8 Simple Hacks for a Better Night’s Sleep

Hey everyone, welcome to my weekly house call. Your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question is, I recently read that lack of sleep can lead to chronic disease. I have kids, a job, job stress and personal stress. It seems impossible to get good quality sleep with all of these stresses in my life. Are there any solutions? I don't want lack of sleep. to be my downfall. Well, with all the stress and all the hecticness of modern life, it's not hard to see why so many people are failing to get good quality sleep. But inadequate sleep can quickly sabotage your efforts at getting healthy and even losing weight. Sleep is one of the cornerstones of a life full of energy, full of joy and health. And lack of sleep or poor quality sleep drives the hormones that make you hungry and store fat. Now several studies have linked insufficient sleep and weight gain and even diabetes. There's also studies that show the link between poor sleep and heart disease and depression and low immune system and even lower life expectancy. I remember one patient who came to see me who was overweight struggling with his weight and was probably 60-70 pounds overweight. He was a lawyer and he told me that he was so tired all the time and that he had to stand up at his desk. This was before stand up desks were cool, just so he wouldn't fall asleep during the day. And I diagnosed him with something called sleep apnea, which is an extreme form of sleep deprivation where you wake up all the time at night, you can't sleep, you can't breathe, and you don't even know you're waking up a million times at night and your oxygen's going low. And when you have this problem of lack of sleep, it causes hunger, it causes cravings, it causes sugar problems, and it actually causes diabetes and prediabetes. So it causes high blood pressure. So this is a really nasty thing that happens. So when I fixed his sleep apnea, he lost about 50 pounds without really changing anything else. It was pretty dramatic. Now I can completely understand why stress gets in the way. I have like 10 jobs. I have kids, I have a dog, a house, I have lots of employees, I have lots of patients, and I'm rarely at home because I travel all the time. But once I realized how lack of sleep was affecting my health, I knew it was time to make sleep a priority. And I started by aiming for at least seven to eight and I like eight hours of sleep a night. I can be way more effective if I get enough sleep. So here's my tips for what I like to call sleep hacks. First, get on a regular sleep schedule. Going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day, it puts a familiar rhythm in your body because our bodies are rhythmic. follow these circadian rhythms. So it's really important to get rhythm. Also be sure to use your bed for sleep and romance only. Your bedroom should be quiet and it should be peaceful and like a haven. Next get 20 minutes every day of sunshine preferably in the morning because the light from the sun triggers your brain to release chemicals that regulate your sleep cycles. Also try to avoid screens for at least one or two hours before bed. or you can try blue lights. Blue light spectrums help your brain reset for sleep and increase melatonin. And try to put on only blue lights about three hours before bed. Another thing you can do is use an acupressure mat that helps increase your parasympathetic nervous system and gets you into deep relaxation before you sleep. You lay on it for about 35 minutes before bed. It really relaxes your nervous system and helps you get into deep sleep. Also get grounded. Sometimes electromagnetic frequencies can impair sleep so turn off the Wi-Fi in your house. Keep electronic devices away from your bed like your phone or your clock radio. Sometimes it helps to clear your mind so keep a journal or a notebook by your bed and write down all your to-dos and all your ruminations before you go to sleep so you can close your eyes and make it less likely for your mind to keep spinning. Also, light stretching or yoga before bed really helps to relax the mind. I also like to use herbal therapies, about 300 to 600 milligrams of passion flower or about 320 to 480 milligrams of valerian root extract before bed. You can also use other sleep supplements like melatonin or magnesium. I recommend having one tablespoon of potato starch, also known as resistant starch, mix two into a glass of water at night before bedtime. You want to start with about one teaspoon and build up because it can cause digestive symptoms because it feeds the good bugs and kills the bad ones, creating kind of a little war between your bad bugs duking it out in there. It also helps you sleep and it feeds the good bacteria and improves your blood sugar control. And of course, I encourage people to use relaxation practices before bedtime to unwind like guided imagery, meditation, deep breathing, all very powerful. I know it sounds like a lot, but it's worth a try for a full night good quality sleep. And all these techniques are really great for stress reduction too, which is a second benefit, so you get a two for one deal. Now, I want to hear from you. Do you have sleep problems? Have you found any sleep hacks? What works for you? Share them below or on my Facebook page. And if you like this video, share it with your friends and family. And be sure to send your questions into DrHyman.com so maybe Next week, I'll make a house call to you.