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Series Code: MH
Program Code: MH240004S
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00:06 What time is it?
00:10 I just want to get to sleep. 00:12 And we learned in our last episode how important sleep is, 00:14 and I'm just feeling more and more anxious because, 00:16 I mean, I want to get to sleep. 00:18 And I drink these Sleepy time teas, and they just wake me up; 00:21 I have to go to the bathroom so many times a night. 00:23 When my head hits the pillow all I can think about is, 00:25 what's going to happen if I don't sleep? 00:27 And it just give me anxiety, and I'm up when I want to be dozing. 00:51 I hope your sleep is not filled with tossing and turning. 00:54 If the last episode left you feeling a little confused 00:57 and concerned, today's episode is going to provide some 01:00 practical advice. 01:02 A lot of people say, "You know, I want to sleep. 01:05 I know sleep is good for me. I try, but I can't." 01:08 Some people just have difficulty falling asleep. 01:10 Others wake up in the middle of the night 01:12 and can't go back to sleep. 01:13 What can we do to improve our sleep? 01:16 Well, first of all, I acknowledge to them that 01:19 it's easier said than done. 01:22 Many people really are desperate in trying hard 01:26 to optimize their sleep, and they simply can't figure it out. 01:31 And so what I suggest is, we've got to sit down 01:33 and figure this out. 01:34 But the good news is that there are things we can do 01:36 to actually affect our sleep profoundly. 01:39 There is sleep hygiene and then there's 01:41 cognitive behavioral therapy. 01:42 I'll touch on these a little bit. 01:44 Sleep hygiene involves environment, food, and behavior. 01:48 Let's start with behavior. 01:50 Your brain is used to pattern. 01:53 In fact, your brain loves pattern, 01:55 because it doesn't have to think. 01:56 In fact, when you give it pattern, it falls into that 02:00 pattern so much better than everybody else. 02:02 Our patterns are disturbed. 02:04 We're staying up late for shows, we're staying up late because 02:07 we're reading something, we're staying up late because 02:09 we're talking with somebody on the phone. 02:11 Technology has helped us, but also it has stopped us 02:14 from our regular patterns. 02:18 But one of the first things we tell people is, 02:20 go to bed at the same time 02:21 and wake up eight hours later the next day. 02:24 And that pattern should sustain. 02:27 Are they staying up until two in the morning one night 02:29 and then they're trying to go to bed at nine the next night? 02:31 You know, just the irregularity. 02:32 Your body likes to work in rhythms. 02:35 And our hormones, and all of those things, 02:37 are set up in rhythms. 02:38 And so, if we aren't regular with our rhythms, 02:40 our sleep is one of the big rhythms, 02:43 then it just becomes more complicated as well. 02:45 And then another factor is, it's actually important to have 02:50 a bedtime routine. 02:51 So our body and our mind, it actually gets used to 02:57 shutting down based on certain cues. 03:00 And so, if we have rituals and do things that 03:03 cue our minds and our bodies, "Okay, we're about to start 03:07 shutting down," then our minds and bodies will 03:10 actually go into more of a resting state 03:13 and prepare us to go to sleep. 03:16 And having like a warm bath before going to bed 03:22 to relax the body, adding some Epsom salts to the bath water 03:26 to help relax the system. 03:28 A lot of people have restless leg syndrome, 03:32 or restless body syndrome, they just can't relax. 03:35 And that's a strong sign of a lack of magnesium, 03:39 or other minerals, but in particular magnesium. 03:42 So I always take magnesium before going to bed. 03:46 I always take it in the morning as well. 03:48 I've always been low on magnesium my whole life. 03:51 So up to 80% of the public are frankly deficient in magnesium. 03:58 So don't hesitate to optimize magnesium. 04:02 It's been said for cardiovascular purposes that 04:04 everybody, every adult, should be taking a healthy magnesium 04:08 supplement, maybe 100 to 200 milligrams a day as a start. 04:13 Because that dramatically lessens the risk of having a 04:17 heart attack, dramatically, and a stroke. 04:20 So routine, regularity, training the brain by going to bed 04:24 at about the same time every night can be very helpful 04:27 for people who are struggling with sleep. 04:30 Dr. Shearer is going to give us some practical advice 04:32 of how we can help this along. 04:34 You can change that by using certain supplements. 04:39 So if you're having a problem where you normally would get 04:41 to bed at eleven, you want to start getting to bed at nine. 04:45 Okay, because we know that sleep before midnight, 04:51 one hour before midnight is worth two hours 04:53 of sleep after midnight. 04:55 Okay, so it's better to get the sleep before midnight. 04:58 So if you want to change that, you can actually change 05:00 your circadian rhythm by using phosphatidylserine 05:04 And phosphatidylserine will help that circadian rhythm 05:07 change so you'll start sleeping the way you should. 05:10 And then, of course, we want to have a dark, quiet environment 05:16 so that we're not going to be interrupted 05:19 with noise, or lights, or anything like that. 05:22 That actually is very important to set the stage for 05:25 a good night's sleep. 05:27 And lightproof your room. 05:29 We invest in all these gadgets around your finger, 05:33 eye patches, and all that, which is fine, 05:35 put some blinds in your room that really make your room dark. 05:39 Sleep is an important rejuvenating mechanism 05:45 of our body. 05:46 We know that nowadays sleep is disrupted by 05:51 so many factors. 05:52 What can we do to improve our sleep? 05:55 First of all, we need to ensure that we sleep in darkness. 05:59 We can use the curtains, they need to be dark. 06:05 We need to make sure that the room is also quiet 06:09 with no additional disruptions. 06:13 We need to turn off all the electronics 06:17 way before we go to bed. 06:19 Reading a book is much better than looking at your tablet 06:23 before bedtime. 06:24 It's also about ensuring sufficient sun exposure 06:30 during the day which will help with sufficient 06:33 melatonin secretion at night. 06:36 And it's also about getting some exercise and getting 06:41 our muscles worked out and tired 06:44 so that we fall asleep naturally. 06:47 And make sure that your room is completely dark for sleep. 06:52 Use dark curtains. 06:55 Make sure there are no distractions. 06:58 Put away your phone and all your electronics to another room 07:02 so that your bedroom can be a quiet place where you can sleep. 07:08 Soundproof your room. 07:09 Sometimes sound is not in your environment, it's in your head. 07:13 Sometimes you need white noise. 07:16 And white noise means white noise, not complex noise. 07:18 You can't put AC/DC. You shouldn't put AC/DC anyway. 07:21 You can't put heavy metal 07:23 and think that your brain is going to... 07:25 "Oh no, but I'm okay with..." No. 07:26 But even Bach and Mozart, or anything that has variations. 07:30 - Don't pick on Bach. - But for sleep. 07:32 It has to be something that is, you know, almost monotonous. 07:36 - It doesn't really stimulate. - A fan. 07:37 Mozart can be stimulating. 07:39 And all of it because it's patterned. 07:40 Brain is a pattern recognizing machine. 07:43 So anything that's patterned is keeping it a little awake, 07:46 saying that, "Oh, there's something going on." 07:47 It's not benign, it's not background. 07:52 It's complexity. It's not... 07:53 You might be asleep, but you are not getting into deep sleep. 07:56 So noise like fans, the sound of rain, the sound of the ocean, 07:59 you know, things of that nature. 08:01 Bach, Mozart, AC/DC... They're so funny. 08:05 I'll choose the fan. 08:06 I remember learning about how if you can see 08:08 the outline of items in your room, 08:10 your room is too light and will affect melatonin production. 08:13 Blackout blinds were a game changer for me. 08:16 When I travel, I bring like a black top to through over 08:19 my eyes just in case. 08:21 Light is the ultimate inducer of wakefulness. 08:26 It affects the region in the back of the eye 08:30 which actually increases your cortisol 08:34 and reduces your melatonin. 08:36 That's supposed to happen during day time. 08:38 But now we have lights that actually induce that. 08:40 So lower the light about half an hour before sleep, 08:44 or an hour before sleep, or at least dim it. 08:46 Or get different kinds of lights. 08:48 Which we love talking about the red light, you know. 08:50 Especially if you wake up during the middle of the night. 08:53 To reduce light. 08:55 Don't get on your phone half an hour before sleep. 08:57 Put it way out there to be charged. 08:59 Make sure that you don't have, you know, a TV in the bedroom. 09:03 Or as we learned in our last episode, 09:05 cell phones and other devices. 09:07 Another factor that is really helpful in preparing us for 09:12 a good night's sleep is to eliminate screens. 09:16 And this is very important and often very difficult to do. 09:20 But ideally, at least two hours before we try to go to sleep 09:24 we should shut off our electronic devices. 09:28 And so, of course, some people use the blue light filters 09:32 which will get rid of the blue light. 09:33 And that's somewhat helpful, but even there 09:35 there is usually some blue light that comes through. 09:38 And again, it's not just the blue light that's stimulating 09:43 and making it more difficult to sleep. 09:44 It's also just the stimulation from the device itself. 09:47 So at minimum one hour, but ideally two hours before bed 09:52 we should eliminate screen time. 09:54 But that's how a lot of people fall asleep. 09:57 With the TV on. 09:58 It supposedly helps them fall asleep. 10:00 What about that? 10:01 You know, it actually does. 10:03 It distracts us, you know, so that we kind of zone out. 10:06 And that can sometimes actually help people fall asleep 10:10 when they're like worried or anxious, 10:12 because it's a distraction. 10:14 But then, so your frontal lobe is kind of distracted 10:18 and helps you drift off to sleep, but the emotional part 10:21 of your brain is still going. 10:22 And so, then when you actually try to go into a deeper sleep 10:25 it doesn't work very well. 10:27 Stay off of your computer, your phone. 10:30 I struggle with this myself. 10:31 But you know, stop having all of that blue light 10:36 going into that, what is it called, 10:40 the suprachiasmatic nucleus. 10:43 You know, which keeps you from making that melatonin. 10:46 It keeps you from falling asleep and staying asleep. 10:50 You should stop screen time two hours before you go to bed. 10:53 Screen time messes up with your brain and you can't sleep. 10:57 So that's one of the big things I see. 10:59 And I will tell people that they should stop that. 11:05 I also tell them they should turn off the 11:06 Wi-Fi at night in their house. 11:09 And this is a highly controversial subject, 11:11 and I recognize it, but there are devices that are called, 11:14 smogging devices that you can actually turn on that 11:18 smogging device and it will pick up and you can go directly 11:21 to find out where that cell phone is 11:23 or where your Wi-Fi box is. 11:25 And I've seen it at conferences where they will turn that on 11:30 with a guy in the front of an auditorium, 11:32 and everybody turns their cell phone off except one person. 11:36 And that thing is still squawking. 11:38 And it will actually start squawking if this 11:40 cell phone receives a signal. 11:42 And you can hear it from as far away as 11:45 the back of the auditorium. 11:47 That's very impressive when you see that stuff, okay. 11:50 Now we've been taught that this has nothing to do with anything. 11:55 It's very, very healthy. 11:57 There are certain countries in Europe where you can't get a 11:59 cell phone under the age of eighteen. 12:01 Because they know it creates astrocytoma, 12:04 which is a brain tumor. 12:06 With our work demand, and also with social media 12:10 bombarding us with, you know, fresh news all the time, 12:14 and we want to keep in touch basically 24/7, 12:19 we like to be, we like to be present. 12:22 We feel like we don't want to miss out on all the 12:25 opportunities that are out there. 12:27 We feel like watching the newest video is more important 12:32 than getting sleep. 12:34 So it's about the distractions, but it's also about the other 12:40 unhealthy lifestyle factors that contribute. 12:44 Lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet that make us 12:49 more sluggish, and yet the quality of sleep is compromised. 12:55 Dr. Shearer brought up EMF's, or Electromagnetic Frequencies, 12:59 that come from our phone, laptop, or TV 13:01 as a potential contributor to sleep problems. 13:05 Just because EMF's are invisible does not mean 13:07 that they're benign. 13:09 These waves of energy are constantly interacting with 13:11 our biology day and night. 13:13 And we're just starting to understand 13:15 how they dysregulate us. 13:17 We are most vulnerable to EMF's at night time. 13:20 They disrupt melatonin production, 13:22 which is a disaster for your sleep quality. 13:24 What can we do? 13:26 Well, we can turn off the Wi-Fi router at night, 13:28 unplug nearby electronics, places our devices 13:32 as far away from our bed as we can. 13:35 Then there's food. 13:36 Food is not about eating this food that puts you to sleep. 13:39 Don't eat before sleep. 13:41 When you eat right before sleep, your body is active now. 13:44 You might not feel it. 13:45 You might not make these borborygmi sounds in your 13:47 stomach, but your body is active. 13:50 And that keeps you agitated or stimulated, and affects sleep. 13:54 Make sure you start your day with breakfast, 13:58 a big healthy breakfast, 14:00 and you stop eating in the early afternoon. 14:02 And you just skip dinner. 14:04 When we stop eating in the early afternoon 14:08 and skip dinner, this helps improve the quality of sleep. 14:13 And also the diet composition helps 14:15 improve the quality of sleep. 14:17 When people start eating a plant-based diet, 14:20 often times even though it's not the primary outcome, 14:24 people start reporting, "My sleep is much 14:27 better than it used to." 14:28 So it's about the quality of the meal that we eat, 14:31 and it's also about the timing. 14:34 So there's several things that are really important when it 14:37 comes to trying to set the stage for a good night's sleep. 14:40 And one of those is not eating too late. 14:45 So ideally four to fives hours before we go to bed. 14:49 But at the very least I tell people three hours. 14:52 But it really is ideal if we can do four to five hours 14:55 so that your body really has the opportunity to rest 14:58 so that we're setting the stage for that. 15:00 We also want to avoid stimulants like caffeine, 15:03 especially in the afternoon. 15:05 But what's interesting about caffeine is, as we age, 15:10 it actually takes the body longer to metabolize it. 15:13 And so the half-life of caffeine becomes longer and longer 15:18 the older we are. 15:19 And so, sometimes even if we drink caffeine in the morning, 15:23 if we're getting older than that caffeine can still be with us 15:27 even in the evening 15:28 and make it more difficult for us to fall asleep. 15:31 Because caffeine is, obviously, a stimulate. 15:34 Another drink that affects our sleep is alcohol. 15:37 Alcohol sets the stage for very poor sleep. 15:40 And so, if we're not sleeping solidly, that also is going to 15:45 impair our mental health and our attention, 15:48 and everything else. 15:49 There are so many negative effects of poor sleep, 15:52 and so alcohol can be a big contributor there. 15:56 Something else that can negatively affect sleep 15:58 is insulin resistance and blood sugar imbalances. 16:02 And that's an interesting clue, by the way, as to 16:04 why some people don't sleep well. 16:07 One of the first assessments that I do with patients 16:10 beyond going through the fundamentals, 16:12 which are numerous that we'll refer to, 16:16 but one of the first lab tests that I do is the four-hour 16:20 glucose tolerance test that I mentioned 16:22 to see if they have, they may have a perfect fasting 16:27 blood sugar, even a perfect fasting insulin level, 16:31 but then one hour after their sugar drink 16:34 their blood sugars might be up excessively. 16:37 Maybe not in a diabetic or even a pre-diabetic level, 16:41 but excess. 16:42 Insulin levels rise, and then eventually, because of 16:46 high insulin production, to compensate for the 16:49 insulin resistance, the blood sugars drop. 16:53 And when blood sugars drop, interesting changes occur 16:57 in the brain. 16:58 I mentioned in other sections about 17:00 how the amygdala notices that the blood sugars are crashing, 17:04 and the amygdala knows that if that happens too long 17:08 or too rapidly, that will damage the brain. 17:13 And so basically emergency hormones are released 17:17 to activate the adrenal glands. 17:19 And once the adrenal starts producing cortisol, 17:22 which by the way triggers the liver to release sugar, 17:26 hopefully back up to a normal level 17:28 and not at an excessively high level, 17:32 that process wakes us up. 17:35 So we want to prevent that reactive hypoglycemia 17:39 that so many people have. 17:42 The blood sugars drop, causing cortisol to be overproduced, 17:47 and that will wake you up. 17:49 Just like being frightened, you know, a nightmare can 17:53 wake you up because you're producing cortisol. 17:56 So if we can stabilize blood sugars throughout the day 18:01 and night, through the right balanced diet, 18:04 that is using lots of non-starchy vegetables, 18:11 lots of healthy starches or appropriate amounts of the 18:15 starches for your metabolism, and then appropriate levels 18:22 of plant-based proteins like legumes, which are also 18:26 starches but they're really rich in protein, 18:29 and then healthy fat foods. 18:30 That stability of balanced food prevents those rollercoasters 18:36 swings in our hormones that prevents us from 18:40 being woken up inadvertently at 3:00 in the morning. 18:45 So if my patients tell me that they are waking up 18:50 in a start and their heart is racing or they're feeling 18:53 stressed for some reason, that's a clue that 18:56 this may be going on. 18:58 And we test for it, and if it's there 19:00 we work strong at reversing the underlying insulin resistance 19:04 that is really the cause of this. 19:06 We also work hard at optimizing adrenal health through 19:11 making sure that you're getting the right foods 19:13 and the right nutrients that build the adrenals 19:17 health properly. 19:19 So that combination stabilizes the blood sugars 19:25 throughout the day and throughout the night. 19:28 In addition to that, of course, the core things to do is 19:33 make sure you're not stressing over stuff late at night. 19:37 That you have a system or plan in place that 19:43 after a certain time, maybe 8:00 o'clock or 19:45 maybe 9:00 o'clock, that you don't have the TV on, 19:49 you're not listening to the news. 19:51 You're thinking on meditative things. 19:57 You're thinking on things that bring joy and peace 20:00 and calmness into your life. 20:02 You're not thinking about the interpersonal challenges 20:05 that you might have. 20:07 You can address that at other times. 20:08 If you are thinking about that, you just tell yourself, 20:11 "I will deal with this tomorrow morning or at lunchtime, 20:15 or whenever, but this is not the time to think about that." 20:20 We know that hormonal balance is affected by our diet, 20:26 but also other habits such as exercise and sleep. 20:30 So it's about regulating the melatonin levels. 20:36 Exercise helps us with the healthy levels of melatonin 20:41 even produced at night. 20:43 Especially when we exercise in the sun, 20:45 which is combining a few of the beneficial 20:49 effects of vitamin D and exercise 20:53 instead of having just one. 20:55 It appears that lower temperature is better for sleep. 20:59 So lower the temperature of the room, 21:00 and that's going to help with sleep as well. 21:03 Then there's the heat from all the stuff going on in the brain. 21:06 We've got to address that too. 21:08 Again it goes back to the brain. 21:10 What are you thinking about? 21:12 What are you angry about? 21:14 What issues in your life are you going 21:16 over and over and over again? 21:18 Okay, because the brain is going to keep playing those things 21:21 over again as long as you feed into it. 21:24 Then there's the running thoughts. 21:26 We all have running thoughts. 21:28 And at night they become even worse 21:30 because there's nothing else. 21:31 So we have a tendency to exaggerate. 21:34 So we say, get a notepad, put it next to your bed. 21:38 If the thoughts come... Because now we are conditioned. 21:41 Initially the thoughts kept you awake. 21:43 Now going to bed actually bring on the thoughts. 21:46 It's reversed, so you have to deconstruct. 21:48 Whenever the thought comes, or even if it doesn't, 21:50 get up from the bed, go sit in a chair because you want to 21:53 separate it from the bed, write those thoughts on a 21:55 piece of paper, not in manifesto form but bullet form. 21:59 Nothing good comes out of manifestos. 22:01 So bullet form, put it next to your bed. 22:03 For a while you're not going to feel a difference. 22:05 But what it is doing is actually parking the thought to the side. 22:09 In the morning go over the list. 22:11 And that thing you thought was so important, 22:14 you know, that cousin that looked at you in a different way 22:16 or didn't call you, or they took the last piece of bread, 22:20 it was nothing. 22:21 You don't have to think all night about it. 22:24 It really decompresses, separates, and deconstructs 22:29 that anxiety that's been conditioned into your sleep. 22:33 So a lot has to do with our mood as we go to sleep. 22:37 What are we thinking about? What are we doing there? 22:39 And a lot of times a person is so stressed out, 22:42 their sympathetic nervous system is going crazy. 22:45 To sleep, the sympathetic nervous system 22:48 isn't supposed to be working. 22:50 It's supposed to be parasympathetic system. 22:52 And so there is something that I tell some of my patients, 22:55 and that is something called grounding. 22:57 Which sounds a little weird, but basically an hour before 23:02 they go to bed I tell them to take their shoes and socks off 23:04 and put their feet on the ground. 23:06 There are certain times of the year here at Mount Shasta 23:08 where we can't do that, it's too cold. 23:10 It's just too cold. 23:12 But there's plenty of times when you can do that. 23:15 And it's equivalent to, if you think of the last time 23:17 you were at the beach. 23:19 Everybody loves to go to the beach. 23:22 The sound of the surf, the smell; all that kind of stuff. 23:25 What we don't realize is, yes that has something to 23:28 do with it, but really what the studies show is its grounding 23:31 that makes you feel so good. 23:33 It puts you, within two minutes of grounding, 23:36 you go into parasympathetic mode. 23:39 So a person who has a hard time sleeping, 23:41 they can do that and get sleeping a lot quicker, 23:45 okay, by getting that stress out of their life. 23:48 And when I first heard this, I thought it was total crackpot. 23:53 And so I got to thinking, okay, the first people, 23:57 Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, 23:59 did they wear shoes? 24:03 Grounding refers to having direct contact with the earth. 24:06 Walking barefoot, putting your hands in the soil, 24:08 stuff like that. 24:10 Studies have been done, especially around this area, 24:13 with the fir trees, cedar trees, out in the forest, 24:17 you get certain smells that affect brain function. 24:22 And you can only get it in a forest. 24:24 So there are some things like this that you go, 24:26 "Okay, this is weird," but it's real. 24:29 Make sure you're not stressing over stuff late at night. 24:33 That you have a system, a plan in place, that after a certain 24:40 time, maybe 8:00 o'clock or maybe 9:00 o'clock, 24:43 that you don't have the TV on, 24:45 you're not listening to the news. 24:47 You're thinking on meditative things. 24:53 You're thinking on things that bring joy and peace 24:56 and calmness into your life. 24:58 You're not thinking about the interpersonal challenges 25:02 that you might have. 25:03 You can address that at other times. 25:05 If you are thinking about that, you just tell yourself, 25:07 "I will deal with this tomorrow morning, or at lunchtime, 25:11 or whenever, but this is not the time to think about that." 25:16 A lot of people, if they're not actively doing something, 25:22 or distracted by something else, this is where a lot of the 25:25 thoughts, like negative thoughts can start coming in. 25:28 Or the stressors, "I have to do this tomorrow, or that." 25:32 And that can be very difficult for people to fall asleep then. 25:36 So it's important actually to not only have a bedtime ritual, 25:40 but also a routine, a ritual, like, "How do I 25:43 let go of those stressors of the day?" 25:45 And for a lot of people, and for myself included, 25:49 what we find really helpful is to have some devotional time 25:53 where we connect with God. 25:54 We say, "You know what, I just want to make sure 25:57 I'm giving You all this, and I'm trusting You with this. 26:00 And I'm really giving You that stress so that I can 26:04 rest in Your love tonight." 26:06 And sometimes that's easier said than done. 26:08 But if we're struggling with that, what I find to be really 26:12 helpful is like, okay pull out your Bible, 26:14 find some promises that speak to maybe some of the worries 26:17 that you're experiencing. 26:19 And that can be a wonderful way to really alleviate 26:21 some of those worries and find the peace. 26:23 And the answer to that is not just medication. 26:25 Although we're not against medication short term. 26:27 But longer term it's, you know, sleep hygiene, 26:31 cognitive behavioral therapy. 26:32 The kind of mechanisms that allow you to sleep calmly 26:36 and restoratively. 26:37 And that actually is incredibly powerful as an anti-inflammatory 26:42 fight back. 26:43 There's nothing else better than that. 26:44 So there it is: food, exercise, and sleep 26:47 will take care of more than 99% of your inflammatory response. 26:52 I remember when I was a student missionary 26:54 in the Marshal Islands, I lived on an island that had 26:56 no running water and electricity for about two months. 26:59 And the sun came up at 6:00 and the sun went down at 6:00. 27:02 And I just remember, like that was some of the best sleep 27:04 I ever had, was because I had no electricity, 27:07 I had no blue light. 27:08 I just was up and down with the sun. 27:10 And you know, really, that's how God created it to be, right? 27:14 And I had the best sleep when I was on that island. 27:18 I could go for some island life myself. 27:20 I think that is what I was made for. |
Revised 2025-04-08