Sleep

Welcome to today’s Wellness MD podcast! In this episode Life coach JB and her sister Dr. Daniela Steyn discuss the science behind sleep.

Sleep is the ultimate key to optimal health. Sleep influences every function in your body. It affects how your body processes food, how it regulates blood sugar, processes cognitive information and reduces inflammation. Optimizing your sleep is critical for optimal health. Getting enough good quality sleep at the right time can help you feel your best and be high functioning during the day. 

A quick summary of the tips they discussed during this episode:

1. Aim to get 7.5 hours of sleep, of which 10pm -2am is the most critical, so for many of us, it means going to bed earlier.
2. Avoid screens, especially your phone, the hour or two before you go to bed. Ideally remove your phone from your nightstand so that is not the last thing you look at, at night. Try reading something positive or uplifting just before drifting off.
3. Go outside for a walk or run first thing in the morning - or use a sunlight light if you live where there is no sun in the morning.
4. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon.
5. Meditate. even if it is 5 minutes a day.
6. Create a bedtime routine, it can include lavender essential oil.
7. Take 200mg magnesium biglycenate before bedtime.

If you loved this podcast, please leave a review!  If you know someone, who complains about being tired or would love to improve their health, share this podcast episode with them.

Until next week - happy sleeping!

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Transcript

Welcome to today’s Wellness MD podcast! Today we are talking about sleep! 

D: One of my favourite subjects - Sleeping your way to health!

JB: What a relevant subject! So many of my friends complain about not getting enough sleep, especially those with little children! For me - this is the area in my life where your direction has been life-changing, and those interventions, if you will, have had a dramatic impact on my life the last couple of years.

Daniela:  Sleep is the ultimate key to optimal health. Sleep influences every function in your body. It affects how your body processes food, how it regulates blood sugar, processes cognitive information and reduces inflammation. Optimizing your sleep is critical for optimal health. Getting enough good quality sleep at the right time can help you feel your best and be high functioning during the day. 

JB: I get it  - it’s quality and quantity of sleep. you are telling me - not getting enough GOOD quality sleep can make you sick.

DS: Exactly. Not sleeping well does not only affect the next day but also the following couple of days, it can make you experience brain fog, feel depressed and even feel sick.  Sleep deprivation has been linked to (say this slowly, for it to sink in) developing chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease (increases your risk by 48%) and cancer. Sleep deprivation can also lead to arthritis, overactive/underactive thyroid, strokes, Alzheimer’s, dementia, and it triples your risk for type2 diabetes.  A lack of good sleep depresses your immune system and you are 4x as likely to get a cold.

JB: I have noticed if I don’t sleep well at night for a couple of nights due to work or other stress, I might get a cold sore or a cold.                I also get brain fog when I don’t sleep well, why is that?

DS: You have an incredible self-cleaning detoxing system in your brain. This is called the glymphatic system. It opens up between the brain cells and flushes out toxic molecules involved in neurodegenerative disorders. The decrease of non-REM sleep has been shown to impair the function of the glymphatic system which increases your risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia.

JB: Oh my, so sleep deprivation doesn’t only impair my concentration the next day but has a long-term effect on my brain function. So what should I do when I go to bed and can’t fall asleep right away.

Daniela: It helps to understand the science about sleep. Your body has a circadian rhythm to help you know when to sleep and when to wake up. Your circadian rhythm is regulated by the hormone Melatonin. Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland in the middle of your brain. When the sun goes down, your pineal gland gets turned on and melatonin levels rise to make you sleepy. However, when you are exposed to a lot of light from your computer screen, cell phone or tv it tricks your brain to think it is still day.  

JB: Oh yes, I have used melatonin before to help with jet lag. So you say your body naturally has its own melatonin, what other hormones help with sleep?

DS: Adenosine is a neurotransmitter that transfers energy and signals throughout the body during the day. When your body runs out of fuel from food, adenosine signals to the body to become drowsy to sleep and rebuild our energy reserves. During sleep, the build-up of adenosine gets broken down again. Leaving you refreshed in the morning.

JB: How long should one sleep?

DS: When I counsel patients about sleep, I like to first start with the quality of sleep.  How well you sleep is even more important than the amount of time you sleep. For a good night’s sleep your body needs to cycle through all four stages of sleep at least five times. (5x 90min = 7.5h) Each stage has a different function.

• Non-REM stage 1: Transition period between wakefulness and sleep. 🕐 5-10min.
• Non-REM stage 2: Your body temperature drops. Your heart rate slows down. The brain produces sleep spindles. 🕐 20min
• Non-REM stage 3: Your brain waves slow, and blood is redirected from your brain to your muscles, allowing your body to heal and repair itself. Your muscles relax. Your blood pressure decreases and your breathing rate decrease. Here is where your deepest sleep occurs.
• REM sleep, stage 4: Your brain becomes more active, your body becomes more relaxed and immobilized. This is the phase when dreams occur, and your eyes move around quickly. That is where the name REM or Rapid Eye Movement comes from.

JB: I am a night owl, I often work till very late at night, other times I like to go to bed with my husband, but I would get up very early to get some work done. Which is the best?

DS: studies have shown that irrespective of preference, our bodies repair the most between 10 pm and 2am. Even if you did get 8 hours of sleep from 12pm to 8am, it will not be as restorative as sleeping from 10pm to 6am. During the earlier hours of the night, your body spends more time in non-REM sleep which is the deepest stage of sleep, when your body restores and recovers. Later during the night, the length of your non-REM sleep decreases while the length of lighter, less restful REM sleep increases.

JB: This is super helpful. One of the biggest changes I made in my life, was after reading an article about sleep and Thriving by Arriana Huffington in 2015. She strongly recommended not allowing your cell phone (or any other electronic device) in your bedroom at night. For the past six years, I've been using an old-fashioned alarm clock in my bedroom at night - and leave my phone in either the bathroom or kitchen. It’s been a game-changer for me. 

DS: That’s a great tip. Our bodies need it to be dark 2-3 hours before bedtime. Unfortunately, our computer and cellphone screens disrupt our circadian rhythm. 

JB: What else can I do to reset my circadian rhythm?

DS: Your body is designed in such a way to get going early in the morning. The best way to get going, literally better than a cup of coffee, is to go outside for a walk. Your body needs sunlight in the morning, if it is completely dark or significantly overcast, some people do well to have a Sunlight light on for 20min in the morning. (It has been shown in studies to be very beneficial, but off course, nothing beats the sun). I bought a sunlight light when we lived in Northern Alberta. Especially during winter the sun will get up at 9am when I was already at work and set just after 4pm while I would still be at work, so I used the light in the morning while I was having breakfast to tell my body it is day time.

JB: I’ve been a morning exercise person since I was 13 years old. My day is just not the same if I didn’t go outside of a run of a brisk walk in the mornings - I’m a total believer. 

I want to share a big lifestyle change I made a few years ago.. that had a huge impact on how I sleep and on how refreshed I wake up.

My work mentor at the time, Len Volschenk, sent me and everyone else he mentored on a Stress Management course. The course presenter spent a full day on how important sleep is. I told her that I have too much work and that I can’t sleep as many hours as she recommends. I’ll never forget what she said to me: The quality of sleep is as important, if not more important, than the quantity of sleep. She said to avoid caffeine after 2 pm.

I told her that I sleep just fine after a cup of coffee. In the SA culture, most people have a nice cup of coffee after dinner. I did that for years and years. Especially when I was working full time and doing my MBA part-time - I often had 2-3 cups to be able to study and work on assignments late into the night.

She then said that even though I think I sleep fine, I don’t get the quality sleep during the REM phase, that I need for thorough rest and recovery.

I made that change - and haven’t had coffee after 2 pm in 12 years. The impact is unbelievable. 

Daniela, what are your thoughts about avoiding caffeine in the afternoon - and please explain the impact of caffeine on the body.

DS: I absolutely agree that you need to minimize caffeine and avoid it in the afternoon to ensure optimal rest during the night.. Caffeine -molecules are shaped similar to adenosine, the neurotransmitter that needs to tell your brain you are tired. Caffeine then has the incredible ability to keep your brain and body from realizing it is tired. It has been shown to improve focus and concentration and help athletes perform better. Coffee has a half-life of about 5-7 hours. This means, for caffeine to be adequately metabolized in order for you to fall into your deeper more restful sleep stage (non-REM 3) it is best to avoid caffeine after midday.

JB: And meditation? Does that help - even if you did it 16 hours earlier?

DS: Meditation will improve the quality of your sleep. When you have been under chronic stress, your adrenal glands are maxed out from secreting cortisol during the day to help you cope. Under normal conditions, our adrenal glands must secrete a small amount of cortisol overnight for our brains to sleep optimally. When your cortisol reserves are empty, your body then secretes adrenaline, creating a surge of restless energy. This causes your mind to race and can make you sweaty in the middle of the night.

Meditation helps to activate your parasympathetic nervous system which allows your body to fully relax.

JB: What else can listeners do to sleep better?

DS: Create a bedtime routine. 

JB: Like I have for my 2-year old son?

DS: Exactly. The same way little children fall asleep easier with a strict bedtime routine, the same way you will benefit from preparing your body for sleep.

• Make yourself a herbal caffeine-free tea. Chamomile tea works great. You can also warm oat milk with cinnamon and honey.
• Take a warm bath with Epsom salts and lavender essential oil.
• Do twenty minutes of stretching. (Such as yoga/similar)
• Journal at night. Write something that you are grateful for, process a particularly hard thing that you handled during the day, plan your next day.

JB: won’t’ writing my to-do list for tomorrow wake my brain up again after a relaxing bath?

DS: There has actually been a study done showing participants who Wrote a to-do list for tomorrow fell asleep faster than the group who only journaled about their day. Writing down your list reassures your mind that these specific issues will be dealt with, and your mind does not have to try to remember them during the night.

JB: What is your opinion on essential oils for sleep?

DS: Lavender essential oil has calming effects and has been shown to increase deep sleep.

JB: Do you recommend any supplements to help listeners sleep? I don’t use sleeping pills (except when i take the 17-hour flight to SA).

DS: It is important to discuss any meds with you DR. Interestingly enough it has been shown that sleeping pills don’t really improve the time asleep by more than 30min, but it does impair your quality of sleep.

When you travel you can take a melatonin supplement to help your body adjust to the new sleep hours. Take a melatonin supplement, you should ask your doctor, but usually 1-3mg 30min before bedtime. You can take this the first 3 days when you are in a new time zone to help your body reset. Some people find it helpful while recovering from burnout as well. Taking too high doses may result in morning drowsiness and vivid dreams.

Something I do recommend is:

• Magnesium Glycinate supplement 200mg half an hour before bedtime. Alcohol impairs the absorption of magnesium from your gut, so does inflammation in your gut. Up to 30% of adults do have a magnesium deficiency. Magnesium helps us to slow down and sleep better by increasing GABA, a neurotransmitter that promotes relaxation and sleep. Epsom salts (this is Magnesium Sulphate) in your bath help your muscles relax.

JB: Adding magnesium to the vitamins I take at night is an easy one!

A lot of information that, put into action, will help ensure that you wake up rested, refreshed and ready for the day. My recco is - of the 7 tips, choose the 2-3 that you want to incorporate into your life, to make it practical and sustainable.

1. Aim to get 7.5 hours of sleep, of which 10pm -2am is the most critical, so for many of us, it means going to bed earlier.
2. Avoid screens, especially your phone, the hour or two before you go to bed. Ideally remove your phone from your nightstand so that is not the last thing you look at, at night. Try reading something positive or uplifting just before drifting off.
3. Go outside for a walk or run first thing in the morning - or use a sunlight light if you live where there is no sun in the morning.
4. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon
5. Meditate. even if it is 5 minutes a day.
6. Create a bedtime routine, it can include lavender essential oil.
7. Take some magnesium before bedtime.

For me … it is ensuring I put the phone down earlier at night and start a more relaxing night-time routine!

Thanks, Dr. D!

D: It was fun… quality sleep can change your life! Live well.. until next time!

JB: If you loved this podcast, tag a picture of yourself listening to it on social – and you can win a free coaching session with Dr. D! And if you know someone, who complains about being tired or would love to improve their health, share this podcast episode with them.

Until next week - happy sleeping!