the screen and you can find some of these herbs here 25:56 in Australia: chamomile, hops, lavender and valerian. 26:02 There are research papers that show the effectiveness of these 26:08 herbs in helping improve your sleep. 26:13 Well that's fantastic, lots and lots of good suggestions there. 26:17 Do you ever need to take any extra melatonin despite 26:20 all your best efforts? 26:22 No, I don't ever take melatonin - I make sure 26:26 I generate my own and believe me, I sleep good, you know. 26:30 I sleep good. 26:31 And you look as though you slept well and, you know, 26:34 you've been doing some traveling just now. 26:35 Because you need to be disciplined! 26:38 And that's what I tell people, you know, sometimes 26:39 you are with shades there on the plane 26:41 and so forth and you are unable to sleep, 26:43 you still need to stay there. 26:45 The worst thing you can do is to remove them and start 26:48 watching the little movie they have in front of you. 26:51 You are putting bright lights through your eyes. Yes. 26:54 You are going to interrupt that. 26:56 So what I suggest to you is if you are having really 26:59 problems sleeping, why don't you tap into 27:03 spiritual resources. 27:04 And I want to share with you one of my favorite verses 27:07 and you can see it on the screen, Proverbs 3:24. 27:22 Oh isn't that lovely! 27:23 And that is, it's beautiful and I think spirituality 27:26 is often overlooked. 27:29 Well it's just something we can tap into and that we can 27:32 benefit from and I just don't think we always realize this. 27:36 One of our recent patients, we loaned him a bright light 27:41 and the person had not slept in years and he said, 27:47 "You know, I'm not giving you back this light, 27:50 I'm using it from now on." 27:51 So you can experience that if you wish. 27:55 Yes, okay, well that's been fantastic Eddie. 27:58 Many of those things you've told us are just so valuable. 28:02 People will probably want to watch them again and you can 28:05 do that and I hope that you will enjoy sound and 28:10 restorative sleep - a good quality of sleep to add to 28:13 the quality of your life. 28:15 So if you want to watch our programs on demand, 28:17 visit our website, that's 3abnaustralia.org.au 28:21 Just click on the watch button and we'll see you next time. 28:25 Thank you very much. |
Revised 2019-10-15