The Hidden Reasons You Wake Up Tired Every Day

Hey JJ Here. Every year around this time, I get the urge to make my home feel a little extra special. A space that feels just like the holidays. And Wayfair is my go to for that. Think cozy textures, twinkly decor, warm lighting, and all those little touches that make you want to curl up with a good book and a blanket. You'll usually find my books stacked on a great little end table I got from Wayfair, proof that function and style give can coexist. Now, whether you're adding last minute hosting essentials, picking out gifts for loved ones, or refreshing your decor for the season, Wayfair makes it easy with beautiful finds, great prices and fast delivery. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Plus, with free shipping for any order over $35, don't that's fast delivery and a total peace of mind. It's the perfect mix of joy and order, bringing the holiday spirit in, then storing it all with ease. If you're ready to make your home feel as good as it looks, get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair Every style Every home that's W A Y F A I R.com hey, it's JJ here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever, and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything, they just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on your first order. Ray Ban Meta Glasses come with open ear audio so you can listen to your favorite music without blocking out the world around you.

Hey Meta, play Gorgeous.

Here's Gorgeous by Doja Cat.

You can also ask Meta AI questions.

Hey Meta, when's Doja Cat's next concert? Doja Cat is playing at the Los Angeles Theater next Tuesday.

Sweet Ray Ban Meta Glasses available at Ray Ban stores and other authorized retailers. Foreign.

Hey, this is JJ Virgin. Thanks so much for joining me. This is Ask the Health Expert. In each episode, I put the power of health in your hands and share ways to get healthy, lose weight, heal your gut, detox, and lots more so you can look and feel better fast. If you'd rather watch the video, hey, I did put on my makeup and do my hair, so check it out on my YouTube channel. Foreign.

Hey jj Virgin here. Okay, Real Talk so often the holidays sneak up on me, travel, gifts, hosting, you know, all the things and suddenly it's like, wait, who spent what and where? And I know I'm not the only one who's looked at a bill in January and thought, wow, that escalated quickly. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. It's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface. On your laptop or on your phone. Monarch lets you link everything and gives you real time visibility so you're not shocked later. Right now, I've been checking the holiday spending category so I don't accidentally start the new year with that dreaded debt hangover. And honestly, just seeing everything laid out is already helping me stay more aware. This season, Monarch does the heavy lifting. It links your accounts in minutes, gives you smart categorization and super clear visuals. Yes, that end of year reset could be a real goal. This time, don't let financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use the code virgin@monarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year. @monarch.com with the code Virgin, the holidays.

Are all about family. But at the Chrysler Wrap of the Year sales event, it's all about you. Enjoy every mile in the most awarded minivan in America, the Chrysler Pacifica, with the most standard safety features in its class, available Stow n Go seating, and the available Stow and back built in vacuum. Make the most of the holidays with a great deal at the Chrysler Pacifica Wrap up the Year sales event based on Ward's small van segment. Based upon the latest available competitor information, Chrysler is a registered trademark of FCA US llc.

Not a Morning Person if you're still waking up tired even after a full eight hours in bed, listen up to hear the things that could be interfering with your ability to have good quality sleep. You want to stay up to date with evidence based tips for your health simplified into actionable steps. Make sure to subscribe to my channel and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode. Now, number one, you're not compatible with your coffee. Huh? So coffee has some amazing health benefits. However, it can also impact your sleep if you're drinking it later than you should. And this varies on whether you're a fast or slow caffeine metabolizer. So how do you know which one you are? You can find this out by taking a genetic test like 23andMe, but you'll likely know if you're a slow metabolizer if you're feeling jittery or wired long after you've finished your last cup. Now before we get into that, let me explain how caffeine impacts energy and prevents drowsiness, which can be awesome at the right times, but really bad at the wrong times. So we have a compound in our body called adenosine. It can act as a neurotransmitter, helping to regulate nerve signal transmission, dilate blood vessels, and promote restful sleep. Caffeine blocks adenosine by attaching to the same receptors that adenosine would attach to. This is great in the morning because elevated adenosine levels make you feel tired and drowsy. But it isn't great at night when you want those adenosine levels high to help you fall asleep. Now you may be thinking, but I only drink coffee in the morning, so I'm good. And while it's true that caffeine has hits peak levels within 30 to 60 minutes after consuming it, it's also true that has a half life of three to seven hours. I mean, it can take 10 to 12 hours for it to leave your body. How quickly this happens depends on if you are again a fast or slow metabolizer. Fast caffeine metabolizers take between four to six hours to lower caffeine levels by half. And that's the half life of caffeine, right? Slow caffeine metabolizers take between 8 to 10 hours to drop caffeine levels by half those that don't have either of that. They're about four to eight hours to drop caffeine levels by half. If you're not a faster, you're not slow. So you can see that if you're a slow caffeine metabolizer, you got to be super mindful about when you drink your coffee. And also make sure that other things with caffeine aren't getting into your diet later in the day, like chocolate. I want to make sure that you don't do a double whammy and have your coffee with a big side of sugar. That can just amplify the fatigue issues by wreaking havoc on your blood sugar stability. All right, next one. You're eating too late at night, so digestion disrupts sleep quality. Sleep is for rest and repair processes. Digestive system. The digestive system at night is going to slow down during sleep so that you can rest and repair. Right? This is part of when melatonin comes out but starts to shut the pancreas down. You're going to use your stored glucose from your day's meals to fuel that process. Now, if you eat too late at night, you haven't given your body enough time to fully digest your meal before bed. And the glucose is still in your blood rather than being stored in your cells. So the rest and repair is not going to happen as effectively as you want it to be. When you eat and digest carbohydrates and, to a lesser degree, protein, it turns into blood glucose, right? It turns into sugar in the bloodstream. Then your pancreas secretes insulin to move that glucose into your cells. The problem is insulin poses melatonin. Melatonin is the sleep hormone that comes up at night that helps you get good quality sleep. Right? Melatonin lowers insulin secretion at night. So that means that if you're eating carbs, a lot of carbs at night, you're left with higher levels of glucose in the blood. Now, if you've eaten too late, which is no good for your sleep, you're really going to have trouble there. And you'll see it in the morning. You'll have this elevated blood sugar in the morning. Sleep well as a poor night's sleep. There was a 2014 study in current obesity reports, and what it showed was that nighttime eating impaired the circadian rhythm, increased body weight, and stalled weight loss. And what they found is that nighttime eaters, skipped breakfasts tend to eat higher caloric intake from snacks. Also, what you're eating matters, and people tend to snack on higher carb stuff at night. Like other hormones, insulin has its own circadian rhythm. It should be highest during the day and lowest at night. Ideally, insulin's decreasing at night, melatonin's increasing, and melatonin is basically helping put the pancreas to sleep. But again, if you're eating foods late at night that are increasing insulin levels, now we got a problem, right? Insulin becomes dysregulated, melatonin becomes dysregulated, and you're putting yourself at risk for type 2 diabetes. I like to eat about. I like to be done eating by seven at the latest, but six, even better. But I try every night to be done eating by 7, go to bed and fall asleep around 10. Well, sometimes things just get out of control. And I remember, I don't remember how it happened. We're eating dinner at 8:30, 9:00 clock at night, and I remember getting up the next morning. I knew I'd had a crappy night's sleep, you know, But I get up at the next morning and my aura ring on my phone app says, looks.

Like you ate late last night.

I'm like, what are you spying on me? How did you know? Literally because of what it does, like my fasting blood sugar. I was wearing a continuous glucose monitor, it was elevated, my sleep was impacted. So this makes a big difference. Next one is you just don't sleep long enough. Now here's the thing. We need seven to nine hours of quality uninterrupted sleep. So that means that you have to make enough time to be able to get that sleep. Because here's the thing. Let's say you say I want eight hours of quality sleep. So I'm going to go to bed at 10 and get up at 6. But the thing is, you don't like, slide into bed and go crash, right? And then, boop, wake up at six. So you're going to take a little time to fall asleep. So. So you have to account for that part there, right? So the first thing that we want to do is we want to kind of reverse engineer that and an hour or more before bed, turn off the electronics. And this is super duper important because that blue light's super stimulating and will keep you up. Take the blue lights down. In fact, on your laptop, on your phone, put that nighttime setting on. So the lights will shift on those. But ideally you're not using them. You're wearing the blue blocker glasses. You can even put red lights in your bedroom light. Looks very romantic too. Dimming all the lights. We are now turning the air down. Oh my gosh, I hate this. But when you really want to sleep somewhere in the 65 to 68 degrees, so make the air cooler, do a hot bath, do a sauna. Chamomile tea can be a great thing here too. We're doing a little evening meditation. We've got a great Dr. Joe evening meditation that will use something that's going to help start to give you that regular routine that your body goes, oh, I know what we're doing now. We are preparing for sleep. Make sure you're avoiding those things that really mess up sleep. Right? Eating too late, stimulating things like, you know, bright lights, lots of noise, something stressful like reading emails at night that never. You're never reading that email at night that when you won the lottery. No, you're reading the problem ones that you can't do anything about till the next day except lose sleepover alcohol, of course, as we know, helps you fall asleep and then bam. Wakes you up between 2 and 3 because of the hypo, hypoglycemic impact. Getting a really good meal with some carbs in it three to four hours before bed, but not eating right before bed. You want to make sure that you are setting up yourself for success. You've got things dimming down because your body's then going to produce that melatonin in response to it. And really when we look at really working your circadian rhythm, Melatonin's key for regulating the timing of your Circadian rhythm, your 24 hour internal clock and getting you ready for sleep. The other thing you want to make sure of too here is that you've got a consistent sleep schedule schedule so that you're going to sleep around the same time each day, but more importantly, you're waking up around the same time each day. So again, think about things that you can do to help your body wind down, to tell your body, hey, it's time to go to sleep. And for me, my night routine again is making sure we try to do a sauna. So I do a sauna or a hot bath because your body then after that's going to cool you down. And we have a weighted blanket on our bed, we've taken the lights down, we take our sleep candy and magnesium body calm every single night too. So I'm doing all of these things to start to take my body down so that I don't get my circadian rhythm out of whack. Because one of the big things that can mess you up is getting your circadian Rhythm out of whack. Now, there's also nutrients that can help. And I mentioned in my routine, I take magnesium. Magnesium's really important for supporting energy production. Like there's 300, 400 different processes that magnesium does. But the big thing is deficiencies can cause fatigue, but not in a good way. It's that tired and wired thing. So magnesium can be really great at night. It's really calming. And I find most people are deficient in magnesium. So I would try like two of my magnesium body calm. Another thing that's great is theanine, which mimics gaba. It helps promote GABA release. And GABA is the calming neurotransmitter that helps you fall asleep faster. And of course melatonin. Melatonin is going to help you get into a good circadian rhythm. It's a great hormone that, that goes down as we age. That's good for anti aging as well. And then inositol, which is a B vitamin derivative that can promote calm, help with sleep, help with reducing anxiety. These are all in my sleep candy. That's one that I take night as well. Now these are all the things that can happen that can disrupt your sleep. And I talked a little bit about some of my favorite things that you can do for sleep hygiene. But I have more than that because there's more things that poor sleep disrupts. So we really, really want to make sure that we fix this. So you want to watch my video on how to sleep better next and you're going to learn how sleep could be the missing link to losing weight and feeling better. And the ideal amount of weight you really need to be able to burn fat. Why sleep consistency is super important. Why exercise can help here, but the timing matters. And a simple hack to curb before bed hunger pangs. And much more than that. Because when you fix your sleep, you're going to be able to lose the fat, stop the weight, regain and be a great fat burner. And who doesn't want that? So be sure to check out the next video. For more info on this and other other health topics I cover or to rate and review, find me on Instagram, Facebook and my website, jjvirgin.com and don't forget to subscribe to my show so you won't miss a single episode. Go to subscribetoj.com thanks again for being with me this week.

Hello listeners, this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week I take all Things Books and Reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to find out more.